“Our acceptance of the dysfunctions and indignities of modern cities has reached a peak. We need to change that, for the sake of justice, for our wellbeing and for the climate.” – Carlos Moreno
Daily life in the modern city is structured around arduous commutes and daily activities far too reliant on the car. Our alarmingly high carbon emissions are ensuring that we are enduring life in poor air quality. In contrast, Carlos Moreno’s 15-minute city promotes a human-centric and environmentally sustainable urban future.
The 15-minute city provides inhabitants with access to all the services they require; housing, work, food, health, education, culture, and leisure, within their immediate vicinity. Restructuring urban life so that each resident could live the urban experience within a 15-minute radius, would revolutionise city living. The hyperlocal global urban movement, as Moreno terms it, would drastically reduce traffic and CO2 emissions, fundamentally increasing the health and wellbeing of people around the world.
Join us at RIBA to hear Carlos present his concept. After the keynote presentation, he will be joined by Kathryn Firth, Director in Cities, Planning, and Design at Arup to discuss the reality of the 15-minute city in the context of the UK.
Carlos Moreno
Professor Carlos Moreno is a Scientific Director at IAE Paris - Sorbonne University (France). He earned recognition as a scientist with an innovative mind and unique approach to urban issues. He works at the heart of issues of international significance, bringing an innovative perspective on urban issues and offering solutions to the issues faced by the cities, metropolises, and territories during the 21st century.
Some of his concepts have travelled the world, including the ‘Human Smart City’, the ‘15-minute city’ and the 'Territory of 30 minutes’. In June 2022, he launched the Global Observatory of proximities at the World Urban Forum #WUF11 with UN-Habitat, C40 Cities, UCLG, and other partners.
He has won prizes including Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France, 2010), the Obel Award by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation (Denmark, 2021), the Leadership Award, Smart City Expo World Congress (Spain, 2021) as well as the International Mobility Award, Empresas por la movilidad sostenible (Madrid, 2022), among others.
Kathryn Firth
Kathryn Firth is a Director in Cities, Planning, and Design at Arup. She is an architect and urban designer whose passion for creating thriving urban places spans some 30 years, working in cities around the world with diverse spatial, social, and economic contexts. She has led master planning and urban regeneration projects across the UK, the US, Europe and the Middle East.
She holds a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where she has been teaching over the past five years. She also teaches regularly at the Bartlett, UCL.
Kathryn is committed to a productive exchange between the practice of urban design and academic research and is a proponent of a multi-disciplinary approach that ensures collaboration across design, development and socio-economic disciplines. She has ongoing involvement in topical research and projects including the intersection of healthcare and urbanism, social and environmental resiliency in town centres, and investigations into typologies and morphologies that support land use intensification in urban and suburban contexts.
This event is part of our Well Being: Well Built series of talks for the RIBA + VitrA Partnership.
This partnership reflects a shared commitment to add social, economic and cultural value to society, and VitrA Bathrooms are proud to be supporting such an inspiring programme.
With innovation at its core, a global reach and a tradition of collaborating with celebrated architects and designers, the VitrA bathroom brand has become a world leader, synonymous with contemporary sophistication since the mid-1900s.
To celebrate the change of season, our autumn 2022 RIBA+VitrA talks will be free. The offer applies to this year’s talks only so be sure to book now.
