This year’s London summerLab will critically explore the latest research on how the designed environment can affect our experience of a place. Conventional urban design approaches tend to emphasise design elements such as form, morphology, density, visual aesthetics with the primary aim of maximising the economic value generated by the spatial transformation of a place. Rarely are the health impacts of such considerations taken into account, yet urban transformation processes considerably alter the environment and our consequent relationship to it. These changes can have a direct or indirect impact on wellbeing.
The summerLab will ask participants to reflect on a variety of design approaches, provoking a debate on how rethinking urban place-making can put health and wellbeing of people firmly at the heart of redevelopment proposals.
Dr Carolina Vasilikou has been invited to give a short lecture next week and lead a group fieldwork in this year’s DPU summerLab in London on the theme: Constructing Healthier Urbanisms, with a focus on Grove Park Neighbourhood.