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Why Milton Keynes?

MILTON KEYNES, a New Town of around 260,000 people some 50 miles from London, is famous for its American-style road grid and its high-modernist shopping mall. But this place, also known as pleasant but dull, has become a lot more colourful in recent times. Competing with the chain stores of the mall, there are now markets selling African and Asian food and the city is home to a 100+ nationalities. Milton Keynes nowadays has some of the “vibrancy” of multicultural London.

Established in 1967 in an attempt to be different from the previous New Towns built under the 1946 New Towns Act, which had been too rigidly built with no flexibility or space for organic growth, the planners of Milton Keynes wanted to accommodate a social mix and a balance of incomes in the different neighborhoods as a distinctive feature.

However, like the other New Towns of the South East which initially drew their population from the resettlement of skilled workers from London, Milton Keynes was at first ethnically homogeneous, still being identifiable as a distinct part of the ‘White ROSE’ (Rest of the South East – i.e. the South East outside London) in the 1990s.

Today Milton Keynes is a fast-growing city, which has set itself apart with a dedication to modern architecture, public art and creative expression and it is seen as a new multicultural city. The number of Milton Keynes residents born outside of the UK has more than doubled from 20,500 (9.9%) in 2001 to 46,100 (18.5%) in 2011.

This year the New Town celebrates its 50th anniversary and invests resources and public commitment into arts, heritage and culture as driver for the city future development. The questions raised by these ambitions, in particular the planning issues (growing city) and migration phenomena (the city is attractive for multi-ethnic low and middle income groups which escape London’s unaffordable prices), make Milton Keynes a very concrete example of a City of Comings and Goings.

The city is an excellent host for this year’s International New Town Day and we are very much looking forward to welcoming everyone interested in migration and New Towns in Milton Keynes on June 28th.

Recent articles about Milton Keynes:
 “50 reasons to love Milton Keynes” on The Guardian Cities, Jan 20th, 2017
 “The struggle for the soul of Milton Keynes” on the Guardian Cities, May 3rd, 2016

Recent New Town planning issues in UK:
Earlier this year, the UK government has announced plans to build 17 new New Towns and villages across the English countryside in a bid to ease a chronic housing shortage. This means the discussion on the role of the state in national and regional planning, the relation to existing cities and countryside, the design and the principles of New town planning are again relevant. A panel discussion with UK international representatives and urban experts will critically address the controversial perspectives of this new developments.

Recent articles about the planned New Towns:
 “New garden towns and villages to provide 200.000 homes to ease housing shortage” published on the Telegraph on Jan 2nd, 2017
 “What are garden villages and towns, where are they being built and why? Here’s what we know” appeared on The Sun, on Jan 2nd 2017



International New Town Day 2017 New Towns as Cities of Comings and Goings: Presents & Futures
Milton Keynes, June 28, 2017

Our cities are more and more becoming ‘Cities of Comings and Goings’ with a population that is not static, but growing and shrinking and increasingly mobile. Not only the refugee crisis has taught us this lesson, but also the increasing amount of international students, expats, economic migrants, asylum seekers and foreign workers. Migration has become a permanent force in our cities and (former) New Towns.

New Towns, by definition, have no ‘original’ inhabitants – every resident is a migrant. Some are housing newcomers and have become ‘Arrival Cities’, like Gellerup (Denmark) or Thamesmead (UK). Others, like Almere (NL) or Milton Keynes (UK), have become the preferred housing environment of a migrant middle class that has adopted the suburban lifestyle.

How can we understand and analyse the present New Towns, reflecting on their identity, culture and diversity as places where people have migrated to? How can New Towns better adjust and anticipate to the dynamics of migration?

The culture of New Towns is forward looking, with an emphasis on innovation and experiment, not only in technology but also social, cultural, political and financial innovation. This program of events will address future city concepts and how the pressure of migration, societal change, growth and expansion is urging us to reinvent and reimagine our cities.

On International New Town Day we will examine Presents & Futures of New Towns as Cities of Comings and Goings.
Presents: How can we understand and analyse the present New Towns, reflecting on their identity, culture and diversity as places where people have migrated to and from? What narratives can we construct that include the dynamics and the diversity of its population and its culture?

Futures: what futures can we think of for our New Towns? With the perspective of migration as a permanent phenomenon, how can New Towns better adjust and anticipate to these developments?

The conference, organized in partnership with the Academy of Urbanism, MK Council, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes Destination and the precious support of the INTImi members, will offer a platform for sharing experiences and best practices with a number of UK, European and other international urban experts.

The INTD17 main sponsors are Milton Keynes City Council and centre:mk.

INTI is the organization that facilitates this platform of knowledge exchange. If you are interested in participating, or if you would like to receive more information, please contact INTI via internationalnewtownday@newtowninstitute.org




Practical Information

The overall programme includes:
 June 27: Welcome soirée
 June 28: International New Town Day 2017
 June 29: Tour Milton Keynes + reception
 June 30: Conference Academy of Urbanism
 July 1st: Tour London (upon request)


Costs
 INTI conference + Tour + reception: 150£ /174€ excl vat
 INTI & AoU conferences + Tour + reception: 250£/290€ excl vat
 Conference day only: 115£/133€ excl. vat
 Tour day June 29 only: 65£/75€ excl. vat
 London Tour July 1st: 30£/35€ excl. vat


Program conference 28 June

The International New Town Day 2017 is hosted in Milton Keynes (UK) on June 28th, 2017, as part of an Urban Fest celebrating the city’s 50th anniversary. It is combined with a Welcome Soirée (June 27th), tour excursions (MK exploration on June 29th and London Tour on July 1st) and exhibitions, art events and lectures. The week of events also includes the Academy of Urbanism one day conference (June 30th).

