News http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news-viewer/rss admin 2012-10-15T15:31:43Z DPU launches dpusummerLab 2013 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/dpusummerlab13 The UCL Development Planning Unit has officially announced the launch of the  dpusummerLab 2013  workshop series. Laura J Hirst 2013-05-15T13:51:10Z UCL to consider alternatives to Carpenters Estate for new 'university quarter' http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/UCLStratfordMay2013 UCL and the London Borough of Newham (LBN) have announced that their negotiations regarding a possible UCL-led redevelopment of the Carpenters Estate, adjacent to the Olympic Park, have ended without agreement. It has not been possible for both parties to agree commercial terms. However, both UCL and LBN have indicated that they will continue to work together to explore other site options for a UCL-led development in Stratford.  Ben Campkin 2013-05-08T09:22:39Z Pushpa Arabindoo invited to speak at 'The New Asian Middle Class' conference http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/TheNewAsianMiddleClass Pushpa Arabindoo was invited to speak at The New Asian Middle Class signature conference organised by Asia House, London. Seeking to examine the demographic upheavals taking place across Asian emerging economies, the event held on 04 April 2013 comprised two panels: The Demographic Dividend and Urbanisation Unleashed . Pushpa's presentation on Mobility and Infrastructure focussed on the challenges of moving the middle class in urban India. These panels involved a discussion amongst experts from practice, think-tanks and research consultancies, academia, private sector investors as well as state representatives. Laura J Hirst 2013-04-30T12:59:50Z Urban Laboratory launches Urban Pamphleteer http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/UrbanPamphleteer_1 On 26 April UCL Urban Laboratory launched Urban Pamphleteer, a new series of publications that confront key contemporary urban questions from diverse perspectives. Written in a direct and accessible tone, these pamphlets draw on the history of radical pamphleteering to instigate change. Laura J Hirst 2013-04-19T09:46:55Z Margit Mayer paper in CITY journal http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/MargitMayerarticle Margit Mayer gave the UCL Urban Laboratory Annual Lecture in October 2012 on 'The Urban Question Under Conditions of Globalization'. An article based on this talk is published in volume 17, issue 1 of  CITY journal .  Laura J Hirst 2013-03-25T18:22:13Z DPU summerLab 2012 series pamphlets launched  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/SummerLab Drawing on the extensive resources of the UCL Development Planning Unit in collaboration with local partners in various host cities, DPU summerLab leverages the reality of the city as a laboratory for developing socially responsive design measures that provoke, stimulate, strategize, and reconsider the role of designers in promoting spatial justice. During August and September 2012, the DPU summerLabs were held in Zurich and in Rome.  Laura J Hirst 2013-03-11T17:21:06Z International interdisciplinary ‘Sexuality at Home’ event held at the Bartlett http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/SexualityatHome Recognising that gender has long been an established framework in feminist architectural discourse, Brent Pilkey, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and Rachel Scicluna, Faculty of Health and Social Care, The Open University, recently facilitated ‘Sexuality at Home’, a two day event which focused on sexuality and all things domestic. The film event and conference - held 10 and 11 December 2012 – looked at the spatiality of the themes across varied disciplines from anthropology to visual culture. The conference, the first of its kind, reached maximum capacity six weeks in advance and drew attention from scholars both locally and internationally. With three short films, a full length feature film, eight paper presentations, two keynote lectures (architect Aaron Betsky being one) and a queer domestic performance the second evening, the events showcased creative and on-going humanities and social-science based research that investigates the ways in which sexual subjectivity relates to and plays out in the everyday space of home. Ophelie Ivombo 2013-01-24T17:12:03Z Development Planning Unit: Junior Professionals Programme launched http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/DPUjuniorprofessionals At the end of January the first class of a new Development Planning Unit Junior Professionals Programme met in Bangkok along with Dr. Camillo Boano, director of the  MSc Building and Urban Design and Development  (BUDD), and various members of the Asian Coalition of Housing Rights (ACHR), and Community Architects Network (CAN). The partnership and initiative dates back to 2010 following the first of a series of field trips to Bangkok between the BUDD and MSc Urban Development Planning courses. Under the Junior Professional Programme, six DPU Alumni were awarded 6-month paid internships to work in several countries throughout Southeast Asia. These ex-students will experience on-the-job-training supporting the advancement and use of methodologies and tools in community-driven development, specifically working with organisations and community members. To kick off, the group worked with  Somsook Boonyabancha (ACHR) ,  Supawut Boonmahathanakorn  and  Chawanad Luansang  (CAN coordinators) through a few days of induction, conversations and training before moving on to start their work in the areas of mapping, planning, design, management, recovery and rehabilitation of housing, land and settlement. For more information please see  www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/news/internshipsasia Laura J Hirst 2013-02-04T16:08:41Z Future Proofing Cities report launched  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/dpufpc 'Future Proofing Cities: Risks and opportunities for inclusive urban growth in developing countries', a groundbreaking report produced by UCL Developing Planning Unit (DPU) in collaboration with Atkins and DFID was launched last week and received wide media coverage. Laura J Hirst 2012-12-03T11:27:47Z Michael Edwards participates in London Plan Examination in Public http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/LondonPlanEiP Urban Lab Steering Committee member and Bartlett School of Planning academic Michael Edwards participated in this week's  crucial Examination in Public (EiP) on the Mayor’s Revised Early Minor Alterations to the London Plan. The debate was particularly focused on the Mayor’s switch of emphasis, away from housing those in the greatest need (who may be able to afford social housing rent but not “affordable rent” at 65-80% of local market rents) towards those higher up the income scale. Read Michael's blog for his account of what happened and for links to the official documents. Ben Campkin 2012-11-29T10:31:32Z Regeneration x 10, Bartlett Research Exchange, podcasts now available http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/regenx10 On 12 November, speakers from The Bartlett Schools of Architecture, Planning, and the Development Planning Unit came together to share cross disciplinary perspectives on the ethics of contemporary regeneration practice and the meaning of regeneration as a research field today. Speakers each used one image to present their own perspective on regeneration in ten minutes. Footage of each speaker's presentation can be found below.  