You are warmly invited to join us for an evening gathering to explore how we can work together to create healthier, more prosperous, low carbon and climate resilient communities.

Before Christmas, a group of passionate and enthusiastic residents, business people, academics and community representatives met to discuss the following question: How can we learn together and share knowledge between communities, businesses, education and agencies to develop Kirkstall Valley into a leading light for climate and community sustainability by prototyping, exploring and creating our best future together?

We will be taking this question forward as our thinking point for the event. Please join us for a bunch of inspirational short talks, mapping and sharing what’s already happening before we collectively agree next steps. 

Places are limited. Please register via Eventbrite

Chair: Professor Paul Chatterton, Professor of Urban Futures, Co-founder of LILAC Housing, Leeds Community Homes  a Director of Kirkstall Valley Development Trust  and ‘Leeds Love in Share It’

Workshop Facilitator: Phil Marken, Owner and Founder of Open Source Arts and member of Leeds Climate Commission

Event Coordinator: Margo Hanson, Secretariat Coordinator: Leeds Climate Commission; Research Manager - Energy, Climate Change & Sustainability, University of Leeds

Our speed networking sessions

Phil Marken will host short speed networking sessions at the start, during the middle and towards the end of the talks so we can become better connected & more effective.

Our talks

On Vision - Raising Ambition: Inspiring visions for our zero carbon future: Paul Allen, Project Co-ordinator, Zero Carbon Britain, Centre for Alternative Technology

On City Scale Action - Enabling Climate Action in A Can-Do City: Kate Lock, Communications Officer for Leeds Climate Commission and the Priestley International Centre for Climate

On People Power - Getting involved with Zero Carbon Yorkshire: Tony Herrmann,  Director of COGS (Communities & Organisations: Growth and Support) / Carbon Conversations / Zero Carbon Yorkshire

On Living Lightly - Low impact living the LILAC way: Liz Lewis, LILAC resident

On Positive Community Engagement - Adele Rae, KVDT Director

On Funding the Future - KVDT and partners in the valley will be announcing an exciting opportunity for communities, researchers and innovators to come together to promote people-focused sustainability in Kirkstall Valley wards of Armley, Bramley, Burley and Kirkstall - Sue Ball, Media Arts Partnership

Our workshop

How do we learn and work together to pioneer new ways of shaping our sustainable future? - A mapping activity to showcase the amazing work already happening: Phil Marken, Founder, Open Source Arts & Member of Leeds Climate Commission

Next Steps

On making it happen -  Next steps so that we can start to make a difference: Paul Chatterton

Common Ground Leeds: Common Ground Leeds will shake-up and input into new forms of civic society responsive to global/local challenges that explore Collective Governance, Enacting the Social and Solidarity Economy, Re-purposing and Retro-fitting, Technology in the Service of the Social Agenda and New Forms of Making, Doing and Entrepreneurship

Leeds Love It, Share It: Leeds Love It Share It is a research think tank which came together in 2008 to explore new visions of how Leeds can be in the future in response to the challenges ahead