Provisional Schedule June 28, Middleton Hall, Auditorium

 08:30 - 09:00 Registrations

 09:00 - 09:45 Welcome and Introduction

  • Welcome by David Hopkins Mayor of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
  • Keynote lecture by Michelle Provoost, director of INTI

 09:45 - 11:30 Morning Session: Updating the Welfare State Cities
The morning session will look at the welfare state cities and how they are trying to adapt to migrations. With the aim to understand and analyze ’New Towns as Cities of Comings and Goings’, this session will reflect on their identity, culture and diversity as places where people have migrated to and from.

  • Gellerup, Aarhus (DK) - create an inclusive environment through physical radical changes with Per Frølund, Program manager at the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark
  • Milton Keynes (UK) - Migration and Diversity: An overview of MK in the midst of becoming a Multicultural New Town with Mark Clapson, Professor of Social and Urban History Department of History, Sociology and Criminology University of Westminster, UK
  • Vantaa (Finland) - A resilient approach to prevent segregation with Tarja Laine - Head of Urban Planning, Municipality of Vantaa, FI
  • Thamesmead (London, UK) - culture-led urban regeneration with John Lewis, Executive Director Thamesmead (Peabody Group)

The session is followed by a panel discussion with:

  • Helena Mattsson, - Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Head of department KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
  • Joe Abbey, Managing Director Tema Development Corporation, Tema, Ghana

Moderation by Kieran Long, Director of ArkDes, Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design

 11:30 - 12:00 coffee-break

 12:00 - 13:00 Architecture and Design solutions for the Arrival City
Projects and housing solutions around Europe

  • case 1: Amsterdam - Startblok Riekerhaven - New housing solutions to tackle emerging housing challenges with Rienk Postuma Project Manager Woonstichting de Key, and and Bart van den Bergh, Project coordinator at Startblok Riekerhaven, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • case 2: London "The Bike Project" - the city as emancipation machine with David Janner-Klausner, founder of "The Bike Project", local development, urbanism and sustainability expert
  • case 3: London "The Coal Line Project" - A community-led initiative that is more than reconnecting Peckham’s neighbourhoods in physical and spatial terms. The case is presented by Nick Woodford, investigator at "The Coal Line Project" & spatial practitioner

 13:00 - 14:00 lunch break

 14:00 - 15:30 Afternoon Session: New Emerging Themes
This session will look at what futures can we think of for our New Towns with the perspective of migration as a permanent phenomenon and how can New Towns better respond to these developments.

  • A comparison between migrant middle classes in Amsterdam Nieuw-West and Almere with Ivan Nio, urban sociologist, NIO Urban Research & Consultancy, The Netherlands
  • Shenzhen (China): Upgrading of migrant population with Tat Lam, Director Shanzhai City, Shenzhen, China
  • Prato (Italy): Conflicts and diversity, how to turn them into an opportunity with Valerio Barberis, Alderman Spatial Planning, municipality of Prato, Italy

The session is followed by a panel discussion with:

  • Michael Keith, Director of COMPAS, Co-ordinator of Urban Transformations (The ESRC portfolio of investments and research on cities), and Co-Director of the University of Oxford Future of Cities programme, UK
  • Katy Bennett, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Leicester, UK

Moderation by Kieran Long, Director of ArkDes, Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design

 15:30 - 16:00 break

 16:00 - 17:15 Next generation New Towns in the UK
While no new towns have been built since the 1970s, Garden Cities are today on the top of the UK political agenda. At the beginning of the year, the government announced plans to create 14 new garden villages and three new garden towns in Aylesbury, Taunton and Harlow/Gilston as a means to ease the chronic housing shortage in the South-West. How does the new generation of new Towns respond to the housing crisis they are trying to tackle? How will they secure affordable provisions while offering high quality sustainable homes? How new developments will be connected to the existing New Towns which are suffering from regeneration issues, density and lack of functional mix?

This panel discussion wants to offer UK representatives and international urban experts the possibility to critically address the perspective of these new developments.

Panelists include:

  • Katy Lock, TCPA, UK
  • Mahmood Faruqi, Director London office, CallisonRTKL, UK
  • Michelle Provoost, INTI
  • David Rudlin, URBED & AoU
  • Anna Rose, Director – Growth, Economy and Culture at Milton Keynes Council and President, Planning Officers Society
  • Rebecca Kearney, Associate Technical Director – Development Planning, Arcadis
  • Kevin McGeough, Head of Strategy & Place Making, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation

Moderation by Oliver Wainwright, architect and urban Journalist at The Guardian

 17:15– 17:30 Drawing conclusions from the day; announcement of INTD 2018

 17:30– 18:00 Drinks&Bites

Evening Programme, Middleton Hall, Auditorium

 18.45 Psychology and the City: the Hidden Dimension book launch
Debate and signing with authors Charles Landry and Chris Murray
 20.30 Land of Promise performance
The Town and Country Planning Association’s celebration in words, film and music of the British Utopian tradition that inspired the New Towns Programme


This INTD will offer a great opportunity for international exchange, where not only examples will be showcased, but also problems, challenges and opportunities will be debated, showing tools and urban policies for urban regeneration which include culture and diversity as drivers of change and socio-economic improvement.




