Design Studio (Two) Seven BA Architecture
David McEwen & Alicia Pivaro
David McEwen is a co-founder of architecture and research practice Unit 38, an architectural co-operative that works on community-led, socially-engaged projects emphasising collective ownership, autonomy and joy.
Alicia Pivaro is an urbanist, community activist and artist working across disciplines and using participation and radical thinking to inform methods of urban and social change. She is an advocate for neighbourhood planning and other examples of co-production of the city that work towards creating a more sustainable, equitable and lovely version of the world.
DS2.7: People’s Plan 2030
Students: Matthew Adey, Moza Alghurair, Seyada Ali, Ingrid Almcrantz, Katie Chan, Elena Delli Colli, Francisco Fernandes Badona, Ines Idoulahiane, Ozlem Incedal, Ritan Khan, Eleanor McSpadden, Lina Miah, Maame Oppong, Marianthi Pitikari, Grace Ramirez Ortega, Saif Dino Sanoufe, Leticia Siles Cupe, Kailin Tan, Edwin Zhou
“The Plan will start from our needs, rather than the developers’ profits .”
The People’s Plan for the Royal Docks, developed in 1983 by local residents and community members, proposed an alternative, bottom-up scheme – contesting the financialised and extractive model of development in the form of the City Airport, proposed by the London Docklands Development Corporation. The Peoples’ Plan emphasised the role of the commons – shared resources and amenities for all – furthering the role of communities in the developments that shaped their neighbourhoods, the power of local activism, and the importance of collective ownership.
On the 40th anniversary of the Peoples’ Plan, Studio 2.7 explored ideas for a People’s Plan for 2030 working with the original themes identified in the 1980s and incorporating the challenges identified in the 21st century.
Original Themes
Employment/Work; Transport; Housing; the Elderly; Childcare and Women’s Issues; Education and Recreation; Health.
Newly Recognised Challenges
Climate Crisis; Cost of Living Crisis including food, energy, rents, transport, insecure and low-paid jobs; Pollution; Mental and Physical Health; Urban and Global Inequality.
Studio 2.7 has created a new vision for 2030 for the Royal Docks where locals generate their own energy, food, jobs, building materials and homes; have access to safe civic and educational spaces for women, children, teens and the older population; and develop new cultural outputs grounded in the history and lives of people of the Docklands.
Guest Critics: Isabel Allen (Architecture Today), Lauren-Loïs Duah (Resolve Collective), Patrycja Dyląg, Alexandra Hopkins, Nicoletta Michaletos (Buro Happold), Deborah Saunt (DSDHA), Kaye Song (Assemble), Jane Tankard, Jerry Tate (Tate + Co), Emma Twine (DKCM)
Special thanks: Jamie Hignett, Jonah Luswata, Tinashé Mandimika, Mark Shtanov
Archive of DS2.7’s work from previous years:
