As the team get ready to welcome more than 300 delegates from the development, cultural, arts, voluntary and regeneration sectors to the 2010 Leeds City Centre Vision Conference, I'm looking forward to what will be one of my first major events as acting director of city development.
The organisation for the event is entering the final stages. I'm finalising my speech and our compere Harry Gration has been fully briefed.
Held in 2008, the previous Leeds City Centre Vision Conference aimed to bring together public and private sector to prioritise developments and agree a vision for the future of Leeds city centre. A lot has happened since 2008 and the city centre is constantly changing, posing new challenges and opportunities, from new retailers and restaurants to hotels and cultural facilities opening their doors.
However, since 2008 the global economy has suffered heavily impacting on all areas of the city from community to local economy, development and regeneration.
The aims, objectives, aspirations and ambitions we had for the future development of the city centre in 2008 may no longer be achievable or indeed the right focus for our collective efforts in an increasingly challenging climate.
'Great projects come to light'
Whilst we have seen great projects like the Leeds City Museum come to fruition and the Leeds Arena given the green light, there's still plenty left for us to do.
This year's conference offers an opportunity to revisit the Leeds City Centre Vision prospectus.
It is also a chance to evaluate performance and progress on key city projects such as Leeds Arena, Eastgate Quarter, the proposed city-centre park and emerging ideas such as the development of a 'Southbank'.
While I'm looking forward to the conference and the opportunities and challenges it raises, as a city council we are very interested in the views of the people who live, work, play and invest in the city centre, as without this input the vision of the future development of the city centre.
'Tell us what you think'
Leeds City Centre Vision Conference 2010 is your chance to tell us what place-making in the city centre would mean to you.
We hope that this year's conference can help to create a lively and informative debate guiding our objectives and aspirations for the future of Leeds city centre.
Martin Farrington, acting director of city development at Leeds Council, council chief executive Tom Riordan and council leader Keith Wakefield will be answering questions live from the floor and from Twitter at the conference.
Send your question via twitter @LDSCityCentre or e-mail direct to citycentrevision@leeds.gov.uk
Guest blogger Martin Farrington is acting director of city development at Leeds Council.
What do you think? Have your say in the comments section below.