Amsterdam West, The Netherlands
(photo: Ivan Nio)
Previous edition: INTD 2016


Speakers

Ivan Nio, senior researcher, The Netherlands

Dr. Ivan Nio is a senior researcher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences as well as an independent researcher and consultant. His particular interest lies in the tension and mutual interaction between the planned city and the lived city. In 2016 he obtained his PhD in social sciences from the University of Amsterdam with a thesis on modernity and sub urbanity in Almere, Cergy-Pontoise and Milton Keynes, Moderniteit en suburbaniteit in de nieuwe stad: Almere, Cergy-Pontoise, Milton Keynes. In his research and publications, he has explored diverse themes on the interface of planning/urban design and urban sociology. He is (co-)author of several books on the everyday life in Dutch suburbs and post-war neighbourhoods.

Joseph A. Abbey, TDC Managing Director, Ghana

Joseph A. Abbey, Managing Director of Tema Development Corporation (TDC), has over 27 years experience in the real estate industry. He previously served as Operations Manager of Kmark Corporation, Illinois, USA, having served as a Research Analyst with Wheeler Realtors Incorporated, Wisconsin, USA. He holds a Masters Degree in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, Chicago, USA, a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin, USA, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Land Economy from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. He also took a Comonwealth Executive Programme in Public Management at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada. He is an Associate Member of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute, UK.

Helena Mattsson, KTH School of Architecture, Sweden

Helena Mattsson is an architect, researcher and Associate Professor in History and Theory of Architecture at KTH School of Architecture.
She has extensively written on architecture, art and culture, and is editor for the culture periodical SITE and the editor for Swedish Modernism – Architecture, Consumption and the Welfare State (2010) and 1%(2006). She is a prolific writer and she conducted numerous research projects among which Architecture and consumption in Sweden 1930 – 1970, The Architecture of Deregulations: Postmodernism and politics in Swedish architecture and the current research project Architecture, Space, and Ideology (Södertörn University College). She is a member of the Steering Committee for the Strong Research Environment (FORMAS) Architecture in Effect (KTH).

Katy Bennett, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Leicester, UK

Dr. Katy Bennett is Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Leicester and her research interests concern geographies of multiculture, community, identity, home and emotion. She has been Principle and Co-Investigator of multiple RCUK funded research projects including Living Multiculture: the new geographies of ethnicity and the changing formations of multiculture in England. Her publications include the forthcoming Routledge book Lived Experiences of Multiculture: The New Social and Spatial Relations of Diversity (with Sarah Neal, Allan Cochrane and Giles Mohan). Katy is a member of an international scientific research network exploring ’Solidarity in diversity: community, place making and citizenship’ and is the current editor of Cultural Geography on Geography Compass and on the Editorial Board for Emotion, Space and Society.

Tat Lam CEO at Shanzhai CIty, China

Dr. Ta Lam is CEO of SZC Holdings Limited, a social development incubator, co-creating and implementing impact strategies with international organizations and enterprises for long term value generation programs. Before that, Tat dedicated to serve communities in urban and rural development projects, and identified urgency of having a social development agency, particularly in the rapid development context of China. As an urban and developmental expert, Tat directed urban think tanks to consult public and private organizations, including governments, development enterprises and rural communities. Dr. Tat Lam started China Lab with his colleagues in 2007 and currently appointed as Columbia University GSAPP Studio X Beijing director. He is also a professor of urban innovations at CUHK in Hong Kong.

Kieran Long, ArkDes Director, Sweden (Moderator)

Kieran Long is director of ArkDes, the Swedish national museum of architecture and design in Stockholm. From 2013 until 2017, Kieran Long was the head of design, architecture and digital at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. His journalism roles include deputy editor of Icon magazine and editor in chief of the Architects’ Journal and the Architectural Review. Furthermore Kieran Long is a Dezeen columnist; he has presented television programmes including ’The House That £100k Built’ and ’Restoration Home’ for the BBC and was the assistant director to David Chipperfield at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Oliver Wainwright, urban journalist, United Kingdom (Moderator)

Oliver Wainwright is the architecture and design critic of the Guardian. Trained as an architect at the University of Cambridge and the Royal College of Art, he worked for the Architecture and Urbanism Unit of the Greater London Authority and a number of practices including OMA in Rotterdam, muf in London. He has written extensively on architecture and urbanism for a wide range of international publications, from Building Design and the Architects’ Journal, to Icon, Domus and Frieze. He has served as curatorial advisor to the Architecture Foundation and is a regular visiting critic and lecturer at a number of architecture schools, including Harvard, Yale and the Architectural Association.

Michael Keith, Director of COMPAS, United Kingdom

Michael Keith is the Director of the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society of the University of Oxford, the Coordinator of Urban Transformations & Co-Director of the University of Oxford Future of Cities programme as well as a professor at the department of Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
His research focuses on migration related processes of urban change and the interface between culture, urbanism and migration. He has experience outside the academy as a politician for twenty years in the east end of London, serving in the 1990s and early 2000s for five years as leader of a London local authority, Chair of the Thames Gateway London Partnership and a commissioner on the Blair government’s response to the 2005 London bombings, the Commission on Integration and Cohesion.

