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Research Title
London鈥檚 Small Sites Housing Policy: Meeting Local Authority Needs?
- More about Lu
Lu Mirza is a design researcher with an interdisciplinary background spanning architectural and planning consultancy, regeneration project management, event and exhibition curation, and community organisation leadership.
In 2020-2021 she worked as Associate Director of the sustainability consultancy Resilience Brokers; trained members of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 鈥業nclusive Co-design and Engagement鈥�; and was jointly awarded the (RTPI) Royal Town Planning Institute鈥檚 President鈥檚 Special Award for Planning Achievement.
Prior to joining UCL, she co-authored 8 publications and initiated several multidisciplinary projects. These employed a range of spatial mapping, data science and qualitative research methods including ethnography, participatory action research workshops and collaborative design interventions.
In 2015, alongside her UCL MSc dissertation research, she managed all aspects of a 350 household ethnographic Post-Occupancy Review of High Density Mixed Tenure Housing. This research was commissioned by think tank Design For Homes and funded by developer Barratt Homes. Key findings were shared by Design For Homes with the GLA London Assembly Planning Committee (2015, March 17) and at industry conferences hosted by Urban Design London, Building Centre Trust, New London Architecture and Just Space network.
Lubaina had an itinerant upbringing in the Indian subcontinent and Middle East, and has lived in London since 2004. She is always up for travel, critical debate, and inter-disciplinary exploration.
- Publications
Talks and Papers
- Unfinished Symphonies/London鈥檚 Small Sites Housing Policy.听Presentation at听Witswatersrand-UCL听PhD workshop with Professor Achille听Mbembe, UCL Urban Lab,听15 October 2021.听
- London鈥檚 Small Sites Housing Policy: Meeting Local Needs?听Presentation听at 皇家华人 Geography听PhD听Departmental听Upgrade听Conference,听16听June 2021.
- Planning for Housing - the characteristics and consequences of an Emergency Urbanism.听Presentation at听'Emergency' Research Students' Roundtable, UCL Urban Lab听in collaboration with the Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction,听17 December 2020.听
- How new cities are being designed around well-being, adaptability, and inclusivity听-听Ebbsfleet听Garden City听case听study.听Presentation at听鈥榃ellbeing,听COVID-19听and听the听Future听of听Workplaces鈥櫶齭eminar,听UCL Bartlett听IEDE (Institute for听Environmental Design and Engineering)听virtual lecture seminars,听06听November 2020.
- New Frontiers听In听Planning Digitalisation and the Royal Town Planning Institute.听Presentation at听UCL听Bartlett听CASA听(Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis)听seminar series,听18 November 2020.听
- Planning Careers Talk.听Presentation to听300 incoming postgraduates and 60 undergraduates at the听UCL Bartlett School of Planning,听26 September听2019.
- Research Interests
This PhD project explores how and why London鈥檚 municipalities are mobilising cultural, socio-political, and design innovations to build more affordable homes on small plots of leftover land. Specifically, I interrogate how the Mayor of London's 'Policy H2 (Small Sites)', and supporting guidance such as 'Design Code Module D' is being operationalised within a relational ecosystem of local authorities, built environment professionals and resident Londoners.
Methodology
In several London boroughs, I will be comparing the processes and outcomes associated with recently built housing projects featured in the mayor's policy guidance as good practice examples, with newer case study sites where local authorities are still making complex site development decisions. The methodology will involve embedded and practice-based collaboration with local government officers, housing practitioners, non-traditional artisan builders, industry analysts, academic researchers, and local communities in formal and informal peer learning networks.
- Impact
This research aims to advance understandings of policy learning and spatial governance, while exploring improving affordable housing outcomes through new delivery formats on complex infill sites. The thesis intends to make an interdisciplinary, comparative and empirical contribution to analysis of how this market-driven and 鈥榰ngovernable鈥� city is spatially transformed through situated knowledges, circulating practices and intra-institutional policy learning at a rarely studied local level.
