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Open City
Exploring London’s past, present and future featuring news and analysis about the city and the challenges it faces.
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
Latest episode
InterCities: Belgrade with Dubravka Sekulić
30:29|InterCities is a brand new podcast from the team at Open City. In this six-part series, we travel to a number of cities and boroughs around the world that have transformed over time to discover what we can learn from these places’ achievements, struggles, successes and mistakes.In this episode, our host Owen Hatherley is joined by the author and academic Dubravka Sekulić. Sekulić was born in one of Serbia’s lesser-known cities Niš but today, she’s walking us through the capital of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and current capital of Serbia, Belgrade. As we find out, the history of Belgrade’s built-environment is influenced not only by attempts at constructing a socialist state, but also by its notable role in the Non-Aligned Movement, a forum of 120 countries not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc that sprung up after the Second World War. It’s also been shaped by Energoprojekt, an engineering firm which built an enormous number of projects across Serbia and other non-aligned countries in Africa and Asia in the latter half of the 20th century. Ultimately, we learn it’s the city’s historical and political status as a regional outlier that makes it the complex, yet often overlooked, place it is today. Subscribe to the Open City Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud or iTunesThe Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app 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. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. Bureau prioritises not just room to think and do, but also shared resources and space to collaborate.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
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C20 reveals its annual 'Risk List'
40:49|In this episode, host Merlin Fulcher is joined by the CEO of Open City, Vickie Hayward to discuss:The Twentieth Century Society reveals its latest list of architectural heritage at risk // Architects voice copyright fears over the government’s AI plans // A landowner serves notice on a pioneering food forest garden in Devon // And the barriers holding back a community-led housing boom in London To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City friend by clicking here.The Brief is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. Bureau prioritises not just room to think and do, but also shared resources and space to collaborate. To book a free day pass follow this link.The Brief is produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, and the C20 Society.The Brief is also supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
Deconstructed: Euston Station - Developing the Railway
29:00|In this episode of Deconstructed, Matthew Lloyd Roberts is joined by Ewan Harrison, architectural historian and lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture, University of Manchester. They discuss Euston Station, designed by William Robert Headley and Ray Moorcroft of British Railways in the early 1960s, in consultation with Richard Seifert, who later designed the commercial office scheme which surrounded the concourse on the south side.
The UK government announces a £2bn boost for affordable and social homes
28:53|On The Brief this week, host Fran Williams is joined by Peter George, Strategic Director of Economy and Sustainability at Ealing Council. Government announces a £2 billion pound boost for affordable and social homes // Design Council warns ‘typical’ approach to new homes may derail zero carbon goals // Studio Egret West reveals plans for the UK’s largest office-to-residential conversion in Croydon // And the London homes pushing raw sewage directly into the Thames To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City friend by clicking here.The Brief is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. Bureau prioritises not just room to think and do, but also shared resources and space to collaborate. To book a free day pass follow this link.The Brief is produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, and the C20 Society.The Brief is also supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
InterCities: Sheffield with Johny Pitts
35:01|InterCities is a brand new podcast from the team at Open City. In this six-part series, we travel to a number of cities and boroughs around the world that have transformed over time to discover what we can learn from these places’ achievements, struggles, successes and mistakes.In our second episode, our host Owen Hatherley is joined by the broadcaster, writer and photographer Johny Pitts. Johny is a Sheffield-native and has witnessed first-hand the huge social and architectural change the city has undergone since the early 1990s. Today, we use photographs from "After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024" a roving exhibition Johny has curated, to track the cities shifting identity from the so-called Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire to a city where leisure and comfort are the new guiding principles. Subscribe to the Open City Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud or iTunesThe Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app 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. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. Bureau prioritises not just room to think and do, but also shared resources and space to collaborate.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
Plans for Manchester United's new stadium revealed
28:50|On The Brief this week, host Fran Williams is joined by Robin Nicholson, fellow of Cullanan Studios, to discuss:Plans for new 100 thousand-seat Manchester United stadium // Top architecture firms announce redundancies // Labour's new planning and infrastructure bill // And the winner of the 2025 Pritzker PrizeTo help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City friend by clicking here.The Brief is recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. Bureau prioritises not just room to think and do, but also shared resources and space to collaborate. To book a free day pass follow this link.The Brief is produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, and the C20 Society.The Brief is also supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
Deconstructed: Crossness Pumping Station - The Birth of Modern Sanitation
29:00|In this episode of Deconstructed, Matthew Lloyd Roberts is joined by Petra Cox – heritage educator, Open City tour guide and Golden Key Academy graduate. They discuss Crossness Pumping Station, constructed from 1859–65 by William Webster to designs by Charles Henry Driver to serve the entire southern half of Joseph Bazalgette's London sewer system. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Board of Works, it transformed London's public health and sanitation, and large parts of the sewer system are still in use today.Petra Cox will lead a new Open City tour of Crossness and its sewage system on 4 May and 31 May. Tickets via our website https://open-city.org.uk/eventsThe Crossness Pumping Station will be celebrating its 160th Anniversary by running its steam engines on the 5th and 6th April, for more information visit: https://crossness.org.uk/visit/=-=The Open City Podcast is supported by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app and is 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. Bureau is a co-working space for creatives offering a new approach to membership workspace. To help support excellent and accessible, independent journalism about the buildings and the urban environment, please become an Open City Friend.