Critical Design Futures - Reimagining Urban Spaces and legacies through Critical Design and transnational practices

Zero-carbon and carbon-negative landscapes and architecture imagined today are the future legacies of the built environment. Through developing an approach to the architecture design studio, one that uses future thinking and scenario building to allow projection beyond the current situation to project critically testable futures that embody the fears and hopes of their designers, it is possible to creatively imagine and scope alternative futures. This requires a pedagogy that encourages risk-taking, backed by a structured organizational and data-rich approach that enables connection between a wide range of academic and non-institutional participants.
Funded by the British Council, a team of more than 30 faculty students and collaborators from Egypt, England and Northern Ireland examined the heritage-rich contexts of those places to explore the role of research based design in producing future value. This developed and tested the ‘Distributed Design Studio’ where the team engaged architectural design thinking to re-evaluate decarbonization strategies across scales, cultures, and climates. In this dialogue, scholars and students reflect on the power of transnational studio formats for exploring, imagining and redefining the future of our heritage under zero-carbon initiatives.
The Critical Design Futures method builds in points of engagement with external platforms and dissemination opportunities, in this case presenting initial outcomes at COP27, and exhibiting curated final outcomes at the European Cultural Centre at the Venice Biennale.
The Critical Design Futures method exposes how multi-stakeholder collaboration in connected design thinking can generate a shared understanding of local responses to global challenges. In addition to presenting the process, outcomes, and learning, the collaborators aim to open the dialogue around the role of transnational innovative studio pedagogies in envisioning and shaping urban futures to a broader audience of the WUF. The dialogue presents key learnings and insights from the experience that other practitioners and educators of the built environment can apply to accelerate the development of locally relevant to the global challenges of urbanity.
On the other hand, creating public spaces with people through the Placemaking methodology allows for spaces designed by users, ensuring continuity and maintenance by the community itself. This approach emphasizes community engagement, where residents actively participate in the design and development process, leading to spaces that are more inclusive, functional, and reflective of the community's needs and desires. By involving the community, Placemaking fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among residents, contributing to public spaces' sustainability and vibrancy. Moreover, it highlights the importance of considering cultural, social, and environmental factors in creating urban areas, ultimately leading to more resilient and adaptable communities.