3rd March - "Creative Cities: Lessons For Penang" by Charles Landry

Think City Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, in collaboration with the Socio-Economic & Environmental Research Institute (SERI), will be co-organizing a public lecture entitled “Creative Cities: Lessons for Penang” on 3rd March 2011 (Thursday) at Auditorium A, 5th Floor KOMTAR. We are privileged to have with us a leading authority on creative cities, Charles Landry who has worked in over 45 countries. He combines an understanding of economic imperatives with the need for cities to be culturally distinctive and ecologically sustainable. He will be sharing his views on global trends in city making and provide an overview of what leading cities are doing and its relevance to Penang.

Creative Cities: Lesson for Penang
by Charles Landry

Synopsis:
The Creative City started as a concept in the 1980s to encourage open-mindedness and imagination to harness the creative potential of any given space. It has since evolved into a global movement that re-shaped the thinking of city makers and urban planners. Cities embracing this concept e.g. Bilbao, Ghent, Perth, Canberra etc. have enjoyed tremendous success in unlocking their social and economic potential. Charles will share his views on what it takes to become a creative city and share lessons for Penang.

Programme:

Date : 3rd March 2011 (Thursday)
Time : 4:00pm – 6:30pm
Venue :          
Auditorium A
Level 5, KOMTAR
George Town
10050 Penang, Malaysia

4.00pm – 4.30pm : Arrival & Registration
4.30pm – 4.40pm : Opening remarks by YB Chow Kon Yeow
4.40pm – 5.30pm : Presentation by Charles Landry
5.30pm – 6:00pm : Q&A Session & Open Discussion
6:30pm : End

On behalf of Think City and SERI, we would like to extend an invitation to you to attend this lecture as our guest. Please feel free to extend this invitation to your friends and colleagues as well. Please RSVP your attendance with Daniel Lim via email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A brief profile of Charles Landry has been appended below for your reference.


Charles Landry’s Profile:

Charles Landry helps cities reach their potential by triggering their imagination and thinking. Working closely with decision makers and local leaders and acting as a critical friend, he inspires, facilitates and stimulates, so cities can transform for the better. He helps find original solutions to seemingly intractable urban dilemmas such as marrying innovation and tradition, balancing wealth creation and social cohesiveness, or local distinctiveness and a global orientation. Considered an international authority on creativity and city futures Charles Landry focuses especially on how the culture of a place can invigorate and revitalize the economy, enhancing the sense of self and confidence.

Charles was born in 1948 and studied in Britain, Germany and Italy. In 1978 he founded Comedia, a highly respected European consultancy working in creativity, culture and urban change. With his company Comedia, he has worked on several hundred projects and given talks in 45 countries from the wealthy to those less fortunate, including Albania, Australia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Dubai, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine, USA and Yemen.

He works collaboratively with clients by undertaking tailored research, participating in and helping to orchestrate events, through shorter and longer term residences, deeper involvement over extended time periods, and by undertaking specific tasks. The work ranges from projects to revitalise public, social and economic life through cultural activity, to visionary city and regional strategies or rethinking assets and potential. He has completed nearly 200 assignments for a variety of public and private clients.

He has written several books which include The Art of City Making (2006); The Intercultural City: Planning for Diversity Advantage (2007) with Phil Wood; The Creative City: A toolkit for Urban Innovators (2000). He has lectured widely all over the world and has presented over 250 keynote addresses on topics relating to city making.