Design Studios 2022-2023
The Urban Design Studios explore theories and methodologies around the conceptualisation and development of comprehensive urban design projects based on in-depth research. Continuing our research into the human-centric urban design processes for liveable, sustainable and healthy cities, we study the historic context, precedents and recent developments around the formation of self-sufficient neighbourhoods and communities, in relation to the practice of urban planning and design.
This year, we will focus on the notion of The ‘New’ New Town, analysing the tension between the need for large-scale planned urban developments, and the organic social and economic processes that lead to vibrant neighbourhoods and social resilience. Using international case studies, in-depth Hong Kong field research and speculative urban design proposals, we will reflect on the challenges of planning new urban neighbourhoods fit for a healthy and sustainable future, while incorporating opportunities for community-led initiatives, entrepreneurialism and the improvement of social capital.
The 2022/23 academic year will be organised around a combined studio approach, connecting Urban Design Studio I and II under a joint agenda.
Studio I – Urban Collaborative Studio: ‘Learning from Hong Kong’
The studio process in term 1 will focus on field work, community engagement and participatory design with various stakeholders in the existing urban cores including both old districts and early generation new towns in Hong Kong.
The first stage will consist of strategic research to unpack the complex theoretical, historic, economic and political models that have shaped Hong Kong’s urban neighbourhoods and their specific materialisation. Through block and street scale mapping exercises and site investigations, students will learn from local intelligence and discover how Urban Collaboratives function in community collaboration, resource coordination, networks, urban form and public space; and study how urban collaboratives transform local environments into more liveable and sustainable neighbourhoods. As part of this stage, we will engage in a joint workshop with NYIT on ‘urban informality’, looking at Hong Kong urban transformations through online data and field studies. With the objective to explore “Hong Kong-ness” in mind, the term 1 studio will result in the collective construction of an informed narrative on liveability and local communities, and proposals for urban systems, spatial and morphological interventions in diverse urban locations across Hong Kong.
Instructors: Jessica Cheung & Melody Yiu
Studio II – ‘Future Urbanism’ – Creating sustainable, liveable and supportive communities
The second stage of the studio process will focus on the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands, in collaboration with Hong Kong’s Planning Department and its strategic partners. The start of this stage will consist of a combination of literature research and digital modelling exercises, focusing on the creation of multilayered urban simulation models that evaluate mobility networks, environmental performance, density and liveability. With the studio as a whole, we will develop a library of urban organisational structures which reference the urban morphology, function mixing, activity and behavioural patterns found in Hong Kong. The aim of this stage is to develop critical studies into the constraints and opportunities of urban planning frameworks, shaping vibrant and liveable urban environments that facilitate supportive social processes.
The final phase of the studio will focus on the development of a series of visionary scenarios and pilot schemes for the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands, proposing strategic arrangements of public, private and mixed-use urban areas and exploring the interplay between urban facilities, networks, public spaces and Quality of Life. As a studio, we will aim to critically reflect on the inability of urban planning to shape or predict the detailed qualities of vibrant urban community life, and seek to adapt a time-based and human centric design approach that incorporates the notions of contingency, adaptation and participation. We aim to discuss how investment in new infrastructure, shared facilities and urban spaces can be instrumentalised to create more vibrant, equitable and resilient communities, capable to evolve with future societal and environmental changes.
Instructors: Jeroen van Ameijde, Hana Huang