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Artwork for Open City

Open City

Open City
London
Housing Crisis
Affordable Housing
Social Housing
Architecture
Grenfell Tower
Community Engagement
Finsbury Health Centre
Urban Planning
Labour
Housing Targets
Urban Design
Elizabeth Line
Climate Change
Sustainability
Rachel Reeves
Council Housing
Public Health
Labour Party
Brutalist Architecture

Open City is a charity dedicated to making architecture and built heritage more open, accessible and equitable.

Providing you with essential listening, inspiring voices and built environment insights – the Open City Podcast covers news and current events as well as in depth studies of landmark buildings, and cities around the UK and world.

At the centre of our line-up is our flagship show The Brie... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes279Founded6 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
DesignArtsSociety & Culture

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Artwork for Open City

Latest Episodes

In this episode Fiona Chilton is joined by Miriam, who lives in rural Devon in a home that she bought together with two other households so that they could raise their families side by side. But the dream was more challenging in reality as they tackl... more

In this episode Matthew Lloyd Roberts is joined by Judy Ovens, one of the authors of the new book ‘Adventurous Vents: A Journey through the Ventilation Shafts of Britain’. They discussed the Culling Road Ventilation shaft on the edge of Southwark Par... more

In The Room at Accelerate Debates is a podcast which broadcasts the live debates from Accelerate, Open City’s free educational programme. In this episode, you’ll hear our fifth and final debate of 2025, “Heatlhy Competition", where we ask: is there a... more

This week on The Brief Sahiba Chadha is joined by Henrietta Billings. Henrietta is the director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, an organisation dedicated to protecting historical buildings. Since joining SAVE in 2016, she has worked on campaigns such as ... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Miriam Turner
Participant in communal housing project with three other families
Independent resident/participant in a multi-family rural housing arrangement
Episode: The Home That Made Me: 1 Plot, 3 Families
Judy Ovens
Co-founded Our Hut; author of Adventurous Vents
Our Hut / Adventurous Vents
Episode: Deconstructed: Culling Road Ventilation Shaft - Adventurous Vents
Selasi Setufe
Principal Project Officer at the Greater London Authority; Co-Founder of Black Females in Architecture
Greater London Authority; Black Females in Architecture
Episode: In the Room at Accelerate Debates: Healthy Competition
Rosa Rogina
Associate Director of Place Partnerships at New London Architecture; Director of the London Festival of Architecture
New London Architecture; London Festival of Architecture
Episode: In the Room at Accelerate Debates: Healthy Competition
Jonathan Hagos
Architects and Director of Freehaus; Mayors Design Advocate; UCL External Examiner
Freehaus
Episode: In the Room at Accelerate Debates: Healthy Competition
Tomi Balogun
Accelerate alumna; architecture student at the Bartlett School of Architecture; winner of the 2023 People's Pavilion
Bartlett School of Architecture
Episode: In the Room at Accelerate Debates: Healthy Competition
Chloë Phelps
Architects and Director at Grounded & BPTW; Chair of Thanet's Design Review Panel; Co-Chair of Camden's Design Review Panels
Grounded; BPTW; Design Review Panels
Episode: In the Room at Accelerate Debates: Healthy Competition
Henrietta Billings
Director of SAVE Britain's Heritage
SAVE Britain's Heritage
Episode: Four more new towns announced and the future of the Museum of London
Nabil Al Kinani
Resident of Chalk Hill Estate; speaker sharing personal experiences of home
Chalk Hill Estate (resident)
Episode: The Home That Made Me: The place that raised me

Hosts

Matthew Lloyd Roberts
Host of Deconstructed, Open City
Fran Williams
Technical Editor and Deputy Architecture Editor

Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars from 116 ratings
  • Good in parts

    This podcast is sometimes good.

    However sometimes it is just like listening to some left wing drunk in a pub making weak and naive and oversimplified and one sided arguments about why the tories are bad. Yawn. Please edit the naive bits out or get some guests who are capable of presenting two sides of an argument

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    TP¥
    United Kingdom2 years ago
  • Love the podcast. Fast consumer city the East end cafe was painful listening though, 2 people shouting over each other. Heart in the right place but production / execution bit ropy. Loved episode otherwise

    Podcast Addict
    5
    Liam Flow
    4 years ago
  • Mix of interesting architecture news and simplistic, naive opinions.

