The Expanded City symposium
June 16, 2016, 10:00 am
In Certain Places invite you to take part in The Expanded City symposium on Thursday the 16th of June 2016 at Woodplumpton and District Club, Preston, from 10am to 4pm - a day of presentations, conversations and site visits within the 'City Deal' areas of Preston.
The symposium is part of a three-year programme of artworks and events, also entitled The Expanded City, which aim to raise questions and generate debate about the City Deal - a national scheme, which aims to deliver new jobs and housing, by addressing strategic transport, environmental, community and cultural infrastructure challenges - and the wider issues associated with contemporary approaches to urban planning.
Within Preston, the City Deal scheme will take place in three zones on the periphery and in the centre of the city, and includes the development of over 5,000 new homes, as well as new roads and amenities. In Certain Places has been invited to inform these developments, and the Expanded City symposium is the first in a series of activities, which will take place until 2019. Alongside presentations about urban demographics by economist Paul Swinney, and the production of community spaces by multidisciplinary design collective The Decorators, the day will also include presentations of work-in-progress by artists Olivia Keith, Gavin Renshaw, Ian Nesbitt and Ruth Levene , and writer Lauren Velvick, who have been undertaking action research in the City Deal areas.
The symposium will take place in Woodplumpton and District Club, and will include a bus tour of the City Deal areas and lunch at a country pub. The bus will also collect participants from Preston Railway Station, and return them following the event.
Tickets are £10 and include pub lunch and bus travel. A limited number of free tickets are also available for independent artists and Preston residents. Email [email protected] to reserve a free place.
Click here to read Lauren Velvick's blogposts about the Expanded City project.
