Emerging Territories is one of five new research groups established by the School of Architecture and Cities in 2021. It gathers together scholars working at the interface of planning, urbanism, landscape and architecture. It broadly focuses on the societal and environmental challenges faced by cities and territories in relation to climate change and social and environmental injustice, new understandings of decolonising architecture and planning, and new critical perspectives of international development, diversity and social inclusion, and health and well-being.
Members’ research activities tackle:
- aspects of climate adaptation,
- urban-rural linkages
- sustainable infrastructure
- landscape
- green space and urban nature
- the Green Recovery
- urban planning and sustainable and inclusive urban design
- hydro-citizenship,
- post-human architecture
- water ecologies and risks associated with coastal areas
Alongside strategic scale work that addresses city and regional challenges, the group has an underlying interest in urban politics and emerging forms of action, such as community activism and temporary and adaptive urbanism; whilst addressing questions of cultural regeneration, heritage and sustainability, and the impact on public realm and placemaking. We adopt a wide range of methodological diversity from planning and social science approaches to environmental humanities, architecture and urban design; we explore forms of co-design and inter- and trans-disciplinarity applied to the built environment. The group covers a wide geographical scope in relation to planning, sustainable urban development and architecture from the UK to the Global South.
We have identified the following intersections as the focus of discussion for collaborative research development:
- Climate Urbanism
- Health, Wellbeing and Cities
- Urban-Rural Interfaces
- Anthropocene Territories
- Public Space and Diversity