Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resources

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.

Live project in the settlement of Kachhpura in Agra, India

Website: www.arcsr.org

Research projects

Crossing Cultures

Lines through the City

Freetown School of Architecture by Joe Davis

Making Laboratory

Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), Wales

Delhi

Savda Ghevra- Julia KingPhD Architecture

Savda Ghewra in Delhi, India

Kosovo

Roma settlements in Pristina, Kosovo

Freetown

Navi Mumbai

Quarry worker settlements in Navi Mumbai, India

Agra

Kachhpura in Agra, India

ARCSR Publications

Student reports and publications

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.

Civic Way Station: Transitional Home Making at the Edge of Europe (2018)

Civic Fit: Scoping migrant gateways and urban change in Athens, Calabria and Kathmandu (2017)

Civic Assembly: Re-inhabiting Cracked and Blighted Places in Kathmandu, Calabria and Athens (2017)

Finding Fit in Fractured Landscapes (2016)

Remaking Places: the Civic Estate and the Kathmandu Edgelands (2016)

Kathmandu Edgelands: Brickfields, Horticulture and Urban Hill Villages Post Earthquake (2015)

The March of the City (2015)

Scoping Kathmandu: Exploring Settlements, the City and the Valley (2014)

Architecture Exchange: London, Agra and Freetown (2014)

Agra and London (2013)

City Pockets: Secret Gardens and Railway Lands (2013)

Edgelands: Kosovo and India (2012)

Walking City: Agra Affinities, Mediations and Perambulations (2011)

Agra Beyond Taj (2010)

Freetown Construction Manual (2010)

Shifting Places (2009)

Namaste Delhi (2008)

East Yamuna Exchanges: Everyday Conversations in Space and Time (2007)

Agra Narratives: Everyday Conversations in Space and Time (2006)

Latest news from CUBE

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Organisers and speakers at the 'Working for what? architectural symposium

Working for what? Architectural Labour: Organising, Work, and Professionalisation

London Met team organised a one-day symposium tracing the history of professional activism and what lessons we might learn for the contemporary context.

Triple success for London Met researchers with RIBA Research Funding

Dr Jessica Kelly, Dr Claire Jamieson and Dr Adeyemi Akande among the researchers awarded RIBA Research Funding

Community-focused applied research funding success leads to interdisciplinary workshop

London Met's CARES brought together researchers working with partners including the Greater London Authority, for a session focused on community mapping and social change.

Letters from Venice

Four members of the London Met community share their experiences of participating in the prestigious Venice Biennale.

The Africa Centre and London Met collaborate on Afropolitan culture series

London Afropolitan, an event held in September, adopted the African diaspora experience as a starting point for exploring the future of London’s culture of architecture and design.

Cross-Research Centres Symposium showcases cutting edge London Met research on the environment

London Met sees Venice Biennale success

Two current students join the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale as Fellows at the British Pavilion 'Dancing Before the Moon', which was curated by a team including London Met alumni

London Met hosts discussion on accessibility and ethics within architecture

AAD staff, industry professionals, and visiting academics held an extensive discussion exploring ‘Architectures of Care’ and the creation of equitable and sustainable communities.

Social integration and place making: infrastructures of belonging

Major grant for London Met rewilding research

The research project, which seeks to increase urban biodiversity through transformative design for streets, has been granted over £58,000 by the Kusuma Trust.

London Met team hosts workshop at the acclaimed Design Museum

Thomas Aquilina and Beatrice De Carli led a workshop, ‘Silent and Speaking: A Workshop on Environmental Justice’ at the Design Museum last month.

Generosity and architecture

London Met academics Sian Moxon and Jane Clossick publish chapters in a new book exploring how generosity in architecture operates in, and questions, socioeconomic and political systems

The enigma of nature in the age of proto-globalisation

Professor Nicholas Temple will present his research at the next Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) Sessions event on 28 September.

Banner Image: Map of Kaningo, Aimee Thompson, Eno-Obong Akpan, Agnieszka Pyrdol, Adam Cheltsov and Joe Davis (2018)
Main Image: Wedding Tent Structure in Agra (2011)