Sir Patrick Geddes Commemorative Lecture

Cities for People: Geddes' Legacy

The 2012 Sir Patrick Geddes Commemorative Lecture was given by Jan Gehl, Founding Partner of Gehl Architects in Copenhagen. Jan's lecture will be on "Cities for People: Geddes' Legacy" on 7 September in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. 

You can see a video of the full lecture at http://www.vimeo.com/m/53316566

The lecture was organised by RTPI Scotland, Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and Edinburgh Architectural Association and supported by the Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust and the Saltire Society.

The lecture was kindly sponsored by Scottish Government and Architecture + Design Scotland

Patrick Geddes

Patrick Geddes is widely regarded as the founder of modern town planning. His interest in the natural sciences led him to a professorship at Dundee University in botany, after which he developed his interest in sociology and planning. He lived most of his life in Edinburgh during which he established the Edinburgh Social Union, promoted a wide range of sympathetic redevelopment and conservation schemes the length of the Royal Mile, largely for university residential accommodation, founded a publishing company, founded the Franco-Scottish Society, became a major sponsor of the arts, developed summer schools, promoted international festivals, published seminal texts such as "Cities in Evolution", spent time in India as Chair in Sociology at Bombay University, planned the Hebrew University at Jerusalem and finally retired to France where he founded the College des Ecossais in Montpellier. He was knighted in London in the year of his death.

RTPI Scotland hold an Annual Commemorative Lecture to advance Geddesian thinking and to stimulate debate and discussion on key issues in planning.

2011 Lecture

The 2011 Lecture was given by Carolyn Steel.

You can view a video of the lecture here.

Carolyn Steel is an architect, lecturer and writer. Carolyn's book Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives was published in 2008 and won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction.

Previous Lectures

Previous Sir Patrick Geddes Commemorative Lectures have been given by:

2004 - Jonathan Porritt
2005 - Raymond Young
2006 - Greg Lloyd
2007 - Richard Wakeford
2008 - Murdo MacDonald
2009 - Harry Burns
2010 - Peter Head