Since coming to Newcastle, I walk local streets every day, either to the studio or to the shops. I can see small businesses, buses, bikes and people talking, but I also notice delivery vans and cars competing for their space. During the rush hours it is even more constrained. Being a Chinese international student, I enjoy the buzz, though it may seem Read the full article…

Can streets really make people healthier? When people think of health, hospitals, doctors, and medicine come first to their minds. However, when I studied urban design, I came to understand that streets also play a major role in our health. Because streets influence how people walk, cycle, chat with others, take a break, and even plenty Read the full article…

Present-day cities have become more focused on visual appearance, consumption, and visibility via the Internet than just on the social or practical needs they were designed for in the first place. Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle helps to understand this phenomenon by explaining that social life is experienced through images, and urban environments are Read the full article…

Walk through a city centre in the UK and you won’t have to travel far before encountering a new Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) development. Experiencing this first-hand on projects during my placement year in Bristol made it clear to me that these proposals rarely progress without significant resistance. Read through the objections and many Read the full article…

In 1978, nearing the end of Social Housing’s dominance in the UK (MHCLG, 2026), Lewisham Council took a chance on the experimental idea of architect Walter Segal: equipped with an awkwardly sloped council-allocated site and 14 families waiting for new housing, Segal set out to use a newly engineered, low-skilled timber construction method to help the families build new homes for themselves (Grahame, 2017).  Nearly 50 years later, the completed Segal Close, and nearby Read the full article…

Introduction Co-housing schemes are intentional, resident-managed communities striving to achieve deep social cohesion. While collective decision-making undoubtedly empowers residents, the practicality of ensuring every single voice is heard can often spark operational frustration. This post explores LILAC (with reference to ‘The Collective’), a pioneering Leeds co-housing project, assessing where its community-led model thrives and where Read the full article…

The Post-War Brutalist movement transformed the Northeast, reshaping former industrial towns with bold concrete schemes promising a modern future for working-class communities. That said, the life span of these buildings has not been smooth sailing from clear signs of neglect to demolitions. Though I may be biased growing up around Peterlee, no structure embodies this Read the full article…

To many people, knitting and crocheting are hobbies, a way to create and relax. Others might associate knitting with their Gran, or maybe you love that knitted scarf you bought. So, whether you take part in the craft, or it’s just your favourite jumper, yarn plays a role in life, big and small. There is Read the full article…

Blue–Green Infrastructure: Can Nature Fix Our Urban Minds?  Introduction  Many factors contribute to the occurrence of mental health disorders, including social, psychological, and biological influences, as well as the characteristics of the environment in which we live, particularly urban settings. Living in a city can support people’s well-being by facilitating social networks and providing access to various services, Read the full article…

Disneyland California was a pioneer of what we now know as the modern-day theme park, introducing a city-like environment to the world of fairgrounds. This provides a carefully controlled urban environment which influences the way we, as visitors, experience the world which has been created within the park. The average person is unlikely to notice Read the full article…

Urban design often celebrates space: plazas, streets, waterfronts, and carefully framed vistas. When I first arrived in Newcastle upon Tyne, I instinctively looked at the city through plans and diagrams—block structures, visual axes, spatial hierarchy. I admired its clarity. I measured the enclosure. I analysed movement. Yet over time, especially while spending time in the Read the full article…

Personal Reflection Studying abroad has been exciting and challenging to me over the last few months. The learning environment and the teaching techniques here were quite different from what I was used to. So I had to adjust to a new teaching speed and study environment. There is a big challenge for me to write Read the full article…