Climate Cities
A multidisciplinary hub for research, knowledge exchange and innovation, Climate Cities is a centre of knowledge-production and exchange between cities, researchers and practitioners.
We are a global network committed to urban transformation for climate justice.
Bridging global south and north, we develop new city-making practices that respond to multiple challenges in cities across the globe. We promote transdisciplinary dialogues between HE institutions, spatial practitioners and governments, intersecting spatial practice, social justice, climate science and political economy.
Informed by eco-feminist practices of care, our work is situated, collaborative, multi-scalar and intersectional. Our design-research practice is grounded in real-life sites and situations of urban transformation. We respond to specific, local conditions and support long-term strategic change.
Projects and activity
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Louise Taylor sensory mapping of Beirut for MA Cities thesis, with BUL input
Beirut Urban Lab collaboration, 2023
Professor Mona Harb, Professor of Urban Studies and Politics at the American University of Beirut and co-founder and research lead at the Beirut Urban Lab (BUL) gave the first MA Cities symposium public lecture at CSM Shows 2023. It follows a CSM MA Cities thesis project externally supervised by Prof Harb. The lecture proposed a climate and civic resilience network of citizen-activated sites, built on BUL’s mapping of ‘unusable’ plots.
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Building From Buildings
A CSM BA Architecture collaboration with London Borough of Enfield and BAA Design Studio: Teaching and research, circular economy and material reuse design proposals, public lectures and knowledge-sharing events. Supported by the UAL Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund.
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Circular Economies and Urban Regeneration secondment, 2023-2024
Curriculum development and industry collaborations exploring the integration of circular economy principles in urban regeneration; and strategic partnership between UAL and Related Argent. A UAL Knowledge Exchange Secondment, 2023-24 (£15k KE funding and equivalent in-kind).
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CSM/ARIES partnership, Recife, Brazil
A 5-year partnership between CSM Spatial Practices and ARIES: Advanced Research and Innovation in the Environmental Sciences. Three CSM courses participate in a research studio exploring alternative ways of planning the city for the long term in a resilient and participatory way, with a focus on supporting Recife: the Brazilian city most at risk due to climate change.
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Fermenting indigo pit in Kano. Photo credit: Diana Ibáñez López
Indigo Craft Network, Kano and Lagos, 2024
An urban research study and MA thesis in collaboration with 16by16 creative network in Lagos. Exploring traditional indigo production and supply chains in relation to the built environment, leading to socially and climatically sustainable garment prototyping. Supported by the Maison/0 Challenge Fund 2023.
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Gaia Maria Vignali for SonCities.org symposium hosted at CSM by MA Cities
SONCITIES collaboration, 2024
Conference and focused design week at CSM hosted by MA Cities, CSM in June 2024. Sonorous Cities: Towards a Sonic Urbanism (SONCITIES) is a 3-year European Research Council funded research project formed at the intersection of sound, urbanism, and critical spatial practices.
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Zero radio show poster by Engy Aly for spatialradio.live
Zero: A COP27 broadcast, 2022
A 24-hour live radio broadcast from Cairo at COP27, Sharm el Sheikh, November 2022, exploring climate mitigation and decarbonisation through numeracy. A collaboration between the Smart and Future Cities Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Solutions at Ain Shams University, Cairo and spatialradio.live, with 2 CSM Masters courses: MA Narrative Environments and MA Cities. Funded by the British Council.
Our themes
Three themes have emerged out of our work on urban challenges in partnership with the city of Recife, Brazil; and from our experience with cities and authorities in the global south.
City as water
How do we understand, evidence and reframe the relationships between water, poverty, climate resilience and social justice in cities?
Water is much more than a vital resource: it is a material urban reality that is experiencing, and is the source of, increasing climate impact and uncertainty. In the same city, it can be both scarce and over-ambundant. Understanding it as an infrastructure or system is (important?...). (too much to add water table example? This could be per project)
Design and equity
How can redundant urban centres be equipped to become socially and economically sustainable cities, offering equality for residents?
Examining the potential for integrated processes of urban renewal to develop more socially and economically balanced cities. Design research focussing on the regeneration of urban centres, the retrofit of redundant urban typologies, and the design of inclusive and accessible public spaces.
Housing and infrastructure
Exploring the potential for integrated approaches to housing and infrastructure to deliver
Examining the potential for integrated processes of urban renewal to develop more socially and economically balanced cities. Design research focussing on the regeneration of urban centres, the retrofit of redundant urban typologies, and the design of inclusive and accessible public spaces.