Architect intent on stirring up the property market.

Cany Ash, an architect who has run an architects’ studio since the 80’s, works with both local people and developers on cultural projects and mixed-use town centre projects. She is currently researching Collective Custom Build Housing to find ways for more self-expression and equity in the housing market (Adaptableneighbourhoods.com) and experimenting with new kinds of hosted public space (caravanserai.org). Her aim is to help recover the lost art of hosting public space.

Cany will join us to talk about her Adaptable Neighbourhoods initiative. She sees the boom and bust economy as a huge barrier to building meaningful communities and using space creatively in the UK.

Cany will show how by working incrementally to regenerate and develop under-used space, cities can thrive and more citizens can participate in making active responsive neighbourhoods. She believes that Localism and Neighbourhood Planning as a political agenda threaten to hijack real localism and efforts to manage public funds and can distort collective decision-making. She argues that the only way to work is ‘on the ground’ making a tangible difference.