The Sustainable Localities Lab will close its doors at the end of 2023. Starting next year, Blaž will take up a new position at the University of Ljubljana, where he will lead a research on neighbourhood collective action, social innovation and resilient communities in East Asia and Europe. Hyunee will continue her work at KOICA.
지속가능한 지역사회 연구실은 2023년 말에 문을 닫을 예정입니다. 내년부터 Blaž는 류블랴나 대학교에서 새로운 직책을 맡아 동아시아 및 유럽의 지역 집단행동, 사회혁신, 회복력 있는 지역사회에 대한 연구를 주도할 예정입니다. 현이는 코이카에서 계속 근무할 예정입니다.
We would like to thank all our colleagues in Korea and abroad for their time, support and contribution to our lab. Special thanks to all our students at the Graduate School of Urban Studies, Hanyang University, who have been the main reason for running the Sustainable Localities Lab. Working together was a wonderful experience and inspiring time. 🥹
While we are sad to close the lab, we are also looking forward to new opportunities and ways of working together. And one day, we may be back!
Hyunee has successfully presented and defended her Master’s thesis last Wednesday, Dec 6th, 2023. Congratulations! 🥳
Her study Towards Sustainable ODA: Research on Improving KOICA Construction Project Planning and Evaluation takes the planning and evaluation phase of KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) construction projects as a case to analyse sustainability challenges and develop sustainability indicators that can improve and contribute to sustainable ODA. The research methodology includes a literature review and in-depth expert interviews that inform a three-round Delphi survey. The study findings indicate that KOICA construction projects face significant sustainability challenges related to low participation and readiness of recipient countries, inadequate survey, poor design, substandard construction, and issues with the KOICA’s institutional framework. Hyunee concludes that a list of comprehensive sustainability indicators can better inform the planning and evaluation phase of KOICA’s construction projects and contribute to the long-term sustainability of ODA.
Our lab has invited Melissa Cate Christ to give a talk about stairs as public places in Hong Kong. This lecture is included in the courses Urbanisation and Social Change in East Asia, and Theory of Urban and Regional Sociology.
Melissa is a doctoral candidate and casual academic at the University of New South Wales, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, and at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. She’s also the director of transversestudio, and has previously worked as an assistant professor of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and University of Hong Kong. Melissa holds master in landscape architecture from the University of Toronto, Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Her art and design research and practice explores mechanisms of critical intervention at the juncture of landscape, culture, urbanism, and infrastructure.
The talk ‘Stairs as public places: investigation, collaboration, and celebration along Shung Fung Lane, Hong Kong’ will take place online on Friday, December 8th, 2023 (11:30-13:30). Below is a brief description of her talk.
Due in part to historical street and development patterns, topography, and building restrictions, Hong Kong Island’s urban development and population density is one of the highest in the world. Within this densely populated hilly area, stairs are a crucial typology of vernacular pedestrian infrastructure that sustain Hong Kong as a walkable city with a unique ‘Stair Culture’. Stairs act not only as movement corridors which allow access to areas otherwise inaccessible, but also as vibrant public places with crucial social, cultural, environmental, and heritage value. This talk presents one example of this in the context of Magic Lanes, a placemaking project which was located along Sheung Fung Lane, a set of alley stairs in the Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong Island. This project, which was funded by the HKSAR Urban Renewal Fund and developed by two NGOs, aimed to create places for intergenerational activities and community engagement, and to improve the environment through green and blue infrastructure. The talk reflects on how the project provided challenges and opportunities for investigation, collaboration, and celebration, and the potential role of these places in the creation of a more inclusive and healthier environment in Hong Kong.
Magic Lanes placemaking project along Sheung Fung Lane in Hong Kong (Photo: Magic Lanes Project)
The reviewer Yung Lin provides an overview of contributions for each city and argues that the book makes an important contribution in understanding democratisation of state-led development in East Asia, as well as of expanding role of civic urbanism in building sustainable cities. Moreover, the reviewer acknowledges importance of civic urbanism for education and civic engagement of university students. Thank you for positive review, Yung Lin.
Blaž will join Alban Mannisi and Zoh Kyung-jin in discussing alternative exploratory strategies in mapping human and non-human communities. Discussion Exploratory Strategy on Alternative Habitat Groundwork will take place in 1 Euro Project/1유로 프로젝트, 서울 성동구 송정 18길 1-1 on Friday, Nov 10th, 2023 (18:00-20:00).
Blaž는 Alban Mannisi, 조경진교수과 함께 인간과 비인간 커뮤니티 매핑에 사용되는 대안-탐색적 전략에 대한 토의에 참여할 예정입니다.
His contribution will explore opportunities of editorial work as exploratory strategy to map resilient communities in Asian and European urban contexts by drawing from his experiences as the co-editor of book Emerging Civic Urbanisms in Asia.
Registration is required to attend the discussion.
Moving day in 서울 옥인아프트 (Photo: Blaž Križnik, 2010)
Seems our BK21 FOUR HY-GRIP research group is doing fairly well. National Research Foundation has recognised the group for excellent research and education achievements.
