‘Life History Theory’ shows how the qualities of an environment directly determine our life strategies and our wellbeing, emphasising the importance of our places.  Where resources are perceived to be unstable, unreliable and unpredictable, thrill-seeking and non-cooperative, impulsive, self-centered choices are more adaptive and so become the norm – and sadly unsustainable ‘survival’ behaviours.

Where resources are perceived to be stable, reliable and predictable, people plan their futures, develop the capacity to adapt to inevitable life stresses, and cooperate with other future-oriented people to determine their positive futures.  This is THRIVAL, and it needs appropriate ‘space’ to flourish.  When this space has positive ‘meaning’ for people, it becomes PLACE.

In this video, Graham argues that to move from survival to thrival, we must become one community - everybody involved through co-design in developing the theory, governance and practice of placemaking - converting common sense into common wisdom.

The conference theme is Health, Happiness, Harmony: The role of Urban Design in response to the massive challenges faced by the UK in providing new housing for an expanding population, while improving the liveability of towns and cities for all.   The aim is to show how successful urban design depends on a holistic approach to the integration of development, land-use planning, transport planning and urban engineering.

In this video, Rhiannon argues that to be successful, we need to focus on creating meaningful places that are good for both individual and community wellbeing - not just happiness.