Blog

Imagine a major intersection with no traffic lights, no traffic signals, no painted lines on the road, and no curbs. Now imagine that scenario with over 26,000 vehicles passing through a traditional village center with heavy pedestrian traffic bustling through. Believe it or not, this already exists and it’s called a “shared space” and it is located in the village of Poynton. Ben Hamilton-Baillie is the urban designer responsible for this phenomenon, and he will be a keynote speaker at this year’s 52^nd International Making Cities Livable Conference on Achieving Green, Healthy Cities.

By KJ Kresin

When I was growing up my family and I went to Peru every two years to spend a couple months with my mom’s family. Her father lived in Lima but was born in Arequipa, which meant we would stay there for a few weeks at a time. When we weren’t relaxing or exploring with our extended family, my mom would take charge and take us to some hidden gems around the town. One night, while staying in Arequipa a 6.3 earthquake struck the town at two in the morning. When the sun came up, my first thought was, “how do I get out of this earthquake ridden town?” My mom however, without hesitation took me to La Plaza de Armas in the middle of the city.

Simon Conibear, Development Manager for the Duchy of Cornwall, will give a keynote talk about Poundbury at the 52^nd IMCL Conference, and lead a walking tour of this model new urban village.

In 2016 the City of Ljubljana, Slovenia will be celebrating their year with the title of European Green Capital. We are delighted to announce that Tjaša Ficko, Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana will talk at the Bristol Conference about her city's initiatives that won it this title.