IN-PERSON Manchester Livable Cities
Abstract
Cities are hot, dry, polluted, impermeable and lacking in nature. To adapt to climate impacts, keep cool in heatwaves, absorb stormwater and filter air and water pollution, we need to retrofit our cities with Green Infrastructure such as green roofs and walls raingardens and so on. Integrating biodiverse wildlife habitats is vital. This paper explores the co-creation of the University of London’s wildlife Living Lab in Bloomsbury. Rooted in its physical, cultural, historical and environmental landscape, the Living Lab garden next to the Institute for Education is a new outdoor collaborative learning space for students, researchers, local schools and community groups. Invertebrates such as solitary bees and wasps, beetles and other ‘bugs’ – the foundational food source for terrestrial life – are in severe decline. To address this, public realm design needs to embrace ‘whole life cycle’ species support. UoL’s brief asked for the living laboratory to be student-led, biodiverse, climate resilient, movable (if required), to take a circular approach, and able to be monitored and cared for. The ‘student-led, staff-supported’ approach prioritised student agency, empowering students to make informed decisions about biodiverse habitat design, supported by university staff and wildlife experts. The ‘Thinking Hands’ approach, developed by radical Finnish architect and educationalist Juhani Pallasmaa, highlights the many benefits of practical learning. From summer 2024-present, students have designed and created numerous habitats including solitary bee hotels, mini wetlands, bogs and ponds, sand planters, and other interventions. So far, over 100 students and 20 staff have participated. Benefits include addressing climate anxiety, fostering, collaboration, ecological literacy, encouraging material reuse, and co-creating a wilder campus with spaces for experimentation, monitoring and long-term care of nature and each other, for more liveable cities into the future.
Blanche Cameron teaches and researches environmental design at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Blanche studied architecture, worked as an ecological builder and designer, and has been teaching for over 20 years, at the CAT Graduate School of the Environment and then UCL. Her work focuses on nature-based solutions to global and local problems. She has co-organised UK and European conferences, workshops and events, including the European Urban Green Infrastructure Conference series. She supports students to help design, create and care for wildlife habitat living labs.
Harang Seo is co-director of Resource 12 CIC, advocating for circularity and reuse in the built environment. His work explores the creative resource potential of ‘waste’ through collaborative, experimental, material-led design. At the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, he co-created FoundersKeepers, a reuse process, co-authoring ‘FoundersKeepers: Material Circularity within Educational Frameworks’ (AMPS, 2024).
Marius Sidaravicius is an interdisciplinary architectural designer and co-director of Resource 12 CIC, advocating for circularity to foster a culture of care in the built environment. At the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, he examined material reuse in educational institutions, co-creating FoundersKeepers, and co-authoring ‘FoundersKeepers: Material Circularity within Educational Frameworks’ (AMPS, 2024).
Hannah Simon is co-director of Resource 12 CIC. Her work explores non-linear reuse in architectural pedagogy through practice-led enquiry. She has contributed to adaptive reuse and heritage projects, situating architecture in ecological and temporal conditions shaping liveable cities. At the Bartlett School of Architecture, she co-created the FoundersKeepers reuse process, co-authoring ‘FoundersKeepers: Material Circularity within Educational Frameworks’ (AMPS, 2024).
Emilia Mizielinska is a UCL graduate passionate about advancing nature-based solutions and urban climate resilience. Her dissertation focussed on student-led workshops developing designs and a Student Engagement Plan for the nature-based Living Lab at the University of London, to integrate students into all stages of the lab’s design, development, and aftercare.
Jade Wong is a UCL Bartlett graduate who is deeply passionate about low impact design and nature-based solutions. Her dissertation explored how hands-on learning can facilitate a sense of care towards nature and shared spaces through a green roof refurbishment project at UCL, which she also led and managed while a student.
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Wednesday 17th June, 2026