Congratulations and many thanks to our colleagues and students for their hard work and contribution to the research! 🥳
Our school has invited Jae Shin to deliver a lecture on community design as a part of the BK21 HY-GRIP seminar. Her lecture “Designing as Making Sense Together” will take place online on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 (10:00-12:00).
이 강의는 BK21 HY-GRIP Super Seminar의 일환으로 커뮤니티 디자인에 대한 강의를 위해 Jae Shin님을 초빙하였습니다. ‘Designing as Making Sense Together’ 강의가 2023년 7월 19일 10시에 온라인으로 진행될 예정입니다.
Jae holds degrees in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and architecture from Princeton University. Serving as an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow at the New York City Housing Authority, she facilitated efforts to define and implement design principles for preserving and rehabilitating New York City’s public housing. She is lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design and founding partner in HECTOR urban design.
HECTOR practices urban design, planning, and civic arts. Informed by traditions of visionary architecture, popular education, and community organising, they work on landscapes, buildings, development plans, and regulations with complex constituencies and competing priorities. HECTOR’s recent projects include a South Philly neighbourhood park, a youth-centric development plan for a district of 37,000 people on Detroit’s west side, and a memorial for ecofeminist Sister Carol Johnston. The MacArthur Foundation describes HECTOR’s designs as “vivid and witty strategies to help residents exercise power within the public and private processes that shape our cities.”
Reconstruction of Mifflin Square Park in Philadelphia (Photo: HECTOR, 2022)
Our lab has invited Huiying Ng to deliver a lecture on community gardening in Singapore. The lecture is a part of Theory of Urban and Local Culture and Community Development Seminar courses.
우리 연구실은 Huiying Ng 연구원을 초빙해 싱가포르의 커뮤니티 가드닝 가꾸기 대한 강의를 듣고자 합니다. 이 강의는 도시·지역문화론과 커뮤니티개발세미나 수업의 일부로서 기획된 것입니다.
Huiying is a doctoral researcher at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at the Ludwig-Maximillian University in Munich, Germany, and associate faculty at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. She writes, teaches and explores knowledge co-production with approaches from action research and visual methodologies. Huiying is a founding member of the Foodscape Collective and TANAH, and collaborates with soft/WALL/studs. She is also engage in the Soil Regeneration Project, a community-led action research process in Singapore.
Her lecture ‘From ground to design: community gardens as a “time niche” for sustainable agriculture’ will take place online on Friday, June 16th, 2023 (16:00-18:00). Following is the lecture’s summary:
How can people in the city learn to share public spaces with one another—especially edible food spaces? How can urban space be an “active moment” that shocks, surprises or introduces people to different relations with the human and more-than-human world? And how can urban spaces also be “time niches” that scaffold learning, and expand opportunities for care time, to enable socio-technical transitions towards more sustainable futures? This talk looks at two groups’ works in Singapore between 2015-2020: the Foodscape Collective’s work in Singapore from 2015-2020, as it began following community gardens and building a learning network around, and with them, and the community bonding and energy that grew from this activity of learning, researching, writing and sharing about gardens and their fruits. It also looks at TANAH, an urban spatial intervention group, between 2016/2017-2020/2021. Learnings from international groups (Hong Kong, Latin America, Italy, Taiwan) will be discussed.
Making compost on Bukit Gombak community garden in Singapore (Photo: Chingwei Chen)
A year has passed, and it is time for urban gardening fieldwork with our students. This year, the focus is on urban gardening in Seongdong-gu. We have visited 성동 무지개텃밭, a public allotment garden, and 송정동 서울가드닝클럽 공유정원, which is a private rooftop garden.
어느덧 일 년이 흘렀고, 학생들과 함께하는 도심 텃밭 견학 시간이 되었다. 올해는 성동구의 도심 텃밭을 집중적으로 살펴보았다. 성동구에서 운영하는 공공 텃밭인 무지개텃밭과 서울가드닝클럽이라는 민간 업체에서 운영 중인 옥상 공유정원에 방문했다.
Seongdong-gu District Government manages the public garden. Participation is affordable although limited in practice because of the garden’s huge popularity. There were over 3,000 applicants this year, competing for about three hundred plots that are available on the 무지개텃밭. In contrast, Seoul Gardening Club is a private business that manages the rooftop garden and curates community gardening experience for which it charges a membership fee. About twenty participants are taking part in the 송정동 서울가드닝클럽 공유정원 this season.
Seongdong-gu district government provides urban gardening support and basic education, while Seoul Gardening Club offers a comprehensive experience that goes beyond basic education and includes in-depth gardening programme, cooking classes, yoga sessions, beekeeping experience, etc.
Seongdong-gu District Government and Seoul Gardening Club also aim to build stronger neighbourhood communities beyond urban gardening. However, the students found out that these efforts had a limited success so far. Stronger collaboration between public and private sector may be needed to overcome current limitations of public and private community building efforts, create synergy between both, and in this way expand community gardening in Seongdong-gu.
