Design Studios 2020-2021
The COVID19 pandemic underlined the central role of public space for our health and well-being. It also highlighted existing social and health disparities as they were further exacerbated by the health crisis. Urban design can play an essential role to better prepare cities and communities for the “new normal” by helping us reconsidering the way public spaces can be used, where and how we will live, work and socialize, and how we will move between different places and activities.
Yet the pandemic has imposed new boundaries to protect populations, highlighting the precarious dependencies of cities on supply lines and hinterlands. Limited travel and requirements of social distancing are reframing forms of communication at the micro and macro scale, across urban communities and the networked city in the region. While sudden improvements in air quality and other natural systems provide a positive note in a time of crisis, these also indicate the urgent need for a debate about balanced future urban growth in relation to the environment.
Studio I – Urban Design For Healthy Communities In The Age Of Pandemics
The Urban Design Studio in Term I focuses on communities and public spaces along the MTR Central-Tsuen Wan Line (red line), which connects the financial centre on Hong Kong Island, with the diverse neighbourhoods of Kowloon. Reflecting on the complex interface of urban design and public health students will be challenged to develop innovative responses in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this time of social distancing and remote working the role of public spaces and transport has changed, perhaps for the long term. Such crises highlight the need for multiple bottom lines and resilience at local and global levels. Responding to these challenges students will reconsider the potential for sustainable urban change examining the relationship between regional infrastructure and local placemaking initiatives.
Instructors: Hendrik Tieben, Darren Snow
Studio II – Infrastructures of Inclusion, Local Communities and the Networked City
Building on the investigation of infrastructure and public spaces in Hong Kong in the first studio, the second studio gives students the opportunity to work at a variety of urban scales. The studio will focus on Hong Kong’s and Shenzhen’s regional connectivity, and both cities’ interconnected and different histories, communities, and strategies for urban development.
With the theme of ‘‘infrastructures of inclusion’’, this studio will address the need for support networks at the neighbourhood, city and regional scales during “the new normal”, exploring solutions that balance interconnectivity with local self-sufficiency. At the neighbourhood scale, we will explore how the (re)design of new or existing urban areas in Hong Kong and Shenzhen can improve their capacity to support diverse communities, promote health and well-being, and economic mobility. At the regional scale, we will explore the future relationships between the different areas of the Greater Bay Area, understanding how integrated flows of resources, information and people are vital for its future development while also offering opportunities to strengthen unique local characteristics and specialisations.
Instructors: Jeroen van Ameijde, Casey Wang