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The DPU summerLab programme aims to leverage the reality of the city as a laboratory for developing socially responsive design research strategies.
About the DPU summerLab
Born out of the Building and Urban Design in Development MSc (BUDD MSc) course in 2009, and expanded in 2010 into a wider initiative of The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, the DPU summerLab provokes, stimulates and reconsiders the role of research and design research in promoting social, spatial and environmental justice.
Focusing on cities’ contested spaces, their mutable landscapes and visible/invisible thresholds, the DPU summerLab asserts that to appropriately engage in this arena a critical recalibration of research and practice is required. Therefore, the programme hosts a series of initiatives including design workshops, research fellowships and a lecture series which lie within and contribute to such paradigmatic shift.
After a Special Research Fellowship Series held between 2022 and 2023 in Cali (Colombia), São Paulo and Campinas (Brazil), Berbera and Zeila (Somaliland), we launched the 2024 workshop series which takes us to Chengdu (China) for a workshop centred on fostering cultural resilience through participatory planning and regeneration. We will also investigate Belfast and London in the UK with a focus on urban health.
Who is the DPU summerLab for?
The DPU summerLab is open to applicants from any background and institution. It is geared toward both professionals and current students willing to question their role, positionality and methodologies in engaging with cities’ contested spaces.
Our DPU summerLab programmes
DPU summerLab 2024
Chengdu, china - (In)Tangible Yulin. Nurturing Cultural Resilience through Participatory Planning and Regeneration
Dates: 15 to 26 July 2024
Academic coordination: Dr Giorgio Talocci and Professor Colin Marx (The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL)
In collaboration with: ACG (BEIJING HUANQIUYIMENG Education Consultation Corp.) and Urban Synthesis China Ltd.
The rapid transformation of urban China has been of great academic interest over the last two decades. In the country, urban population has reached a peak of 65%, increasing from 170 million in 1978 to 910 million in 2021. Such unprecedented scale of urban development, and the overall fast pace of urban transformation, have posed challenges to the survival of long-standing local communities, their cultural heritage, their neighbourhoods – whose open spaces and built typology are facing massive changes, in terms of uses, built form, image, and imaginations.
The creation of socially and environmentally sustainable cities therefore, is (or should be) a key concern for government, scholars, urban designers and citizens alike. This two-week short course – geared toward ACG’s undergraduate students, but open to all – wants precisely to investigate pathways toward just and sustainable urban development, with a particular focus on the potential of citizens participation.
This course articulates into a series of lectures, and a design workshop – the latter facilitated by our partner Urban Synthesis China Ltd. and focusing on the so-called Yulin Road area, in Chengdu.
The lectures will be given by staff from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit with inputs from ACG academics and Urban Synthesis China Ltd. staff. They will cover topics such as contemporary urban planning and urban design challenges, multi-level stakeholders participation and participatory governance, economic and environmental sustainability, design research, urban informality and its complexities. Through a series of short exercises in class, students will be asked to draw reflections at a trans-local level, aiming to put our case-based design workshop in relation with a multiplicity of contexts, at both the global and national level.
The design workshop will involve fieldwork, in-class groupwork and tutorials, inputs from local stakeholders and a series of methodological lectures. Acknowledging how Chengdu itself has traditionally been a hub for cultural exchange in China, the workshop delves into the reality of Yulin Road area, and into the complexity of its deep historical and cultural roots, of its distinctive architecture from various periods, of its supposedly ‘authentic’ local lifestyle and folk culture. Following multiple phases of urban renewal, Yulin has become a nationally renowned cultural and tourist destination, somewhat narrating Chengdu's unparalleled cultural value, and contributing to the creation of a significant cultural brand. However, such an attention has led to homogenising patterns of commercialisation in the area, and to the emergence of a consumption culture occurring almost solely on social media platforms, with little or no engagement with the local reality. The workshop, leveraging Yulin’s narratives and learning from other contexts and case studies, aims to discuss potential solutions for a participatory, sustainable and liveable future for the area and its residents.
- Tentative schedule*
The programme will run Monday 15 July to Friday 19 July 2024 and from Monday 22 July to Friday 26 July.
Morning sessions will run from 8am and 12pm, and afternoon sessions from 2 to 5pm. Two evening events are currently being planned (dates to be confirmed).
Week one (15 to 19 July 2024): Two days will be dedicated to lectures (with in-class discussions, work and reflection), and three days to the design workshop in collaboration with Urban Synthesis, as above.
Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July will be free days, although participants will be given a short reflective assignment, to be discussed on Monday 22 July.
Week two (22 to 26 July 2024): we will have three days dedicated to lectures, and two days for the design workshop. A detailed schedule will be released in the upcoming weeks.
*Please note: This schedule is subject to change.
- How to apply
Please note this workshop is formally run by our partners ACG, that are in charge of recruitment. Should you be interested in applying, please send an email to giorgio.talocci.11@ucl.ac.uk, and you will receive more information on fees and on the application process. Given the short timeframe, we recommend getting in touch as soon as possible, especially to applicants in need of a visa.
