Open City
Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable. Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world. At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brief – an award-winning review of the big stories in architecture, planning and housing news – hosted by Sahiba Chadha and Fran Williams on a fortnightly basis. Alongside this is Deconstructed – a monthly podcast hosted by Matthew Lloyd Roberts taking apart the architecture of individual buildings and InterCities – a monthly podcast hosted by Owen Hatherley exploring municipal transformation around the world. All three shows profile new, expert and diverse voices from across industry, journalism, academia and beyond. The Open City Podcast is produced by Hunter Charlton and Paige Reynolds. The commissioning editor is Merlin Fulcher. The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture platform and produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. The Open City Podcast is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City Friend. Photo credit: Owen Hatherley portrait © Antonio Olmos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Show episodes
This week on The Brief, Sahiba Chadha is joined by the BBC broadcaster, writer and journalist Samira Ahmed to discuss the biggest stories in architecture, conservation planning news: A 21st century almshouse in Southwark wins the Stirling Prize // How Labour ministers are consistently rejecting Historic England’s listi
In this episode, the finale in a trilogy to mark 60 years since the end of the London County Council, Matthew Lloyd Roberts was joined by Dr Rosamund Lily West, Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester. They discussed Plumstead Common, a municipal park in South East London, the site of riots ov
In this episode, host Fran Williams is joined by Jos Boys, a disability design activist who co-founded Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative and is co-director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project. Together they discuss: The government reveals the sites for its first new towns // A £5 billion pound fund is launched to
The future of new towns, record-breaking revenue at Foster + Partners and a new tax on SUVs?
In this episode, host Merlin Fulcher is joined by Dr Jane Hall, architectural historian and founding member of the Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble. Together they discuss: Lords call for stronger leadership for the government’s new towns // The UK’s largest architecture firm reports record-breaking turnover ami
A new housing secretary, the RIBA prize shortlist and the UK's first "super-university"
In this episode, host Sahiba Chadha is joined by architecture and design writer and features editor at STIR. Anmol Ahuja. Together they discuss: Can the new housing secretary deliver on the government’s 1.5 million homes pledge? // The shortlist for this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize is revealed // Greenwich and Kent merg
In this episode Matthew Lloyd Roberts was joined by Nigel Smith, who runs ‘Memory Palaces’, a website and programme of walking tours to explore the history of London’s cinemas. They discussed the Carlton Cinema on Essex Road, Islington, which first opened to the public in a grand ceremony in 1930, and represents the ch