The Academy is working towards the creation of a substantial Education Programme that will be rolled out on an annual basis, drawing on both the knowledge base of its members and the best practice exemplars that have been identified through The Urbanism Awards.

In addition to the events and activities that will be developed either individually or collectively by its membership, the Academy is developing an educational strategy central to which is the design and implementation of 2-3 day courses to be offered as an interactive, evidence-based in-depth study of particular cities, towns, neighbourhoods, streets and places.

A new movement called UniverCities was launched on 8 February 2007 for the improvement of our cities through the creation of a ‘place-based learning laboratory’ in each city combining the talents of its academics, urban environment practitioners and local government to create a range of links between practice and all levels of education.

The London launch of the UniverCities movement at the start of The Academy of Urbanism’s second year was marked by the unveiling of the movement’s charter and a call for potential partners to come forward.

Top architects, planners, academics and other urban environment experts met at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow on 25 January to thrash out the terms of the Charter. An afternoon workshop was facilitated by Professor Sarah Chaplin from Kingston School of Architecture and Landscape and Brian Evans, Deputy Chair of Architecture & Design Scotland.

It is hoped that initial pilot partnerships will come from the recipients of the inaugural Urbanism Awards, so that the factors leading to the success of these places can be methodically measured and learned from.

"No matter who leads these partnerships of cities, academia and practice, the participation of all three is needed to legitimise, to measure, to innovate and to implement. The knowledge needed to create great places is already embedded in those places. We aim to find the right mechanisms to draw that knowledge out and harness it. Too much blind theory has been shaping our cities and it's time we insisted 'no evidence, no change'."

John Thompson
Chairman, The Academy of Urbanism

The five winners of The Urbanism Awards 2007 were:
• The European City of the Year: Berlin
• The Great Town: Kilkenny
• The Great Neighbourhood: Grainger Town, Newcastle
• The Great Street: Buchanan Street, Glasgow
• The Great Place: Peace & Winter Gardens, Sheffield