Creating Vibrant Places 20/06/24

This engaging online discussion, hosted by vocL co-founder, Juergen Maier, focused on policies and strategies that can help business invest more in creating vibrant cities & towns.

The discussion emphasised the role of both public and private sectors in fostering economically prosperous and inclusive communities and looked at how, despite financial constraints faced by local authorities, their higher public trust compared to central government underscores the need for localised decision-making.

We also examined successful examples, such as the Eden Project and New Lubbesthorpe, illustrating the impact of strategic investments. Finally, there were several policy recommendations to support these initiatives, advocating for business rate reforms, utilisation of vacant spaces, and the creation of multifaceted citizen centres to enhance community resilience and vitality.

The panel discussion featured:

Host: Juergen Maier – Co-Founder of vocL
Sarah Walker-Smith – CEO Ampa Group and Shakespeare Martineau LLP
Amir Hussain – Founder and CEO of Yeme Tech
Andrew Gall – Head of Savings & Economics, Building Societies Association
Fhaheen Khan – Senior Economist at Make UK
Annabel Thorne – Director – Sustainability Lead of Project & Programme Services, Atkins Réalis

Watch a short event summary below: