This workshop Dr Roudaina Alkhani conducted in September 2024 for final-year MA Architecture students at the Royal College of Arts aimed at engaging architectural students to reflect on their role as architects in city development, the potential impact they can have on projects and cities while working in complex environment, and how new approaches to addressing climate change—such as circularity, and biodiversity—affect their architectural concepts.
The workshop sought to enhance students’ understanding of the planning system as a sustainability framework and planners’ role. It engaged them in reflecting on the need to integrate planning, architecture and other disciplines to achieve sustainability aims. Instead of restricting their involvement with planners to the final stages of project delivery, architects can work collaboratively with various disciplines and engage with planning as a higher framework and context ensuring broader environmental and societal values and equity, and innovative sustainability practices from the beginning of the process.
Additionally, by collaborating with other disciplines, architects can provide valuable insights to the planning system and local authorities, contributing to the qualitative and creative development of the built environment and public spaces. Around 80 students participated in the workshop, which employed interactive collaborative methods and design thinking. It was part of the Radical Practice module in the School of Architecture at RCA and was led by architect Dr. Ruth Lang.