Socius describes itself as an “impactful developer” that balances profit alongside purpose to deliver sustainable mixed-use places. We catch up with directors Barry Jessup and Olaide Oboh to learn about their new development in Milton Keynes, their commitment to sustainable development, the B Corp journey and why design and architecture matters

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How do we break out of our silos and adopt more holistic ways of working? How do we renew our cities and places while respecting the environment and planetary boundaries? How can we take an equitable approach to planning and urban renewal in our cities in the context of a climate emergency? What does participatory planning look like, and why does it matter? Featuring Leonora Grcheva, Cities and Regions Lead, Doughnut Economics Action Lab, Pooja Agrawal, CEO, Public Practice and Karen Jelenje, Founder, Activate the City!

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If we don't do something about our high streets, town centres and people working from home, we will lose a way of life and the social fabric of our places, says Roger Wade, CEO, Boxpark in this interview. Wade makes a passionate plea for government to level the playing field between online retail and shopfronts in terms of business rates, arguing that physical retail can compete on content. "The centres of our communities don't need to die... but we need to create the right circumstances for hospitality, restauranteurs and shops."

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Approximately 1 in every 14 people over the age of 65 will suffer dementia in the UK, but as citizens they are often excluded from consultation on the design of our places and cities. Dr Samantha Biglieri’s research seeks to change that. Her work, which lies at the intersection of public health and urban planning, asks what we can learn from engaging with people suffering from dementia. What are we missing when people with dementia are locked out of community engagement? What can the experience of dementia teach us about the liveability of our urban and suburban places?

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Turning historic buildings to new use, Tim Heatley, co-founder of developer Capital&Central, and Mark Braund, architect director at BDP talk about Stockport’s Weir Mill and how they're creating a community out of an historic mill complex and bringing mixed-use urban apartment-living to the suburbs.

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What is the cost of displacement through gentrification? What are the alternatives in the context of the private rental boom? How do we genuinely level up while renewing urban places, and ensure existing communities feel the benefit? Recorded live at the Festival of Place, we hear from Prof. Loretta Lees, an urban geographer and scholar-activist who wrote the book on gentrification and Alisha Morenike Fisher, Founding-Director of Migrant’s Bureau, a social design and urbanism practice for Black, disenfranchised & migrant communities.

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Can the design of a place make people happier or healthier? Can architecture itself make a positive social impact, and can that value be quantified on a spreadsheet? We brought together a range of professionals for live podcast recording to discuss the impact, metrics and importance of social value. This podcast is supported by Hawkins\Brown, and features Matt Woolgar, Hadley Property Group; Hazel York, Hawkins Brown; Natascha McIntyre Hall, Portsmouth City Council; Blossom Young, Poplar HARCA; May Molteno, Trilogy;Michael Riebel, Hawkins\Brown; Hani Salih, Quality of Life Foundation andAnnabel Precious, Civic Engineers

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If you really want to tackle representation in your organisation, don't invite the marginalised to volunteer on a working group that will inevitably go nowhere. That's just one of the tips Dr Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City, shares in this talk from Festival of Place: Gender Equal Cities in a podcast episode sponsored by IE School of Architecture and Design

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Developers discuss post-Covid public space and town centre design in the context of the climate emergency. Has the pandemic derailed or accelerated progress in making our cities more climate resilient? How do we design public spaces that support social connection and democracy while tackling critical urban issues such as flooding, drought, pollution and overheating? This live podcast recording is sponsored by Vestre and features Chris Brown, Igloo; Olaide Oboh, First Base; Jonathan Wilson, Citu; Paul King, Lendlease; Yẹmí Àlàdérun, Islington & Shoreditch Housing Association and Neil Murphy, TOWN with Romy Rawlings, Vestre.

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Those who perpetuate hate crimes attack people for being different, so can we design public spaces that make marginalised groups safer by making them less visible? Professor Pippa Catterall discusses the problem of violent attacks for the LGBTQ+ community and explains why a large echoey open public square can be a deeply uncomfortable space where individuals are easily targeted. What makes us stand out in public space, who does the looking, and what design features could make our cities more tolerant of difference?

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