Publications

Publications

The Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies (CUBE) hosts a range of active interdisciplinary researchers who have published works focusing on environmental, social and cultural ecologies of cities.

Browse selected publications by research group below.

Children reading at an exhibition of student proposals in Fushe, Kosova

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Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resources

Books

Urban Commons Research Collective (2022) Urban Commons Handbook. dpr-barcelona, Barcelona (De Carli, B. co-author)

Mitchell, M and Tang, B (2017). Loose Fit City: The Contribution of Bottom-Up Architecture to Urban Design and Planning. Routledge, New York.

Mitchell, M (2013). The Architecture of Three Freetown Neighbourhoods: documenting changing city topographies 2008-2013. Edited by Bo Tang and Shamoon Patwari. ASD Projects, London.

Mitchell, M (2010). Learning from Delhi: Dispersed Initiatives in Changing Urban Landscapes. Edited by Bo Tang and Shamoon Patwari. Ashgate, Surrey.

Mitchell, M (2010). Rebuilding Community in Kosovo. Centre for Alternative Technology, Powys.

Mitchell, M (2010). The Lemonade Stand: Exploring the Unfamiliar by Building Large-scale Models. Centre for Alternative Technology, Powys.

Bevan, A and Mitchell, M (1992). Culture, Cash and Housing: Community and tradition in low-income building. ITDG Publishing, Bradford.

Book chapters

De Carli, B (2018). Micro-resilience and justice in São Paulo. In: Architecture and resilience: Interdisciplinary dialogues. Routledge, London.

Frediani, A A, De Carli, B, Barbosa, B R, Comaru, F, & Moretti, R (2018). São Paulo: A pedagogy of confrontation. Informal building occupations in São Paulo’s central neighbourhoods. In R. Rocco, & J. van Ballegooijen (Eds.), Routledge Handbook on Informal Urbanisation. Abingdon: Routledge.

Articles

De Carli, B and Frediani, A A (2021). Situated perspectives on the city: A reflection on scaling participation through design. Environment and Urbanization, 33(2).
Mitchell, M and Roca Iglesias, A (2019). Urban agriculture in Kathmandu as a catalyst for the civic inclusion of migrants and the making of a greener city. Frontiers of Architectural Research. (In Press)
Ahmed, N (2018) Proof of ecocide: towards a forensic practice for the proposed international crime against the environment. Archaeological and Environmental Forensic Science, 1(2). pp. 139–147.
Mitchell, M (2018). The forest and the city: interpretative mapping as an aid to urban practice in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Urban Design, 23(4). pp. 558-580.

De Carli, B (2016). Micro-resilience and justice: Co-producing narratives of change. Building Research and Information, 44(7). pp. 775-788.

De Carli, B and Frediani, A A (2016). Insurgent regeneration: Spatial practices of citizenship in the rehabilitation of inner-city São Paulo. GeoHumanities, 2(2). pp. 331-353
Mitchell, M and Tang, B (2016). Live projects : innovating in the present. Brookes eJournal of Learning and Teaching, 8(1).

De Carli, B, Frediani, A A, Barbosa, B, Comaru, F and Moretti, R (2015). Regeneration through the ‘Pedagogy of Confrontation’: Exploring the critical spatial practices of social movements in inner-city São Paulo as avenues for urban renewal. Dearq, 16. pp. 146-161.

Mitchell, M and Tang, B (2015). Live Projects as Research: Tools of Practice Research in Making Architecture. In: Creative Practice Conference 2015: Making Research Researching Making, 10-12 September 2015, Arkitektskolen Aarhus, Denmark.

Tang, B (2014). Towards a new architectural identity for Freetown : setting up the first free school of architecture in Sierra Leone. Edge Condition, 4. pp. 28-35.

Tang, B (2014). Negotiating shared spaces in informal peri-urban settlements in India : the role of amenity buildings and the effect of the post-hoc introduction of infrastructure towards the creation of common places. Planum: the Journal of Urbanism, 2(29). pp. 28-49.

Practice research portfolios

De Carli, B (2020) Change by Design: Imagining Equitable Cities, AAD Practice Research Portfolios, London Metropolitan University.

