Conference talk Category
World Cities Summit: leveraging the science of cities
Posted on September 2, 2021 Leave a Comment
As an architect & urban planner my principal concern is to make cities work for people. This means understanding how their streets connect to either encourage low carbon transport such as walking and public transport. Or, if they’re disconnected, do they lock in car dependence and its carbon impacts?
Reflecting ourselves in the city
Posted on September 1, 2019 Leave a Comment
What can the form of cities tell us about the structure of the brain? And what can the structure of the brain tell us about the form of cities? These are questions that I’d like to address in this talk. In summary, I believe we can learn a good deal about the interaction between the […]
Beyond placemaking: 7 dimensions of “Place Performance”
Posted on April 25, 2019 1 Comment
Notes from a talk at the Bartlett Real Estate Institute, University College London, 24th April 2019. Placemaking is the art and science of planning and designing spaces for human activity, however that is done: – by a single hand (usually not a good approach) or by multiple hands (usually a good approach) – […]
Transport & housing: tools, standards, principles
Posted on April 2, 2019 Leave a Comment
Notes for presentation at Transport & Housing conference: https://www.transportxtra.com/tx-events/?id=2400 To understand where we are & where we need to go, we first need to understand where we come from. And where we come from is a relationship with the car that has fragmented cities & damaged lives. Transport & housing Big problems: – obesity – […]
We, robots
Posted on November 18, 2018 Leave a Comment
The subject of robotics is multi-dimensional, disruptive & urgent. In my summing up at the Public Debate of the Robotics Atelier at the Norman Foster Foundation, I identified three types of robot: Type 1_The robot of repetitive tasks – this kind of robot will end many kinds of manual jobs that people currently have in […]
Cities from scratch – Astana Economic Forum
Posted on May 18, 2018 Leave a Comment
Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be a member of this panel today. Let me start by describing my organisation’s approach to the creation of cities from scratch. Space Syntax is an international urban planning and design studio and has been involved in plans for new cities and new city extensions throughout the world, including here […]
The return of the impossible – Astana Economic Forum
Posted on May 18, 2018 Leave a Comment
Good afternoon. It’s an honour and a pleasure to be here in Astana today with this distinguished panel. In speaking about the cities of the future I’d like to speak about three technologies that I think are not only exciting but are also capable of genuinely addressing the “Global Challenges” theme of this Forum. The […]
Intelligent mobility: risks & rewards
Posted on October 1, 2017 1 Comment
第一页 技术就是答案 Slide 1 Technology is the answer 1966年，塞德里克·普莱斯说，我喜欢一开始就对新技术进行一点质疑。当然，“技术就是答案”。他也强调：“不过问题是什么？”。 I’d like to begin with a little scepticism about new technology. Of course “Technology is the answer“, said Cedric Price in 1966. He also said, “But what is the question?” 这些问题就是我们试图去获得无人驾驶技术。 What are the questions that we are trying to answer in the pursuit of autonomous […]
Sustainable cities of the future – sketch
Posted on February 9, 2016 Leave a Comment
Notes for keynote at UK Green Building Council Annual City Summit, Birmingham. 1. Spatial planning & human behaviour implications of sustainability – reduction of transport carbon through shift towards walking, cycling & public transport 2. A massive shift needed in transport + land use planning, urban + landscape design, architecture. Professional inertia. Turning the supertanker. […]
Past, present & future_Space Syntax in practice
Posted on January 11, 2016 1 Comment
[Speaking notes for Tim Stonor’s opening presentation at the First Conference on Space Syntax in China, Beijing, 5th December 2015.] Good morning. It is an honour to be speaking at this important conference alongside so many distinguished speakers and attendees. My talk today will cover the past, present and future of Space Syntax Limited’s experience […]
Integrated Urban Planning – balancing the multiple flows of the city
Posted on September 26, 2015 2 Comments
Notes for the UK-China Sustainable Urbanisation Conference in Chengdu, China on 24th September 2015 My job as an architect and urban planner is to design new towns and cities – as well as new parts of existing urban settlements. This means designing the multiple systems that make up a city. We often think about towns and […]
Connected Cities Conference
Posted on September 9, 2015 Leave a Comment
Notes for the Connected Cities Conference, London, 15th September 2015. How long has Space Syntax been going? Space Syntax was established as a consulting company in 1989. Why did you set it up? Space Syntax was set up to exploit academic research at University College London: computer-based methods of analysing space in buildings and cities and […]
What did the Romans ever do for us? Pompei’s 5 lessons for placemaking…
Posted on February 5, 2015 1 Comment
Download the presentation In looking forwards it is important to learn the lessons of history. Look at Pompei. A city built for efficient mobility. A model of the 1st century with lessons for the 21st century. The grid – no cul de sacs. Built for mobility. Built for commerce. More or less rectilinear – not labyrinthine. […]
Technology by necessity
Posted on November 28, 2014 Leave a Comment
Notes for today’s talk at the NLA’s conference on “How do we build a smarter London” The London context: – more people (growing population) – more data (sensors everywhere) – more sophisticated computing. Strategic problem: how to handle it all. Space Syntax’s experience: address the problem via “the questions of reality”. The commercial application of Space Syntax […]
The spatial architecture of the SMART city
Posted on October 30, 2014 1 Comment
Download this presentation. Good morning. It is a pleasure and an honour to have been invited to give this presentation today at the Nikkei Smart City Week conference. The subject of my talk is architecture – not only the architecture of buildings but, also, the architecture of public space: the space that we move through […]
A new science for cities
Posted on October 24, 2014 Leave a Comment
A talk given to the Leaders and Chief Executives of the Key Cities, Brighton, 24th October 2014. Download this presentation. We hear a lot about smart cities as the solution to the needs of urban places. But although technology allows us to live remotely and speak to each other from deep forests and mountaintops, humanity as a species […]
Forwards to the past! Technology’s greatest triumph
Posted on September 23, 2014 Leave a Comment
Rick There are so many reasons why what you have set out below is interesting. But I think I can take a different position to the one that you are developing. My approach will be that, far from taking the human mind, behaviours, and cultural norms beyond where they have ever been before, the true […]
Integrated Urbanism – Massachusetts & the United Kingdom Partnership Forum
Posted on September 17, 2014 Leave a Comment
Introduction Good afternoon Governor Patrick, visiting delegates and colleagues from the UK. As a recent resident of Massachusetts myself, it is a special pleasure to speak alongside the Governor on the subject of data and cities: and to share some remarks on the common interest in this room: the science of cities. A few words […]
From cities of movement to places of transaction
Posted on June 4, 2014 1 Comment
Summary of Tim Stonor’s talk at the World Cities Summit, Singapore, 3rd June 2014 From cities of movement to places of transaction – a new mobility focus for city leaders, planners and everyday users Key responsibilities for cities 1. Imagining the future of cities and mobility. 2. Designing integrated, people-focused planning to sustain cities. 3. […]
Move, interact, transact – the human dimension of Smart Cities
Posted on March 18, 2014 Leave a Comment
http://youtu.be/U63hMTIQW8I Speaking at the invitation of the organisers of the British Business Summit, Istanbul, Turkey.
The power of the network 