The aim of the project is to share different approaches and ways to read and understand different approaches and opportunities of cities in times of pandemic. In recent years, environmental challenges and the spread of pandemic are redefining the priorities of communities, requiring more suitable assessment of their vulnerabilities and their needs. Moreover, remote teaching and, often, lack of direct experience of places have implied a rapid redefinition of tools and methods to analyse cities in urban design studios. For this reasons, three undergraduate studios in London, Milan, Weimar (Berlin), join forces to launch a series of initiatives of ‘knowledge exchange’ with the objective to:

• discuss and compare problems of neighborhoods in the three selected cities;
• compare notes regarding the challenges of remote (or partually remote) reading of places in urban design studios, and the way this can potentially affect the planning processes.

This is part of the 2021 initiative ‘Rethinking Cities under shock and stresses’ of ILAUD and it fulfills one of the Laboratory historic missions to improve and refine the ‘reading’ of contexts with the ultimate aim to enhance the quality of urban design projects.

PROGRAMME

14.30 Introduction | Three laboratories/three contexts: Milan, London and Berlin

14.45 The case of Milan, Anna Moro, Chiara Nifosi and the students of Politecnico di Milano

15.15 The case of London, Giulio Verdini, Corinna Dean and the students of University of Westminster

15.45 The case of Berlin, Piero Sassi and the students of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

16.00 Brief presentation of two Laboratories of Architectural and Urban Design from Tiziano Cattaneo, Università di Pavia, and  Giacomo Pirazzoli, Università di Firenze

16.15 Coffee Break

16.30 Students video from Milan and London. Video, presentation from the students of the Laboratory of Urbanism-School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering AIUC, POLIMI and from the students of BA Designing Cities: Planning and Architecture, University of Westminster.

17.00 Q&A session

17.30 Final Remarks from Paolo Ceccarelli, ILAUD, Pilar M Guerrieri, ILAUD

ILAUD’s Advisory Board: Paolo Ceccarelli, ILAUD & University of Ferrara Scientific Coordinator and President of the Advisory Board,;Pilar M. Guerrieri, ILAUD & Politecnico di Milano (DASTU).