VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York
Abstract
Treating houses as workplaces became a reality during the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic, bringing changes to the conditions and conduct of work in the city. Residential properties swiftly turned into places for micro-scale business, ranging from digital work to small-scale productive activities, as cities absorbed the shock to their economies of urban restrictions and limits on mobility. While the domestic spaces gain new purposes, they also need to be rethought in spatial and functional terms. How can cities develop practical and innovative design strategies to support micro-businesses operating in residential zones to leverage community building and greater urban resilience, pursuing walkability, transport access and quality of the public space? Registering a recent bottom-up phenomenon of small businesses spontaneously mushrooming in the urban grain of Brisbane, Australia, this paper points to the hybrid nature of residential zones where suburban entrepreneurialism mixes work and living at a highly localised scale. Adopting an everyday urbanism approach, we consider the emergence of suburban entrepreneurialism through case studies, data analysis and ethnographic drawings to examine the agency of the house in the development of micro-businesses in low-density urban contexts. Finally, this paper proposes to combine architectural and urban design strategies with innovative business models, to reveal the opportunities presented by suburban entrepreneurialism for greater urban resilience, but also to respond to challenges that such mixed-use entails, including noises, need for car parking and to rethink insurance/urban households policies.
Dr Silvia Micheli (BArch Politecnico di Milano; PhD, IUAV, Venice) is Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland, where she teaches contemporary design and history of architecture. Silvia’s design research focuses on the productive city and how small-scale projects can enhance liveability and resilience in communities. In 2021, Silvia co-designed the Blue Bower Pavilion, receiving the Crossroads X Prize at the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism as a manifesto of urban resilience during COVID19. In 2018, Silvia co-designed the multi-awarded residential building One Room Tower
Antony Moulis is Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland, teaching and researching across architectural history and theory, urbanism and design. His collaborative design research investigates resilience and micro-urbanism in the contemporary city with built and speculative projects featured in international journals such as Architecture Australia, The Architectural Review, GA Houses.
Tim Kastelle is Associate Professor and Director of External Engagement in the School of Business at the University of Queensland. Tim’s research, teaching and engagement work are all based on his study of innovation management. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in economics, and his MBA and PhD were completed at UQ. He has worked in a variety of industries including radio, office equipment, industrial chemicals, higher education and software, and these experiences inform both his research and his teaching. Tim has published widely in the leading innovation journals.
Oluremi B. Ayoko is Associate Professor of Management in the UQ Business School at The University of Queensland where she graduated in 2003. Remi’s principal research interests include the physical environment of work, team processes of conflict and emotions, leadership, and diversity. Remi is an award-winning researchers publishing in journals such as Journal of Organizational Behavior (JOB), Organization Studies (OS) and Human Relations. She is currently the Convener and Co-Leader of the Next Generation of Workspaces Research Network (UQ) and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management & Organization.
Dr Peyman Akhgar is an Early Career Development Fellow and Associate Lecturer in the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland (UQ). Starting his PhD in 2017, he engaged in critical writing about everyday urbanism and design, space, place and cultural identity, publishing in leading journals including Journal of Architecture and Fabrications.
8:00 am - 9:30 am
Wednesday 14th June, 2023