admin Hirst 2012-11-24T16:30:50Z Urban Lab wins joint funding for new international network  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/news-article-3 The UCL Urban Laboratory has won a joint bid for funding from the European Commission’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency to participate in an international network of urban laboratories.  admin 2012-10-16T08:38:38Z Urban Reasoning pamphlet http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/Urbanreasoning Results of Urban Reasoning survey linked to AHRC funded Creative City Limits project now online. admin Hirst 2012-10-30T16:28:50Z New Urban Laboratory book http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/Newurbanlaboratorybook Urban Constellations, a new Urban Laboratory book edited by Matthew Gandy, is now available. For more information and to purchase the book please visit the jovis website. admin Hirst 2012-10-30T17:52:46Z Creative City Limits pamphlet http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/Creativecitylimits New UCL Urban Laboratory pamphlet considering the urban and cultural impact of the new era of austerity. admin Hirst 2012-10-30T17:19:35Z The Art of Dissent: Adventures in London's Olympic State http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/Theartofdissent This new book, edited by Hilary Powell and Isaac Marrero-Guillamón, brings together a body of work that has emerged in response to the arrival of the Olympics in East London. admin Hirst 2012-10-29T18:20:56Z Matthew Gandy on queer ecology http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/news-article-4 Urban Lab Steering Committee member Matthew Gandy explores the interdisciplinary terrain of ‘queer ecology’ in Society and Space (Volume 30 Issue 4), using the example of an urban cemetery in North London as an empirical and conceptual starting point. Though the term ‘queer ecology’ has cropped up a few times it has yet to be addressed directly in order to consider how the seemingly disparate fields of queer theory and urban ecology might benefit from closer interaction. It will be suggested that the theoretical synthesis represented by queer ecology serves to expand the conceptual and material scope of both fields: queer theory is revealed to have only a partially developed engagement with urban nature whilst critical strands of urban ecology such as urban political ecology have yet to connect in a systematic way with queer theory, posthumanism, or new conceptions of complexity emerging from within the science of ecology itself. It is concluded that queer ecology may enrich our understanding of both urban materiality and the role of metaphors in urban theory. In particular, the idea of queer ecology illuminates the possibility for site-specific ‘heterotopic alliances’ in the contemporary city.  admin 2012-10-16T08:38:38Z UCL's Stratford proposition http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/news-article-1 UCL Urban Laboratory statement on UCL's proposition to develop a university quarter in Stratford.  admin 2012-10-16T08:38:38Z Call for papers: Mobilising London’s housing histories: the provision of homes since 1850 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/housingcfp Call for papers for two day conference exploring issues relating to the history of urban and suburban housing from the mid-19th century to the present day.  admin Hirst 2012-11-21T14:57:29Z Stadtkolloquium 2013 Call for Papers http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/Stadtkolloquium 4th Annual Workshop for PhD students in urban-related disciplines. 25 & 26th March 2013. Laura J Hirst 2012-12-10T12:26:22Z Urban Laboratory and DPU open letter to UCL Council http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/lettertoUCLcouncil UCL Urban Laboratory academics and students, endorsed by The Bartlett’s Development Planning Unit staff, have written the following open letter to UCL Council regarding the UCL Stratford Proposition. The letter will be considered at the Council’s meeting on Wednesday 28th November 2012. Laura J Hirst 2012-11-27T11:01:55Z UCL Engineering co-sponsors Urban Lab http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/UCLengineering We are delighted to announce that the Dean of  UCL Engineering ,  Professor Anthony Finklestein , has confirmed the Faculty’s co-sponsorship of the Urban Laboratory.  Dr Sarah Bell , Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, and a member of the Urban Laboratory's steering committee, comments: "This sponsorship demonstrates UCL Engineering’s commitment to interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and influencing the forces that are shaping cities. Research agendas around ‘smart’ and ‘connected’ cities provide a particular point of focus for Engineering and the Urban Lab, bringing together critical, creative and technical approaches". Laura J Hirst 2012-12-05T17:15:05Z UCL proposals for a Newham campus http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/stratfordapril UCL Estates Division are preparing a feasibility study for UCL's bid to develop a campus in Stratford and an academic team is working on strategy. The site is within the Greater Carpenters Neighbourhood, east of the Olympic Park. The proposals are expected to be considered by the Mayor and the Cabinet of Newham in mid-2012 and a decision made by them and by UCL on whether to proceed to a next stage. Laura J Hirst 2012-11-28T10:49:17Z CITY journal special feature http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/Cityjournal In June 2010, UCL Urban Laboratory hosted a roundtable titled ‘ Beyond the return of the slum ’ in honour of Professor Alan Gilbert’s retirement. A special feature, co-edited by UCL  Urban Laboratory Co-Director Dr. Pushpa Arabindoo, has now been published in the CITY Journal featuring papers presented at this session alongside new contributors. Articles can be accessed here:  http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ccit20/15/6 . admin Hirst 2012-10-30T17:47:10Z New book: Staging the New Berlin http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/NewbookStagingtheNewBerlin Dr Claire Colomb, Urban Laboratory Steering Committee member, has published a new book on Berlin. Entitled 'Staging the New Berlin, Place Marketing and the Politics of Reinvention Post-1989', it explores the politics of place marketing and the process of urban reinvention in Berlin between 1989 and 2011.  admin Hirst 2012-10-30T17:57:03Z