Morris+Company

On 26th July we hosted the third instalment of the Fight Club series, Fight Club: Rumble in the Concrete Jungle. The event featured five speakers from across planning, place making, urban renewal, estate wide regeneration and heritage led activism.

The event, a platform for debate, was provocative and in parts argumentative. The format consistent with previous fight clubs, saw experts in their field, in this case the planning system, pitch their vision for addressing social inequalities in the built environment whilst simultaneously addressing the climate crisis.

The audience of over 70, represented a broad cross section of society, and the speaker's pitches were followed by an engaged debate from multiple voices in the room. There were many topics debated, often in heated exchange, with opinions voiced and challenged in equal measure. The event encouraged views to be aired honestly, with emotion + passion, raw + uncut, unedited + without rehearsal. This allowed the fighters to dispense their daily personas typically confined by etiquette, instead releasing their inner selves to amazing effect.

The Venue The event was hosted at SUPERNATURE x SITE in Hackney. The open format of the venue meant that the audience felt fully engaged, with the divide between stage and stalls removed, creating a fully participatory experience.

Audience participation Following the pitches from the experts, the event embarked on a passionate debate on the topics discussed, driven by a Q&A session with the 70-strong audience.

Joseph Zeal-Henry Joseph, co-host of Sound Advice, a platform exploring spatial inequality through provocative debate, mixing social commentary and music in seeking radical change, was the final speaker at the event.

Jennifer ‘The Mediator’ Ross of Tibbalds Jennifer was the penultimate speaker of the event. A veteran of the ring, with over 30 years sparring experience, Jennifer is passionate about place, tenacious by nature with an abundance of patience and good humour she has worked on some of London’s most epic planning battles.

Louise ‘Townscape’ Newman of Tavernor Consultancy Our third speaker was Louise Newman. An Architect by training, Louise is a heritage and townscape expert and a big fan of great architecture, beautiful streets and historic buildings who believes that tall and high-density development can be locally responsive and sustainable.

Sarah ‘Scary’ Cary, from Enfield Council Sarah was the second speaker of the evening. As a planner turned developer turned public servant to 330,000 local residents, Sarah was speaking from the perspective of working for a public institution.

Katherine ‘The Freedom Fighter’ Woods, from DP9 Kate was the first speaker of the evening, and brought hard fought enthusiasm in pursuit of collaboration to the debate, espousing freedom from the ties of Whitehall red-tape.