UCL Urban Laboratory: Students In The East
In collaboration with The Bartlett, UCL Urban Laboratory launched a staff-student collaborative research project that will produce student-led recommendations for UCL developments in east London - UCL East and Here East.
I was one of the thirteen students in the university selected for participation. Operating as a comparative study, we investigated the strengths and weaknesses of UCL’s current Bloomsbury campus and existing non-campus sites to inform new developments at UCL East. Although aspects of both east London developments have been finalised, students and staff can still actively influence decisions.
We identified three key themes: building a sense of identity and coherence between UCL's Bloomsbury and Stratford sites; community engagement in and around the Olympic Park; and student study experience, in particular facilities for quiet and group work.
Over three months, we conducted site visits and research activities in the communities to investigate identified themes, which we blogged about here. A series of recommendations in collaboration with a consulting firm was produced for those leading developments at UCL East, which can be viewed here.