Katy Lock, TCPA, UK

Katy Lock is a Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI) with a background in planning, urban design and sustainability. She works for the Town and Country Planning Associations (TCPA) on campaigns and promotion of garden city principles in policy, education and the arts. In this context Katy Lock manages the organisation’s policy strand, Creating garden cities and suburbs today, including facilitating and reporting on cross-sector workshops and seminars, project managing and creating guidance and campaign documents, and promoting the garden city model through seminars, events and lectures and in the media. Currently, she is working on a practical guide to meeting the high standards of garden cities, and a research project looking at transferable lessons from the New Towns.

Rebecca Kearney, Arcadis Associate Technical Director – Development Planning, UK

Rebecca is leading the development of the Otterpool Park Garden Town masterplan and planning application on behalf of public and private sector landowners. A member of Arcadis’ UK Housing Board, Rebecca is passionate about improving quality of life through delivery of high quality homes in places where people are proud to live. Rebecca is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor (MRICS) with a Masters in Real Estate Development from the University of Westminster. She joined Arcadis in 2014 from the City of London Corporation where she set up and managed the Corporate Programme Management Office, responsible for overseeing the organisation’s capital projects. Rebecca’s first degree was in modern languages – French and Spanish at the University of Leeds.

Kevin McGeough, Head of Place-Making, Ebbsfleet Garden City
Project Director, Ebbsfleet Garden City, Healthy New Town Programme

Kevin is Head of Place-making at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation where he has the overall responsibility for developing and delivering the Vision for Ebbsfleet as a 21st Century Garden City including the delivery of 15,000 new homes and up to 30,000 new jobs ‘where London meets the Garden of England’.Kevin is also the Project Director for the pilot ‘Healthy New Town Programme’ at Ebbsfleet Garden City, an innovative initiative led by NHS to explore how the design of new places and new services can work together to improve long-term health outcomes. Kevin is an Architect and urban designer and in previous roles with the Homes and Communities Agency and English Partnerships has led the production of a number of national best practice initiatives and publications including: HAPPI; housing our ageing population: panel for innovation; Urban Design Compendium 2; delivering quality places; Car Parking; what works where; and the £60k house competition.

Lee Shostak, OBE, Director, Sapiency, United Kingdom

Lee Shostak is an economic development planner who specializes in garden cities and major regeneration projects. As former Chair of the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and now Treasurer, Lee has led efforts to promote the application of garden city principles across the UK. He specializes in vision building, scenario development, and leading teams preparing master plans, regeneration strategies, and delivery programmes. Lee was member of the Milton Keynes Futures 2050 Commission. The Commission recently published “Making a Great City Greater” and this was unanimously approved by Milton Keynes Council. He is a Director of Garden City Developments, a community interest company working with local authorities in Essex. He jointly authored one of the shortlisted entries for the Wolfson Prize on how to deliver a new garden city with private finance. Lee established Shared Intelligence in 2001 and was a founder Director of Conran Roche and then EDAW in the UK (now AECOM). He was the Director of Planning at Milton Keynes Development Corporation.

Neil Sainsbury, Head of Urban Design at MK Council, UK

Neil Sainsbury is Head of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at Milton Keynes Council. With the extensive growth and regeneration planned for Milton Keynes, Neil has a key role in ensuring high quality placemaking occurs that involves balancing retaining those aspects of the city that provide the unique identity to Milton Keynes while also dealing with some of current challenges that its urban form and design presents. Neil and his team have prepared a variety of urban design guidance documents to assist in this regard.
Neil is a qualified town planner and urban designer.

Mark Clapson, University of Westminster, United Kingdom

Mark Clapson is Professor of Social and Urban History at the University of Westminster. His research interests include the social experience of urban development, conflict, decentralisation and reconstruction, and the history of garden cities and new towns. He written a number of books including A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England/Edge City (2004) and he co-edited The Best Laid Plans: Milton Keynes since 1967 (1998) which brought together some of the original planners of the new city with academics and members of Milton Keynes Council, He lives in MK.

Valerio Barberis, Alderman of Spatial Planning Prato, Italy

Valerio Barberis is the current alderman of Spatial Planning of the municipality of Prato. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Florence in 1995 and holds a PhD degree in Architectural and Urban Design from the same faculty. During his professional activity Valerio Barbersi has always addressed the issues of architectural design in an experimental key, combining and supplementing the research at the Faculty of Architecture, with the profession activity carried out at the MDU architects studio, taking part in several architecture competitions, public and private assignments and independent research projects. Since 2003 he is member of the editorial board of the magazine of the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence called “Firenze Progetti”, and in 2005 he became Adjunct Professor in Architecture Design at the same Department.

Davind Rudlin, Director of URBED and Chair of the AoU, UK

David Rudlin is a director of URBED, Honorary Professor at Manchester University and Chair of the Academy of Urbanism. In 2014 he was also the winner of the Wolfson Economics Prize. He spent his early career with Manchester City Council and was a founder member of the Homes for Change Housing Cooperative, responsible for one of the flagship schemes in the area. He leads URBED masterplanning work and has been responsible for a series of high profile masterplans across the UK. He has written a number of books including ’Sustainable Urban Neighbourhood’ Architectural Press 1999 and Routledge 2009, ’Urbanism’ Routledge 2015 and a forthcoming book ’Climax City’ written with Shruti Hemani to be published in 2018 by RIBA Publishing.

