Design Advocacy

London is now growing and changing faster than it has done for decades. The need for everyone involved in conceiving, planning, assessing – and using – new buildings and old ones – to understand what good design is, and why it is crucial to the capital’s future, is pressing.

Design advocacy – that is, design awareness programmes for London decision-makers – is a key part of Open House's work. The aim of this part of the website is to help everyone through the complexities and principles underlying projects of all types – places, spaces and buildings; piece by piece they have an effect on the city. So it’s for architects who need to be aware of local and greater London considerations; councillors and their officials who have to vet schemes, the public who might be asked to comment on big developments, and potential users of individual buildings – from schools to clinics.

Here you will find special sections on housing and schools, art in the public realm and sustainability. It is updated to track developments on policy debates. It offers, via our London Exemplar scheme, examples of best practice. It is hopefully jargon-free and user-friendly. The users, by the way, are that growing mass of Londoners concerned about the development of the capital. In fact, think of this site as a city talking to itself, about itself and its future.  

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