Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resources (ARCSR) is a teaching and research area linking architectural education, research and practice. In collaboration with charities, social enterprises and other civil society groups, ARCSR examines and extends knowledge of how the built environment is transformed, with an emphasis on pressing areas of policy demand where formal architectural and design processes tend to have little impact. These include the making of informal settlements, migration and relocation dynamics, humanitarian practice and social development. The focus is on situations where resources are scarce and where both culture and technology are in a state of rapid change.
The group, which has links with Architecture Sans Frontières -UK, the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales and international NGOs, has engaged in projects in India, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Nepal, Greece and Italy amongst others.
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ARCSR Publications
- Mitchell, Maurice and Tang, Bo (2017). Loose Fit City: The Contribution of Bottom-Up Architecture to Urban Design and Planning. Routledge, New York.
- Mitchell, Maurice (2013). The Architecture of Three Freetown Neighbourhoods: documenting changing city topographies 2008-2013. Edited by Bo Tang and Shamoon Patwari. ASD Projects, London.
- Mitchell, Maurice (2010). Learning from Delhi: Dispersed Initiatives in Changing Urban Landscapes. Edited by Bo Tang and Shamoon Patwari. Ashgate, Surrey.
- Mitchell, Maurice (2010). Rebuilding Community in Kosovo. Centre for Alternative Technology, Powys.
- Mitchell, Maurice (2010). The Lemonade Stand: Exploring the Unfamiliar by Building Large-scale Models. Centre for Alternative Technology, Powys.
- Bevan, Andy and Mitchell, Maurice (1992). Culture, Cash and Housing: Community and tradition in low-income building. ITDG Publishing, Bradford.
- De Carli, B (2018). "Micro-resilience and justice in São Paulo." In: Architecture and resilience: Interdisciplinary dialogues. Routledge, London.
- Frediani, A A, De Carli, B, Barbosa, B R, Comaru, F, & Moretti, R (2018). São Paulo: A pedagogy of confrontation. Informal building occupations in São Paulo’s central neighbourhoods. In R. Rocco, & J. van Ballegooijen (Eds.), Routledge Handbook on Informal Urbanisation. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Ahmed, Nabil (2018) Proof of ecocide: towards a forensic practice for the proposed international crime against the environment. Archaeological and Environmental Forensic Science, 1(2). pp. 139–147.
- De Carli, Beatrice and Frediani, A A (2021). Situated perspectives on the city: A reflection on scaling participation through design. Environment and Urbanization, 33(2).
- De Carli, Beatrice (2016). Micro-resilience and justice: Co-producing narratives of change. Building Research and Information, 44(7). pp. 775-788.
- De Carli, Beatrice and Frediani, A A (2016). Insurgent regeneration: Spatial practices of citizenship in the rehabilitation of inner-city São Paulo. GeoHumanities, 2(2). pp. 331-353
- De Carli, Beatrice, Frediani, A A, Barbosa, B, Comaru, F and Moretti, R (2015). Regeneration through the ‘Pedagogy of Confrontation’: Exploring the critical spatial practices of social movements in inner-city São Paulo as avenues for urban renewal. Dearq, 16. pp. 146-161.
- Mitchell, Maurice and Roca Iglesias, Amara (2019). Urban agriculture in Kathmandu as a catalyst for the civic inclusion of migrants and the making of a greener city. Frontiers of Architectural Research. (In Press)
- Mitchell, Maurice (2018). The forest and the city: interpretative mapping as an aid to urban practice in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Urban Design, 23(4). pp. 558-580.
- Mitchell, Maurice and Tang, Bo (2016). Live projects : innovating in the present. Brookes eJournal of Learning and Teaching, 8(1).
- Mitchell, Maurice and Tang, Bo (2015). Live Projects as Research: Tools of Practice Research in Making Architecture. In: Creative Practice Conference 2015: Making Research Researching Making, 10-12 September 2015, Arkitektskolen Aarhus, Denmark.
- Tang, Bo (2014). Towards a new architectural identity for Freetown : setting up the first free school of architecture in Sierra Leone. Edge Condition, 4. pp. 28-35.
- Tang, Bo (2014). Negotiating shared spaces in informal peri-urban settlements in India : the role of amenity buildings and the effect of the post-hoc introduction of infrastructure towards the creation of common places. Planum: the Journal of Urbanism, 2(29). pp. 28-49.
ARCSR is represented at all levels of study within the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University: at undergraduate level (Studio 07) and at postgraduate level (Unit 06). Studio and research booklets are produced by researchers and students sampling investigative work in the research areas studied that year.
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Arrival City: Civic Opportunities in Athens, Calabria and Freetown (2021)
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Transitional Civic Placemaking: Dispersed Initiatives in Changing Urban Landscapes (2019)
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Civic Edgelands: Transitional home making on the city's edge (2018)
- The March of the City (2015)
- Agra and London (2013)
- Edgelands: Kosovo and India (2012)
- Agra Beyond Taj (2010)
- Freetown Construction Manual (2010)
- Shifting Places (2009)
- Namaste Delhi (2008)
