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Clevedon Pier, photograph by Paul Blakemore

The pandemic saw a shift in favour of towns and away from megacities. From Clevedon to Margate, Nailsea to Frome, how can we harness the unique qualities of place and the closeness of communities that make towns such great places to live?

We look at the success stories and the challenges that smaller-scale brings. How do we stimulate the economies of towns in a grassroots way that values and supports people and places? What can we offer to young people to keep a balanced demographic, and can we attract new people to towns without pricing out existing residents?

From Frome Independent to Dreamland Margate, speakers share original ideas that sparked a process of reclaiming, rethinking and regenerating their towns. In Nailsea and Clevedon, Two Towns is bringing citizens, local businesses, councillors, young people and cultural leaders together to create a vision for the future of the towns.

About our speakers:

Wayne Hemingway MBE is an English designer and co-founder of Red or Dead.  He is also on the Design Council Trustee Board and having been with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) for a decade since its inception (as Chair of Building For Life), he is now on the Design Council CABE Committee.

Wayne is a Professor in The Built Environment Department of Northumbria University, a Doctor of Design at Wolverhampton, Lancaster and Stafford, a Fellow of Blackburn College and a Senior Fellow of Regent’s University London.

Juliet Bidgood is an architect and urban designer who works at a range of scales from the tactical to the material to realise built projects or advise on the development of places. Her expertise is in public buildings and spaces and residential neighbourhoods.

Pippa Goldfinger is Head of Design at Design West and manages Design Review Panels across the West of England.  She is a member of the Academy of Urbanism and previously served as a Town Councillor and Mayor of the award-winning Frome Town Council. In 2022, Pippa was made an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA in recognition of her contribution to Architecture.