Mahmood Faruqi, CallisonRTKL planning and urban design Director, United Kingdom

Mahmood leads the planning and urban design studio in CRTKL’s London office and is known for his ability to bridge the gap between buildings and the urban realm to create holistic environments. He has over 20 years of experience working on a variety of project types in the UK, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Mahmood is a recognized industry expert and is often called upon for his deep knowledge of placemaking, regeneration and urban planning and growth. A LEED Accredited Professional, Mahmood is also a committed member of the CallisonRTKL Sustainability Leadership Council, working to integrate environmentally friendly principles into the core of CRTKL’s design process.

Anna Rose, Director of Growth, Economy and Culture of Milton Keynes & President of the Planning Officers Society, United Kingdom

Anna Rose is the Director of Growth, Economy and Culture in Milton Keynes. Alongside an ambitious programme of service improvement, she is currently leading the authority in producing the next 50 year spatial vision for the area. Anna holds a first degree and masters in Town and Country Planning and has been an RTPI member since 2003. Furthermore, is she involved as the President of the Planning Officers Society; an active peer reviewer for PAS and a regular speaker on strategic planning issues, growth focused planning and improving performance.

John Lewis, Executive Director at Peabody housing association London, United Kingdom

John is an Executive Director at Peabody leading one of London’s largest regeneration programmes which will position Thamesmead as London’s New Town creating 20,000 new homes of all tenure types to help meet the Capital’s housing needs. Previously he spent 6 years as CEO of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, a self-funded charitable organisation providing support services to maintain and enhance the world’s first garden city. John joined the Heritage Foundation from Milton Keynes Partnership, a subsidiary of the Homes and Communities Agency, where he was CEO responsible for the economic and housing growth of the new city. John is a professional member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and has a Master of Arts in Urban Regeneration.

Per Frølund, program manager at the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

Per Frølund’s workfield is the development of Gellerup, one of the most deprived areas in Aarhus, the second city of Denmark. He has been working with developing and implementing a Masterplan for the area since 2008. The plan combines ambitious social efforts with physical transformations with the aim of creating a socially strong and exciting area closely linked to the rest of Aarhus. Before Mr. Frølund came to Aarhus he was head of development in the Municipality of Hørsholm outside Copenhagen working with project management, communication and development strategies. He has master degrees in both public administration and international politics.

Tarja Laine, director of city planning, Vantaa, Finland

Tarja received her degree in architecture in 1977, at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. Since then she has worked in the field of the architectural design, landscape design, conservation, town planning and city administration. Her professional experience also includes seven years in Ethiopia, Egypt and Tunisia where she was involved in projects dealing with town planning, environment, cultural heritage and conservation. She is currently the Head of the City Planning in Vantaa. 4th biggest city and fastest growing city in Finland, most of the growth of Vantaa is related to immigration. In her daily work, there is a strong emphasis on sustainable development, collective transport and people’s participation. Vantaa is famous for its airport (Helsinki Airport) and the airport city called Aviapolis.

David Hopkins, Councillor and Mayor of Milton Keynes for 2017-18

David Hopkins was elected to Milton Keynes Borough Council in 1991 when Milton Keynes was still a second tier, District Council in Buckinghamshire. He has been a councillor ever since representing the Danesborough ward in its various guises, now being one of three members of the Danesborough & Walton ward.
Over that time he has served as Deputy Leader of the Council, a multi portfolio holder on the Council’s Cabinet committee and the chair of various committees including the council’s Environment Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee. He was elected Deputy Mayor for the 2016/17 Council Year.

Bart van den Bergh, Project coordinator at Startblock Riekerhaven, The Netherlands

Bart worked as an actor and performer for the last seven years. As he started to gain more knowledge about the world we are living in, he realized that the medium of theatre was not enough. Most of the time the audience consists of colleagues and highly educated people while the segment of society which Bart cares about doesn’t visit the theatre. That made him realize that he wanted to play an active role and contribute in a positive way to our society. Than the Startblok job came in and Bart was appointed Project Coordinator. Now he is doing what he wants: building a community with people from really different cultures. The question is how to live together, inspire each other, learn from each other and being proud of your own culture. This is a great way to play a part.

Rienk Postuma, Project Manager Woonstichting de Key, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The housing association De Key owns 33.000 apartments rented out in Amsterdam. Since 2016, De Key (founded in 1868) focuses its efforts on the accommodation of youngsters. In his work as project manager at De Key, Rienk Postuma contributes to this new mission through the development of a number of special projects. One of them is Startblok Riekerhaven, where young refugees and young Dutch people live together. Rienk is educated as urban planner. He worked as researcher at the University of Amsterdam, as consultant and developer.

David Janner-Klausner, The Bike Project Founding Chair, London, UK

David is a career urbanist. In a voluntary capacity, he is the Founding Chair of The Bike Project, which is based in London. In his day job David is also Co-founder and Business Development Director of Commonplace Digital Ltd., a digital start-up committed to widening participation in local planning and policy decision-making. Providing easy-to-access web-based platforms, it encourages engagement and makes it easier to reach wide and diverse populations. Commonplace’s work includes new urban developments such as the proposed Garden Town in Didcot. David has worked on local strategies, local leadership development and sustainability in the UK and in Israel. He holds degrees in Urban Studies, Geography/Economics and in Sustainable Architecture (BA).

