The role of drawing in the regeneration of urban spaces

Read, Howard (2019) The role of drawing in the regeneration of urban spaces. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This PhD project critically analyses processes of urban regeneration using drawing as a core research method. The methodology applies a synergy between drawing practice and theoretical writing about urban spaces, regeneration and the city. The project uses the contested regeneration of the Elephant and Castle in south east London as its primary case study. The area has an extensive historical visual record of urban change and redevelopment since the nineteenth century. The thesis integrates current theories and debates on drawing with urban regeneration. It is partly an account of the drawing process, what I have witnessed and how I recorded it, and how this relates to the theoretical aspects of the research. I have interlinked the multi-themed purposes and motivations behind urban regeneration, visual planning and the London imaginary in the thesis. Many aspects of the stages of urban regeneration have been under-observed, and official visual representations by developers and the local council dominate the flow of public information and perception of changes taking place. Through a location-based, heuristically positioned drawing practice I have sought to document the stages of destruction and renewal in the landscape and contextualise this within the discourses of historical and contemporary urban regeneration. My aim has been to use drawing as a campaigning tool and offer a visual counter-narrative to corporate and officially sanctioned visions. The project has taken a critical view of the market-driven approach and the loss of social housing. The existing literature does not combine these two methodologies and my intention has been to unite them through research into urban regeneration and my own drawing practice.