Place Production Research Group

photo by Jason Humbert

Place Production Research Group (PPG), formally referred to as Place Research Lab, is an organisation dedicated to researching the concept of Place. We are interested in the phenomena of places and in exploring and valuing their complexities, rather than attempting to reduce them to standardised inputs for reproduction. Our objective is to define a distinct area of research that requires an interdisciplinary approach and is explored through a positive interaction between theory and practice.

Sense of Place is a phrase that has a universal currency, yet it is also an abstract concept. It defies rationalisation, relying instead on an individual’s sensations, yet inhabitants of a particular place can often agree on what makes it unique.

A test-tube cannot contain a sense of place and so the world is our laboratory. Practice and theory interact with everyday life in this lab and our objective is the generation of knowledge in its widest sense.

About us

Place Research Lab Community Interest Company no. 7650531

The group is recognised as a Research Group of the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of East LondonUEL research group leader:Alan Chandler

Contact:a.chandler@uel.ac.uk

PPG was originally set up with the name of Place Research Lab through a collaboration between think place and the University of East London as an independent CIC to research a shared field of interest.

PPG CIC’s constitution restricts its applied research activities to improving sustainability in the design and use of places, for public benefit. No profits are made on our work and any surplus income generated is reinvested to further these objectives.

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SUDRGSustainable Urban Design Research Group

LEED ND is the most internationally-recognised sustainability standard at the urban scale, but how can a quantative analysis of the city truly represent the complex challenge of sustainability?

If LEED ND is considered as a static benchmark, then the answer is clearly that it cannot. A deeper understanding of the methodology, however reveals that LEED ND has inherent capacity to act as a framework for balancing qualitative and quantitative inputs. The system is in fact fundamentally dynamic and is readily adaptable to different circumstances or local priorities.

We are in the process of comparing these characteristics with other systems, to see how it could act as a framework to address particular challenges in the UK, Europe and globally.

This project is raising deeper questions about the ownership of knowledge in this field and who the arbiters of sustainability should be. We believe that this topic presents too complex a form of knowledge for any individual group to own. Instead, these systems have the potential to become open-source tools to enable developers, authorities and communities to debate how development should respond to each place.

The impetus for this project emerged from the MA Urban Ecology module at UEL.

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We’ve been using LEED ND as a teaching tool at UEL for several years. Using our template and UK-compliant method, groups of students carry out LEED analyses of existing parts of London to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the city fabric. For their final report, they are challenged to propose ways in which the system can be adapted to better recognise the positive characteristics of the unique city that is London. The best of these students are employed as research assistants on graduation to develop their ideas through grant-funded projects. Through this process we have not only built up a database of LEED ND analyses for comparison, but developed our own tools for particular applications. The OFSN tool overleaf is one such example.

With this set of skills and expertise, we offer sustainability reviews to third parties as part of our ongoing research work. Our work is fed back to the USGBC, the licenceholders of LEED ND to inform their research and development programme. Our sustainability reviews do not provide a form of accreditation; they are useful as a means to analyse and improve the sustainability of urban scale projects. and for comparison with different leading systems, such as BREEAM communities.

In collaboration with:

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Place Research Lab have designed and tested a new prototype to facilitate Neighbourhood Planning. It is both a method and a tool that allows local groups to capture what makes their neighbourhood the place that it is in the form of a profile. This profile can then be used as a brief for a plan. It can also be used to assess any plan that is proposed, so all involved can understand whether and how it will improve the area.

The Localism Act instigated the formal mechanism for Neighbourhood Planning and gave it material weight in the planning process, but how are local groups supported with expertise and resources to deliver appropriate plans?

The National Planning Policy Framework emphasises a presumption in favour of sustainable development, but what this means in practical terms is barely defined.

The result of this vagueness has been widespread complaint and conspiracy theory, but we identified an opportunity to use each of these documents to answer questions arising from the other.

A method to capture and communicate local priorities

SUDRGOFSN: An Open Framework for Sustainable

Neighbourhdoods

Vaguely intentional, or intentionally vague: the lack of either support or practical detail in the Localism Act and the NPPF have drawn much criticism, but every failure is also an opportunity for invention

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Working with Westminster

Council, Paddington Development Trust, Southwark Council

and Bermondsey Forum, we trialled

the OFSN tool in two neighbourhoods.

Go to the website for details.

www.neighbourhoodprofile.org

Our basic premise is that what constitutes sustainability differs in each area and so sustainable development should be defined locally, by local residents as a set of priorities. Using LEED ND as a framework, we developed a questionnaire containing 13 topics for consultation.

We tested this questionnaire in two neighbourhoods, working on live Neighbourhood Plans, in Bermondsey and Paddington Green.

In collaboration with:

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A method to capture and communicate local priorities

SUDRGOFSN: An Open Framework for Sustainable

Neighbourhdoods

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www.neighbourhoodprofile.org

The questionnaire responses are mapped as a profile, showing overall trend, the ‘fit’ of each priority to the trend and the level of consensus on each priority.

The framework allows these 13 priorities to be converted back into a LEED ND benchmark score, creating a bespoke sustainability standard in an internationally-recognised format. The metrics are not restricted to those existing in LEED ND and our pre-existing work with the USGBC demonstrates how other parameters can be incorporated into the framework.

A key objective of the OFSN is to enable local community groups, planners and developers to communicate more effectively to achieve local planning and development. Currently, neighbourhood planning is like the tower of Babel, with each actor in the process speaking a different language. The result is frequently incoherent development, disappointed residents and frustrated or apathetic planners. The OFSN seeks to establish a common, measurable framework for deliverables that can operate iteratively over time.

We have presented academic conference papers on the methodology and more details are provided on the website above.

