TIMES OF SCARCITY RECLAIMING THE POSSIBILITY OF MAKING Third European Urban Summer School, University of Westminster, London, UK 21 - 30 September 2012 V1.3 15 September 2012 CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 4 LOCATIONS 4 UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER 5 SUGARHOUSE STUDIOS 6 PROGRAMME 6 PROGRAMME OVERVIEW 7 FORMAT 7 21 SEPTEMBER: PREFACE 7 22 SEPTEMBER: INTRODUCTION 9 23 SEPTEMBER: SENSITISATION 12 24 SEPTEMBER: IMAGINATION 13 25 SEPTEMBER: RENOVATION 15 26 SEPTEMBER: ADAPTATION 20 27 SEPTEMBER: PROGNOSTICATION 22 28 SEPTEMBER: POPULARISATION 24 29 SEPTEMBER: ARTICULATION 25 30 SEPTEMBER: DEMONSTRATION 28 PEOPLE 28 PARTICIPANTS 37 SPEAKERS AND TUTORS 54 PARTICIPANT CONTACT LIST 56 BACKGROUND 56 PLANNING AND HOUSING IN LONDON: POLICIES AND PRACTICE 81 BROMLEY-BY-BOW 92 WORKSHOP DETAILS 1 3rd European Urban Summer School, London, 21 – 30 September 2012 #EUSS2012 (twitter) INTRODUCTION Globalisation, climate change, resource depletion and financial crises are the prevailing – and often crippling – conditions which shape our immediate professional and academic lives and longer-term futures. In our times of rapid change, young planners, architects and designers must develop and adopt new and more holistic approaches to planning and design in order to engage in a meaningful manner with an increasingly urban world and to propose creative interventions that go beyond the immediately physical. The 3rd European Urban Summer School (EUSS), hosted by the University of Westminster, School of Architecture and the Built Environment in September 2012, aims to bring together postgraduate students, emerging and experienced academics and young and established design and planning professionals from all over Europe (and further away) to develop a better understanding of some of the most pressing contemporary issues related to the built environment and to amplify and strengthen the links between planning- and design-relevant research and professional practice. The University of Westminster was founded as Britain’s first polytechnic in 1838 and has developed into a hub for business, professional and academic life (WWW.WESTMINSTER.AC.UK). The School of Architecture and the Built Environment (SABE) is one of the country’s leading centres in the field. The main partner in facilitating the EUSS will be the Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment team (SCIBE). SCIBE is a three-year collaborative project with teams in London, Oslo and Vienna, running from 2010 to 2013. It explores how conditions of scarcity might affect the creativity of different actors involved in the production of architecture and urban design (see WWW.SCIBE.EU). The EUSS is an invitation to develop new ways of thinking about and tools in response to emerging issues of scarcity – a condition generally defined by the insufficiency of cultural, social or economic resources. But scarcity is about more than simple resource depletion: 2 it is embedded in political, social and ecological systems. How and by whom is scarcity generated, engineered, constructed or perceived? What are we, as practitioners in an urban context, to do under conditions of scarcity in the built environment? The 3rd EUSS is a call to arms to reclaim the possibility of making the city in our times of scarcity. London is the capital city of England, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. It is now considered a leading global city, the most visited city in the world and its largest financial centre. London is the host the Summer Olympic Games 2012. In September 2012, the city – its population and infrastructure – will be beginning to recover from the Event and cope with its legacy. Participants in the EUSS will work and test their ideas on the case of a ‘deprived’ East London ward surrounded by highways and railway lines and located in-between central London, the Canary Wharf Estate and the Olympic site: Bromley-by-Bow. This is a contested urban territory typical of London, with many aspects of social inequality manifested spatially and socially. Spectacular event architecture, hastily refurbished façades in anticipation of Olympic visitors and the everyday reality of historically neglected East London all offer a rich context for EUSS explorations: a charged territory awaiting the engagement of young planning and design professionals and their proposals for intelligent, creative interventions. Outstanding work produced during the EUSS will be exhibited as part of the SCIBE London exhibition and will be considered for potential publication. 3 LOCATIONS UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER Rooms C2.07 and C2.14 Cavendish Building 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW “The Campus is well located, within easy walking distance of the other central London Campuses, and close to Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus. Situated on the periphery of the arty Fitzrovia area, students can walk through the very safe, village like surroundings, full of lively street cafes, and into the quiet garden square beyond.” You can reach the University of Westminster, Cavendish Building, by Tube (Goodge Street on the Northern Line, Warren Street on the Northern and Victoria Lines; Great Portland Street on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines; and Oxford Circus on the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines). Buses to stop nearby include C2, 3, 10, 17, 18, 22, 32, 44, 55 and 453. For more information, visit WWW.WESTMINSTER.AC.UK/ABOUT-US/ VISIT-US/DIRECTIONS/CAVENDISH FINDING UNIVERSITY OR WESTMINSTER. © UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER 4 SUGARHOUSE STUDIOS 107 High Street, London, E15 2QQ “An island formed by roads and waterways just south of the Olympic Park, the Sugar House Lane area is undergoing rapid physical and economic change. Adjacent to Three Mills Film Studios and for over a century a centre of making, manufacture and industry, large swathes of the area are currently in suspended animation, awaiting large-scale redevelopment as a new developer-led residential and business neighbourhood. Sugarhouse Studios is on the north edge of the island, occupying an abandoned sign- writers workshop scheduled for demolition at some point in 2013.” You can reach Sugarhouse Studios on foot from the stations Pudding Mill Lane (DLR) or Bromley-by-Bow (Tube: Circle, District and Hammersmith & City Lines). You can take the following buses: 25, 108, 276, 339, 425. Convenient bus stops are Bow Flyover, Marshgate Lane and Abbey Lane/Warton Road. Use Transport for London’s Jouney Planner to find the best route (HTTP://GOO.GL/ C6571). Visit WWW.SUGARHOUSESTUDIOS.CO.UK for more information. 