Co-Design Practice

Can a collaborative approach to analysis and production of space promote knowledge transfer that enhance social and spatial capital for local communities? Over the last three years we have initiated, raised funds, managed and delivered a number of successful collaborative design- and research projects across Dalston, East London. As award winning and internationally practicing architects and urban designers, we embed relevant topics into the centre of the studio-based design teaching at UEL to create a ‘field of opportunity’ for overlaps between professional disciplines, institutions and local authorities, for mutual benefit. As a response to challenging urban contexts of conflict, deprivation and climate change, our designstudio approach to research aims to explore and develop alternative forms of collaborative design practice and co-design methodology

Relational States of Dalston: Research Project

This report documents the innovative method for a multi-phased collaborative research project with a Local Authority client, that originated from the research-led design studio teaching. Externally funded, graduates worked as co-researchers to produce a socio-spatial stakeholder analysis that formed part of Hackney Council’s public consultation process and evidence base for the implementation of Dalston Area Action Plan into local Planning Policy

Mas-Piece / Body-Architecture: Collaboration between Tropical Isles Canrival Group and UEL BSc Architecture, Unit A

Carnival Mas-Piece is a live-build project and 1:1 construction of a 5 meter tall Mas-piece in collaboration between Tropical Isles canrival youth group and UEL students that won numerous prizes at Notting Hill and Hackney Carnivals 2019

“DALSTON! WHO ASKED U?”: A Knowledge-Centred Perspective on the Mapping of Socio-Spatial Relations in East London

Since the turn of the millennium, Dalston in the London Borough of Hackney has experienced fundamental change through public and private investment in new infrastructure and processes of urban restructuring. This was paralleled by the reform of the national planning system, which aimed to devolve decision-making to the local level and increase the possibilities for residents and stakeholders to participate in planning processes. However, the difficulty of translating local needs and aspirations into policy goals and broadly accepted area action plans resulted in a crisis, which, in 2018, led to the introduction of the Dalston Conversation and subsequently the revision of planning goals. It is in this context that the Relational States of Dalston mapping project generated and assembled local knowledge about the web of socio-spatial relations between different local actors and in this way highlighted the significance and fragility of the communities’ networks and their spatial dimensions. The collection, ordering, integration, and production of knowledge can be seen as part of the core work in urban planning processes and policymaking. Which forms of knowledge are routinely used in planning contexts and define the relationship between planning action and urban transformation? To what extent could the mapping of local community relations add to this knowledge and help to improve decision-making processes in contested spaces of knowledge? In what ways could a relational understanding of space and architectural modes of research and representation contribute to the analysis, conceptualisation, and communication of local community relations? This article engages with these questions, using the mapping project in Dalston as a case study

The relationship between charge distribution, charge packet formation and electroluminescence in XLPE under DC

Different reports describing the internal distribution of space charge in cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) under DC field have been published recently. The most striking fact observed is the organization of the space charge into charge packets that cross the insulation. All models for charge packet formation imply that carrier recombination will occur. As the recombination region is potentially a luminescence one it is of interest to record the electroluminescence in this regime. This topic is addressed in this paper

Co-simulated digital twin on the network edge: A vehicle platoon

This paper presents an approach to create high-fidelity models suited for digital twin application of distributed multi-agent cyber–physical systems (CPSs) exploiting the combination of simulation units through co-simulation. This approach allows for managing the complexity of cyber–physical systems by decomposing them into multiple intertwined components tailored to specific domains. The native modular design simplifies the building, testing, prototyping, and extending CPSs compared to monolithic simulator approaches. A system of platoon of vehicles is used as a case study to show the advantages achieved with the proposed approach. Multiple components model the physical dynamics, the communication network and protocol, as well as different control software and external environmental situations. The model of the platooning system is used to compare the performance of Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication against a centralized multi-access edge computing paradigm. Moreover, exploiting the detailed model of vehicle dynamics, different road surface conditions are considered to evaluate the performance of the platooning system. Finally, taking advantage of the co-simulation approach, a solution to drive a platoon in critical road conditions has been proposed. The paper shows how co-simulation and design space exploration can be used for parameter calibration and the design of countermeasures to unsafe situations

Heat shock protein 90 is associated with hyperplasia and neoplastic transformation of canine prostatic epithelial cells

Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a molecular chaperone that regulates critical signalling proteins of cancer development and progression. Abnormal levels of HSP90 have been observed in human prostatic carcinoma (PC), with prognostic and therapeutic implications. Since spontaneously arising canine PC is a valuable model for the human disease, the aim of this study was to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of HSP90 in two normal canine prostates, 17 canine prostates with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and five canine prostates with PC. HSP90 was expressed in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells in all samples, with a significant increase in labelled cells in PCs. Nuclear labelling was observed occasionally in normal tissue, but was increased in BPH and PC. HSP90 immunoreactivity in preneoplastic lesions (proliferative inflammatory atrophy and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia) was similar to that in PCs. Increased HSP90 expression in canine PCs suggests the involvement of this molecule in carcinogenesis and tumour progression, supporting HSP90 as a potential target for therapeutic intervention