Liveable City Event

Yesterday I attended the Liveable City event at the Danish Embassy as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2018. The room was packed and the Danish pastries were sensational. There was also an inspirational diversity of speakers, which cannot always be said for events like these.    

In a way, it is difficult to hear that the UK should be more like Scandinavia; social, green and happy because we all agree that it should be. The question is how do we get there? What is stopping the UK from increasing the use of bicycles, providing more state owned social housing and putting design at the forefront of the development process? 

Some local authorities such as Harrow Council and BeFirst for London Borough of Barking and Dagenham seem to be pushing for this but there’s still a way to go. Let’s hold more radical design competitions for public land, let’s increase social housing and restrict mass use of the car for able-bodied people, get on your bikes and you too could be as happy as a Dane!