William McLean

Joint coordinator of Technical Studies at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster, tutors in technology, collaborates with artists and designers, and has co-developed ideas for "haptic" computer interfaces

Website: optional

e-mail: W.F.McLean@westminster.ac.uk

14.00 to 15.30 on Saturday 19 May 2007

How architects should fight for social and technological change

In this session, chaired by Will, James Woudhuysen, Michael Trudgeon, Owen Hatherley, and Andrew Rabeneck will discuss just how far architects are able to make social and technical progress, and the extent to which they are obstructed by the planning system. It is a common complaint amongst architects that planners will frustrate their best efforts, but is that merely anecdotal? Is commercial architectural practice dependent on the nationalisation of development rights, which planning professionals have administered since the Second World War? Or are there other ways forward for architectural design and production?

James Woudhuysen, Professor of Forecasting and Innovation at De Montfort University, Leicester, Board member of the Housing Forum, Director of audacity, and co-author of Why is construction so backward? (2004) - The global agenda in housing innovation

Michael Trudgeon, Director and senior designer, Crowd Productions Proprietary Limited, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia - All tomorrows houses: Mobility as the technological antidote to localism

Owen Hatherley, researching Everyday Life, Mass Production, Mass Politics and the Avant Garde in Weimar Germany and the USSR, 1917-1934, his PhD at Birkbeck College, London, and writes for Socialist Worker, Historical Materialism, and Archinect - Architecture or Revolution - Lessons from the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne

Andrew Rabeneck, former Director European Facilities for Salomon Brothers International Limited, former Divisional Managing Director for Interior Services Group PLC in Europe, former Assistant Director of Estates Imperial College London, and doctoral student at ICL in the History of Technology - Construction Myths: Do they get in the way of success?

How architects should fight for social and technological change

More to follow shortly...

What priorities do we want reflected in land use planning?

Has the notion of a distinct town and country become unsustainable?

Can planners reconcile government policies with where and how people actually want to live?

Is it justified to describe policies based on constraining building activity as "planning"?

Introduction

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