John Burrell will be participating in the 2023 IMCL Conference “The Ecology of Place: From Understanding to Action” to be held in Poundbury, UK. John will present a paper ‘Grey Land: How its comprehensive restructuring could end a post-Corbusian ‘idee fixe’ by facilitating the creation of tens of millions of human scale dwellings in our cities globally, and over half a million in the GLA area of London alone...and on land all in public ownership’.
The conference will gather policy leaders, practitioners, community leaders and top scholars, to share lessons and discuss potential collaborations. Key partners, from a number of countries, will share their knowledge and collaboration. A major aim of the conference will be to serve as a “springboard” toward new research, and new collaborative action.
John will present his vision for a renaissance in London Housing and explain why it works by demonstrating the process for achieving it, giving examples of schemes already being delivered and showing how they can be replicated and scaled up.
“With my practice BFF Architects & Urban Designers I have advocated, since its foundation, city building by re-uniting local authority estates with their immediate neighbourhood grain and context. We use the voids where the ‘waste’ land creates security and privacy problems, where it fails to establish useable private space for residents and where it has an ill-defined public realm that invites abuse and abandonment. Our projects at Angell Town, Brixton and Estates on the city fringe demonstrate our remedial approach.” - John Burrell
Video tour hosted by IMCL Executive Director, Dr. Michael Mehaffy
The Abstract for the conference reads:
“As humanity confronts multiple historic challenges, our settlements and their characteristics are set to play a central role – especially so in a time of historic rapid urbanization. Our cities, towns and suburbs are where we interact, move about, consume resources, develop and deploy our technologies, and create most of the impacts we are having on Planet Earth. In that sense, our settlements are major contributors to our challenges – but they also offer an important platform for joining up key issues of emissions and contamination, resource use and depletion, and ecological destruction, as well as challenges of equitable human development, health, and well-being.
In recent years, the sciences have made considerable advances in understanding the nature of our settlements, and the urgent need to reform our “business as usual” practices. The New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals – both adopted by acclamation by all 193 member states of the United Nations – reflect many of these advances, and both documents plainly state the powerful case for reform. But the systems by which we plan, design and build, are still “locked in” to many of the old and failing practices that have brought us to crisis. Breakthrough approaches to reform are needed.
At the same time, many citizens are increasingly mobilized to oppose projects that they see as incompatible, even ugly, and degrading of their quality of life. In a democracy, they have a right to be heard, and to be taken seriously. Moreover, the research shows a clear divergence between the citizens and the specialists who carry out much of the building work – and the research also reveals why experts can lose touch with both the needs of their users, and the urgency of genuine reform. This scientific knowledge can help to guide us to more effective reform, and to the crucial transition to a healthier urban world.
This conference will focus on that missing gap: from understanding to action, in transitioning to more ecological ways of building and settling. We will gather in Poundbury, a new urban extension developed under the guidance of the UK’s Charles III, along with many collaborators over three decades. Poundbury is a fitting venue, and a remarkable laboratory of multiple experiments in ecological technology, socially supportive design, and economic opportunity for all. It demonstrates an impressive departure from “business as usual,” with instructive lessons on its successes as well as its remaining challenges.”
A founder partner of Burrell Foley Fischer, John has specialist expertise in urban design, masterplanning, working with communities, and the imaginative re-use of historic buildings, streetscapes, and city spaces. He has been at the forefront of the movement to create a more intelligent and sustainable approach to Urban Design and Planning. His pioneering research work, designs and built projects demonstrate the importance of the reuse of brownfield sites, excellence in architectural and urban design and the importance of understanding people and communities.
John’s research has led to numerous publications and he has served on several advisory bodies. His paper ‘City Continuity, Community’ and projects presented at the 2017 International Making Cities Liveable Conference in New Mexico received the Honour Prize. He was subsequently invited to join the IMCL Board.