On December 12th I had the pleasure of joining the staff and students at The Bartlett's B-Pro Urban Design MArch programmes as external critic for the Research Cluster 15 [Cross-scale Design: The Amphibious Laboratory], and Research Cluster 16 [The Inhuman City, part of the Urban Morphogenesis Lab] programmes. The former led by Amphibious Lab co-founder Maj Plementias, the latter by ecoLogicStudio co-founder Prof. Claudia Pasquero and architect and computational designer Filippo Nassetti, RC15 explores the interface of cities and dynamic hydrological systems at a time of dramatically amplified, accelerating and evolving environmental change, and how architectural, urban and territorial design may adapt, whereas RC16 ‘aims to mobilise multiple forms of intelligence, human as well as non-human, to redefine the urban’, examining the potentialities of developments in fields including synthetic biology, bio-hacking, artificial intelligence, and nano-technologies. Having been aboard as a B-Pro Masters critic since 2014, I've witnessed the programmes go from strength to strength, as an ever greater number of future urban potentialities emerge. RC15 and RC16 academic year 2018 - 2019 cohort can take a bow for having delivered one of the most impressive term #1 prevention sessions yet. Populated by urban research projects exploring topics including how biocomputing can help make urban transport networks more efficient; the variances between terrestrial and marine collective living intelligence; non-human architectures; evolving amphibious architectures; and developing human applications for hydrological flows in estuaries, snapshots of works-in-research-and-development progress are pictured above and below.

Founded by Royal Charter in 1919, the University College of Estate Management delivers CIOB, CABE, CMI, and RICS accredited undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and apprenticeship programmes in subjects including construction and real estate management, building and quantity surveying, architectural design technology, and environmental and business studies. In celebration of its fast-approaching centenary year, UCEM will be hosting a series of events that both explore its past, while anticipating its future, of which the highlight is a 1-day conference and VIP reception titled, 'The Built Environment of the Future'. Taking place at home to the world's largest interactive exhibition of future cities, The Crystal on May 16th 2019, I am delighted to be aboard and joining speakers including Craig Bennett, CEO, Friends of the Earth; Sherin Aminossehe, Head of Offices, Lendlease; Ben Bolgar, Senior Director, The Prince's Foundation; Mark Farmer, CEO, Cast; and Amanda Clack, Executive Director, CBRE; amongst others. Places limited to 270, those interested in attending can find out more and request attendance at the following link:

https://www.ucem.ac.uk/news-events/events/the-built-environment-of-the-future-event-1630-onwards/