An Open Framework for Sustainable Neighbourhoods

Place Research Lab . UEL

How does it work?

LEED ND is a credit-based scoring system that assesses sustainable development at 3 levels:

1. site location (SLL)

2. design of the neighbourhood (NPD)

3. design of the buildings and infrastructure (GIB)

LEED

ND

sco

re (p

oint

s)

SLL NPD GIB

In collaboration with:

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Teaching MA:ASD

Roland Karthaus and Alan Chandler of Place Research Lab together teach the Masters Course in Architecture Sustainability and Design, MA:ASD. The course is a critical examination of environmental sustainability and environmental design. This is both an old and new practice driven by both traditional and experimental ideas.

For the Urban Ecology module, students build ‘layered’ models of city blocks in London to understand how history, landscape, infrastrcture, functions and character interact with the physical forms found today. In parallel, they carry out LEED ND analyses to provide

‘Layered’ models of the city are constructed, to reveal new parameters for exploration within the framework of LEED ND

The MA course proives a rich source of inspiration and an opportunity to explore ideas with postgraduate students from around the world

two complementary sets of urban metrics. Comparing the two means of understanding the city generates proposals for new forms of urban knowledge

In the Environmental Architecture module, the students learn industry-standard packages such as Ecotect and Passivhaus and use them to analyse the technical parameters of sustainable building.

Across the MA course students explore both issues of urban sustainability and the technical, environmental performance of buildings. In their thesis, they bring together this complementary set of skills to develop a critical position on a topic of their choice. A key aspect of the course is that the work is always propositional.

Design is used as a tool to provoke and test both existing and new ideas in action. LEED ND is used as a framework to attenuate the variety of cultural contexts and individual ideas that arise from an extraordinarily diverse body of students.

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Top left: thesis project for the environmental

and cultural rehabilitation of old

Beijing

www.maasd.co.uk

Middle left: urban ecology prototype

for a planting brick

Bottom left: working with Camden Council

to measure the impacts of HS2 on

the urban fabric, using LEED ND

In collaboration with:

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Global urbanism knowledge exchange

PRL director Roland Karthaus is a member of the International Jury of Les Ateliers. An NGO, based in Cergy-Pontoise, France, Les Ateliers have been organising urban design workshop at the invitation of local authorities around the world for 30 years. The workshops bring together multidisciplinary experts from around the world to work on a live topic, for implementation by the local agencies. In 2009 Roland participated as an expert in the Chinese city of Huludao, to design a new eco-city extension. In 2010, Roland joined the Jury for workshops in the greater Paris area and Dunkirk. In 2011 he joined the Jury in Irkutsk, Russia.In 2012, he was appointed as scientific co-director, together with French Architect Florence Bougnoux for a workshop in the new, planned Indian city of Naya Raipur. The workshop is funded by the EU and the team visited Naya Raipur in early 2012. The topic documents, written by Roland and Florence have been issued to the Les Ateliers network and the workshop will take place in November 2012.

In 2012, PRL will direct an EU-funded workshop in the new, planned Indian city of Naya Raipur

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www.ateliers.org

Our over-arching question for the

workshop is to explore how the

informal diversity of Indian life can be accommodated in a

new, planned city

In collaboration with:

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Material matters

A philosophy of engagement

Port Harcourt, Nigeria: building in the river delta is precariously located in wet, sandy conditions. Commissioned to design a community facility, architecture charity Article 25 worked with PRL and UEL students to design and test foundation solutions from readily available materials.

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The interest in a material understanding and interaction with the built environment stems from the philosophy of engagement that has characterised the Architecture course at UEL for many years. Research and teaching learn from one another, to extend our knowledge and find new applications for existing technologies. The live projects undertaken by UEL students each year, often develop into commissions for both research and installations.

Alan Chandler’s expertise in fabric formwork resulted in a commissioned structure at the Chelsea flower show in 2011, for example. We have been working with international development and disaster relief charity, Article 25 to design and test new low-tech solutions for their buildings in the field and we have collaborated with Newham Council and artists Muf to create public works of art in East London.

Middle left: ‘strata’ beams for an

installation in east London, with Muf

architecture and art

Top left: Material matters book,

published by the RIBA

Bottom left: fabric-formed concrete at the Chelsea Flower

show

Our aim is to explore ways in which the profession of Architecture can be re-connected with the process and craft of building

In collaboration with:

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Academic writing and conferences

As a contributor to the Unit of Architecture and the built environment REF unit of assessment, PRL have published and presented academic papers, and books reflecting on our work. A few of these are listed here.

PRL are currently organising an international conference at UEL to take place in December 2012: The Production of Place

Karthaus, R. and Colligan, G. (2012) An Open Framework for Sustainable Neighbourhoods ; A method to capture and communicate the characteristics of a place in simple terms. Presented at Designing Place conference, University of Nottingham, 2nd and 3rd April 2012, pending publication.

Kyrkou, D. and Karthaus, R (2011) Urban sustainability standards: predetermined checklists or adaptable frameworks? Procedia Engineering, Volume 21, 2011, Pages 204-211, ISSN 1877-7058, 10.1016/j.proeng.2011.11.2005.

Chandler, A. and Karthaus, R. (2011) Making Place – handwork in / for / of the community, presented at Wellbeing conference, BCU Birmingham, 18/19 July 2011. Available at http://www.biad.bcu.ac.uk/research/wellbeing2011/

Chandler, A. (2008) Fabric Formwork, Architectural Research Quarterly Vol. 8 no.s 3/4, Cambridge University Press

Chandler, A. and Pedreschi, R. (2007) Fabric Formwork, RIBA publishing

PRL work is published and widely disseminated through academic conferences