It is the success of the restored Queen Square, now a bustling sylvan space, compared with its abject counterpart around the vanished Castle Street, lowered over by the remains of bombed-out churches, that will encourage debate on landscape conservation in the city in this walk.

Bradley Garrett discusses the importance of rediscovering everyday places around us - in soil, sea, cities and space.

Author Will Self takes us on a journey through the work and imagination of the man he called the most important British writer of the late 20th Century - JG Ballard.

Festival of Ideas commissioned some of Britain’s leading poets and writers to write about the city for this special session where they will present their work.

Guy Standing identifies an emerging class of people, facing lives of insecurity, moving in and out of jobs that give little meaning to their lives - in this talk he presents his latest findings on this and debates the impact especially on urban areas.

The biomimetic city - a city modelled on nature - offers a sustainable future. To what extent can we use biomimicry to help shape our cities infrastructure? Can we go beyond looking at organisms and start by valuing the interconnectedness?

There's no question that housing across the UK is in crisis but what are the solutions? Zoe Williams, Guardian, chairs a panel of experts to debate the crisis and what cities especially can do.

There's little doubt that there's a new mood about devolving powers to cities and regions but where will this go next? Heather Stewart, Economics Editor, Observer, chairs an expert panel to discuss the issues.

Join author Will Self for an hour's walk around the Harbourside where he'll talk about the place, the culture and Bristol's architecture.

What are the design needs of future cities? What are the materials needed for future cities? How do we make cities places for people? Claire Mookerjee looks at people-centred urbanism and joins Mark Miodownik looks at the future material needs of urban areas.

In our second session on the issues facing world cities today and the lessons to be learnt for future planning, speakers include: Elif Shafak who looks at Turkish cities; Rana Dasgupta who looks at Delhi and Mathieu Lefevre who looks at Middle Eastern cities.

This second session on immigration examines the pressure of change on cities and their surrounding areas. It’s said that cities generally are comfortable with immigration. But is this true? And what about areas around cities?

Cities are traditionally places for immigrants. Migrants help renew a place, bringing new ideas, skills and work. Cities can meet the challenges that changes bring, as places where contact happens, and where people who welcome or like change tend to go too. But what happens if these challenges cannot be met and the pressures aren’t shared?

In this special coach tour, Meades takes us on a journey to and talks about the places in Bristol that mean something to him: Totterdown, Arnos Vale, High Kingsdown, Christmas Steps, Leigh Woods, The Rummer, the Cori Tap, Redland and more.

How can new smart services transform the customer experience and revitalise the High Street? In 2015 InnovateUK launched a new competition with each winner receiving £1m to develop their work. Join some of the winning companies and Sarah Tromans from InnovateUK,to talk about the initiative and the winning projects.

Detroit went from disastrous failure to steady recovery. Chris Dorle (Future City Detroit) leads us through the story, focussing on what's happening now and the long-term plans for renewal and the greening of the city.

The second session on new thinking about cities - with contributions from Irena Bauman (architect and writer), Bradley Garrett (writer and place-hacker), Caroline Haynes (KPMG), Charles Landry (Comedia), Mike Rawlinson (City ID) and Melissa Sterry (design scientist and futurist).

Douglas Murphy discusses utopian cities of the past and future with author Darran Anderson and futurist Melissa Sterry.

There's much we can learn about how cities should and should not work from the cities of the ancient world especially Greece and Rome. Edith Hall and Bettany Hughes discuss ancient cities, their ideas and what they can offer us now.

Iain Sinclair and Matthew Beaumont talk about cities and wallking.

There are fears that inequality in cities is growing, that upward mobility is stagnating and that cities are becoming places for the wealthy. This panel discusses if this is the case and, if so, what impact it will have on our cities in the future.

Miriam Fitzpatrick, Gillian Darley, Jonathan Meades and Owen Hatherley all discuss what writers William H Whyte, Jane Jacobs and Ian Nairn mean for cities today.

This riverside walk takes in the old Temple precinct, with the leaning tower of Holy Cross at its heart. Is it time to re-invent the suburb on a more human scale?

The future of cities and places was a prime subject for debate amongst the Left in the 1920s and 1930s. Stuart Jeffries and Owen Hatherley discuss city thinkers and builders of the time.

Rab Bennetts joins Melissa Sterry and Mike Roberts to debate how architecture can help create a nature-rich city. Chaired by John Alker.

Two leading journalists - John Harris and Rowan Moore - consider how British cities like Bristol, Manchester, Preston and Bradford are working - and not working.

Michael Marmot explores compelling new evidence from around the world that has the potential to radically change the way we think about health, and indeed society.

Nick Dunn, ImaginationLancaster, and author of the Foresight report 'A Visual History of the Future', looks at how future cities have been depicted over the last 100 years.

In this talk futurist, innovator and best-selling author Jerry Kaplan unpacks the latest advances in robotics, machine learning, and perception powering systems.

A panel will ask whether nature in cities is in safe hands; look at how we promote more involvement in wildlife in cities; and examine the conflicts of interest in promoting nature in cities and how can they be overcome.

Speakers from Rotterdam (Wynand Dassen), Glasgow (Julie Robertson) and Bristol (Sarah Toy) talk about their resilient city plans.

Cities around the world are facing great change. This talk explores the opportunities, problems and challenges - and asks if there are solutions for some of these that can be shared more widely.

Paul Swinney and Tony Champion look at a wealth of data about UK cities in this free workshop.

Owen Hatherley has been a strong critic of the architecture and cities being developed in a time of austerity and the big society. In this talk he takes a tour of the city from the harbour to Lewins Mead and Cabot Circus, talking about Bristol and the future of cities.

Do we really need nature in our cities? What are the risks of a nature-poor city? Author and broadcaster Chris Baines sets the scene, followed by a panel discussion.

In this panel discussion hear speakers Cristiana Fragola, Eva Gladek, Brent Toderian, Charlie Catlett and Sir Mark Walport debate some of the new thinking about cities taking place around the world.

Bristol has seen more change than many other cities, with more to come. What impact does this have on long-term city planning and on people? Mike Rawlinson takes a tour of Bristol that looks at how places and uses change over time.

As city populations age there's a need to consider the specific needs of older people in urban areas. Bristol aims to be an age-friendly city, but what does this really mean? What can be learned from other cities?

This walk threads around Redcliffe, home of Bristol poet Thomas Chatterton and presided over by the largest and most beautiful parish church in the country.