Building Better: The Bartlett Podcast

In our final episode of the season, we explore the UK housing crisis, its causes and potential solutions for the future. 

We are currently in a cost of living crisis with renting and renters’ rights particularly precarious in the UK. The number of people sleeping rough is higher than pre-pandemic and many are experiencing homelessness for the first time. A huge part of this problem is the housing market and how it operates. 

Join us for our final episode of the season, where host and Bartlett Dean Christoph Lindner speaks to two guests to talk about the housing system and potential alternatives: 

• Samir Jeraj, writer at the New Statesman, commissioning editor at Hyphen and co-author of the Rent Trap 
• Saffron Woodcraft, Principal Research Fellow at the Bartlett’s Institute for Global Prosperity 

For more information and to access the transcript, visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/building-better-bartlett-podcast

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In this episode we speak to two researchers about their work on the local and global protest movement in India, based on their project Transnational Infrastructures of Resistance: 

• Dr Ufaque Paiker, Ashoka University and PhD in Modern Indian History from the Jawaharlal Nehru University 
• Dr Raktim Ray, lecturer and joint program leader at The Development Planning Unit 

They share their research and expertise on the changing shape of modern protest movements and transnational solidarity, and how activism can cross communities and borders.  

For more information and to access the transcript visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/transcript-moving-protest-beyond-borders

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In this episode of Building Better, we spoke to two people within and outside of The Bartlett  about ‘queering space’: how we can build spaces that suit community needs and what queerness means in the context of design. 

Our guests were: 

• Xan Xacobo Goetzee-Barral, third year student on the new MSci Architecture programme and an Urban Design Tutor at The Bartlett School of Planning 
• Holly Buckle, London-based Artist and the LGBTIQ+ Outreach Lead at The Outside Project  

‘Queering space’ is a theme that we touched on in our first ever episode of Building Better, when we spoke to Lo Marshall about their research into LGBTQ+ nightlife. Through this discussion we continued that conversation by asking what makes a space safe for LGBTQ+ people and interrogating what it means to bring queerness into a space. 

For more information and to access the transcript, visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/building-better-bartlett-podcast

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This November, the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of UNFCCC, or COP27, was hosted in Egypt.

Throughout the conference, heads of state, ministers, climate activists and academics met to discuss and reach agreements on how to mitigate and prevent the impact of climate change.

In this episode of Building Better, we spoke to two Bartlett faculty members about their experience of attending the conference and what it means for the built environment sector around the world:

• Lilia Caiado Coelho Beltrao Couto, PhD Candidate at the Institute for Sustainable Resources and Chapter Scientist and Research assistant for the IPCC AR6 Mitigation report 
• Dr Efrosyni Konstantinou, Senior Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction   

Through their research and expertise, we'll explore the current global attitude towards climate change, and solutions to build better before the clock runs out. 

For more information and to access the transcript, visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/building-better-bartlett-podcast

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In this episode, we explore the role of racism and colonialism in the construction of the built environment and how we can improve.  

In October 2022 we have been marking Black History Month at The Bartlett through talks, workshops and our series Black Perspectives in the Built Environment which explores architects, researchers and activists who have shaped – and are shaping – our field.   

In this episode of Building Better, we are joined by two guests to discuss the ways that racism and colonialism have influenced people who study, design, create and live in built environments: 

• Omoleye Ojuri, Honorary lecturer at The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University and World Bank Scholar 
• Kudzai Matsvai, architectural activist and founder of the BLAC Collective at the University of Liverpool and the Wedzera Network 

Through this discussion, we explore the legacy of racism and colonialism in the built environment, conversations about anti-racism, and how we can improve.

Content warning: in this episode we are going to discuss racism and colonialism within the built environment and the systemic violence that this has caused toward Black communities around the world.

Access transcript

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Throughout history, fire has shaped the cities we live in, and the risks of urban fire in a warming climate are ever-increasing. Host Christoph Lindner, Dean of The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, speaks to three guests from within and outside the UCL community to discuss their work with fire:

• Professor Jose Torero Cullen, Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental, Geomatic and Environmental Engineering and specialist in fire safety engineering
• Dr Eva Branscome, Associate Professor, Architectural History and Theory, The Bartlett School of Architecture and Mentor at SPID Theatre
• Naomi Israel, Youth Ambassador for SPID Theatre and co-director of The Burning Tower which explored the impact and response to the Grenfell Tower Fire

TW: This episode discusses the Grenfell tower fire as well as other fires from across the world and throughout history and has reference to death and injury; however, these will not be discussed in great, explicit detail.

Access transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/transcript-space-fire

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So far in this series, we’ve talked a lot about the limitations of space and how to make the built environment better, fairer, and more accessible to everyone and much of that conversation has centred around getting more voices involved in the design process, opening up architecture to a more diverse community. 

Join host Christoph for episode five in conversation with The Bartlett's Senior Outreach Officer, Kemi Hassan, alongside Matthew Springett and Fiona MacDonald of Matt + Fiona, a social enterprise that gets young people involved in the development of their built environment and empowers them to have their say.

Throughout the episode, we discuss Design Unlimited, an exciting outreach project for London state schools with a focus on KS3 students in years 7 – 9 and find out more about how The Bartlett is working in partnership to create a new generation of designers and architects who feel empowered to build a better world.

Access transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/transcript-making-space-young-people-design

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We’re looking towards the light in episode four. We wanted to understand more about the thought processes behind lighting spaces and the considerations that need to be made when designing with light. With this in mind, we reached out to two experts on light from The UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering. 

Join host Christoph for a fascinating discussion on the different kinds of light: from healthy light, safe light, indoor light, outdoor light, public light, all the way to the future of light with Dr Jemima Unwin Teji, lecturer and programme lead for the Light and Lighting MSc and Lorna Flores-Villa, Industrial Designer and PhD student. 

Access transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/transcript-bright-lights-big-city

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In episode three, we're exploring accessibility within the built environment. We want to know: why aren't we more aware, more conscious, more active in trying to fully consider accessibility when we create new spaces? And what are the ways in which we need to shift our thinking to ensure spaces are accessible to everyone? 

Tune in to hear Christoph speak with Zoe Partington, an award-winning contemporary artist, creative consultant, and co-founder of the DisOrdinary Architecture Project and Dr Barbara Penner, Professor of Architectural Humanities at The Bartlett School of Architecture about their work in this area and how Urban Design can be radically reworked to become more inclusive.

Access transcript:https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/building-better-bartlett-podcast/transcript-blocked-design

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In the second episode of season two, host Christoph speaks with two researchers at The Bartlett to think about buildings and how we can see society’s understanding of gender dynamics and imbalances of power reflected in them. 

Join Maria Venegas Raba, an architectural historian, PhD student in transnational histories of Latin-American modernist architecture and lecturer (teaching) in the Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies BSc at The Bartlett School of Architecture and Dr Jos Boys, a senior lecturer in Environments for Learning in the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction and co-founder of Matrix and The DisOrdinary Architecture Project for a fascinating conversation about accessibility, de-colonialism and equity within architecture.

Access transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/transcript-are-buildings-gendered

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