This roundtable event is held in advance of the Sunderland Expo and brings together key contributors to the conference, along with other protagonists and experts. The discussion will be prompted by a series of provocations / challenges that encourages debate and the exploration of new approaches across key themes. The outcome will be used to frame a wider discussion through workshops with conference participants during the subsequent two-day event. The focus is on those practical steps that both address the issues raised and can inform the strategic approach to developing a city vision for the years ahead.

The event aims to bring together those with broad expertise and specific knowledge of the factors that affect city building. They will be asked to contribute their ideas to solve structural problems, for example, with the way that new buildings and infrastructure are funded, how values could be reset to more equitable models, and whether this requires new forms of association, governance and stewardship.

The conversation will be prompted by a series of questions that aim to provoke a progressive, no nonsense discussion about what is possible. Nothing need be prepared in advance as the talk format is informal and without an audience. The goal is to move away from having awareness of the problems towards having an ambition to help create significant change.

The event will be held at City Hall, Sunderland on the evening of Monday 13th October 2025 at 7.00pm, and last approximately 90mins – longer if required and stamina permitting!

Known for offering interrogative yet convivial conversations about the built environment, “Negroni Talks...!” has growing recognition as the discussion platform with a difference for design, government and urban development with events occurring in London and increasingly around the UK. It is in this spirit that the NT team has worked closely with Andy von Bradsky and John Nordon to organise this roundtable version of the event series.

Proposition...................................................................................................................................……………….

Do we need to significantly disrupt the existing development system and find new innovative ways to address peoples needs and deliver a better and more holistic built environment?

The roundtable will be summarised as a series of practical propositions and radical ideas that help inform the conference speakers contributions. These can help inform and be subject to further debate in breakout sessions and workshops after the main conference speaking agenda. Learning and findings will be captured and circulated to help inform a strategy for the coming years of the Future City Programme.

Provocations.................................................................................................................................………………

1. THE PROPERTY PROBLEM!

Can a fairer, more financially stable and resilient development economy be formed from alternative principles? What are they and can values other than £ increasingly come to define the built environment in the future?

2. NEW MODELS ARMY?

Are there more diverse ways of delivering the built environment in order to challenge the problems and constraints of the normative and winner-takes-all approach to development growth? How can a larger number and a broader range of providers be encouraged to do so at a greater variety of scales?

3. VALIDITY & VERSATILITY IN VIABILITY.

If the dominant development model based on Residual Land Value, leads to most development ending up being considered unviable, how can it be dismantled or replaced so that a lower-priced built environment is created (and kept as such) whilst also upholding high-levels of quality control?

4. CONCERNING THE COMMUNITY.

How do we address the concerns of the dis-enfranchised, dis-interested and cynical to confront the ‘not for the likes of me’ distrust in new building development? What institutions, alliances or associations can financially and socially support the existing community, whilst also looking to attract people from outside the region to live and work in Sunderland?

5. THE LOCAL & THE REGIONAL.

How do we avoid self-interested behaviour that is self-defeating and disadvantages places within a region? What benefits are there to a more strategic approach to planning and investment? Can local and regional forces become more collaborative and give each other agency in a positive and helpful manner?

6. SMALLER, QUICKER, FURTHER?

Is urban growth currently too dependent upon fewer entities building bigger interventions, and do these tend to be too limited in outlook due to the criteria that comes with building at scale? Could it be more effective to break down larger urban projects into a smaller packages to help the City Council reach their ambitions more quickly? If so, how can such opportunities be made more accessible and actionable for a greater number of interests to contribute towards the make-up of the city?

7. FINDING THE FUNDING.

Who will invest funds into progressive forms of development at a significant scale and put social, cultural and environmental concerns first, along with those of ‘nature’? If public state spending is restricted and private investment not viable, then what other forms and sources of funding can be found or unlocked? How can financial institutions be better engaged with so that they do more to support urban initiatives. Could pension funds be better utilised to create a circular investment economy that is more holistically beneficial for the region?

8. INSTILLING INNOVATION.

Is a ‘loose-fit’ approach to development in the North East needed, or are there ways in which new development can be temporal, resilient and adaptable to specific and changing social / economical patterns? What are the key drivers for innovation relating to Sunderland as a specific context?