As Bristolians our built inheritance is something we treasure. As a merchant city and perhaps particularly in the 20th century – sadly – sometimes Bristol has built rubbish. Other times, in tune with our heritage, we have built creatively, richly, working carefully with the Gods of Commerce to rework our built heritage to enhance our present, blending modern and ancient, giving pleasure to Bristolians.
Peter Insole, Principal Historic Environment Officer for Bristol City Council, is a key figure in this process. Through his crowd-sourced Know Your Place, through the Homes for Heroes story map, Local Learning web pages and the Local Character web maps, he has provided vital knowledge to help us keep alive the consciousness of Bristol as a distinct and special place.
‘I am now using this data,’ he says ‘along with community-led neighbourhood studies (particularly as part of Local Learning work outside BCC) to define an identity of our places and to embed this understanding and cultural heritage in future placemaking – helping to ensure that our future places positively contribute to the Bristol story.’
Matthew will talk to Peter about how a sense of the past can help us build a humane and attractive future Bristol, in which our city doesn’t become an anywhere city with no character, but keeps its identity as a very special place.
Zoom session starts at 7.30pm. Members will be invited to attend the meeting by email.