Welcome To Leeds Society of Architects

4x4 making places will be returning for a tenth year in March 2010. We are delighted that the venue for 4x4 will be the new Rose Bowl at Leeds Metropolitan University. The dates are Thursdays 4, 11, 18, 25 March starting at 6pm prompt and finishing at about 8.15pm. After which debate will continue at Browns and Brios in The Light.

Once again we are remaking and repairing our environment, against a background of global warming and the need to create resilient places with a good quality of life. 4x4 making places 2010, under the series title of “green and pleasant land”, will therefore bring together speakers from the region, the UK and Europeto explore visions, strategies, examples and solutions for creating sustainable places...

In week 1, Governance, we will explore leadership and how European models, such as the Dutch, connect long term policy, place and quality,  how to deliver and maintain quality in our places, the creation and management of public and private space, and concepts of communality and conviviality.

Economy will be a key second week in the series, looking at creating economic resilience, at concepts for sustainable and steady state economic models, at the creative economy, and at the role of social entrepreneurs, and how to generate activity rather than just development.

Land.  Our culture and societies literally live off the land. What are the long term projections for land use, how can greater self-sufficiency be achieved, are their roles for urban food and allotments, how does intensity of use, in urban and rural contexts, affect sustainability, and what educational and cultural changes are in store. We have invited Peter Valdaz, Mayor of Gussing in Austria, to present their pioneering example of energy self-sufficiency through small scale dispersed biomass energy plants.

Nature as a place distinct from human society hardly exists. This fourth week will look at nature and place at large and small scales, at how resilient biodiversity can be created, and at nature as an inspiration for designing buildings, products and systems

4x4 making places 2010 will be held in The Rose Bowl, Leeds Metropolitan University on Thursdays 4, 11, 18, 25 March 2010. It will start at 6pm prompt and entrance is free. For further information please look at our website www.makingplaces.com