Reading real neighbourhoods, and how planning decisions in Cambridge get made. An evening with Tina Saaby. Free.

Have you ever wondered why there are not trees everywhere in the city, why roads and cycle lanes look the way they do, or how you could take a more direct role in shaping the buildings and public spaces around you?

The second session comes at that question from two directions. We begin with real places. Taking the ideas from the first session, we look at how they play out in actual neighbourhoods and public spaces, working from images, plans and case studies in the room.

We then turn to how those choices get made. We go behind the scenes of city planning in Cambridge to see who decides what, through which formal processes, and at what point the public can meaningfully intervene. Most consultation reaches people after the important choices have been settled. Knowing the sequence changes what is possible.

The session closes on practical routes to getting involved: local planning, and the ways residents and community groups can influence how the city evolves.

The session is led by Tina Saaby, Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professor in Sustainable Urban Design at the University of Cambridge. She was City Architect of Copenhagen from 2010 to 2019 and of Gladsaxe from 2020 to 2023, and is now Chief Executive of the Danish Town Planning Institute.

Photo: Vejle Municipality

Who this is for

Anyone who lives, works or spends time in Cambridge. No background in architecture or planning is needed. The session is equally open to residents and community groups, to planners, architects and council officers, and to students and researchers.

What we will cover

How the character and atmosphere of a place can be described in words

The concepts practitioners use, and what they actually mean

Where a shared vocabulary makes a difference in real decisions

About the series

The City at Eye Level is a two part series hosted by the Community Design Research Lab in the Cambridge Room. The second session, on Wednesday 16 September, turns to the formal processes of urban development in Cambridge and how residents can influence them. The sessions work on their own, and they also work well together.

Booking

Free, but places are limited and registration is required. Please release your ticket if you can no longer attend, so that someone else can take the place.

Finding us

The Cambridge Room is a shopfront unit inside the Grafton Centre, opposite Decathlon. Enter from Fitzroy Street and walk straight in.

Description supplied by the event organiser.