Abstract

This paper describes an inter-disciplinary project, Urban Research Belfast, which combines architecture and graphic design for pedagogic research and experiential urban design analysis in Belfast’s neglected urban edges. The paper first addresses an identified lack of effective collaborative skills amongst UK built-environment professionals, through supporting literature and precedents, and examines shared concepts of (dis)orientation and place- based storytelling as critical teaching and learning approaches to urban design.The paper then focuses on the development of an original shared pedagogic framework called T.A.L.K. (Teaching, Action, Learning and Knowledge), and the evaluation of a collaborative tool for urban design investigation, M.E.U.L (Machines for Experiential Urban Learning). MEUL adapts W.H.Whyte’s urbanist notion of triangulation as narrative-led experiments and events in ‘empty’ spaces to engage members of the public and local institutions in observations or conversations about these areas and the wider city. The research draws lessons about the potential of these local approaches to help designers investigate, reveal and reflect on more implicit place qualities and historical or cultural aspects of urban spaces. The paper then discusses the project’s relevance to improving the confidence and skills capacity of future designers to engage with professionals, communities, and policymakers.The paper concludes that tools like MEUL, which focus on socio-cultural narrative and open- ended ‘storytelling’ processes over discipline-specific solutions, play an important role in helping elicit higher levels of critical thinking in early-stage urban design processes, and promoting greater understanding from within rather than as an outsider. The research suggests the pedagogic lessons on creative collaboration are transferable to broader debates about place in architecture, planning and allied design disciplines; toward a more relevant, critical, and spatial place-making praxis that aspires to greater empathy with local needs and vision in urban design without necessarily sacrificing individual creative skills.