What's happening around cityLAB.
cityLAB’s Bruinhub featured for Melbourne 2023 Design Week
cityLAB was featured in Productive Disruptions for Melbourne Design Week. This exhibition presents the work of more than 20 creative practitioners from around the world that are working in ways to expand the apprehension and influence of their disciplines. Disruptive approaches are often stigmatized as troublesome or uncooperative, yet these non-traditional methods can be highly productive. They require an openness and re-working of expectations and ultimately they shift a status quo. Productive Disruptions is curated by Danielle Peck, Industry Fellow, Monash University, School of Art, Design & Architecture and is part of Melbourne Design Week 2023, an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with the NGV.
cityLAB IS HIRING - 2023/2024
cityLAB, an urban design research center housed within UCLA AUD, is seeking new collaborators for Summer 2023 and the 2023-24 Academic Year. This application is for continuing and incoming UCLA AUD students only. Now entering its 17th year, cityLAB’s wide range of projects situate and enact interventions for spatial justice in contemporary urban issues, urban design, and the architecture of the city. Graduate students will be automatically considered for all Research & Fellowship positions. Undergraduates will be considered only for the Undergraduate Fellowship. See the linked image above for details on positions. Apply here, or click the linked image above for a QR code, by May 15, 2023. For additional questions, contact citylab@aud.ucla.edu.
HOT OFF THE PRESS: ARCHITECTURES OF SPATIAL JUSTICE BY DANA CUFF
Organized around projects and topics, Architectures of Spatial Justice is a compelling blend of theory, history, and applied practice that focuses on two foundational conditions of architecture: its relation to the public and its dependence on capital. The book draws on studies of architectural projects from around the world, with instructive case studies from Chile, Mexico, Japan, and the United States that focus in particular on urban centers, where architecture is most directly engaged with social justice issues. Order from your bookseller of choice today.
THE GUARDIAN: “US TEACHERS GRAPPLE WITH A GROWING HOUSING CRISIS”
cityLAB’s Eduction Workforce Housing research received global attention in a Guardian article centered around how educators across the country are struggling with pay disparities and a widening housing and cost-of-living crisis. Our proposals and policies for housing equity stem from longstanding partnerships with the Center for Cities + Schools at UC Berkeley, the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, and the California School Boards Association (CSBA).
cityLAB WELCOMES ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DR. YANG YANG
Yang Yang is a graduate of the doctoral program in Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation investigates the commodity housing forms in post-socialist Shanghai, with a focus on the domestic interiors that epitomize the conflicts and reconciliations between the state’s will, market manipulations, and the awakening of individual desires. Her research interests are transnational urban studies from a media/cultural perspective to rethink the politics of form, particularly focusing on housing, 20th-century East Asia urbanism, and urban humanities.
cityLAB WELCOMES ACTIVIST-IN-RESIDENCE MARLENÉ NANCY LOPEZ
A public artist born and raised in MacArthur Park, Marlené activates art to serve communities specifically through muralism, storytelling, and multimedia. Since 2016, she has coordinated and participated in over eighty city-wide art activations and murals as a lead teaching artist with organizations such as HOLA, LA Commons, CHIRLA, GRYD, POV, City of Los Angeles, DCA, Barnsdall Arts, Art Share LA, and her own art collective CrewNative. Marlené is one of four 2023 UCLA Activists-in-Residence, hosted in partnership with the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy and Asian American Studies Center. Activists will be in residence from January through May.
AB 2295 IS LAW: cityLAB LEGISLATION STREAMLINES EDUCATION WORKFORCE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT STATEWIDE
On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed 38 housing bills into law - including our very own AB 2295: Education Workforce Housing Development, coauthored by Dana Cuff, Jane Blumenfeld, and introduced by Assemblymember Richard Bloom. AB 2295 streamlines the development of affordable and mixed income housing for teachers and support staff of California’s K-12 public schools on public land, opening opportunities for up to 2.3 million units of housing statewide. Talk about making work for architects!
THE BRUINHUB BEAN WINS RE-THINKING THE FUTURE AWARD
The Bean, our BruinHub napping and study pod, has been awarded First Award in Built Furniture Design from Re-Thinking the Future (RTF) Awards. Rethinking The Future Architecture Awards is a program that aims to raise awareness around the strategies Architects and Designers are employing to deal with the contemporary global challenges, and to bring the best of such projects into the light to inspire the future generations.
UC UAW ACADEMIC WORKER STRIKE | cityLAB SOLIDARITY STATEMENT
As a design research center, cityLAB-UCLA knows the value of graduate student, post-doc, and academic researchers' labor, and the strength of their commitments to the UC system and its students. These values are not commensurately reflected in the unfair bargaining and economic vulnerability that UC employees represented by UAW2865, UAW5810, and SRU-UAW are subject to, and we join calls from across the UC system to equitably support these researchers. At cityLAB, our researchers are not only staff: they are field leaders; they embody the UC's EDI principals through their research foci, methods, and lived experiences; and they are often at the forefront of both student and broader social movements in LA. Like so many centers and departments in the UC system, cityLAB works because our researchers do. Our state-wide successes in enabling new housing legislation, establishing basic needs hubs for housing insecure UCLA students, and highlighting urban inequity while designing paths forward are made possible by the immense and irreplaceable research efforts of graduate students and academic researchers, without whom our work would lack public impact or relevance. Yet, we hear every day about their struggle to meet basic needs; their struggle to find a place to live in one of the most expensive rental markets in the country; and their growing responsibilities in educating the students of tomorrow and running world-class research without commensurate respect or protections.
