Urban Education Live

Exploring how universities can act in collaboration with local communities to catalyse urban spatial change through co-learning and capacity building. Live Works is working with international partners through ‘local hubs’ to create new community/civic networks that can foster innovative urban ecologies.

July 2017 – January 2021 / in partnership with Tampere School of Architecture Finland, University of Ljubljana – Centre for Spatial Sociology and The Institute for Spatial Policies IPoP, Ion Mincu University and ATU, Bucharest, Pitsmoor Adventure Playground, Sheffield

UEL aims to test new models of collaboration between universities and communities, focussing on defining a new role of the university that helps build local urban capacity and community resilience. Our international partners are either universities or NGOs working with community groups in our cities and testing the method of ‘local hubs’, i.e. physical spaces, permanent and temporary, that are situated in high streets and neighbourhoods. Live Works is the main UEL:SHEF local hub and is supplemented by pop-up local hubs in neighbourhoods throughout the course of the 3-year project.

UEL is closely integrated with SSoA’s live pedagogy – supporting a series of Live Projects and Live Studios where students are acting as co-researchers in collaboration with community groups:

Live Projects: People’s Kitchen Pitsmoor, AR’ City, Woodbourn Connection, Co-Housing Futures, Tomorrow’s High Street, Play/Grounds

Live Studios: Studio in Residence 2017-2020, Studio Build+Design 2019-20

Through the course of the research UEL:SHEF has focussed on developing partnerships and co-creating projects in the deprived neighbourhood of Pitsmoor/Burngreave, specifically in partnership with Pitsmoor Adventure Playground. Through pop-up on-site exhibitions and creative engagement events the students are opening up conversations about how the University in general, and the School of Architecture in particular, can most effectively help local communities.

Urban Education Live project website: https://urbedu.live/