Cities

Books

Moxon, S (2012). Sustainability in Interior Design Laurence King Publishing, London.

Book chapters

Moxon, S (2023). "Exploring the Urban Jungle: making space for wildness in cities.” In: (eds. Kokkiou and Malakasioti) Beauty and Monstrosity. Routledge, London

Moxon, S (2022). "'Rewild My Street': a model for biodiverse, community-led urban redevelopment.” In: (eds. McVicar, M et al) Generosity and Architecture. Routledge, London.

Clossick, J (2022). "A Place for Participation on the Old Kent Road." In: (eds. McVicar, M et al) Generosity and Architecture. Routledge, London.

Clossick, J and Colburn, B (2021) "Individual Autonomy and Urban Depth." In: (eds. P Lewis, S Costa Santos and L. Holm) Architecture and Collective Life. Routledge, London.

Articles

Moxon, S (2021) Beauty and the beast: confronting contrasting perceptions of nature through design. The Urban Transcripts Journal, 4(1).

Webb, J and Moxon, S (2021) A study protocol to understand urban rewilding behaviour in relation to adaptations to private gardens. Cities & Health.

Moxon, S (2019) Drawing on nature: a vision of an urban residential street adapted for biodiversity. City, Territory and Architecture, 6.

Practice research portfolios

Clossick, J and Brearley, M (2020) Advocating Industry in London: Audit, Reveal and Promote, AAD Practice Research Portfolios, London Metropolitan University.

Clossick, J and Brearley, M (2020) Promoting Industry in Brussels: A Good City Has Industry, AAD Practice Research Portfolios, London Metropolitan University.

Ecological, Architectural and Civic Humanities in Design

Books

Temple, N, Piotrowski, A, and Heredia, J M, eds. (2020) The Routledge Handbook on the Reception of Classical Architecture. Routledge, London.
Temple, N (2020). Architecture and the Language Debate: Artistic and Linguistic Exchanges in Early Modern Italy. Routledge, London.
Frost, C, Browne, J and Lucas, R, eds. (2019) Architecture, Festival and the City. Routledge, London.

Temple, N, Hendrix, J and Frost, C (2014). Bishop Robert Grosseteste and Lincoln Cathedral: tracing relationships between Medieval concepts of order and built form. Ashgate, Surrey.

Book chapters

Barac, M, King, J, Moreira, P, and Silva, E (2022) “Critical Conversation”. In (ed. Moreira, P): Critical Neighbourhoods: The Architecture of Contested Communities. Park Books, Zurich.
Temple, N (2021) “Lorenzo Ghiberti and Contested Views of Perspectiva in Renaissance Concepts of Space”. In: Micrologus: Nature, Sciences and Mediaeval Societies, XXIX – Arabic and Latin Theory of Perspective. Edizioni del Galluzzo, Florence.
Frost, C (2019). "Architects, architecture and the city: some themes on the continuity of classical ideas relating to the Latin Middle Ages." In: The Routledge Handbook on the Reception of Classical Architecture. Routledge Handbooks. Routledge, Oxford.
Temple, N and Tracada, E (2019). (Re)invoking humanism in modernity: architecture and spectacle in Fascist Italy. In: The Routledge handbook on the reception of classical architecture. Routledge, London.
Barac, M (2018). "Technologies of Belonging: Object Relations in the Architecture of Reconstruction." In: Building, Owning and Belonging: From Assisting Owner-driven Housing Reconstruction to Co-production in Sri Lanka, India and Beyond. European Union Publications and UNHabitat, Geneva.
Temple, N (2018). Festa della Chinea: tradition and the 'exotic' in Roman festival design - Italy. In: Architecture, festival and the city. AHRA: critical studies in architectural humanities. Routledge, London.

Fennell, S, Royo-Olid, J, and Barac, M (2018). "Tracking the Transition From ‘Basic Needs’ to ‘Capabilities’ for Human-Centred Development: The Role of Housing in Urban Inclusion." In: New Frontiers of the Capability Approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Temple, N (2016). Envisioning geometry: architecture in the grip of perspective. In: Visioning technologies: the architectures of sight. Routledge, London.

