Image by diamond geezer licensed under Creative Commons.

Slated to open this fall in the heart of Greenwich Peninsula, London’s Design District is a community of 16 buildings tailored to the living and working needs of creative firms.

On Friday at 8 am, London-based artist Jemima Burrill will be in conversation with Oliver Schulze, a founding partner at Schulze + Grassov — one of the eight firms that designed the district. Schulze will share how urban design can reduce anxiety and perceived stress during COVID-19 and beyond. He will also explore how public spaces can encourage communication and make cities more sustainable and attractive places to live.

You can register here.

Other events from around the region:

Monday, June 29

Plan the post-pandemic city: The Planning Society at Ireland’s Queen’s University Belfast is hosting a webinar to explore how the planning community can reimagine cities and enhance the well-being of its residents by creating more vibrant, sustainable and biodiverse places.

Monday’s session will focus on how understanding the ecosystem can help planners align environmental, economic and social objectives. Dr. Phil Sterling, the program manager at UK-based organization Butterfly Conservation, is leading the conversation.

The event is at 10 am on Monday. You can register here.

How much power does art hold in the public spaces?: Join a talk that will center artists in a discussion around how they contribute to the design of engaging and pedestrian-friendly public spaces.

The virtual event will feature London-based artists Jyll Bradley, whose work melds ideas surrounding minimalism, identity and place; and David Rickard, whose research and experimentation attempts to understand how people perceive the physical world and how far those beliefs are from reality; as well as Sam Wilkinson, the head of public art at University College of London.

The talk is taking place on Monday at 12 pm. Get more info and register here.

Tuesday, June 30

Learn about community development’s role in preventing racism: A conversation that’s necessary for many cities across America, Detroit-based collaborative Building the Engine of Community Development is hosting a virtual discussion about the role of community development in preventing racism, displacement, and cultural erasure.

The event, which is taking place on Tuesday at 5 pm, will include a panel conversation in which community development and social justice leaders will share real-life stories from Detroit neighborhoods, as well as an open discussion involving attendees.

You can register here.

Wednesday, July 1

Make change happen: In a new weekly webinar by WABA, veteran organizer Garrett Hennigan will share strategies for winning campaigns including tools like power-mapping and ways to understand how people and organizations can practice unconscious bias. He’ll also discuss how to set goals and measure progress.

The talk is on Wednesday at 6:30 pm

Get more info here.

Thursday, July 2

Have a community-building conversation: The City Repair Project, a Portland-based organization that facilitates artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking, is hosting a live discussion focused on how to reimagine public spaces to transform communities into vibrant, inclusive, and engaging places. The group’s co-founder Mark Lakeman will share community-level strategies to help empower and connect neighbors who live in various types of communities.

The event starts at 7 p.m. Get more info here.

Check out more urbanist events at ggwash.org/calendar. Do you have an event you’d like to see featured in the weekly events post? Submit it here!

Christina Sturdivant Sani is a proud DC native whose work has exposed disparities and injustices that permeate under-resourced communities. She finds joy in highlighting creative solutions in this rapidly changing city. As a coffee shop connoisseur, she has a list of more than 60 cafes that she's visited in the District. If you see her at your local shop, story ideas are welcome!