Transitional civic placemaking: dispersed initiatives in changing urban landscapes

• Main Authors: Tang, Bo, Mitchell, Maurice
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resources 2019
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences; 720 Architecture; Maurice; McAllister; Yakutsk
• Online Access: http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/5021/; https://www.arcsr.org/publications-studio; http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/5021/1/Transitional%20Civic%20Placemaking%20small%202019.pdf

Field trip publication on the theme of "Transitional Civic Placemaking: Dispersed Initiatives in Changing Urban Landscapes" in Athens, Calabria and Freetown (and Yakutsk). Produced by students from MArch/MA by Project Unit 6 and Degree Studios 3 & 7 at the Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University in 2018-19. Tutors: Maurice Mitchell, Bo Tang, Robert Barnes, Sandra Denicke-Poulcher and Jane McAllister. This booklet summarises the investigations, surveys and speculations of architecture students in Degree Studios 3 and 7, together with Diploma Unit 6 at the CASS. We started the year by immersing ourselves in an urban setting in South Bermondsey which was full of a diverse array of steel and concrete sheds. Exploratory design work focused on the assembly, conversion, adjustment, extension, and/ or re-assembly of existing buildings to better suit the concerns of the existing inhabitants. Students investigated closed boundaries and permeable borders (Sennett, 1998). Out of this investigation emerged speculations which included arcades, a re-purposed canal and high-ceilinged ground floor workshops under multi-storey apartments. Having practiced on-site research methods and following on from the previous summer scoping study, Civic Edgelands, students undertook field trips to Athens, Freetown, and Calabria in November 2018. All three locations are, or have been, migrant gateways, and transitional settlements for the uprooted and offer new opportunities for urban dwelling to their occupants: old, new and those just passing through.