Yale NUS College

A Summer LAB led by Professor Jane M Jacobs and Dr. Victoria Marshall

London has been a major human settlement for millennia: capital of the UK, a leading global city, and once the metropolitan heart of the British Empire. London is a city in constant transition and this LAB offers students the opportunity to see first-hand how London has changed as a city over time, in terms of its architecture, its governance and its social make-up. We will visit a number of key localities in London, some that reflect slow incremental urban growth and others that the result of grand urban plans. This LAB is suitable for students interested in cities and planning who love urban vitality and want to learn about architectures past and present.

DATES: Monday, 15 July 2019 – Tuesday, 23 July 2019

SPOTS AVAILABLE: Up to 16

CO-PAY: S$1500
Some need-based financial assistance will be available for students with demonstrated financial need. There will be a separate application for financial assistance after students are selected for the LAB.

PARTNER ORGANISATIONS: The UCL Bartlett Faculty of The Built Environment

LAB DESCRIPTION: This LAB offers students an opportunity to experience a large global city and to see it through an historical and urban studies framework.

Students who join London: City in Transition will:

• Visit London, and within London a range of localities that illustrate urban transitions of various kinds: incremental growth, immigration-led change, sanitation and transport improvements, iconic architecture, mega-developments, gentrification, etc.
• Gain an introductory knowledge of architecture – typologies and styles and terminology.
• Gain an introductory knowledge of the planning history of London, including its governance through the guilds, the  Corporation of London, the Greater London Council and the Mayoral Office.
• Meet various city builders: architects, planners, activists and social entrepreneurs.

After the LAB, participants will prepare an installation and sharing on their learnings. In the 2017 run of this LAB, students were asked to look out for two themes:”strange neighbors” or “old new old”. Working in groups of three, they created visual representations of their learnings from each day on the LAB in the form of a collage. You can explore more of the group’s creations on their collective “Found Regeneration” website.

*Image Credit: Urban Fabric, a collage by Team 05 (London: City in Transition LAB 2017), with permission.