In 2011, grand plans for the £700m redevelopment of Preston’s city centre that centred on a huge shopping centre fell apart in the wake of the financial crash. What had been vaunted as the city's lifeline at a time of economic growth was no longer viable as the investment of large national companies fell through, and the council was left without a plan.
Yet, by 2018 Preston was voted the UK’s most improved city to live and work and in 2020 it achieved its highest employment rate and lowest levels of economic inactivity for more than fifteen years. Council-owned heritage structures such as Preston bus station and the Grade II listed covered market have been saved and refurbished, and there are even plans for a publicly-owned cinema and leisure complex.
Joining us in conversation, Matthew Brown, leader of Preston City Council, and writer Rhian E. Jones – co-authors of a new book about the Preston Model and its wider potential – and local architect and educator Lee Ivett will explore the reimagining of a city through its local government, and the wider impacts of these changes on its built environment. The conversation will be chaired by Open City’s programmes and communities manager, Rhea Martin.
Tickets are £3 and available through the Open City Shop.
Open City Friends can use their discount code for £1 off their order.
About the speakers
Matthew Brown
Matthew Brown is leader of Preston City Council and a Senior Fellow for the Democracy Collaborative, tasked with promoting Community Wealth-Building across the UK and abroad.
Rhian E. Jones
Rhian E. Jones is a writer, critic and broadcaster from South Wales who now lives and works in London. She writes on history, politics, popular culture and the places where they intersect. She is co-editor of Red Pepper and writes for Tribune magazine. Her books include Clampdown: Pop-Cultural Wars on Class and Gender (zer0, 2013); Petticoat Heroes: Gender, Culture and Popular Protest (University of Wales Press, 2015); Triptych: Three Studies of Manic Street Preachers' The Holy Bible (Repeater, 2017) and the anthology of women's music writing Under My Thumb: Songs That Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them (Repeater, 2017). Her latest book is Paint Your Town Red: How Preston Took Back Control and Your Town Can Too (Repeater, 2021).
Lee Ivett
Lee Ivett leads the undergraduate architecture programme at the Grenfell-Baines Institute of Architecture, University of Central Lancashire which is based in Preston. Alongside his work in teaching, he is an award winning architect, designer, artist and urbanist with a track record of developing transformational long term projects with third sector organisations. He is also a regular writer and has contributed to the Architectural Review, the Architects Journal, the RIBA Journal and Architecture Today.