Negroni Talks #A2

Having provoked debates interrogating all things “Architectural” from its base in east London, “Negroni talks…!” is hitting the road to discover how the Politics Of Architecture plays out in other parts of the UK. Heading North, South, East and West, The Negroni Talks On the Road Tour aims to hold ‘4 talks in 4 towns’, taking a look at what’s happening on the ground by focusing on local factors that shape the built environment, and what this means for it’s inhabitants. In overview, the Series presents essentially the same discussion in each of the places visited. This repetition is a means to spotlight differences, but also those areas of similarity between urban environments to make comparisons at a national scale. The fabric of each village, town and city across the land stands as a witness to the fallibility of decision-making where private agendas and the public interest collide. Recording the passage of time in material forms, every built landscape provides its own version of a common history - namely the cause and effect impact that buildings and property have as a political player. The talk series poses a series of questions to prompt the discussions: Process: Building is a simple act with an abundance of complexities. What are the fundamental flaws in the current overall system by which buildings are created? Planning: A broken system suffering from a distinct lack of vision? Does it address need and if so whose? As a reactive body, does it have the ability, the will, or the funding to ensure that beyond the concerns of the individual, there is a grander master plan? Policy: Is there a lack of assertiveness, a lack of confidence, a lack of knowledge or a lack of ideas on how to carefully harness market forces for the common good? Permission: Who decides? Are the interests & the imagination of those who say yes or no, broad enough? Playing the game: Who sets the rules and is breaking them the only way to build what is really needed? Procurement: Finance tends to dominate discussions about delivery and determines (and often limits) the scope of what is possible? So, what of our ambition? What could be? Potential: Where and how is it being wasted? Place-making: Can new buildings offer a necessary variety so that they serve all demographics in society and assist in creating more collective spirited communities in the future? Progressiveness: How do you create processes where quality and invention are expected and not hoped for? Performance: How do you ensure that all buildings contribute socially & environmentally? Past Problems: The built environment offers lessons on mistakes made. It illustrates what works, what has time proven longevity and where ideas/experiments have failed. With the benefit of hindsight, are we clear in what we are doing and what we need to avoid? Purpose: What is the point of building? Should we ask this before we do anything? Planet: Can ‘development opportunity’ become redefined so that new building is allied more with existing built fabric? Power: How can heritage, identity and representation be used positively to decentralize, diversify and empower? Politics: Despite the posturing and of our politicians and the promotion of Britain as ‘Great’, are our built environments blighted by a national malaise and if so what can be done to overcome this?