Poetry workshops, youth engagement and how to get feminist cities into policy

If you’ve perused the jam-packed agenda of talks, workshops, walking tours and fishbowls for this year’s Festival of Place, you’ll know it’s not your standard property event. From poetry workshops to mapping, the event has become known for its inspiring and creative learning opportunities for built environment professionals during this one-day event on all things place. 

 

But if the sessions are dynamic and fun, they’re also thought-provoking and meaningful. Curated by editor-in-chief of The Developer, Christine Murray, who directs the content for the annual in-person festival, the idea is to get professionals mixing and rethinking. 

 

"We want a relaxed and fun atmosphere, but there’s serious issues being tackled during these sessions too," Murray says. "People are cementing new professional relationships, learning about major policy changes, population and behavioural shifts – we just don’t think panel discussions are the only way to learn and make connections." 

 

Take the poetry workshop, led by Ellie Cosgrave, Director, Publica and Eve Holt, head of policy and implementation, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which will, in the words of Audre Lorde, help participants translate their ideas about place “first into language, then into idea, then more tangible action.” 

 

Another workshop, hosted by the London Development Trust, will show how playing a unique game of cards can be an effective way to understand what young people want, especially when it comes to social and cultural amenities and place activations. 

 

Another workshop will explore the Wellbeing Economy by mapping what really matters to people, with Prof Flora Samuel and the team bheind Public Map facilitating a mapping exercise to make the invisible, visible. 

 

In another workshop, Professor Nick Tyler, Chadwick professor of civil engineering at University College London, will build our understanding of neurodiversity and the impacts of the built environment on the brain in public spaces.

 

Part W will be leading a #BuiltBarriers Workshop: Unpicking Gender Barriers in the Built Environment, which will seek to identify and counter built obstacles to inclusivity. 

 

Fishbowls at the festival are another dynamic format which like the workshop, provide the opportunity to get involved in the content. An empty seat means the audience has the opportunity to join the panel and get discussing. When someone sits down, another person on the panel must stand up, so there’s always an empty chair.

 

Stride Treglown will be hosting a fishbowl panel about how social impact can be understood and supported from early engagement through to post-completion. Moving beyond metrics alone, this is a space to share how long-term, meaningful impact is generated, recognised and evidenced in practice.

 

For those more interested in listening, there are talks on offer too: The main-stage lineup includes British cycling legend, Olympic gold medallist, world champion and world hour record setter Chris Boardman CBE, speaking about how to encourage behaviour change towards walking and cycling, based on his experience as the active travel commissioner for England and chairman of Sport England. 

 

Dr Leslie Kern, author of Feminist Cities: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World will take to the stage with representatives from Glasgow City Council, the UK’s first feminist city, including Cllr Holly Bruce and head of planning Sarah Shaw, to discuss how to enshrine gender mainstreaming into policy. 

 

Also on the main stage, Lucy Musgrave, founder of Publica will be sharing her future insight on the changing nature of places, and artist Adam Nathaniel Furman will be sharing how emotionally resonant artworks create can define public destinations. 

 

Government chief planner and head of the planning profession Joanna Averley will be joining Rachel Fisher, chief executive of the RTPI for a discussion of planning and the role of policy in shaping healthy and thriving places – specifically the key principles for future developments laid out in the NPPF.

 

Dr Nick Bailey, professor of urban studies and social policy at University of Glasgow will be explaning the suburbanisation of poverty and how low-income households in private rented homes have been increasingly pushed to less central locations as a result of welfare reforms, in a session chaired by award-winning housing journalist Peter Apps.

 

Martin Prince-Parrott, architect, developer, author and tech founder will be describing how the shape and function of a neighbourhood will change, from housing layout to the amount of power and data required, to support an autonomous, AI-powered future. 

 

Festival sponsor Savills is leading a panel discussion that will examine how thoughtful collaboration and early decisions on land use can create truly resilient places that ensure long-term success for the community through social value. 

 

There’s also a whole stage of case studies being shared in bitesized presentations. A chair’s selection of shortlisted projects from The Pineapples awards for place 2026 will spotlight the subjects of Homes; Landscape-led Places; Reuse, Retrofit and the Circular Economy; Active Travel and Places in Progress. 

 

In addition, walking tours make the most of the iconic Wembley Park setting as Quintain offers tours to experience the 34-hectare development which is bringing 16 million visitors annually to the new neighbourhood. 

 

The Festival of Place is supported by Quintain, Savills, Stride Treglown, Turley and Vestre, which help keep the day inclusive through our free and discounted ticket offer to small charities and community groups. 

 

All tickets include access from 8.30am till 5pm with lunch from the Boxpark traders, while the festival afterparty provides a chance to enjoy drinks and new connections. Or take on some friendly competition with cricket at Sixes. 

Find out more Tickets are on sale now at festivalofplace.co.uk. Want to bring your whole team? Become an organisation member for a range of benefits, email james@thedeveloper.live