New Urban Schools and Social Infrastructure is a UCL Knowledge Exchange HEIF-funded project based on a collaboration between Dr. Jos Boys of BSSC, Anna Jeffery from Architecture Initiative (AI) and Adam Wood from UCL’s Institute of Education. The focus of the project was to better understand the constraints and opportunities for urban, mixed-use learning environments; the capacity for schools to offer greater social and community value, and to rethink the real estate of education in our cities.
Through a series of webinars and other online knowledge exchange, the creators have produced a discussion paper called Educating the City: Urban Schools as Social Infrastructure which explores what needs to change to make better use of educational facilities in their local context through a five-point framework:
- Broadening How We Value Schools
- Educational Planning and Facilities Are For The Long Term
- Join Up The Thinking
- Enable Schools To Deliver Community Support
- Design-In Community Potential From The Beginning
Hayball Principal, Richard Leonard participated in the roundtable discussions as part of this research. Two of our projects, South Melbourne Primary School and Young High School Community Library have both been included as case studies.
Educating the City: Urban Schools as Social Infrastructure
Access Document via UCL Website
Co-author: Richard Leonard