Workshop: Exploring Urban Ecology through Art & Architecture

Overview:
The third workshop offers participants are invited to the Baltic Front Room again to explore the relationship between urban wildlife, architecture, and urban spaces in Newcastle and Gateshead. Through a mix of artistic expression and architectural design, participants will investigate how cities can better coexist with wildlife, focusing on kittiwakes and their role within urban environments.

Objective:
To foster creativity and collaboration between the public, artists and architects, engaging participants in activities that explore how to redesign urban spaces to support kittiwakes and other wildlife. Using both art and architecture, participants will reimagine cityscapes where nature and human spaces harmoniously coexist.

Activities:

1. Drawing Session: Guided exploration of kittiwakes’ interactions with urban spaces. Participants will sketch their observations of how wildlife, nature, and architecture intersect in the city.
2. Design & Adaptation: In the second part of the workshop, participants will brainstorm and visualise new architectural or urban designs that support kittiwakes. They will create architectural and artistic representations of structures or spaces that are both functional and ecologically friendly.

Participants are more than welcome to delivery small-scale modelling techniques to visualize their designs. explore from conceptual ideas to physical models.

1. Collaborative Critique & Sharing: Attendees will present their sketches, designs, and models for group feedback, discussing how these ideas could inform real-world urban planning and design.

Expected Outcomes:

• Participants will produce artwork and architectural designs that reflect the harmonious coexistence of wildlife and urban architecture.
• New insights into how art and architecture can drive environmental advocacy and urban transformation.
• A collection of creative, actionable ideas for enhancing the integration of wildlife into urban design and future planning.

Why Attend?
This is an opportunity to contribute to the future of urban ecology, drawing inspiration from both artistic and architectural perspectives. Your work could inspire innovative, sustainable changes in urban spaces, helping to create a more balanced and wildlife-friendly environment in the cities.

This workshop is part of the research project: Navigating Urban Ecologies, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council at Northumbria University, in collaboration with the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts.

Target Audience:
Artists, architects, designers, urban planners, and anyone interested in wildlife, ecology, and the intersection of art and architecture in urban design.