Place Pizzazz 2026

thinkingplace, in partnership with the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, is proud to present the fifth Place Pizzazz Conference on 12th November 2026 at Manchester Met’s Business School.

We’re busy crafting an exciting agenda for this year’s event; full of fresh ideas, great speakers and plenty of inspiration. If you’d like a flavour of what’s in store, you can take a look at last year’s programme here: https://thinkingplace.co.uk/2025/09/26/place-pizzazz-2025-agenda/

Throughout the year people have been asking us if Place Pizzazz is returning, and when, here are just a few of the lovely comments from our 2025 event in Chester:

• “A conference with a difference - Interactive, Informative, Inspiring”
• “The varied number of topics and speakers gives new idea's & inspiration”
• “It was great to meet new people alongside catching up with existing contacts… excellent discussions”
• “It was a pleasure and privilege to be there. Great topics and your speakers were amazing”
• “Excellently organised, well done to the events team, event seemed to run like clockwork. Well done on keeping time throughout. Brilliant mix of educational content, interactive sessions and networking”

As devolution accelerates and government increasingly treats place as an organising principle, thinkingplace and Manchester Metropolitan University are well positioned to contribute to this agenda. Manchester also provides a particularly fitting setting for this conversation. The city-region has been at the forefront of English devolution and has demonstrated the value of sustained collaboration between local government, business, universities and communities.

Hosting Place Pizzazz at Manchester Met will give delegates an opportunity to experience Manchester and learn from the city-region’s journey, while bringing together diverse places, perspectives and ideas from across the UK and internationally to explore the challenges and opportunities affecting places everywhere.

We can’t wait to welcome you, during thinkingplace’s and IPM’s 20th-anniversaries.