Nick Woodford, Investigator at Peckham Coal Line Project, London, UK

Nick Woodford is a spatial practitioner who uses architecture as a tool to facilitate, enable and empower others. He see’s design as a part of a wider on-going and holistic process where the engagement of all those potentially connected to a space is celebrated through early inclusion. Here the emphasis is on helping to develop existing programmes rather than simply seeing engagement as a formality, as it is often treated in the traditional top-down pre-determined planning process. In a world of emerging economies, urbanisation, dwindling resources and a growing sharing culture, online platforms are evolving the role of architects in an exciting direction, moving beyond form into spatial entrepreneurs who capitalise on the social and physical fabric that already exists, enabling hidden value to surface.
After launching the Peckham Coal Line in 2015 Nick Woodford co-founded award winning practice ‘Mesh’ with Louise Armstrong. Today they are part of Mayor of London’s Special Assistance Team engaging in a wide range of small and medium scale transformation projects around the capital.

Michelle Provoost, INTI Director, The Netherlands

Dr. Michelle Provoost is an architectural historian specialised in urban planning history, postwar architecture and contemporary urban development.
She co-founded the office of Crimson Architectural Historians in 1994, and has been the Director of the International New Town Institute (INTI) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, since 2008. Under her direction, INTI has grown into an internationally known center for education and research relating to New Towns.
Dr. Provoost is the head editor of the INTI publications. She teaches at various universities in the Netherlands and abroad and continues to be in great demand as a public speaker. She lectures regularly throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States, and has been involved in many municipal, national and private committees and juries.



sponsors





Welcome Soirée 27 June

The evening includes Talks with local representatives and New Town experts and networking opportunities. A small selection of films that were made by artists in or about New Towns will follow.

 19:00 - 20:00 Middleton Hall, Auditorium
Welcome and introduction by Michelle Provoost, INTI Executive Director and Bert Smolders, INTI Board member, representing Arcadis, INTImi member and co-sponsor of the INTD17.

Contributors include:
 Anna Rose - Service Director for Growth, Economy and Culture
MK Planning system today: the ambition vs the reality and the hopes for the future.

 Neil Sainsbury - head of Urban Design MK
How MK is addressing growth and what are today’s urban design and planning challenges

 Lee Shostak - OBE, Director, Sapiency
An introduction to what is the vision of ‘Milton Keynes in 2050 and the MK Futures Commission’

 20:30 - 22:00 Middleton Hall, Auditorium
MK Gallery: New Towns films
Researcher Claire Louise Staunton presents a small selection of films from the archive that were made by artists in or about New Towns internationally



London Tour 1st July

This tour explores the City of London from the perspective of migration and consequently build on the topics discussed during the conference.
Provisional tour program:

08:00 Departure from Central Station Milton Keynes

Transport by bus to South of London

  10:00 – 11:30 Regeneration processes in Brixton, a traditional migration neighborhood & the different voices

As a first site we will visit the neighborhood Brixton, a very diverse and multicultural neighborhood with a long tradition of migration.

Brixton, UK

We will take a closer look at the dynamics of the neighborhood which is rapidly being gentrified (but) and still attracts migrants from all over the world. Relevant questions here are ’how does regeneration and redevelopment affect urban areas with migrating history and how are communities responding?
Together with Anchor & Magnet, an artists project based in Brixton we will try to find answers to these questions by visiting specific sites in the neighborhood such as the Brixton Market.
Guide: Katy Beinart, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, University of Brighton & Co-Founder of Anchor & Magnet with the kind participation of Alan Piper, Brixton Society

Transport by bus to Peckham. Meeting point Peckham Library, 122 Peckham Hill St. at 12:00

  12:00 - 13:00 The Coal Line Project - Peckham

This part of the tour will introduce us to the "The Coal Line Project", a community-led initiative that aims to reconnect Peckham’s neighbourhoods via a new linear link park between Queens Road Peckham and Rye Lane. It will transform walking and cycling connections around Peckham, changing the lives of residents and businesses by bridging busy roads and creating a more direct link between two high streets. It will turn disused space into a source of civic pride that brings benefits to health, culture and business and celebrates Peckham’s industrial past.
The 900m-long route will run on disused coal sidings alongside the railway line through the heart of Peckham. It will complement the urban setting and frame views across London, passing through beautiful Victorian brick viaducts before dropping down to a little-used nature reserve. It will bridge the gap in a wider network of cycling and walking greenways between Brixton and the Thames.
By bringing people together around the idea, the Coal Line Project hopes it will act as a catalyst for further social projects that may only be indirectly linked to the Coal Line itself – connecting schools with residents, artists with community groups, businesses with local authorities and all combinations in between. It will also be something to be enjoyed in and of itself, a place that’s free to use in which to amble, rest, cycle and play above the streets.

