TOWN Observatory Launch and Roundtable

This hybrid event (in person and online) will launch the new Town Observatory and facilitate discussions about digital approaches to urban observatories. The Town Observatory has been established by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Loughborough University, working closely with Charnwood Borough Council and several external consultants. It is part of the Healthy and Innovative Loughborough project, an initiative funded by the Loughborough Town Deal — a three-year project (2023–2026) aimed at setting up a Town Observatory in Loughborough to monitor changes and support the town’s resilience.

Venue: Room LDS 0.17, Design Building, Loughborough University, Epinal Way, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom

Online: Access link for MS Teams will be emailed prior to the event.

When booking, please select the 'in person' or 'online' attendance option.

Schedule

13:00 Arrival

13:20 Welcome

13:30 TOWN Observatory Launch: Loughborough as a national and regional prototype; what, where and why?

14:30 Break and refreshments

14:50 Roundtable presentations – Deliberating on digital mapping platforms

Prof. Michael Batty (University College London): Digital urban observatories as drivers for change

Polly Hudson (The Alan Turing Institute): Mapping the urban scale of economic, cultural & social activities

Prof. Sam Jacoby (Royal College of Art): The role of community engagement

Prof. Stuart Dunn (King’s College London): Digital mapping, spatial humanities and future opportunities

15:50 Roundtable discussion: The role of urban observatories in reshaping futures

How can digital urban observatories support bottom-up participation and data-driven decision-making to enhance vibrant and inclusive communities?

16:20 Closing remarks

16:30 End

About the TOWN Observatory

The TOWN Observatory is a dynamic portal providing access to four co-created digital platforms that display information about the town of Loughborough in the United Kingdom. The platforms are: Colouring Loughborough, Loughborough in Motion, Loughborough Stories, and Chat Loughborough.

Through the visual presentation of quantitative and qualitative data, the aim of the TOWN Observatory is to promote urban information, support decision making, and facilitate dialogue between stakeholders in the town and its immediate hinterland.

The TOWN Observatory is focused on the 'town' scale which provides wider geographic coverage than urban observatories typically depict, due to the smaller footprint of cities.