Towards the new 'urban commons': Investigating the role of data in contemporary community led responses to urban regeneration.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Arts London
Department Name: Research Management
Abstract
Towards the new 'urban commons': Investigating the role of data in contemporary community led responses to urban regeneration.
This practice-led research will investigate the role of data within contemporary community-led
regeneration through the development of a collaborative architectural practice.
The role of the architect as a hub of communication and design within the built environment is
uniquely influential, and should be pivotal within the current housing crisis. However, neoliberal
politics encouraging homogenisation and privatisation have weighted the dynamics of urban design
towards finance. The housing crisis in London is exemplified through battles around estate
regeneration. Community groups have responded to regeneration plans with legal challenges and
design proposals. However, the speed, volume and variety of information produced within planning
and legal processes obstructs the formation of a comprehensive response. The increasing volumes of
publicly available data (you can have it if you have the time to read it) add another layer to the
fraught and delicate circumstances. There is insufficient public debate about the role of data in this
context. Symptomatic of late capitalism, the exponential production and resulting analysis of data is
inextricably entwined into the way we live. Tracing the path from data through to analysis can be
extremely complicated.
For the past 18 months I have been working with The People's Empowerment Alliance for Custom
House (PEACH), a community group in east London, leading a team of architects and residents in
order to co-design a community-led regeneration plan. This practice-led research project will expand
this relationship in order to investigate current and potential roles of data within co-design processes
and active community participation. The research proposes the intricacy of the situation as an
opportunity to develop a reconsidered architecture, using technology to establish co-operative
structures towards the emerging "urban commons".
This practice-led research will investigate the role of data within contemporary community-led
regeneration through the development of a collaborative architectural practice.
The role of the architect as a hub of communication and design within the built environment is
uniquely influential, and should be pivotal within the current housing crisis. However, neoliberal
politics encouraging homogenisation and privatisation have weighted the dynamics of urban design
towards finance. The housing crisis in London is exemplified through battles around estate
regeneration. Community groups have responded to regeneration plans with legal challenges and
design proposals. However, the speed, volume and variety of information produced within planning
and legal processes obstructs the formation of a comprehensive response. The increasing volumes of
publicly available data (you can have it if you have the time to read it) add another layer to the
fraught and delicate circumstances. There is insufficient public debate about the role of data in this
context. Symptomatic of late capitalism, the exponential production and resulting analysis of data is
inextricably entwined into the way we live. Tracing the path from data through to analysis can be
extremely complicated.
For the past 18 months I have been working with The People's Empowerment Alliance for Custom
House (PEACH), a community group in east London, leading a team of architects and residents in
order to co-design a community-led regeneration plan. This practice-led research project will expand
this relationship in order to investigate current and potential roles of data within co-design processes
and active community participation. The research proposes the intricacy of the situation as an
opportunity to develop a reconsidered architecture, using technology to establish co-operative
structures towards the emerging "urban commons".
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jeremy Till (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Sibyl Trigg (Student) |