Spatial Design
Highlight Notice
Conference and Publication Call
Livable Cities is an initiative between City – University of London, AMPS and City Tech – New York. Highlighting issues of architectural, landscape and urban design, its upcoming conference welcomes submissions from across disciplines and, importantly, from different sites internationally.
Issues of interest include, but are not limited to: public place – private space design; placemaking, infrastructures & landscape architectures, sea level rise and strategic retreat, urban planning, architectural design, green+blue infrastructure, ‘the city’ -from housing to retail and neighborhoods to interiors, affordable housing, neighborhood regeneration, interior design, planning policy, zoning, participation, design process and more.
Livable Cities – London
June 2024
From London to New York
Livable Cities
City – University of London, AMPS (Architecture. Media, Politics, Society) and City Tech – City College of New York have come together for this initiative operative 2022-2024. It will involve an academic conference in both cities, associated UCL Press journal special issues, and book publications with Routledge and Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Academics from across several disciplines and departments in each university explore research and teaching initiatives on the diversity of issues that affect how we live in cities. The aim of the initiative is to highlight work in these areas, connect academics internationally, and publish findings and best practices in the following areas as they relate to cities:
Architecture(s) + Design | City Planning + Management | Sustainability + Resilience | Social Sciences | Technologies + Medias | Public Health | Public Services | Urban Economics
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Areas of Research
Global:
Architecture, Landscape, Urban Design: Example themes: Architectural design, landscapes and cities, urban design, retrofitting and renovating buildings, public space design, walkable cities….
Sustainability + Resilience: Example themes: Strategic retreat, urban heat islands, resilient cities, net zero energy buildings, the carbon footprint of the building industry, resource use and cities….
City Planning, Transport, Management: Example themes: Urban regeneration, city and regional planning, integrated transportation, soft mobility, the economies of cities, urban sprawl, managing growth….
Sociology, Geography, Anthropology: Example themes: affordable housing, community sustainability, participatory planning, migration, urbanization, forced displacement, cultural traditions….
Technologies + Medias: Example themes: Smart Cities, digital infrastructures, the internet of things, digital equality, privacy and connectedness, ubiquitous computing, big data and city space….
Public Health: Example themes: COVID-19, healthy buildings, healthy cities, environmental psychology, walkable cities, design for life, sick building syndrome, accessible design….
Public Services: Example themes: Community health services, housing provision, access to education, sanitation and environmental health, design and planning for an aging population….
Urban Economics: Example themes: City boosterism, enterprise zones, global cities, affordable housing, urban poverty, urban regeneration, private-public partnerships, development….
Societies, Communities, Cultures: Example themes: Right to the city, race and the city, defensible space, criminology, gentrification, participatory planning, land rights, indigenous communities….
Critical Futures
Research + Publication Program
This initiative is part of the Amps Critical Futures research program that encompasses a range of interconnected issues, from housing, public health and cities to communities, architectural design and sustainability. In each of these areas AMPS supports the research of academics focused on issues such as affordable housing, accessible design, healthy cities, urban growth, community design, social justice and environmental sustainability.
Overview:
Housing – Critical Futures responds to a global ‘crisis’ in affordable housing provision. It examines dichotomies such as the chronic shortage of affordable housing in London, the displacement of long-standing communities in urbanising China and civil unrest around housing in São Paulo. Health – Critical Futures engages with global issues such as healthy cities, walkable neighbourhoods, accessible design, design for life, COVID-19 and public spaces, ‘sick building’ research and more. Cities – Critical Futures reflects the UN World Urbanization Prospects reflecting concerns about growing urbanisation, informal development, urban sprawl, regeneration and the future of post-industrial cities across Europe and North America.
Collaborations:
The UN Habitat Programme, The Royal Institute of British Architects, The Commission of Architecture and the Built Environment, The Faculty of Public Health, UCL Press, Libri Publishing, Vernon Press, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Atelier Herman Hertzberger, The National Housing Federation, the Pubic Health Film Society, the homelessness charity Shelter, Habitat for Humanity and multiple universities internationally. More details.
Publications
Books, Journal, Proceedings
The Critical Futures program draws upon the AMPS publication network based on journal and book series with several international publishing houses: Routledge Taylor & Francis | UCL Press | Intellect Books | Libri Publishing | Vernon Press | Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
In addition the work of researchers is shared through the AMPS Academic YouTube channel, its series of international conferences and its associated proceedings publications.
Sample Books
- Critical Practices in Architecture: The Unexamined. (eds) Jon Bean, Susannah Dickinson, Aletheia Ida. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020
- Designing for Health & Wellbeing: Home, City, Society. (eds) Matthew Jones, Louis Rice, Fidel Meraz. Vernon Press, 2019
- From Conflict to Inclusion in Housing . (eds) Graham Cairns, Georgios Artopoulos, Kirsten Day. UCL Press, 2017
- Housing the Future – Alternative Approaches for Tomorrow. (eds) Rachel Isaac-Menard and Graham Potts. Libri Publishing. 2016
- Design for a Complex World: Challenges in Practice and Education. (ed) Graham Cairns. Libri Publishing. 2015
Sample Journal Special Issues
- Decolonising the Curriculum. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 21 Nos.1-4. 2022
- Art, Space and Activism. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 20 Nos.1-4. 2021
- Re-Design Teaching Design. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 18 Nos.1-4. 2020.
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Sample Conferences
- Cultures, Communities and Design. Calgary, Canada. University of Calgary. 28-30 June, 2022
- Cities in a Changing World: Questions Of Culture, Climate and Design. Virtual. City Tech, New York. 16-18 June, 2021
- The City and Complexity – Life, Design and Commerce in the Built Environment. Virtual. City University of London. 17-19 June, 2020
- Alternatives to the Present – Sociology, Development & Planning. Cleveland, USA. Kent State University. 01-02 November, 2018
Books | Journal | Proceedings | YouTube | Conferences