Guide: Nick Woodford, Investigator at Coal Line Project)

  13:00-14:00 Lunch break at Yada’s, a Kurdish restaurant in Peckham

14:00 Transport by bus to Thamesmead

  14:45 - 17:00 Redeveloping a New Town – Migration & Diversity in Thamesmead

As a last stop, we will visit Thamesmead, a New Town built from the 1960s onwards and today undergoing a massive physical transformation (demolition of existing housing stock) and a culture driven urban regeneration program.
Initially, Thamesmead was one of the most homogenous estates of its type in London, being predominately white and working class. However, already few years later, the ethnic make-up of Thamesmead has changed: in the late 1970s, a small group of Vietnamese refugees built a community in the area, and then, in the 90s a larger wave of migration from West Africa (predominately Nigeria and Ghana) began. The 2011 census revealed that 35.58% of residents in the Thamesmead Moorings are Black African, the highest percentage in both London and the UK, while Thamesmead East had the second highest at 34.88%.
Over the years, the lack of transport infrastructures and investments has undoubtedly threatened the ambitions of the London’s New Town. Unlocking the full potential of Thamesmead today means to improve the connections to the city centre, create better public transport and foster investment in infrastructure, urban regeneration and quality of public spaces, creating a balance between long-term plans for the future and investing in improvements now. Today home to over 45,000 people from all backgrounds and ages, Thamesmead can count on a vibrant community, whose main landowner - Peabody Group - is in charge of a massive operation of urban regeneration. Questions that will be addressed here are: ’what does this urban regeneration look like? How does the program account for migration? What are the challenges and opportunities

Guide: Ken Baikie, Director Thamsmead Development of Peabody Group

17:00 Bus drive back to London

Thamesmead, UK (photo: Peabody Group)
Peabody Group


This tour is supported by the Peabody Group, Thamesmead Now, Anchor&Magnet (Katy Beinart) & the Coal Line Project (Nick Woodford)



Here is an interesting video of Thamesmead as a first impression:

MKTour & Reception June 29

Provisonal Program June, 29 Tours & Reception:

 09:00 Brief History of Milton Keynes

  • Introduction by Noel James, MK City Discovery Centre

 10:00 Study Tours

  • Option 1: Bike Tour – West MK
  • Option 2: Bus Tour – East MK

 12:30 Lunch at Middleton Hall

 13:30 Study Tours

  • Option 1: Bike Tour – East MK
  • Option 2: Bus Tour – West MK

 16:00 Debate or Study Tour

  • Option 1: Cambridge MK Oxford (CMKO) Innovation Corridor Dialogue (joint event with Fred Roche Foundation), at Middleton Hall
  • Option 2: Shorter Bus Tour

 19:00 Drinks reception
Location: David Lock Associates, 50 North Thirteenth Street, Milton Keynes, MK9 3BP)
Welcome and launch of the City Structures reprinted edition by David Lock Associates, sponsors of the event.

Speakers include:

  • David Rudlin, The Academy of Urbanism,
  • Michelle Provost, INTI
  • Will Cousins, Chairman, David Lock Associates (sponsors)

More to be announced shortly. For the latest updates, please check www.academyofurbanism.org.uk



AoU Symposium June 30


Partners & Sponsors

INTI could have never organized the International New Town Day 2017 without the generosity of its partners, sponsors and INTImi members. We would like express our sincere thanks to all of them for their help, generosity and support.

INTImi members have access to INTI’s international network of professionals and scholars all over the world and are invited to join international conferences, lectures, network meetings, and excursions.

In case you are interested in joining the International New Town Day of 2017 and/or wish to become part of the INTImi network, please contact us via: info@newtowninstitute.org


The INTD17 is organised with:
Sponsored by:
And supported by:


and our INTImi:


Practical Information

Conference Venue:
The conference will take place in the Middleton Hall of the Centre:MK in Milton Keynes.

Address:
Middleton Hall, thecentre:mk,
24 Silbury Blvd,
Milton Keynes, MK9 3ES

Getting there:

By Air
Milton Keynes is easily served by a number of airports. London Luton is just a 30 minute drive away, whilst both London Heathrow and Birmingham International are around one hour away.

By Train
Access to Milton Keynes by train is very easy. There is a main rail station in Central Milton Keynes. The station is served by the West Coast Mainline which runs from London, Euston (just 35 minutes away) through MK to Birmingham and on to Manchester and then Scotland. Two services operate from the station: London Midland and Virgin Trains. For more information on train times visit http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/MKC.aspx
From Milton Keynes Rail Station, any bus service from stops Y1 to Y6 can be used to travel to thecentre:mk. Services between the rail station and thecentre:mk run every few minutes, and the journey time is approximately five minutes. There are bus stops at the Point and the Food Centre, just outside thecentre:mk.

By Bus
Milton Keynes has a comprehensive bus service. For further information visit www.arriva.co.uk For example, from Luton airport Bus line 99 runs once an hour to Central Milton Keynes. From there, Central Milton Keynes is served by a network of frequent bus services from all parts of the city. There are bus stops at the Point and the Food Centre, just outside thecentre:mk.

Accommodation:
To find accomendation please visit http://www.destinationmiltonkeynes.co.uk/Where-to-stay



INTI/AoU Joint Programme

New Towns, New Cities: Places of Diversity and Innovation

The International New Town Institute and The Academy of Urbanism have come together to mark the 50th anniversary of Milton Keynes with a co-designed joint-program of events proposing a reflection on New Towns as places of diversity and innovation.

