Landscapes in Dialogue Lecture Series 2025-26

Stealth earthworks, celestial espionage and other true tales of architectural detection

Using electricity to probe through the floors of cathedrals to locate lost structures in the deep; mapping ancient earthworks with help from strikes of lightning; capturing particles from space to peer through buildings in 3D. This lecture will preview a large body of new research and reporting that explores how traces of architecture exist all around us, waiting to be detected.

Speaker

Geoff Manaugh is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer, regularly covering topics related to architecture, technology, and design. His book A Burglar’s Guide to the City, on the relationship between crime and architecture, was a New York Times bestseller, and his short story 'Ernest' was adapted into a hit Netflix film in 2023. Manaugh’s collaborative work with London-based architectural designers Smout Allen have been exhibited twice at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, and a new project with John Becker is on display this autumn at the 2025 Lisbon Triennale of Architecture. He has taught design studios at Columbia University GSAPP and UC Berkeley. He is also the author of BLDGBLOG, launched in 2004.

How to join

In-person at: Archaeology G6 Lecture Theatre, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY.

Shaping Living Landscapes: From Design to Long-Term Stewardship

This session explores the full journey of soft landscaping — from concept design through to on-site delivery, establishment, and long-term stewardship. Students will gain insight into how plant selection, soil preparation, and climate resilience inform successful design; how collaboration and logistics shape delivery; and why the establishment phase is critical for long-term success. We’ll also examine the role of ongoing stewardship in ensuring landscapes thrive ecologically, socially, and culturally, transforming green spaces into lasting assets. The talk combines technical know-how with real project examples to show how living landscapes are designed, built, and cared for over time.

Speaker

Alistair Bayford is a Chartered Landscape Architect with over 20 years’ experience in the design, delivery, and stewardship of public realm and green infrastructure. As Managing Director of Frosts Landscapes, he leads the company’s strategic vision and growth, guiding the delivery of high-profile projects across the UK.

Prior to joining Frosts, Alistair worked client-side on major regeneration and placemaking schemes, most notably the transformation and legacy of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. His career reflects a deep commitment to creating resilient, high-quality landscapes that enhance communities and support sustainable futures.

How to join

This is a hybrid event.

Join in person at: Room G04, 77 Wicklow Street, London, WC1X 9JY. No pre-registration required.

Join online by registering in advance via Zoom.

Cities for Mental Health  

Join Liza Griffin to explore how the complexity of urban life shapes our mental wellbeing. Drawing on historical perspectives and contemporary debates in neurourbanism, she examines how the features of the built environment and experiences of city living—such as access to greenspaces, exposure to noise, crowding, density, racism, poverty, and inequality—influence how our brains function and how we feel. From 19th-century thinkers concerned with the psychological effects of urbanisation to recent research in neuroscience and urban health, Liza traces the evolving understanding of the relationship between minds and cities. Through real-world examples, she highlights both the challenges and opportunities of modern urban environments, reflecting on how urban design can - and cannot - support healthier, more equitable forms of city life. 

Speaker

Liza Griffin is an Associate Professor of Urban Health and Environmental Politics. Her research explores the intersections of health, space, and environmental justice, with projects examining disability and the climate crisis, community responses to urban flooding, the relationships between greenspaces and mental health, and placemaking for people living with dementia. Her recent work on Creative Practice and the Anthropocene investigates how publicly engaged, arts-based approaches can intervene productively in contemporary environmental and social challenges. 

How to join

This is a hybrid event. Pre-registration is required.

In-person venue: Room G04, 77 Wicklow Street, London WC1X 9JY.

Register to join in-person via MS Forms.

Register to join online via Zoom.

Paracologies: Nurturing More-Than-Human Dialogue with Parakeets

In an age of climate crisis, what gets to be called natural? Paracologies is a project learning from urban parakeets to understand the emergent natures of the anthropocene. The talk will demonstrate how the thriving of parakeets reflects the failures of current environmental/conservation attitudes. It will outline Christie's design research process of developing Paracologies - an emergent discipline that moves beyond the "dying discipline" of ecology and towards a knowledge practice that embraces the weird entanglements of Humans and Parakeets. 

Speaker

Christie Swallow is an artist and designer. Their work crafts kinship between species, fosters solidarity through co-creation and encourages exchange through collaborative making. Christie’s practice engages with issues of ecology, technoscience and heterodoxy, working through facilitation, curation and installation design, with a particular focus on textiles.  

Christie was most recently Design Researcher in Residence at the Design Museum, where they researched Parakeets and urban ecology through guided walks, quilting and sound art. They have previously undertaken residencies at the European Commission, The University of Birmingham and Hangar CIA.  

The 2020 recipient of the RIBA Boyd Auger Scholarship, Christie has exhibited widely and delivered programmes for organisations including Kew, Orleans House Gallery and the BBC. They previously studied at The Royal College of Art and The University of Cambridge, where they also held a visiting lectureship.

How to join

This is a hybrid event.

In-person venue: Room G.04, 77 Wicklow Street, London WC1X 9JY. 

Register to join in-person via MS Forms.

Register to join online via Zoom.