Belfast - Young People and Mental Wellbeing in a Contested City
Dates: 15 to 20 September 2024
Application deadline: Wednesday 25 July 2024 at 23.59 BST
Academic coordination: Professor Haim Yacobi (The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL)
In collaboration with: Belfast Healthy Cities network and Holy Cross Boys’ Primary School
We associate health with the use of urban space and highlight a growing body of knowledge discussing the links between health and planning, by posing crucial questions such as how planning, urban design and public health policy – which emerged with the objective of improving the health of urban dwellers – can be reversed to its health and social justice origins. Focusing on addressing the social determinants of health, we ask also: what political, social and spatial processes reconnect planning and public health?
Built in connection with the Newham summerLab, the summerLab in Belfast will focus on the mental wellbeing of young people in contexts of conflict and division. Urban conflict and spatial division have indeed driven significant changes in the production and use of urban spaces. In cities where (often violent) conflict occurs, one can identify health disparities and challenges linked to spatio-political conditions. These conditions are often accompanied by under-developed public goods and services such as transportation, sanitation and other infrastructural elements – which, in turn, affect the health of communities. The spatial stigmatisation of several conflict zones in cities affect patterns of urban mobility, too.
The main purpose of this summerLab is to better understand the effect of conflict and violence on urban health in general and, in particular, mental health among young people in Belfast. In partnership with the Belfast Healthy Cities network and other experts, we will explore the city and its current health and planning challenges, while also conducting fieldwork data collection, and brainstorm around developing an intervention strategy. The workshop will focus on one of the most deprived districts in Belfast – the working-class neighbourhood of Ardoyne, which still bears signs of its violent past. In Ardoyne, we will work in partnership with the Holy Cross Boys’ Primary School. Drawing on and expanding from such interaction, and using participatory methodologies, we aim to contribute to the development of an alternative plan and policy for the future Ardoyne, centred around the community needs and aspirations, and connecting to the wider socio-spatial context of Belfast in a cross-scalar and cross-dimensional fashion – at both policy and spatial strategy level.
Please note: This workshop is part of a series on Urban Health. It can be taken together with the workshop below titled 'Newham, London - Older Residents’ Wellbeing and Active Aging: Co-Producing a City in Transition', running from Sunday 22 to Friday 27 September 2024. Reduced fees apply to participants taking both workshops.
- Tentative schedule*
Sunday 15 September: Opening lecture on 'Belfast, History and Politics'.
Monday 16 September: Belfast Urban Tour, followed by a roundtable with academics and local stakeholders on 'Belfast Urban Health Challenges'.
Tuesday 17 September: Belfast Public Health Tour, knowledge sharing and workshop on 'Children, health and the built environment', and screening of the movie Young Plato with discussant Kevin McArevey.
Wednesday 18 September: Walking tour in Ardoyne neighbourhood, visit to East Side partnership and group tutorials, followed by group tutorials.
Thursday 19 September: Fieldwork and group work at Holy Cross Boys Primary School and Ardoyne neighbourhood.
Friday 20 September: Presentation of students’ works and feedback from local stakeholders, followed by a collective reflection and group meal.
*Please note: This schedule is subject to change.
- Fees
Current fees for the workshop in Belfast are 600 GBP. Should an applicant wish to apply to both Newham and Belfast workshops, the total (discounted) fee will be 1000 GBP. We also offer discounts for group applications. Please notice applicants are in charge of organising travel and accommodation, which are not included in the participation fees. For terms and conditions, please read carefully the information in the application form. For more information, please email giorgio.talocci.11@ucl.ac.uk.
Apply for the Belfast DPU summerLab
Newham, London - OLDER ADULTS’ Wellbeing and Active Aging: co-producing a city in Transition
Dates: 22 to 27 September 2024
Application deadline: Wednesday 25 July 2024 at 23.59 BST
Academic coordination: Dr Lusi Morhayim (Lecturer in Social Sciences of the Built Environment, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, UCL)
Project coordination: Rachel Hall (Strategic Projects Manager, UCL Health of the Public)
In collaboration with: Newham Centre for Health and Care Equity, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, UCL Health of the Public
Built in connection with the Belfast summerLab, the summerLab in Newham will focus on older adults’ wellbeing by building upon the historical context of the borough, while addressing its current challenges and transformation.
With several areas ranking very high in the Index of Multiple Deprivation and its ‘Arc of Opportunity’ regeneration agenda dating back to the 2012 Olympics, Newham as a whole is a contested territory where multiple narratives overlap and clash. Newham Council, in collaboration with several local stakeholders, is actively aiming to create an affordable, just and sustainable future for Newham’s diverse group of residents.
The focus of the workshop will focus on Royal Docks area and more specifically on North Woolwich, aiming to understand the social and spatial needs and aspirations of older adults, in the midst of a constantly changing environment. Looking at several dimensions such as sense of place vs unsettlement, community connectedness vs loneliness, aging in place, exposure to air and noise pollution, we want to ask: how to rethink Newham’s transformation to help combat mental and physical health challenges?
