Head here for a list of Tim’s upcoming talks.
“Tim has delivered a range of services that have been eloquently tailored to our local context with an informed eye and agile mind… Tim’s ability to adapt his message and delivery-style to connect with a diversity of audiences was regarded as a key strength.” Testimonial from Fraser Keegan, State Manager, Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle Program, South Australia
Tim is in global demand as a public speaker and workshop leader. As befits these strange times, he is equally comfortable with online and in-person events. See below for a list of selected forthcoming events. Contact Tim for more details, or to book him as a speaker or workshop leader.
Topics and audiences
- Child-friendly urban planning and child-friendly communities
- Taking a balanced approach to managing risk in children’s play and learning
- Risk aversion and childhood
- Walking, cycling and children’s independent mobility
- Reconnecting children with nature
- Creating and sustaining playful spaces
- Why children’s play and free time matter
- The Covid-19 pandemic and children’s learning, play and mobility
Tim is at home with audiences of academics, policy makers, public and NGO sector leaders, planners, designers, service managers, corporate clients, educators, playworkers, childcare practitioners, environmentalists, campaigners, community groups and parents and carers.
Online talks
Since 2020 Tim has given online talks and ran virtual workshops for the British Academy, Design Council, Festival of Place, NACTO, London Healthy Cities Design, Royal Town Planning Institute, International Play Association/UNICEF, Child in the City, Urban Transport Group, Homes England, The Crown Estates, Centre for Conscious Design, Play Wales, Institute of Chartered Foresters, Asian Development Bank, World Resources Institute India, Town and Country Planning Association, and many others. These included events organised in Barcelona, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Delhi, Dorset, Dublin, Edinburgh, the Isle of Wight, Jeonju, Kildare, London, Mayo, New York, Norfolk, Oxford, Poznan, São Paulo, Stockholm, Sydney, Tehran, Toronto, and Vienna. He also attended the Glasgow COP26 conference on climate change in person, and took part in a Green Zone event on children and cities.
In-person talks and workshops
Since 2004 Tim has given talks and run workshops across the length and breadth of the UK: from Belfast to Shetland, and from Swansea to Suffolk, and on the Isle of Man and Jersey. He has also presented in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.
In 2019 Tim was guest speaker at a conference on urbanization and town planning in Hangzhou, China, organised by the UK China Design Centre and hosted by regional property developers Bluetown & Greentown Groups.
In 2017 he was the guest speaker at a Harvard University seminar on early childhood development for executive leaders from South America. The event was hosted and organised by the Center on the Developing Child and supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Loeb House, Harvard University, March 2017
In 2016 Tim was an invited expert at a three-day seminar in Bogotá, Colombia, organised by the Bernard van Leer Foundation, linked to its Urban95 initiative.
Tim is a regular visitor to Australia, and made extended visits in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016. He also gave talks in New Zealand in 2008, 2016 and 2017.
Tim has also gained a profile in Canada. He first visited in 2010, and in 2015 he undertook a nationwide series of talks and workshops. In 2016 he was an invited guest of the Lawson Foundation at the inception meeting for its ambitious play strategy. In 2017 he returned to Calgary to speak at the International Play Association international conference, and in 2018 he spoke at events in Quebec City, Montreal and Edmonton. In 2019 he spoke at the ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ outdoor play symposium in Ottawa, hosted by the Children and Nature Alliance of Canada.
In 2015 Tim was invited to teach on a week-long residential course at Schumacher College, on the theme of the Rewilded Child.
Sir John Cass Primary School, London, June 2017
Here is a link to a video of a 13-minute introductory talk on child-friendly places in London that Tim gave in 2012 at a meeting of the Urban Design Group.
Here is a visual note of a talk on risk Tim gave in North Wales on 25 March 2015. Thanks to Fran O’Hara for permission to reproduce this.
Forthcoming talks and workshops
2023
31 March
London: Panelist at Digital Futures Commission final showcase event.
14 April
Amsterdam: In-person talk on child-friendly urban planning and design at seminar organised by Ruimte voor de Jeugd.
27 April
London: In-person keynote talk on child-friendly urban planning and design for Islington Bright Start conference. Contact Tim for more details.
3 May
Helsinki: In-person talk on child-friendly cities at Nordic Place Branding conference.
6-9 June
Glasgow: In-person talks/panel discussions at International Play Association conference. Details to be confirmed.
23 October
Adelaide: In-person talk at conference organised by Nature Play SA. Details to be confirmed.
October (dates to be confirmed)
Further talks and other activities in Australia: watch this space for details.
Rethinking Childhood 