February Spotlight 2024 - Making our cities human again

Our bi-monthly Spotlight sessions were off to a flying start last Friday, as we discussed how to make our cities more human. As always, we selected a thought-provoking topic and explored how it impacted us in terms of how we live and, especially, how we work.

Together with our good friends Rich and Andy Ward of RAW Brothers, we began by identifying what would make cities more human. This included the need for a physical environment that put people first – green spaces, places to sit and share with others, a nurturing infrastructure with cafes and other communal spaces. We also talked the less tangible elements, such as a sense of connectedness with others. Sharing our thoughts about how we felt about our cities now, especially in the post-COVID world, we noticed where there is (at best) a slow return to the workplace. We concluded that it does feel more disconnected and less of a community, although there were some views expressed that even before the pandemic and associated lockdowns, many of our our cities in the UK were never that ‘human at heart’. We talked about cities around the globe and how some areas of the world have seemed to be more successful than others in creating cities with a strong human dimension.

And we then looked to the future and what we wanted from both our cities and our urban workplaces concluding we need:

• Environments that are inclusive and equitable, ensuring we all have equal access to engage with them.
• To demonstrate greater ownership ourselves to reclaim and reshape the spaces and buildings we inhabit, giving them a fresh sense of purpose.
• To ensure we are engaging everyone by collaborating to breathe new life into where we live and work.
• And finally, we felt leadership was key – that is, we need our leaders to role model a human approach to our workspaces and cities.

Click here to listen to our podcast recording

If you want to join us to refresh your thinking and be inspired with fresh ideas, do contact us for dates of our future planned Spotlight sessions.