Programme
How Should We Think About the Future?
Ian Goldin, Margaret Heffernan, Sophie Howe
What are the long-term trends and ideas – especially in terms of technological change, globalisation and governance – that will have an impact on cities and regions?
Homes for Heroes 100: The Past, Present and Future of Council Housing
Greg Beales, Brett Christophers, Vanessa Kisuule, Anne Power, Paul Smith
What are the key issues facing housing and a new programme of council house building? Can councils deliver what is needed?
Experience CARGO
This special advance event gives you the opportunity to see the outlines of the new CARGO exhibition through an immersive 360 degree video projection space.
They Came to a City (U)
Adapted from a J B Priestley stage play, a group of disparate characters discuss their hopes for an ideal city.
Escape Room: Swarm Escape!
Can you imagine swarms of robots collaborating to identify and help combat city pollution, guide firefighters, save the city? Take part in this immersive experience – an escape room unlike any other.
Who Owns the City?
Sheila Foster, Guy Standing, Romesh Vaitilingam
Who has the right to the city? How can we encourage all to participate in and help make future cities?
Beyond Apologies: Past Guilt and Urban Futures
Michele Curtis, Thomas Hermann, Lawrence Hoo, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, Michael Jenkins, Louise Mitchell, Olivette Otele, Anne Thomas, Andrew Kelly
Writers, artists, academics and activists debate how guilty cities should feel about their past and – critically – what cities should do about this to create better futures for all.
Walk: Putting Down Roots: The Physic Garden
The Physic Garden is an innovative gardening project, Putting Down Roots, run by homeless charity St Mungo’s. Take a tour of the garden and meet the green-fingered team.
Homes for Heroes 100: The Addison Vision Today
John Boughton, Madge Dresser, Simon Güntner, Paul Smith
The Addison Act of 1919 introduced the modern council estate. How has council housing changed since then? What can we learn from this?
Why Play Matters
Michael Rosen, Jenny Lacey
At school, children are focused on exams, while at home we're all glued to our phones. Michael Rosen shows us why all we need more play in our lives.
City Challenges Now
Bruno Maçães, Johny Pitts, Roxana Slavcheva, Romesh Vaitilingam
In a series of three short presentations we look at the challenge of China; the way blackness is shaping new identities in cities; and how cities can make innovation work for them.
Homes for Heroes 100: The Crisis and the Need
Ken Gibb, Paul Hackett, Vicky Spratt
We are in the midst of a long-term housing crisis. What role can council housing play? Where is the vision, locally and nationally?
Walk: Bringing the Medieval City Back to Life
Emma Brown
What are the most effective ways to bring energy and life into a community’s public space?
The Future of Urban Tolerance
Asher Craig, Sunder Katwala, Sara Khan
What is the state of extremism in cities and towns? Can the pluralistic nature and tolerance of cities combat extremism and build a better future for all?
Cities Can’t Wait: Community Wealth Building and Local Renewal
Matthew Brown, Nat Defriend, Gavin Kelly, Melissa Mean, Charlotte Morgan
In times of austerity, new ways have to be found to provide services and continue to move people and places forward. What lessons can cities share?
Homes for Heroes 100: Council House Lives
Natasha Carthew, Sarah Crown, Lynsey Hanley, Kerry Hudson, Durre Shahwar, Joan Smith
What was it like to grow up in council housing? What can we learn from this for the new programme of council housing today?
Radical Cities
Julian Baggini, Mary O’Hara, Guy Shrubsole, Ece Temelkuran
What would radical cities do today? How would they address issues of poverty, land reform, democracy, the future of life and work?
What Do the Arts Contribute to Cities?
Andrew Dixon, Tristram Hunt, Claire McColgan, Lola Shoneyin
Homes for Heroes 100: Building Communities in New Estates
John Boughton, Alice Brownfield, Victor da Cunha, Kate Henderson, Jenny Lacey, John Savage
How do we avoid the problems of the past and create new affordable housing to buy or rent in liveable neighbourhoods?
Utopian Ideas for Future Places
Tristram Hunt, Tim Cole
What can the great city builders of the past teach us about cities now?
Delivering for Bristol: The Mayor’s Annual State of the City Address and Debate
Marvin Rees, Sheila Foster, Bruno Maçães, Tony Pipa, Lola Shoneyin, Ece Temelkuran, Andrew Kelly
As Mayor Marvin Rees reaches the end of his first term, he reflects on the work of his administration and where it goes next.
Bauhaus and Women
Sian Norris, Jana Revedin, Naomi Wood
What was the impact of the women of the Bauhaus? And what can we learn today from their lives and work?
Lux Musicae
Lux Musicae London, Ignacio Lusardi, Ahmed Mukhtar
Ensemble Lux Musicae London in collaboration with Flamenco virtuoso Ignacio Lusardi and oud maestro Ahmed Mukhtar set Sephardic and Arabic music alongside Spanish composers of the late 16th to 18th centuries to tell a story of the Iberian peninsula and its music.
