ATCM Cities Conference: City Centre Management in the 21st Century

When: Tuesday, 8th October 2024  10am-4pm

Where: Stoller Hall, Manchester City Centre

Cities are back on the agenda of government. If the UK and Ireland are to grow and to thrive in the 21st century and beyond, cities will be the main drivers of progress. But cities will also be the places where challenges around the climate emergency, changing populations, social tensions and new technology will play out first and most dangerously.

To talk about the opportunities and the challenges, and how BIDs fit into it all, we’re inviting you to a conference in Manchester in October, free for practitioners who are members of the ATCM, BID Foundation, British BIDs or allied bodies.

We are delighted to announce that the new Leader of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon. Lucy Powell MP* will attend to talk about the direction of the new UK Government, and the role of cities in achieving its objectives. As the Leader of the House, Lucy is responsible for delivery of the government’s legislative programme and chairs the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Cabinet Committee. We’ll be hosting a Q and A session with Lucy and asking for submission of questions.

We’ll look at how big city BIDs are evolving in response to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century - how the BID model itself is changing and even breaking, and looking to the future.

We’ll see how BIDs are already responding to the climate emergency, engaging to work in the evolving night-time economy and managing the impact of social media on the operation of the city centre.  

And we’ll be looking, of course, at how cities are managing protests in the current climate.

We will also leave time to discuss a range of other key issues which those involved in the management of cities would like to raise—the open Q and A that has always formed part of the Big Cities Conference, dating back to 2018.

Interested? Book your place now.

* government business allowing!