Terrorism, Happiness And Eco-Towns: 2008 RIBA Events At Party Conferences

Three Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) events aim to place architecture and design at the forefront of politicians and policy-makers minds.

British people spend on average of 20 hours per day inside buildings. The quality of our buildings has been shown to improve how well children perform in school, how quickly patients get better in hospital, increase our feelings of happiness and reduce levels of crime so politicians need to pay due regard to high quality design.

The three topical fringe events, presented by the RIBA at this year's Party Political Conferences, are:

• The Built Environment: Can the state design happiness? (Part of the Urban Hub)
• Eco Towns: Green Solution or White Elephant? (with CPRE)
• Security and Resilience: Defending our Built Environment (with the ICE)

Attendees have the opportunity to hear leading opinions on these topical issues, including Hazel Blears MP, Adam Sampson, Chief Executive of Shelter; Jeremy Vine, Editor of the Times Public Agenda; Ed Vaizey MP, Sir Terry Farrell; Sunand Prasad, RIBA President and Jonathan Glancey, The Guardian.


These events complement existing projects that the RIBA has been leading on, including the ‘Designing out Terrorism’ CPD course (run in conjunction with the Home Office), the launch of the ‘Building Happiness’ book in September 2008 and RIBA President Sunand Prasad's work on the eco-town committee.

Anna Scott-Marshall, Head of Public Affairs at the RIBA, said: “The RIBA wants to see a revolution in attitudes towards architecture and construction in the UK. We want to see the policymakers and politicians not just accept that good design is vital but actively promote it.

"This year's party conferences will be a crucial time where policy is developed for the manifestos ready for a general election."

The RIBA will be hosting these events at each of the party conferences.

(JM/KMcA)