The 2008 summer school

The CABE urban design summer school programme is more than a four-day event in June. It is an engaging series of activities and learning opportunities, with the summer school event at its heart.

The 2008 programme - an overview

Day 1 - Sunday, 22 June: Exploring the city

On the first day of the event delegates were intreoduced to each other and the host location, NewcastleGateshead. Beginners tackled the fundamentals of urban design. The more experienced were challenged to think about how the planners and developers of Tyneside could have done better.

In the evening we heard from inspiring speakers and, after dinner, played a game of 'Urbanology'.

Day 2 - Monday, 23 June: Design - the bigger picture

The big design project looked at challenging sites in the Tyneside area. Working in mixed groups at a big scale, we looked at urban structures and at designing layouts. We also attended short, targeted skills workshops on urban structure, sustainable design and masterplanning and hear from a leading authority on placemaking.

In the evening there was an optional trip to see key developments in the NewcastleGateshead area and beyond.

Day 3 - Tuesday, 24 June: Design in detail

Tuesday saw two top speakers tell us how to achieve high quality in public space. The big design project focused on a smaller area of each site and on designing in detail. Our skills workshops provided the techniques needed to create great streets and public spaces.

Our optional evening event was a trip to The Staith's with Wayne Hemingway and then a (rather wet) picnic at Saltwell Park.

Day 4 - Wednesday, 25 June: Design into action

Our final morning focuses on delivery, picking apart 'the anatomy of a development' to find out what makes for good and bad design outcomes. We met with people in similar occupations to our own to explore how to be more effective in promoting high quality design.

Finally, the best Big Design projects fought it out in "Strictly Urban Design" with the Character team winning with this exciting Stephenson's Quarter scheme.