PlaceLabs Podcast

PlaceLabs Collective

PlaceLabs aim to explore Place from a wide variety of angles and to facilitate cross-pollination within the built environment industry. In the PlaceLabs Podcast, which accompanies our quarterly events, we discuss the challenges facing future cities. Interviewing thought-provoking speakers, we seek to offer inspiration and solutions to professionals as well as those interested in urbanism.

Episodes

  1. Hyper Local

    12/11/2020

    Hyper Local

    We have been living in global villages for a while now. 2020 has made this more apparent than ever before: circumstances have forced us into -- or perhaps accelerated a trend towards -- drastically local thinking and living. But what does this new hyperlocalism mean for communities? How do we build -- or should that be: go back to building -- communities around local places? And, indeed, in a world that is as much virtual as it is physical, what does hyperlocal even mean? Guests: Nicola Read is the founder of Host of Leyton, a retail, event and coworking space which actively seeks to contribute to the creation of a local community in East London, where she also built her own home. Nicola has years of experience practicing and teaching architecture, and she was Deputy Director of the London School of Architecture from 2016 to 2019. Dr Kate Baker is a research fellow at the university of Exeter, where she focuses on water management. But she also has a particular interest in community engagement. Kate is the co-founder of Agile Rabbit, an organization that helps academics engage their research with the public using quirky events and community radio. Shriya Malhotra, an artist and placemaker whose work looks at policy. Now back in India, she has lived and practiced in Moscow, New York, Buenos Aires and other cities. This experience of cultural, environmental and economic processes in different places around the world feeds into Shriya’s thoughts about the link between place and quality of life, and about what makes a place a home.

    59 min
  2. Assumptions

    12/10/2020

    Assumptions

    In this episode, we’re asking how different our cities and towns would look if we challenged our assumptions. Do we need to move towards more “mindful assuming”? Towards an awareness for when and what we are assuming. Towards an understanding for what’s a reasonable assumption, and what isn’t? What can we learn from other industries who ask, test and prototype before they build? Or is there, perhaps, even a possibility to embrace uncertainty – to build adaptability into our urban environment? Our guests are: Jessica Lax - an urban planner and civic-sector strategist based in New York. She partners with cities and communities internationally on issues including criminal justice, climate change, and national memorials. Her work seeks to have a lasting impact on policy, and to transform public realms. Neil Onions - the founder and CEO of Beyond the Box Consultants, his work centres around co-design with young people and community engagement. Beyond The Box is based in London and works to unlock creativity and empower young people to become agents of change. Elin Eyborg - an architect and a performance maker from Copenhagen. She has worked for big and small design companies such as Abe Rogers Design and Foster + Partners. She lectures at the University of Greenwich, and studies for a PhD at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Her projects use movement to question the role of architects today. Presented by Julien Clin. Produced by the PlaceLabs Collective. Edited by Lisa Jones. Music by Lisa Jones.

    56 min

About

PlaceLabs aim to explore Place from a wide variety of angles and to facilitate cross-pollination within the built environment industry. In the PlaceLabs Podcast, which accompanies our quarterly events, we discuss the challenges facing future cities. Interviewing thought-provoking speakers, we seek to offer inspiration and solutions to professionals as well as those interested in urbanism.