LIVE PROJECTS
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN RESEARCH GROUP
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Sustainable Neighbourhood Profile Current PRL has been awarded grant funding by UEL to research and develop a prototype Sustainable Neighbourhood Profile facility, based on LEED ND. The applied research method involves working with neighbourhood groups in London to test the prototype Click the link for more details ...... |
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LEED ND review of a Georgian Block, London, UK (NB: 14mb pdf file) Completed: 2010 Authors: Cristina Blanco Lambert, Dimitra Kyrkou, Jenny Gnadl / Ed. Roland Karthaus If Georgian London has successfully survived for 300 years, could it be the most sustainable extensive development form in the city? The Georgians understood the concept of sustainability in economic terms and the results have stood the test of time. A typical Georgian block was reviewed for its LEED ND potential, with remarkable findings. A score of 'Gold' was found to be realistically achievable. ...... |
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LEED ND review of St John's District, Isle of Dogs, London, UK DRAFT:2011 Author: Michela Pace The stark contrast between this housing estate near Canary Wharf and its surroundings presented a testing ground to investigate the ways in which LEED ND relates buildings, neighbourhood and urban context. ...... |
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SUDRG review for Placepartner, Cambridge, UK Completed: 2010 A proposed project by Placepartner was reviewed by the team against two international sustainable urban design standards, to explore the potential of the site and the proposal and to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each system in this particular context. ...... |
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Postgraduate student themes Walkable streets in Borough Market Mateo Pescheira Reports submitted for the Urban Ecology course at UEL are generating new areas of research within this topic: walkability and liveable streets are strong areas of interest and a strand of thinking is developing around the concept of a framework to facilitate community design of sustainable parameters. ...... |
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The impetus for this project emerged from the MA Urban Ecology module at UEL. Using the USGBC's standard for sustainable urban design, LEED ND as a teaching tool, we started by asking the question:
'How can a quantitative analysis of the city truly represent the complex challenge of sustainability?'
If LEED ND is considered as a static benchmark, then the answer is clearly that it cannot. A deeper understanding of the methodology, however reveals that it has inherent capacity to act as a framework for balancing qualitative and quantitative inputs. The system is in fact fundamentally dynamic and is readily adaptable to different circumstances or local priorities.
We are in the process of comparing these characteristics with other systems, to see how it could act as a framework to address particular challenges in the UK, Europe and globally.
This project is raising deeper questions about the ownership of knowledge in this field and who the arbiters of sustainability should be. We believe that this topic presents too complex a form of knowledge for any individual group to own. Instead, these systems have the potential to become open-source tools to enable developers, authorities and communities to debate how development should respond to each place.
The work to date has been funded by UEL, think place and Placepartner and we are currently bidding for funding to extend this work.
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PRL is recognised as a Research Group of the Sustainability Research Institute at UEL and a part of the London Regional Centre for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development (RCE ESD) as a specialist in Place-based education.
Place Research Lab Community Interest Company no. 7650531
PRL 01/06/11
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a collaboration between think place
and the University of East London as an
independent CIC to research a shared
field of interest