TRAFALGAR SQUARE: DÉTOURNEMENTS

Professor Jane Rendell is Director of Architectural Research at the Bartlett, UCL. An architectural designer and historian, art critic and writer, her work has explored various interdisciplinary intersections: feminist theory and architectural history, ne art and architectural design, autobiographical writing and criticism. She is author of Site-Writing: The Architecture of Art Criticism (2010), Art and Architecture (2006), The Pursuit of Pleasure (2002) and co-editor of Pattern (2007), Critical Architecture (2007), Spatial Imagination (2005), The Unknown City (2001), Intersections (2000), Gender Space Architecture (1999) and Strangely Familiar (1995). Her talks and texts have been commissioned by artists such as Daniel Arsham and Bik Van Der Pol, and galleries, as the Baltic, the Hayward, Kunstmuseum Thon, the Serpentine, the Tate and the Whitechapel. She is on the Editorial Board for ARQ (Architectural Research Quarterly), Haecceity, The Happy Hypocrite, The Issues and the Journal of Visual Culture in Britain

Researching with care: ethical dilemmas in co-designing focus group discussions

This paper reflects on the ethics of research and knowledge co-production aimed at addressing urban inequality. It draws on work within the Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW) programme, which aimed to co-produce knowledge to activate transformation. We employ a lens of feminist care ethics to examine ethical challenges in research partnerships, which derive from interrelated layers of power asymmetry and inequality. We focus on ethical dilemmas that emerged during the planning stage of research work led by the NGO Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI), Tanzania, in collaboration with University College London’s Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP). We argue that contextualizing the value of knowledge co-production in generating transformation in the long term reveals a necessity for simultaneously addressing the immediate needs of intersectionally marginalized research participants. We suggest that ethical awareness of both long- and short-term modes of “caring for” could better support initiatives for addressing urban inequalities in context

Making trouble to stay with: Architecture and feminist pedagogies

Architecture is, at its most basic, about imagining desirable futures. Yet, despite growing awareness of the lasting and extensive effects that design decisions have in the world, many people remain inadequately represented (or entirely unrepresented) by the profession, which lacks diversity. The faction of those who hold the power to design is still, by and large, comprised of a relatively homogenous group of middle-class white men who dominate not only the profession but also architectural education, even though there is now—in most places—near gender parity among students. How, then, might we—as educators committed to forms and practices of architecture that are inclusive, progressive, egalitarian, socially and environmentally just, and so on—implement and promote feminist pedagogies? Together, this set of short responses by young as well as established gures in the eld, begins to sketch the outlines of an approach to architectural education rooted in feminist politics. Our goal is to offer possible tools at our disposal, from revisionist architectural history to site-speci c, community-based spatial projects to gender-centered design studios

Exposing the unconscious through the para-architectural photo-essay and prose

Para-architecture as a method of design exploits the creative potential within interdisciplinary practices such as philosophy, sculpture, cartoons, as a supplement to conventional design methodologies. This photo essay expands upon such methods originally highlighted within Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts (1976), in a parallel to unconscious principles of psychoanalytic “site-writing”, as proposed by Jane Rendell. Responding to the Hepworth Wakefield, United Kingdom, as the architectural object, photography and intuitive prose are explored as para-architectural tools of interrogation. Through an original series of photographs and developed prose, a diagnosis and analysis takes place – harnessing the potential of utilizing para-architectural methods to explore the unconscious of cultural architectural interventions. The future potential in subscribing to para-architectural inquiry affords for design ideologies and pedagogy within the discipline to advance the dimensions of prescriptive architecture; encouraging creative responses, whilst also considering the unseen cognitive burdens architecture often places onto communities, cultures, and cities.N/

PAX-D:study protocol for a randomised placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and mechanism of pramipexole as add-on treatment for people with treatment resistant depression

Introduction: Clinical depression is usually treated in primary care with psychological therapies and antidepressant medication. However, when patients do not respond to at least two or more antidepressants within a depressive episode, they are considered to have treatment resistant depression (TRD). Previous small randomised controlled trials suggested that pramipexole, a dopamine D2/3 receptor agonist, may be effective for treating patients with unipolar and bipolar depression as it is known to influence motivational drive and reward processing. PAX-D will compare the effects of pramipexole versus placebo when added to current antidepressant medication for people with TRD. Additionally, PAX-D will investigate the mechanistic effect of pramipexole on reward sensitivity using a probabilistic decision-making task. Methods and analysis: PAX-D will assess effectiveness in the short- term (during the first 12 weeks) and in the longer-term (48 weeks) in patients with TRD from the UK. The primary outcome will be change in self-reported depressive symptoms from baseline to Week 12 post-randomisation measured using the QIDS-SR. Performance on the decision-making task will be measured at Week 0, Week 2, and Week 12. Secondary outcomes include anhedonia, anxiety, and health economic measures including quality of life, capability, wellbeing, and costs. PAX-D will also assess the adverse effects of pramipexole including impulse control difficulties. Discussion: Pramipexole is a promising augmentation agent for treatment resistant depression and may be a useful addition to existing treatment regimes. PAX-D will assess its effectiveness and test for a potential mechanism of action in patients with treatment resistant depression

Strategies for improving patient recruitment to focus groups in primary care: a case study reflective paper using an analytical framework

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recruiting to primary care studies is complex. With the current drive to increase numbers of patients involved in primary care studies, we need to know more about successful recruitment approaches. There is limited evidence on recruitment to focus group studies, particularly when no natural grouping exists and where participants do not regularly meet. The aim of this paper is to reflect on recruitment to a focus group study comparing the methods used with existing evidence using a resource for research recruitment, PROSPeR (Planning Recruitment Options: Strategies for Primary Care).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The focus group formed part of modelling a complex intervention in primary care in the Resources for Effective Sleep Treatment (REST) study. Despite a considered approach at the design stage, there were a number of difficulties with recruitment. The recruitment strategy and subsequent revisions are detailed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The researchers' modifications to recruitment, justifications and evidence from the literature in support of them are presented. Contrary evidence is used to analyse why some aspects were unsuccessful and evidence is used to suggest improvements. Recruitment to focus group studies should be considered in two distinct phases; getting potential participants to contact the researcher, and converting those contacts into attendance. The difficulty of recruitment in primary care is underemphasised in the literature especially where people do not regularly come together, typified by this case study of patients with sleep problems.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We recommend training GPs and nurses to recruit patients during consultations. Multiple recruitment methods should be employed from the outset and the need to build topic related non-financial incentives into the group meeting should be considered. Recruitment should be monitored regularly with barriers addressed iteratively as a study progresses.</p