Through an interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach, and using participatory methodologies and user-centred data collection, the main outcome of this project will be the co-production of an alternative spatial strategy to improve the quality of Newham’s green spaces, and to foster mental health and promote active aging in North Woolwich and wider Royal Docks. The outputs will reflect ideas and discussions emerged within the workshop, with a combination of visual and written documentation. The outputs will aim to support future policy and planning to improve health and wellbeing in Newham. The weeklong activities will be supported by local active community members, local experts, advocacy groups, third sector, artists, as well as public health, housing and built environment professionals, lawyers, and climate change experts, along with relevant members of local council and government, and by scholars from UCL whose work focuses on aging, active living, mental health, and health-promotive environments.
Please note: This workshop is part of a series on Urban Health. It can be taken together with the workshop above titled 'Belfast - Youth and Mental Wellbeing in a Contested City', running from Sunday 15 to Friday 20 September 2024. Reduced fees apply to participants taking both workshops.
- Tentative schedule*
Sunday 22 July: Opening short lectures and panel discussion on 'Newham’s history and recent transformation plans'.
Monday 23 July: Newham urban tour, group tutorials and discussing action plans for fieldwork on Tuesday afternoon, and short lectures and a panel discussion on 'Newham urban health challenges'.
Tuesday 24 July: Newham Public Health tour, fieldwork in groups, and film night.
Wednesday 25 July: Lecture on 'Mental health challenges for older adults groups', work on green spaces, their usability and their relevance for the local community’s mental health, and group work to prepare for Thursday’s fieldwork.
Thursday 26 July: Fieldwork and group work.
Friday 27 July: Presentation of students’ works and feedback from local stakeholders, followed by a collective reflection and group meal.
*Please note: This schedule is subject to change.
- Fees
Current fees for the workshop in Newham, London, are 600 GBP. Should an applicant wish to apply to both Newham and Belfast workshops, the total (discounted) fee will be 1000 GBP. We also offer discounts for group applicationsPlease notice applicants are in charge of organising travel and accommodation, which are not included in the participation fees. For terms and conditions, please read carefully the information in the application form. For more information, please email giorgio.talocci.11@ucl.ac.uk.
Apply for the Newham DPU summerLab
Previous DPU summerLab programmes
- DPU summerLab 2022-23: Special Research Fellowships series
- São Paulo, Brazil: Mapping linkages between sanitation and the SDGs
- Cali, Colombia: Exploring intersectional lives in ‘barrios populares’
- Saylac, Somaliland: Documenting built heritage and socio-cultural trajectories on the Gulf of Aden
Berbera, Somaliland: Investigating traditional constructive techniques, and questioning their current relevance
- 2021 special online edition
The DPU summerLab team organised a special online ‘winter’ edition in February 2021, which has reached remotely a number of designers, activists, researchers and practitioners. In a series of online live sessions – alternating lectures, discussions and design research activities – participants explored the realities of Aleppo (Syria, in partnership with ICRC), Berbera (Somaliland, in partnership with IRHPD and Redsea Cultural Foundation), Chengdu (China, with Urban Synthesis China Ltd.), in a comparative fashion. The workshop questioned how urbanism and forms of tangible and intangible heritage are affected by armed conflict (in Aleppo), infrastructural development (in Berbera), regeneration processes (in Chengdu).
- 2019 series
- Jerusalem: Urban Health in a Contested Territory
- Chengdu: Rethinking tourism-driven regeneration
- Hargeysa: Exploring social cohesion in a segmented city
- Athens: Co-creating the arrival city
- London: A community-centred alternative to displacement
Download pamphlet
- 2018 series
- Amman - Inhabiting water infrastructures
- Ulaanbaatar - Urbanising nomadism
- Bar Elias - Public realm and spaces of refuge
- Athens - Arrival city in age of austerity
- London - Constructing Healthier Urbanisms 2018
Download pamphlet
- 2017 series
- Trieste/Koper - BorderLand Heritage
- Palermo - Un-Layering Identities
- Jerusalem\Al Quds: [Inter]Sections of Urban Conflicts
- Nicosia: Inhabiting Edges
- London – Constructing Healthier Urbanisms 2017
Download pamphlet
- 2016 series
- Beirut: Riverside Ecologies and Contested Waterscapes
- Palermo: Emergent Migrant Topographies
- Barcelona: Conflicting Diversities
- London: Heritage in Transformation
Download pamphlet
- 2015 series
- Santiago: Heritage, Conflict, Urban Change
- Beirut: Imagining Bliss
- Mostar: Common Grounds
- London: Localising Legacies 2015
Download pamphlet
- 2014 series
Download pamphlet
- 2013 series
- Medellin: Growth in Transit
- Santiago: Providencia in Transformation
- Rome: Occupation City 2013
- London: Localising Legacies 2013
Download pamphlet
- 2012 series
Download pamphlet
- 2011 series
Staff
The DPU summerLab is coordinated by Dr Giorgio Talocci and supported by a multitude of academic staff from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit who work on a workshop-to-workshop basis.
More information
If you have any questions, please contact the DPU summerLab Programme Coordinator via email at giorgio.talocci.11@ucl.ac.uk.