DPU summerLab

Berbera, Somaliland:

The Redsea Cultural Foundation (RCF) is an organisation based in Somaliland that aims to promote reading and creative writing in Somali-speaking society with a particular focus on youth. The RCF established in 2014 the Hargeysa Cultural Centre (HCC) that is well recognized world wide for its yearly art and culture celebration through the Hargeysa International Book Fair. The centre is also engaged in all socially significant activities including knowledge production and dissemination. It provides trainings, engage in research and also work in collaboration with regional and global institutions for equal opportunity and collaborative global citizenry. The Summer lab is one of these collaboratives works it does.

After our collaboration in the summerLab 2019 in Hargeysa, on the topic of ‘social cohesion in a segmented city’, this time we will focus on the city of Berbera.

This year´s workshop, ‘Infrastructure, development and heritage preservation’, will look at possibilities of development for Berbera, in light of the on-going construction of the Berbera Corridor, connecting Berbera to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This development, along with the expansion of the port, will rapidly change the shape of the city. Participants will focus on four areas (one of which will soon host the Berbera Cultural Centre) deemed crucial for the current trajectory of urban transformation.

Really looking forward to starting our work in collaboration with RCF this Sunday!
Xarunta Dhaqanka ee Hargeysa Jama Musse Jama The Bartlett Development Planning Unit UCL

New extended deadline: 5th February!!

We are happy to communicate that the deadline for sending your application for the DPU summerLab: special 'winter’ edition has been extended to Friday 5 February. Please email [email protected] for any query and to receive the Application Form.

Last Friday, we as DPU summerLab team announced the launch of an online special 'winter' edition, that will reach remotely a number of designers, activists, researchers and practitioners. In a series of online live sessions – alternating lectures, discussions and design research activities – we will leverage the realities of Aleppo, Berbera, Chengdu, in a comparative fashion. We aim to question how urbanism and forms of tangible and intangible heritage are affected by armed conflict, infrastructural development, regeneration processes. Participants will be given access to multimedia learning materials one week prior to the beginning of the workshop. For more info and to apply visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/development/dpu-summerlab or express your interest / send an enquiry to [email protected]