In The Room at Accelerate Debates is a podcast which broadcasts the live debates from Accelerate, Open City’s free educational programme. In this episode, you’ll hear our fourth debate of the year, “Designing With, Designing For\", where we ask: how often do communities truly get to shape the spaces they live in? This was a special debate held as part of our Open House Festival programme in September 2025 at The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great. For this episode two of our Accelerate Alumni, Khaira Abimbola and Aaron Yonas guest moderated the discussion, and were joined by four guest speakers: Abebaw Mesfin Meri, Director of AM Meri Architects, Kuljeet Sibia, Founding Director of Diverse Dialogues, Peter Sofoluke, Architect and Director at BPTW, and Tasnima Chowdhury, a community organiser and key figure in the Save Brick Lane campaign.
Hosts: Khaira Abimbola and Aaron Yonas
Music: Massive Music
Further reading:
Good Growth by Design: Supporting Diversity handbook
The podcast is produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. It's recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Subscribe on Spotify, Soundcloud or iTunes and to further support, become an Open City Friend.
","author_name":"Open City"}