100 Years of Knowle West Style
Immerse yourself in 100 years of life in Knowle West: architecture, music, food, fashion, interiors and stories of everyday cultural icons.
Fighting the Climate Emergency in the Anthropocene
Paul Chatterton, Peter Clegg, Carla Denyer, Chris Dunford, Zakiya Mckenzie, Anna Starkey
What is the Anthropocene and what does it mean for cities? What actions will follow climate emergency declarations?
Regional Imbalances and Deep Devolution
Gillian Bristow, Michael Kenny, Bob Kerslake, Henri Murison
Has devolution stalled? What have been the successes and problems so far? What should cities be demanding?
Person/hood
Jay Bernard
Experience Jay Bernard's film – featuring a series of interviews drawing on the history of the Temple Quarter site and the vision for its future – through VR.
New Towns, Our Town: Stories on Screen (U)
New Towns, Our Town: Stories on Screen seeks to increase the visibility of, and pride in, the story of the New Town movement, and the unique social history and heritage of these pioneering towns.
Escape Room: Swarm Escape!
Can you imagine swarms of robots collaborating to identify and help combat city pollution, guide firefighters, save the city? Take part in this immersive experience – an escape room unlike any other.
City Psychiatrist
Yiota Demetriou, Nick Fogarty, Marcus Gilroy-Ware, Tim Kindberg, Sarah Selby
Speak for and about the city you live in to help build better places for the future.
Bauhaus Now
Charles Landry, Chris Murray, Darran Anderson, Sunand Prasad, Jana Revedin, Michiel Schwarz, Rhiannon Corcoran, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Simon Güntner, Hilary O’Shaughnessy, Ania Pilipenko, Finn Williams, Cecilia Wong, Anna Lisa Boni, Kathy McArdle, Marleen Stikker
Work and Life in the Green City
Paul Chatterton, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Rob Hopkins, Guy Standing, Will Stronge
It's widely agreed we're in a climate crisis, but what do we do? Our panel looks at communities and new economic thinking.
Walk: Unbuilt Bristol
Eugene Byrne
Learn about proposals for building schemes and monuments that never happened, from the practical to the brutally inappropriate to the just plain ridiculous.
New Town Utopia (15)
New Town Utopia tells the challenging, funny and sometimes tragic story of the British new town of Basildon.
The Green New Deal
Ann Pettifor, Martin Parker
What is the Green New Deal, and what would it deliver? What are the implications for cities?
Fighting for Equality
Carrie Gracie, Jenny Lacey
What can women, men and employers do to achieve pay equality for future generations of women?
Can Both Cities and Towns Prosper?
Kerry Hudson, Will Jennings, Lisa Nandy, Nick Pearce, Ros Wynne-Jones
As power is (slowly) devolved to sub-regions, towns and cities need to work together and plan for the future. How can we ensure that both prosper?
Are We Measuring What Matters in Cities?
Michele Acuto, Jessica Espey, Sean Fox, Patricia McCarney, Liz Zeidler
Around the world, people are developing ways to gather and interpret real-time data about everything from traffic flows to the moods of crowds. But do we really need all this data? Are we measuring the right things?
Faith in This Place: How Is the Christian Church Reshaping Itself in the Future City?
Tim Dobson
How do contemporary Christian organisations contribute to, shape and influence city development and city life?
Cities and the SDGs: Can Local Action Help Solve Global Challenges?
Susan Parnell, Erin Bromaghim, Kirsty Green Mann, Alexandra Hiniker, Tony Pipa
Cities are increasingly seen as pivotal arenas for tackling the sustainable development goals, but can they deliver on them all? Can cities save the world?
Renewing Democracy
Michele Acuto, Claudia Chwalisz, Darren Hughes, Michael Kenny, Ece Temelkuran
Is there a role for cities in making democracy work for all? How do we get the city leaders we need? How can we get citizens engaged in their city?
Influencers: Muslim and Jewish Communities in Bristol
Peter Brill, Mohammed Elsharif, Zehra Haq, Saiqa Khan, Clare Sandler
How do community-focused support organisations need to adapt as a city becomes increasingly diverse?
Can We Thrive as an Urban Species?: The Cabot Institute Annual Lecture 2019
Sean Fox, Andrew Kelly, Helen Manchester, Susan Parnell
Cabot Institute Annual Lecture 2019
Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four Today
Jake Chapman, Sarah Ditum, Dorian Lynskey, Jean Seaton, Ece Temelkuran
Writers and artists debate Orwell and the meaning and importance of Nineteen Eighty-Four today.
Escape Room: Swarm Escape!
Can you imagine swarms of robots collaborating to identify and help combat city pollution, guide firefighters, save the city? Take part in this immersive experience – an escape room unlike any other.
The Bristol Transformation: Creating Great Places
Two significant areas of redevelopment are the Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone and the YTL Filton arena project. What's the vision for each project and for the city and West of England?
