By Dr Julia Udall, Senior Lecturer in Architecture

Tuesday 19 March • Viewing time: 4 minutes

My research is bringing more people into conversations about our shared spaces – and helping build a better future for all.

Our towns and cities are changing rapidly. From the climate crisis to Covid-19, numerous factors are driving urban communities to adapt the way they live, work and play.             

The question is, how can we empower a diverse group of people to engage with these changes and help shape the places they care about? 

I’m part of a multidisciplinary team making links between art, design, natural science and architecture. Working collaboratively, we create projects that open up conversations about the future of our shared spaces, from the pavement to the planet.         

All my research is underpinned by a desire for social, environmental and economic sustainability. I’m also interested in initiatives that will benefit Sheffield and the people who call it home. 

Here are four projects that show the scope and impact of my work.

High Street of Exchanges

In 2021, the British Council invited social enterprise architectural practice Studio Polpo, where I am a Director, to design a room at the Venice Architecture Biennale Garden of Privatised Delights – an exhibition exploring how public spaces can be made more inclusive and more open. 

Our task was to look at the high street. We wanted to highlight the crucial role it can play in UK towns and cities, far beyond shopping and consumption.

Working with sound artist Alex De Little, we recorded diverse high street exchanges, from conversations in a hairdressers to audio from a pay-as-you-feel cafe. We then embedded these soundscapes in furniture, props and architectural elements to create the High Street of Exchanges. By revealing the non-monetary exchanges that take place on the high street, it encourages visitors to reimagine it as a place of community, connection and care. 

An estimated 200,000 people visited High Street of Exchanges in Venice, and it later transferred to Sheffield, giving local people the chance to see it too. Ultimately, it’s a starting point for the creation of community-led high streets based on mutual support and local needs, rather than mass consumption. The project also led to further research into how public space is developed, used and owned.

Sonic Acts of Noticing

Listening to high streets helped us reveal new things about the city. To explore these ideas further, I worked with Polpo director Jon Orlek, Alex De Little and web developers Joe Gilmore and Richard Cook to develop Sonic Acts of Noticing – an interactive web platform with sonic field recordings from different locations and settings. These are accompanied by textual elements such as quotes and statements, designed to help people think differently about the spaces around them and see possibilities for care and connection in the city.  

In 2021, we submitted the project to the Future Architecture Platform (FAP), which brings ideas about the future of cities and architecture to the wider public. Out of 12 global entries, we were chosen as Fellows of the FAP. This led to some exciting work with partners in Europe.

As part of the BINA Architecture Film Festival, we mentored film students at the Cultural Centre of Belgrade, using recording, listening and journaling workshops to help them think differently about the sonic and spatial elements of their films. We went on to work with Floating University Berlin and Gilly Karjevsky and Rosario Talevi of feminist collective Soft Agency to design a listening walk for the international Driving the Human festival. This involved using audio and sound to explore the flow of water and landscape around the River Spree.      

Sonic Acts of Noticing has also been prototyped with other cultural and higher education institutes worldwide, including in London, Venice, Ljubljana and Sheffield.

ark Sheffield

Often, conversations about the climate crisis can seem abstract and scary, and leave people feeling alienated or helpless. To counter this, I worked with Acting and Performance Lecturer Dr Tom Payne to develop ark sheffield – a community-led engagement project where participants explore hopes, fears and solutions in a safe and welcoming environment.

Working with not-for-profit organisations, cultural institutions, artists and community organisers, we hosted free meals, workshops and events across Sheffield. Here, we asked questions to spark conversations about people’s personal experiences of the climate emergency, and what positive change might look like for them, as well as seeking to build political, social and cultural communities around these issues. 

We found a real desire to engage with the climate crisis at a grassroots level. By giving people the power to discuss it on their terms, they felt able to explore their fears and frustrations, as well as tactics and strategies for a more sustainable future. 

The project culminated in a two-day event at the Crucible theatre, featuring voices and ideas from across the city, which over 400 people attended. It also inspired a school climate club, led to events with SADACCA, Migration Matters Festival and Being Human Festival, and a year-long exhibition at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery, which attracted over 90,000 visitors. My colleague Tom is now looking at setting up similar projects in other UK cities, so more people feel empowered to engage with, and take action against, the climate crisis.

Snorkelling in Soil

I’m passionate about helping my students develop an ecological awareness they can take out into the world. Every year, I run an MArch design studio called Co-Dreaming Climates, which supports students to engage professionally, ethically and creatively in their responses to the climate and biodiversity crisis. As part of this, I worked with Dr Rachel Schwartz Narbonne and Dr Mel Lacey from the Department of Biosciences and Chemistry to develop Snorkelling in Soil – a project looking at soil and the climate crisis. 

Often architects draw and think about the ground as a solid black block below the space they’re interested in. The truth is, soil is vital for people and the planet – storing food, filtering water, capturing carbon and supporting biodiversity. All of these things should be considered when planning and designing buildings.

To bring this idea to life, I took my architecture students to Langsett Reservoir to learn about soil in an ecological, holistic way. Working with biology and chemistry experts, ecologists and landscape custodians including Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency, they took samples from around the reservoir and analysed them in the lab. We then encouraged them to explore how these findings may alter their architectural designs, as well as their understanding of their personal and professional responsibilities.

This led to a huge shift in their mindset. They started thinking about soil in a different way, considering how it would be affected by their designs, the knock-on effects on the climate – and how to mitigate this. Many of the students were already working in professional practice, so took this approach straight into industry. They also put on an exhibition about the project at the Millennium Gallery as part of the Science Week Live Lates programme, helping to raise awareness of this important issue with the general public.

Building a better future

Ultimately, my research is opening up conversations as a starting point for positive ecological and social change, whether that’s in the community or the classroom. 

From rethinking the high street to tackling the climate crisis, only by giving people space and support to find solutions can we make the world a more equitable and sustainable place.

I’m now leading the pan-European LIfe-Centering Cultural HEritage Network (LICHEN) project, which will help people reconnect with nature to improve biodiversity, health and wellbeing. Like my previous work, it’s about bringing communities together to build a better future, for them and generations to come.