The three-day program is part of a wider CityFest taking place in Milton Keynes from June 26 to July 1st, and includes:

  The International New Town Day Conference exploring the relation between migration and urban dynamics and looking at ‘New Towns as Cities of Comings and Goings’ (June 28),
 The Academy of Urbanism Symposium ‘New Towns: What’s Next? examining the way places respond to changing lifestyles and technological innovations (June 30)
  A joint INTI/AoU day of city tours, discussions and an evening drinks reception during which participants will discover and understand the roots and soul of the 50-year-old Milton Keynes: its past, present and future (June 29)
  The INTI London Tour exploring London-South from the perspective of migration and its relation to new town developments

New Towns as Cities of Comings and Goings:
Our cities are more and more becoming ‘Cities of Comings and Goings’ with a population that is not static, but growing and shrinking and increasingly mobile. Not only the refugee crisis has taught us this lesson, but also the increasing amount of international students, expats, economic migrants, asylum seekers and foreign workers. Migration has become a permanent force in our cities and (former) New Towns.

New Towns, by definition, have no ‘original’ inhabitants – every resident is a migrant. Some are housing newcomers and have become ‘Arrival Cities’, like Gellerup (Denmark) or Thamesmead (UK). Others, like Almere (NL) or Milton Keynes (UK), have become the preferred housing environment of a migrant middle class that has adopted the suburban lifestyle.
How can we understand and analyse the present New Towns, reflecting on their identity, culture and diversity as places where people have migrated to? How can New Towns better adjust and anticipate to the dynamics of migration?

The culture of New Towns is forward looking, with an emphasis on innovation and experiment, not only in technology but also social, cultural, political and financial innovation. This program of events will address future city concepts and how the pressure of migration, societal change, growth and expansion is urging us to reinvent and reimagine our cities.
More information about the INTD Programme > here

New Towns: What’s Next
Today, many of the discussions about cities are all about the impact of driverless cars and digital technologies. In a similar way the original plans for new towns such as Milton Keynes were responding to an imagined future of unlimited mobility afforded by mass car ownership. They are in many ways a built embodiment of the future as it was imagined 50 or so years ago. This raises interesting questions about the way we plan for the future:
- How do we plan for an unpredictable future?
 Is the way we plan for the future more a reaction to our current situation than it is to an objective projection of what is likely to happen?
 What are the likely responses to the current technological and societal trends in the way we think about and plan future cities?

In order to explore these questions the symposium will split into two sessions:
 Future Trends and Future City: An exploration of the trends currently affecting us, and how cities might change in response to these trends.
 Past Future Cities: An exploration of how these trends have affected city planning in the past.

More about the AoU Symposium > here

Bringing together an astonishing range of new cities’ representatives and experts from all over the world, the AoU/INTI joint event ‘New Towns, New Cities: Places of Diversity and Innovation’ will offer a platform for sharing experiences and best practices with UK, European and other international urban experts.

MK CityFest:
Milton Keynes CityFest is a celebration of city-making, a week long business and public engagement event, incorporating the International New Town Day and the Academy of Urbanism (AoU) Symposium.

You can download the full MK CityFest 2017 programme by clicking here(PDF).



Videos

Welcome by David Hopkins Mayor of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Introduction by Michelle Provoost, director of INTI


Updating the Welfare State Cities
The morning session will look at the welfare state cities and how they are trying to adapt to migrations. With the aim to understand and analyze ’New Towns as Cities of Comings and Goings’, this session will reflect on their identity, culture and diversity as places where people have migrated to and from.

Gellerup, Aarhus (DK) - create an inclusive environment through physical radical changes by Per Frølund, Program manager at the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

Vantaa (Finland) - A resilient approach to prevent segregation by Tarja Laine - Head of Urban Planning, Municipality of Vantaa, FI

Thamesmead (London, UK) - culture-led urban regeneration with John Lewis, Executive Director Thamesmead (Peabody Group)

Panel discussion with Per Frølund, Shane Downer, Tarja Laine and John Lewis. Moderation by Kieran Long (Director of ArkDes, Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design).


Architecture and Design solutions for the Arrival City

Projects and housing solutions around Europe, introduction by Michelle Provoost

case 1: Amsterdam - Startblok Riekerhaven - New housing solutions to tackle emerging housing challenges by Rienk Postuma Project Manager Woonstichting de Key, and Bart van den Bergh, Project coordinator at Startblok Riekerhaven, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

case 2: London "The Bike Project" - the city as emancipation machine by David Janner-Klausner, founder of "The Bike Project", local development, urbanism and sustainability expert

case 3: London "The Coal Line Project" - A community-led initiative that is more than reconnecting Peckham’s neighbourhoods in physical and spatial terms. The case is presented by Nick Woodford, investigator at "The Coal Line Project" & spatial practitioner

Panel discussion with Rienk Postuma, Bart van den Bergh, Nick Woodford and David Janner-Klausner. Moderation by Kieran Long.


New Emerging Themes
This session will look at what futures can we think of for our New Towns with the perspective of migration as a permanent phenomenon and how can New Towns better respond to these developments.

A comparison between migrant middle classes in Amsterdam Nieuw-West and Almere by Ivan Nio, urban sociologist, NIO Urban Research & Consultancy, The Netherlands

Shenzhen (China): Upgrading of migrant population by Tat Lam, Director Shanzhai City, Shenzhen, China

Prato (Italy): Conflicts and diversity, how to turn them into an opportunity by Valerio Barberis, Alderman Spatial Planning, municipality of Prato, Italy

Panel discussion with Michael Keith, Ivan Nio, Tat Lam, Valerio Barberis and Katy Bennett. Moderation by Kieran Long.


Conclusions by Kieran Long.


Closing talk by Michelle Provoost.