Exploring Space and Migration in Four European Cities

Location

Wash Houses, Aldgate Campus

About the Event

Join us for the launch of Practices of Urban Inclusion: Exploring Space and Migration in Four European Cities, a timely exploration of how urban spaces shape social inclusion and exclusion. In recent years, migration policies have eroded fundamental rights for migrating persons in urban areas, with pathways to safe havens, both geographically and legally, gradually diminishing. This book examines these dynamics across Berlin, Brussels, Milan, and London.

Building on collaborative partnerships between civil society organisations and universities, it shares lessons learned and insights from an experimental learning programme at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and migration. The volume presents texts in multiple languages, interviews, visual essays, and situated examples from citizen-led initiatives, pedagogical experiences, and spatial practitioners. Taken together, it offers critical reflections on urban practice and the role of migration in rethinking the cities of today and tomorrow.

The launch will feature a panel discussion chaired by Bo Tang, with editors Beatrice De Carli and Lucia Caistor-Arendar, alongside contributors Nishat Awan, Sandra Denicke-Polcher, Tahmineh Hooshyar-Emami, and others.

Speakers

Beatrice De Carli is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, School of Architecture and Landscape. She also serves as Managing Associate for Architecture Sans Frontières UK, a non-profit specialising in community-led design and planning. Her work employs a collaborative, design-based approach to tackle issues of social and environmental justice in city-making, with a focus on contested and fragile urban contexts.

Lucia Caistor-Arendar is an interdisciplinary urban practitioner with expertise in design, research, and education. She is a freelance Senior Associate at Social Life and Architecture Sans Frontières UK and held teaching and research positions at the University of Lisbon, University of Sheffield, and London Metropolitan University. Lucia has dedicated the past fifteen years to exploring the impact of neighbourhood change on communities and empowering individuals to drive change themselves, both in the UK and internationally.

Nishat Awan is Professor of Architecture and Visual Culture at the Urban Lab, University College London. Her work investigates geopolitics, migration, and spatial representation, examining how architecture and urbanism respond to migrant experiences. Her publications include Diasporic Agencies (2016) and Spatial Agency (2011), and her work has been exhibited internationally. She led the ERC-funded Topological Atlas project and serves as reviews editor for the Journal of Visual Culture.

Sandra Denicke-Polcher is the Assistant Dean (Education) at the Royal College of Art. As an architect and National Teaching Fellow, her research addresses the complex relationship between architectural practice and education. Before joining the RCA, Sandra worked as Deputy Head of Architecture at London Metropolitan University. She has taught architectural design with a live project component since 2000.

Tahmineh Hooshyar-Emami is Associate Professor (Teaching) at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and a practising architect and Senior Associate at Architecture Sans Frontières UK. Her work focuses on education and spatial justice through advocacy and co-design. She is a leader of the Woman, Life, Freedom Group and researches the spatial implications of enforced mobility and power dynamics on urban sites.

Chair

Bo Tang is Reader in Architecture at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, and director of the ARCSR research and teaching group. Her work examines collaborative, hands-on city-making and bottom-up urban practices through teaching, research, and live projects in India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Greece, and the UK. She is co-editor of Learning From Delhi (2010) and The Architecture of Three Freetown Neighbourhoods (2013), and co-author of Loose Fit City (2018).

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