Greening Bristol
Who’s doing good work in Bristol on greening the city and helping nature recover and prosper?
Race and the City: Tackling Race Inequality
Whether it’s countering overt racism and extremism or lower pay, lack of opportunities and discrimination, cities have a crucial role to play in creating better futures for all.
Making Planning Work
How do we make planning work so that we can build future cities at the same time as ensuring the democratic process is respected?
The Dilapidated Dwelling (PG)
In Patrick Keiller's film, a fictional researcher returns from a 20-year absence in the Arctic to find that the UK's houses are the most dilapidated in western Europe.
Walk: Old Market with Edson Burton
Edson Burton
Old Market is a barometer of Bristol and British history. Edson Burton charts the fascinating journey with a range of anecdotes drawn from interviews with past and present residents.
Walk: Bristol’s Urban Myths
Eugene Byrne
For more than 30 years Eugene Byrne has been filing away historical yarns, plus the tall tales he’s heard in the pub or newsroom. Join him for a tour of some of Bristol's least believable stories.
Homes for Heroes 100: Ashton Rise
Ashton Rise is a new housing development in Ashton Vale, South Bristol for private and council houses. Take a tour and discuss the innovation there.
Climate Change in the City: Sustainable and Nature-Friendly Responses
Helen Clarkson, Emma Howard Boyd, Peter Madden, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh
How can we use green infrastructure to tackle climate change and also ensure that our responses make cities greener and better places to live?
Futur Ville
Gavin Bridge, Edson Burton, Lhosa Daly, Kara de Los Reyes, Doug Francisco, Paul Hassan, Adibah Iqbal, Katie McClymont, Paula Orell, Henry Palmer, Wim Penhaul, Stephen Pritchard, Shankari Raj, Martin Schwegmann, Gill Simmons, Oliver Sutherland
Futur Ville is a series of events inspired by the complex relationship between artists, creative communities, urban regeneration and cultural policy.
How AI is Learning to Write, Paint and Think
Marcus du Sautoy, Jenny Lacey
Will a computer ever compose a symphony, write a prize-winning novel, or paint a masterpiece? And if so, would we be able to tell the difference?
Making Nature-Friendly Cities a Reality
Jan Bessell, Gemma Jerome, Clare Owens, Lorraine Whitmarsh
What practical steps can be taken to make our cities greener and more nature friendly?
The Engaged University and Social Mobility
John Goddard, Joanna Holmes, Tom Sperlinger, Caitlin Zaloom
What role do – and should – universities play in the places they are based and the communities they work in? What contribution should universities make to social mobility?
Walk: Contested History with Madge Dresser: Bristol Slavery Trail
Madge Dresser
The Bristol slavery trail was first devised in 1999. Madge Dresser leads a walk looking at new findings, debunking some myths, and considering current controversies arising from the city’s slaving past and how it should be remembered.
Social Innovation in the Future City
Dominik Byrne, Edson Burton, Mena Fombo, Jenny Foster, Becca Rose Glowacki, Euella Jackson, Sado Jirde, Janine Marriott, Annie Menter, Rissa Mohabir, Georgina Perry, Terri Rotchell, Dave Taylor-Matthews, Simon Tepper
The grant holders from the social innovation grant scheme talk about their experiences and what they have planned.
Building Liveable Neighbourhoods
Nicola Beech, Mark Drane, Steve Melia, Miriam Ricci, Danielle Sinnett
What makes a liveable neighbourhood? What recommendations can we bring together for future cities?
The Experimental City: A Documentary
Darran Anderson, Jonathan Carr, Roxana Slavcheva, Andrew Kelly
The Minnesota Experimental City (MXC) project was a futuristic attempt to solve urban problems by creating a full-size city from scratch in the isolated woods of northern Minnesota.
Paul Mason on Radical Cities
Paul Mason, Madhu Krishnan
In the centenary of Red Vienna and the Weimar Republic, Paul Mason looks at radical cities in the past and now.
MPs’ Question Time
Thangam Debbonaire, Darren Jones, Kerry McCarthy, Karin Smyth, Jenny Lacey
What do Bristol's four MPs think about the future of the city?
Robot Swarms in Our Cities
Join researchers from the Hauert Lab at the University of Bristol and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory to help define the role of robot swarms in future cities.
How We Betrayed the Windrush Generation
Amelia Gentleman, Marie-Annick Gournet, Colin Grant
At a time when nation states are pulling up the drawbridges and putting up barriers and walls, Gentleman and Grant explore how to create better and more tolerant places in the future.
A House Through Time
Mary Crisp, David Olusoga
A House Through Time has captivated viewers with its first two series and the next series will feature a Bristol house. What do the findings tell us about how cities have changed? And what might houses and places be like in the future?
Finding My Voice
Nadiya Hussain
Nadiya Hussain considers her roles as mother, Muslim, working woman and celebrity, and questions the barriers which many women must cross to be heard.
In association with
Higher Education partner
Event partners
Venue partners
