Historic Patrick Geddes plans and drawings to be displayed for first time
Rarely seen work by the hugely influential Scottish planner and botanist Sir Patrick Geddes will go on show at the University of Dundee this month, some of it being placed on public display for what is thought to be the first time. “The City is a Thinking Machine – Activism in the Built Environment” marks the centenary of the publication of Geddes’ 'Cities in Evolution’ (1915) and the associated Cities Exhibitions that ran at that time. Geddes was a pioneering thinker on the design and evolution of cities. 'Cities in Evolution’ was a seminal text which promoted his Citie...
Measuring wellbeing for effective place-making
Date: 13/11/2015 Time: 10.00 – 16.00Location: Dalhousie Lecture Theatre (LT1- Ground Floor), University of Dundee Register for tickets Considerable advances around the meaning of well-being have been made in recent years, with a view to influencing national policies which value quality of life, including linkages with the physical environment and the social health of communities. However, as yet there has been little consideration of how well-being can be achieved through collaborative forms of place making. Critics suggest that place making is often more concerned with the form and physical appearan...
Nablus "an authentic urban space”
The first satellite event for The City is a Thinking Machine ... activism in the built environment exhibition took place in the Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee on Monday 19th October 2015. Mr Naseer R. Arafat, who is visiting Dundee as a guest of the Dundee-Nablus Twinning Association, gave an illustrated lecture entitled: Nablus "an authentic urban space”. Drawing on his research, planning and architectural practice in the city, Naseer reflected on design innovations in Nablus, and explained how the historic city centre of Nablus has transformed over centuries in light of changing...
Enhancing wellbeing: inclusive, community collaborative approaches to place making
Resources from the event, Report, videos, Galleries - now with final report Briefing Attitudes to well-being are beginning to change, both within government and society, with a shift away from the idea that a flourishing life is primarily connected to material prosperity towards one that positions well-being as a significant goal for public policy. This shift is being accompanied by a commitment to empower local communities, unlocking social capital and giving individuals greater voice in the processes of place making that determine the quality and direction of their lives. Together, these changes pro...
Youth Camp 2015 with Minecraft on the Waterfront
Youth Camp 2015 was a successful and engaging workshop where seven secondary schools across the TAYplan area developed hypothetical visions for what they think Dundee waterfront should look like through interactive sessions using the popular game, Minecraft. Each participating school team was given an individual plot on a model of the Dundee Waterfront (designed in Minecraft by Andrew Rennie, Conservation Officer, Perth and Kinross Council) to develop their visions of the waterfront. A central aim of the Youth Camp was to encourage young people to think differently about places they live and to help them u...
Flourishing Communities and Productive Seas
Over forty delegates attended a one day CECHR-funded symposium on marine spatial planning on 28 April, organised by Deborah Peel and Alison Reeves, and postgraduate students from the Masters in Spatial Planning (Marine Spatial Planning). Participants came from a range of backgrounds, including central government, local authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Crown Estate, and NGOs, such as Scottish Environment LINK and PAS. The event was chaired by Greg Lloyd, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University. The aim of the event was to find ways to ‘talk’ across marine science, social science and l...
From Global Business City to Tourist City
Postmodern Transformation of Tokyo's CBD into a Tourist Destination On May 1st Dr Keisuke Enokido, Professor of International Tourism at Hannan University, Osaka, led a constructive research seminar on the tourismification of business districts, using a case study of new forms of area management in Tokyo. In anticipation of the opening of the V&A in Dundee, and efforts to draw international visitors and tourists to the city, colleagues from the schools of Town and Regional Planning and Business joined Professor Enokido and local city centre practitioners to learn more about the restoration of Tokyo&rsq...
100 years of Cities in Evolution
Marking the centenary of the publication of Geddes, Cities in Evolution Exhibition & Workshops The Scottish polymathic planner and botanist, Patrick Geddes, was able to articulate conceptual frameworks for the evolution of cities – what he called ‘thinking machines’ – and create resilient narratives for understanding the dialogues between the on-going processes of city evolution and democratic social organisation. This program of research workshops culminating in a symposium and public exhibition of work drawn from the Geddes archives, evaluates the relevance of Geddes to contem...
Resilient Coasts and Flourishing Seas?
Symposium: Tuesday 28 April 2015 The Baxter Suite 1.36, Tower Building, University of Dundee (9.30-4pm) Interested in Marine Spatial Planning? Want to know more about Scotland's first National Marine Plan? Why not attend a free event at the University of Dundee to find out more about what colleagues are researching in relation to the marine environment? This one day symposium will bring together inter-disciplinary expertise from practice and across the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CEHCR) and Offshore Renewables Institute to explore key issues with respect to the marine and land/sea...
The Changing Face of Urban Planning
Mono 68: One city, One month, One camera Photographs by Phil Thomson, Dundee, November 1968 Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee To accompany this highly popular exhibition we have arranged another special event: Monday 16 March at 5.30pm The Changing Face of Urban Planning – a series of short talks followed by a discussion exploring how planning has changed in Dundee and other cities over the years. Why was so much of the city demolished and are we more sympathetic towards conservation of the built environment today? The event will start in the Lamb Gallery then move into Room T4 for f...