Barac, M (2015). "Changing Places: Navigating Urbanity in the Global South." In: Phenomenologies of the City: Studies in the History and Philosophy of Architecture. Routledge, London

Temple, N (2015). Unfinished architecture: urban continuity in the age of the complete. In: The material imagination: reveries on architecture and matter. Studies in architecture. Ashgate, Surrey.

Temple, N (2015). Architecture as the receptacle of Mitsein. In: Intersections of space and ethos. Routledge research in architecture. Routledge, London.
Barac, M (2014). "Spatial Misreading: South Africa's urban future seen from within a township shack." In: Reading the Architecture of the Underprivileged Classes. Routledge, London.

Temple, N (2014). Rites of intent: the participatory dimension of the city. In: Cityscapes in history: creating the urban experience. Ashgate, Surrey.

Temple, N (2014). Plotting the centre: Bramante’s drawings for the New St. Peter’s Basilica. In: Recto verso: redefining the sketchbook. Studies in architecture. Ashgate, Surrey.

Articles

Frost, C (2016). Festival and tradition in contemporary Florence. Journal of Urban Culture Studies, 3(2). pp. 239-254.

Barac, M (2011). Place Resists: Grounding African Urban Order in an Age of Global Change. Social Dynamics, 37(1). pp. 24-42.

Barac, M (2007). Transit Spaces: Thinking Urban Change in South Africa. Home Cultures. 4(2). pp. 145-174.

Practice research portfolios

St John, P (2020) Island: British Pavilion, Venice Biennale, AAD Practice Research Portfolios. London Metropolitan University, London.

St John, P (2020) Newport Street Gallery, AAD Practice Research Portfolios. London Metropolitan University, London.

Latest news from CUBE

London Met hosts Wild Ways Research Day

Local residents took part in a research day to influence ‘rewilding’ in London’s gardens

Organisers and speakers at the 'Working for what? architectural symposium

Working for what? Architectural Labour: Organising, Work, and Professionalisation

London Met team organised a one-day symposium tracing the history of professional activism and what lessons we might learn for the contemporary context.

Triple success for London Met researchers with RIBA Research Funding

Dr Jessica Kelly, Dr Claire Jamieson and Dr Adeyemi Akande among the researchers awarded RIBA Research Funding

Community-focused applied research funding success leads to interdisciplinary workshop

London Met's CARES brought together researchers working with partners including the Greater London Authority, for a session focused on community mapping and social change.

Letters from Venice

Four members of the London Met community share their experiences of participating in the prestigious Venice Biennale.

The Africa Centre and London Met collaborate on Afropolitan culture series

London Afropolitan, an event held in September, adopted the African diaspora experience as a starting point for exploring the future of London’s culture of architecture and design.

Cross-Research Centres Symposium showcases cutting edge London Met research on the environment

London Met sees Venice Biennale success

Two current students join the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale as Fellows at the British Pavilion 'Dancing Before the Moon', which was curated by a team including London Met alumni

London Met hosts discussion on accessibility and ethics within architecture

AAD staff, industry professionals, and visiting academics held an extensive discussion exploring ‘Architectures of Care’ and the creation of equitable and sustainable communities.

Social integration and place making: infrastructures of belonging

Major grant for London Met rewilding research

The research project, which seeks to increase urban biodiversity through transformative design for streets, has been granted over £58,000 by the Kusuma Trust.

London Met team hosts workshop at the acclaimed Design Museum

Thomas Aquilina and Beatrice De Carli led a workshop, ‘Silent and Speaking: A Workshop on Environmental Justice’ at the Design Museum last month.

Generosity and architecture

London Met academics Sian Moxon and Jane Clossick publish chapters in a new book exploring how generosity in architecture operates in, and questions, socioeconomic and political systems

The enigma of nature in the age of proto-globalisation

Professor Nicholas Temple will present his research at the next Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) Sessions event on 28 September.

Planted Unearthed: London Met academic to explore urban rewilding on environmental design panel

Sian Moxon will join the expert panel as part of the first contemporary design event and media platform promoting exclusively environmentally focused businesses.