Street Talks

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January’s Street Talk

Christian Wolmar – From good to great? How to use transport policies to turn London into a liveable city

We hope you can join us for the first Street Talks of 2013 when we’ll be joined by Christian Wolmar, leading commentator and author on transport issues. Christian’s talk will explore how changes in transport policy could help turn London into a more liveable city.

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 7pm on Tuesday 8th January (bar open from 6pm).

Christian Wolmar is an award-winning writer and broadcaster specialising in transport and is the author of a series of books on railway history. In the autumn of 2012, he announced he is seeking the Labour candidacy for the 2016 London mayoral election. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and events, and regularly appears on TV and radio. In 2011 he was the captain of the Warwick team of graduates in Christmas University Challenge, which reached the final of the competition.

Christian has spent nearly all of his working life as a journalist, and his interest in transport began at The Independent when he was appointed transport correspondent in 1992. Although he mainly concentrates on transport matters, he has covered many other social policy issues and writes regularly for a wide variety of publications including newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian – he has written for every national newspaper except the Star – and numerous magazines. He broadcasts frequently on radio and TV and is a regular pundit on the national news. Among his TV appearances, he has featured on Coast, Julia Bradbury’s Railway Walks and the railway programmes presented by Ian Hislop and Michael Portillo.

Christian is a member of the board of London Cycling Campaign with a special interest in intermodal transport and uses his bicycle as his principal means of transport around London.

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December’s Street Talk: The word from the street 2 – speaker line up

7pm on Tuesday 11th December at Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX

We hope you can join us at Street Talks in December for what promises to be an interesting and lively evening of short presentations on how to create a more liveable London. Each of the following speakers will have 7½ minutes to present their ideas:

  • Brenda Puech on the pedestrian experience and coping strategies for crossing the road
  • Daniel Cooper on why we need fewer car parks and more parks
  • Darren Reynolds on promoting cycling to children
  • George Weeks from TfL on valuing the urban realm
  • Graham Freer on how a series of ‘connected cities’ might accommodate London’s growing population
  • Jenny Bates on proposals for new river crossings in east London
  • Jon Irwin on his DIY guide for transforming your high street
  • Julia Day on the Open Streets London project
  • Katharine Hibbert on why we need a revival in hitchhiking
  • Rosie Tharp on how the Canal and River Trust is managing the growing numbers of users of ‘London’s greatest park’
  • Dr William Bird on how Beat the Street aims to get more children walking to school

Presentations will start at 7pm, and Look Mum No Hands will be open as usual beforehand for food and drink.

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December’s Street Talk: The word from the street 2 – we want to hear from you

7pm on Tuesday 11th December at Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, EC1V 9HX

For December’s Street Talk we once again want to hear from you. What are your hopes, fears and ideas for a more liveable London?

We’d like to hear your thoughts on how and why London could be made a more liveable city. What you talk about and whether you use slides is up to you. You can be as light hearted or as serious as you like. Passion is more important than experience and the only rule is that you will have exactly 7½ minutes to present.

If you were mayor what would you do to solve London’s transport challenges? How can London become a great city for walking and cycling? Where should London look for inspiration? What public spaces would you like to see improved, and how? How would you convince politicians that they need to take these issues seriously?

If you’d like to speak please send us a 150 word summary by 5pm on Friday 30th November.

Looking for inspiration? Here’s a selection of presentations from last year’s event:

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November’s Street Talk

Mark Ames, editor of ibikelondon: I bike, you bike, we bike – cycling towards an equal city

Mark Ames has been writing about cycling for four years and in that time has seen everything from tens of thousands of cyclists on the streets in demonstrations to an old aged pensioner riding the notorious Elephant and Castle roundabout. He’ll chart the highs and lows of cycle advocacy in London and propose new ideas as to what really needs to be done to achieve a real cycling revolution in London, and more importantly who needs to ask for it. Finally, Mark will put forward the idea that keeping cyclists safe and designing the built environment go hand in hand, and, when done well are a true indicator of an equal city.

Mark Ames is the editor of i b i k e l o n d o n and a sustainable urban travel advocate. He was instrumental in organising mass participation bike rides in 2011 on Blackfriars Bridge and around the 10 most dangerous junctions for cyclists in London. In 2012 he fired the starting gun for the ‘Love London, Go Dutch Big Ride’ setting off 10,000 cyclists calling for roads in London to be made as safe for cycling as they are in the Netherlands. He’s appeared on television, online and in print talking about bicycle safety and in 2012 was invited to Oxford University and the Houses of Parliament to talk about everyday and ordinary cycling.

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 7pm (bar open 6pm) on Tuesday 6th November.

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September’s Street Talk

We hope you can join us for Street Talks next Monday when we will be exploring the relationship between cheap oil, car dependency, road danger, the inactivity pandemic, climate change and obesity with Professor Ian Roberts, author of The Energy Glut: The Politics of Fatness in an Overheating World.

Upstairs at The Yorkshire Grey, 2 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PN at 7pm (bar open 6pm) on Monday 10th September.

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Join us for our first Street Walk, 10am, Saturday 18th August, 2012

Street Talks is taking a summer break in August, instead we’re holding our first Street Walk – a chance to see some of the recent public realm and cycling projects that are helping to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists Hackney and make it one of London’s most liveable boroughs. We’ll be joined by some of the officers from Hackney Council who are responsible for delivering the projects and by campaigners from London Cycling Campaign in Hackney and Hackney Living Streets.

The walk will start promptly at 10am and last a couple of hours. Afterwards there’ll be a chance for questions and discussion and to hear more about the role that campaigners, politicians and officers have played in conceiving and delivering projects. We’ll finish by 1pm.

Spaces will be limited, so if you’d like to attend please let us know. We’ll confirm the start point and final arrangements nearer the time.

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From the Street Talks Archive: Amy Aeron-Thomas, Executive Director, RoadPeace

Amy Aeron-Thomas, Executive Director, RoadPeace: Towards a safer and fairer city – traffic justice in London (5th July 2011)

RoadPeace provides support for victims of road crashes and campaigns to reduce road danger. If you’d like to support their work you can join them or make a donation.

Presentations from all previous Street Talks are available here.