Creating Vibrant Villages and Towns: The Current View

Historic places have the potential to be highly sustainable. They can also provide useful lessons about the importance of human scale for social connectivity; it is people that make places vibrant, and vibrant towns and villages are places that are shaped for people. This webinar explored aspects of heritage in planning and conservation of the build environment, focusing on current issues, challenges and solutions, and using the work of Jan Gehl to tease out some of the ways in which vibrant places can be created.

Speakers:

• Introduction: Steven Bee, Chair of the Historic Towns and Villages Forum
• Sustainable Settlements: David McDonald, Chair of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation & Heritage Consultant
• Creating Vibrant Villages and Towns: Penelope Tollitt, Director at Making Places Together, Built Environment Coach and Lecturer

 

Speaker biographies:

David McDonald is an independent urban design and conservation consultant with over 30 years experience in the historic environment sector. He currently specialises in providing training for built environment professionals including town planners, conservation officers and architects, but also provides advice to a number of private and public sector clients. He has been a tutor on the RIBA’s Conservation Register course since 2017.  Having originally trained as a planner, he worked for a number of years at the London Borough of Camden during which time he completed the Diploma in Building Conservation at the Architectural Association. David then led the Conservation and Urban Design Team at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) for over 20 years before leaving in 2011 to take up his current role. He is a member of the Design Review Panels of the London Boroughs of Wandsworth and Enfield, as well as the Victorian Society’s Southern Buildings Committee. He is a Trustee of the Council on Training in Architectural Conservation. He became President of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) in 2015, and subsequently Chair since June 2019.

Penelope Tollitt runs the consultancy Making Places Together where she works with clients – public, private and third sector – who are committed to working constructively, collaboratively, and creatively to achieve their ambitions. She is a generalist and has a collaborative approach to finding solutions to the complex and varied issues of planning, design, sustainability, engagement and strategy. She has broad experience including local plans and development briefs as well as urban regeneration and master planning. She has worked as an Urban Designer at Bath City, lecturer at the University of the West of England, Head of Policy and Design at Kensington and Chelsea, and Head of Planning and Sustainability at Wycombe District Council. She is currently also a Visiting Lecturer with the Bartlett, UCL, on management and leadership in planning. Penelope is Chair of the Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckingham and Milton Keynes (BOBMK) design network, a Director of Planning Officers Society Enterprises, a member of the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) Policy Council, and has been Chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) England Policy Panel.

Steven Bee is Chair of the Historic Towns and Villages Forum. He is Principal of Steven Bee Urban Counsel, providing critical, creative and strategic advice and guidance to all involved in planning and development. Steven is a former CABE Enabler and Planning Advisory Committee member, and former Chair of the Academy of Urbanism. Previous roles include Director of Planning and Development at English Heritage, Chief Development Officer and Director of Development Services at Winchester City Council, and Technical Director at Llewelyn-Davies.

(Image: High Wycombe, courtesy of Penelope Tollitt)

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