International Conference

23-24 March 2023

Repurposing Places for social and environmental resilience 

Whilst the 20th century was mostly about starchitects, 21st century is about synergies and the relevant complex dynamics that these allow to grow. This shift happens in parallel to others; reusing, retrofitting, and giving a new life to the existing places, buildings and neighbourhoods, in an environmentally and socially resilient manner, developing ways for the existing communities to grow in a symbiotic relationship with new ones, designing processes of circular economy and upcycling, which allow people to collaborate and find viable solutions. Participation in architecture is a notion that continuously evolves, even more so in recent years. Knowledge and innovation that contributes to social justice and responsible design practices, emerges from complex networks and agile cross-disciplinary collaborations.

In this context, this conference examines the relationship between social and environmental resilience, by looking into designed projects, cross-disciplinary research and investigations, participatory and collaborative design methods. It welcomes architects, designers, artists, planners, urbanists, engineers, academics, educators, as well as researchers and practitioners of other relevant disciplines, who have addressed some of the above themes through their work. Projects on adaptation and retrofitting of places in an environmentally and socially responsible way, as well as participatory projects, are particularly welcome. It also welcomes presentations of ongoing projects and collaborations, which will drive the relevant conversations forward.

It is often argued that: environmental resilience = social resilience. Indeed, there is an inextricable link between environmental (spatial) resilience and social resilience and the former leads to, or effects, the latter. However, in the context of this conference, we do not consider this as a simple one-way equation, and we aim to investigate further the complex relationship between the two.

Indicative topics:

Topic 1: Designed and built projects that address the conference theme.

Topic 2: Critical analysis of case studies and places in relation to the conference theme.

Topic 3: New approaches to participation and mapping, in the context of architecture, arts, urbanism, social sciences.

Topic 4: Educational briefs and student projects that address the conference theme.

Venue: Arup, 8 Fitzroy St, London W1T 4BJ , UK

Keynote Speakers:

Simon Allford

Juliet Mian 

Anna Minton

Prof Doina Petrescu

Alex Scott-Whitby

Online

You can attend the conference LIVE presentations online via the following links:

23rd March – Keynote lectures and parallel sessions in room A

23rd March – Parallel sessions in room B

24th March – Keynote lectures and parallel sessions in room A

24th March – Parallel sessions in room B

You can watch the virtual pre-recorded presentations here

 (all copyright rights and responsibilities stay with the authors, whose names appear next to each presentation)

 banner image: created by the UEL MA Interior Design student Rushil Gaba, 2021