    The principal presenters Merlin and Phin generally present interesting London based architecture news stories but co-presenters and guests increasingly are clearly reading from scripts which hugely detracts from their credibility. Also there is a consistent undercurrent of simplistic and naive opinions and critique given without suggesting any viable alternatives. Oh and seemingly there has to be at least one naive anti-police ‘story’ per episode.

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    KCruns
    United Kingdom4 years ago
  • Great podcast

    Great podcast but it’s starting to sound obvious that guests are reading from a script in their responses sometimes. The podcast works best when it’s a dialogue.

    Apple Podcasts
    4
    Tomj_1979
    United Kingdom4 years ago
  • One of the best London podcasts

    I love how it is talking about the history of different places across London, how the politics tie into what’s going on and covering recent news. But what I appreciate the most is that it’s covering all Boroughs of London but just ‘oh here’s what’s happening in London Bridge’

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Daria00007
    United Kingdom5 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Positive notes on the show's niche focus on London architecture and urban policy.
Praise for informed, engaging guests and strong host presence, though some critique scripted responses.
Feedback often mentions the podcasts as a reliable source for current architecture and planning news.
Listener sentiment highlights accessibility and broad appeal, with room for more balanced perspectives.

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Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

The Home That Made Me: 1 Plot, 3 Families
Q: To begin, can you take us back to London and the very first place you called home?
Miriam describes her early sense of home as focused on safety, love, and family support, and explains how her living situation shifted after her mother's death, leading to a nearby alternative home with a close-knit community that kept routine and schooling intact.
Deconstructed: Culling Road Ventilation Shaft - Adventurous Vents
Q: So, as an obvious question to start, what is a Ventilation Shaft? How do you define it?
Judy explains that a ventilation shaft is a means of bringing cool air into underground spaces while releasing heated or contaminated air, and emphasizes that shafts span from mines to modern urban infrastructure, often becoming architectural statements in the process.
Four more new towns announced and the future of the Museum of London
Q: OK, so what could campaigners or people listening to this podcast, who'd like to replicate this sort of success in Oldham, in their own communities, learn from this campaign?
She highlights dogged determination, building a passionate community group, early planning and securing backed governance, including a new trustees board, as key elements to making campaigns resilient and capable of delivering lasting outcomes.
Four more new towns announced and the future of the Museum of London
Q: So Henrietta, what is your reaction to this story? How confident do you feel that the government is able to actually deliver on these new towns?
Henrietta responds that delivery is only part of the larger story, emphasizing the need to retrofit and reuse existing buildings, and noting that existing stocks can help meet housing targets when properly managed alongside new developments.
The UK government hires AI to help speed up planning decisions and the new architects of the BT Tower revamp
Q: What's Ben Stuart's take on AI's potential to unblock planning and drive economic growth?
Ben expresses cautious optimism, noting AI can accelerate administrative tasks and clarity in planning while underscoring that subjective design decisions and heritage constraints still require human judgment and governance.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
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Professions
Age Range
Household Income
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Frequently Asked Questions About Open City

What is Open City about and what kind of topics does it cover?

Open City features accessible, expert-driven discussions about architecture, urban design, housing, and city life with a focus on London and the UK. Episodes frequently center on public spaces, regeneration, sustainability, and how policy, planning, and community engagement shape built environments. A notable strength is hosting a rotating roster of practitioners, journalists, and academics who bring critical, design-led perspectives to contemporary urban issues, often tying historic context to current reform efforts. This mix makes it valuable for listeners who want nuanced, informed conversations about how cities are built and governed, not just how buildings look. The show tends to blend technical architectural insight with accessible st... more

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Which podcasts are similar to Open City?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Open City:

1. The Rest Is Politics
2. Page 94: The Private Eye Podcast
3. The Politics Show
4. Today in Focus
5. Politics Weekly UK

How many episodes of Open City are there?

Open City launched 6 years ago and published 279 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Open City?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

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What guests have appeared on Open City?

Recent guests on Open City include:

1. Miriam Turner
2. Judy Ovens
3. Selasi Setufe
4. Rosa Rogina
5. Jonathan Hagos
6. Tomi Balogun
7. Chloë Phelps
8. Henrietta Billings

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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