5 FINDING SUGARHOUSE STUDIOS. © ASSEMBLE PROGRAMME 3rd European Urban Summer School, London, 21 – 30 September 2012 PROGRAMME OVERVIEW FRI 21.09. SAT 22.09. SUN 23.09. MON 24.09. TUE 25.09 PREFACE INTRODUCTION SENSITISATION IMAGINATION RENOVATION UOW  C2.07 UOW  C2.14 SHS SHS SHS 09.00 PILOTS, PLOTS, PLOYS & 09.30 URBAN METABOLISM PLANS YOUR PLACE, YOUR 10.00 COLLABORATIVE CITY SPACE 10.30 INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN PLANNING AND URBAN REGENERATION 11.00 HOUSING IN LONDON OR GENTRIFICATION 11.30 NO DATA AVAILABLE 12.00 ARRIVAL REGULATORY REGIMES 12.30 13.00 13.30 14.00 CONCEPT OF SCARCITY RIBA STUDENT CHARRETTE 14.30 WHOSE SCARCITY AND 15.00 CONTEXT OF SCARCITY WHOSE ABUNDANCE? TEAM PROJECT 15.30 DENSITY ISSUES IN MOTIVATING RE 16.00 MAKING THE CITY OPENING & SCARCITY 16.30 FACTS ON THE GROUND? SHORTS I (until 8.30pm) 17.00 WED 26.09. THU 27.09. FRI 28.09. SAT 29.09. SUN 30.09. ADAPTATION PROGNOSTICATION POPULARISATION ARTICULATION DEMONSTRATION SHS SHS SHS SHS SHS 09.00 YPPA CEREMONY SCIENCE FICTIONALITY PLANNING AND HEALTH 09.30 TECHOLOGY 10.00 KUSTERMANS MAKING PLANNING TEAM PROJECT 10.30 SEYFARTH URBAN FUTURES POPULAR 11.00 MAIOLI ECOLOGICAL URBANISM 11.30 SANTOS DATA IS THE NEW WOOD 12.00 HABLOVA PATTERN MORPHOLOGY 12.30 MARRADES LLDCLTGDCGLASHLAA 13.00 PROJECT PRESENTATIONS: 13.30 SCARCITY SHORTS II CLOSED LOOP SUPER CRIT 14.00 14.30 15.00 BACK TO THE FUTURE LONDON LEGACY TEAM PROJECT 15.30 THE SPACES INBETWEEN CLOSING 16.00 16.30 RHETORIC AND REALITY TEAM PROJECT DEPARTURE 17.00 UOWUniversity of Westminster, Cavendish Building LECTURE 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW WORKSHOP SHS Sugarhouse Studios, BromleybyBow 107 High Street, London, E15 2QQ TEAM WORK 6 FORMAT The EUSS will start with an introductory session on the overall theme and format. Tutors will present their workshop and project proposals, and participants will form project teams of up to six based on their interests. Participants and tutors will develop and work from a grounded understanding of scarcity in the study area, Bromley-by-Bow, to propose approaches and tools to address these. Participants will work in a team and with one main tutor (or team of tutors), but will, of course, have the opportunity to attend all lectures and workshops and consult with other tutors. Results will be presented and discussed on the closing day. 21 SEPTEMBER: PREFACE 16.00 - 20.30: UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER, CAVENDISH BUILDING, C2.07 WELCOME The EUSS will open with a welcome from David Dernie (Dean, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster), Tim Edmundson (Head of Department of Planning and Transport, University of Westminster), Jeremy Till (Central St Martins/SCIBE) and Deljana Iossifova (University of Westminster/ SCIBE). SCARCITY SHORTS I In 200 seconds each, tutors present their proposed workshops, working methods, and approaches to issues of scarcity. This will serve as the basis for participants to choose which theme and/or workshop they wish to focus on over the duration of the EUSS. 22 SEPTEMBER: INTRODUCTION 9.00 – 12.30 MORNING SESSION: UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER, CAVENDISH BUILDING, C2.14 7 INTRODUCTION TO PLANNING AND HOUSING IN LONDON (SEE PAGE 56) Duncan Bowie (University of Westminster) This session will be in 2 parts. The first part will cover the history of planning for London - from Julius Caesar to Boris Johnson. This will be a presentation on the history of planning for London, including the contributions of architect/planners such as Christpoher Wren, Raymond Unwin and Patrick Abercrombie. The presentation will cover the historical narrative but also consider different organisational arrangements for planning London and will pick up on some of the themes such as densification and dispersal, Green Belt policy and transport and economic factors. The second part will focus on current policy for planning housing in London, explaining the London-wide challenges and policy, but focusing on the implementation of policy, the nature of the current development programme and on future challenges and possible policy responses. This will be followed by a discussion with participants contributing on how London’s experience relates to their experience of planning and housing in their own home cities. 13.30 – 17.00 AFTERNOON SESSION UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER, CAVENDISH BUILDING, C2.07 THE CONCEPT OF SCARCITY Jeremy Till (Central Saint Martins/SCIBE) This talk will look at scarcity from ten different angles, proposing the constructed and manipulative nature of scarcity. Illustrated with examples from the built environment, where conditions of scarcity are most clearly manifested, the talk is also tentatively propositional as to how to act under conditions of scarcity - but is proposed more as a starting point for discussion than a definitive take on the subject. THE CONTEXT OF SCARCITY Deljana Iossifova (University of Westminster) Using the example of Bromley-by-Bow in east London, and based 8