We echo our colleagues in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance: "If UCLA and the UC in general are to remain desirable places to study as students, then they must also be places that are desirable for employment, particularly when so many students depend on campus employment to make their education possible." For UC research centers like our own to continue to produce impactful and transformative work, the UCs must agree to fairly employ and compensate academic researchers at all levels.
cityLAB joins calls for UCLA and the University of California to bargain proactively and in good faith to avoid the strike deadline. Should UC continue to refuse academic researcher demands, cityLAB continues to pledge support to our many employees and students represented by UAW2865, UAW5810, and SRU-UAW; and will proudly stand in solidarity with these core members of our team.
Signed,
Rayne Laborde Ruiz, Associate Director - cityLAB-UCLA
Gustavo Leclerc, Associate Director - cityLAB-UCLA Urban Humanities Initiative & Lecturer - UCLA Urban Planning
Dana Cuff, Director - cityLAB-UCLA & Professor, UCLA AUD
cityLAB RECEIVES UCLA PROGRAMMATIC SUPPORT
We are proud to announce that UCLA, through Dr. Roger Wakimoto's Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Creative Activities, has granted programmatic support to our team as we transition to the next phase of cityLAB. This generous support follows director Dr. Dana Cuff’s UCLA Public Impact Research Award and will help sustain cityLAB’s core operations at UCLA, in Westlake, and in leading the Urban Humanities Initiative.
INTRODUCING: PATHWAYS TO AUTONOMY
As young people encounter the urban streetscape free of parental supervision, their walking patterns provide context for planners to understand safety considerations. Youth carry mental maps of local sidewalk ecologies that include lighting, shade, traffic, vendors, and other information that shapes their routes. cityLAB’s newest project, in partnership with HOLA and LADOT and funded by the Statewide Transportation Research Program will offer insights for walkable, engaging urban design futures for the next generation.
CREATING COMMON GROUND TEAM PUBLISHES NEW ARTICLE IN THE JOURNAL OF PUBLIC SPACE
In ““We should all feel welcome to the park”: Intergenerational Public Space and Universal Design in Disinvested Communities,” cityLAB and Lewis Center researchers Gus Wendel, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Claire Nelischer and Gibson Bastar share their findings and future research goals after a year of fieldwork in Westlake-MacArthur Park.
DIRECTOR DANA CUFF RECEIVES HONORARY DOCTORATE FROM LUND UNIVERSITY
Dr. Dana Cuff has been named one of three global leaders to receive an Honorary Doctorate this year from Lund University's Faculty of Engineering (LTH) in Sweden. Lund's Honorary Doctorate program honors leading researchers, thinkers, and professionals with demonstrated prowess in research and education, as well as significant contributions to industry and society. Cuff joins a small circle of designers who have been bestowed this honor, including Danish architect and industrial designer Arne Jacobson and British architect Peter Cook.
cityLAB WINS INAUGURAL UCLA PUBLIC IMPACT AWARD
On June 3rd, 2022, the cityLAB team accepted the inaugural Public Impact Award from Chancellor Gene Block on behalf of our Director, Dr. Dana Cuff. The Public Impact Research Award, co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research & Creative Activities (ORCA) and the Centennial Celebration for UCLA, recognizes cityLAB’s commitment to spatial justice interventions on the campus, regional, and state level.
cityLAB, an urban design research center housed within UCLA AUD, is seeking new collaborators for Summer 2022 and the 2022-23 Academic Year. This application is for continuing and incoming UCLA AUD students only. Applications end Monday, May 9th. Click the link to apply.
ANNOUNCING “THE FUTURE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT”
Our newest report, in collaboration with the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Terner Center for Housing Innovation, uses scenario planning to posit four possible futures for California. We find that prevention, preservation, and production each play a crucial role in addressing the housing crisis in a sustainable, equitable, and efficient manner.
EDUCATION WORKFORCE HOUSING LEADS SCANPH’S MARCH POLICY DIGEST
Schools have the land and legislation to build housing for teachers and support staff desperately in need of affordability - read to learn our recommendations for districts, policy makers, and developers.
WHERE MIGHT TEACHER HOUSING WORK?
A blog post from the Center for Cities + Schools elaborates on findings from our Education Workforce Housing: Developing the 21st Century Campus report on the need for affordable housing for teachers and school staff.
STRUGGLING TO LIVE IN THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE
A recent blog post from the Terner Center elaborates on findings from our Education Workforce Housing: Developing the 21st Century Campus report on the need for affordable housing for teachers and school staff. The analysis is paired with an interactive mapping tool showing district-by-district teacher incomes and housing unaffordability across the state.
ANNOUNCING: EDUCATION WORKFORCE HOUSING IN CALIFORNIA: DEVELOPING THE 21ST CENTURY CAMPUS REPORT + HANDBOOK
Every county in California has public land to build housing for teachers and school staff. Education Workforce Housing in California: Developing the 21st Century Campus, a report and companion handbook, provides a comprehensive overview of the potential for land owned by school districts to be designed and developed for teachers and other employees.
cityLAB ANNUAL REPORT 2021
As we wrap up the year, we take a look back at all the projects we worked on and continue to work on. From completed project like BruinHub to ongoing ones like Cal100, see what cityLAB is all about.
ANNOUNCING: CREATING COMMON GROUND REPORT
Our coLAB research team, in collaboration with the UCLA Lewis Center, wrapped up a year’s worth of research looking into the limits and potentialities for intergenerational use of public space in the Westlake/MacArthur Park Neighborhood of Los Angeles. The team used interdisciplinary methods including in-depth interviews, focus groups, thick mapping, and participatory design (conducted in English, Spanish, and Korean) to assess each park’s social and spatial characteristics and the desired amenities and uses of youth and older adults.
NEW HIRES
cityLAB welcomes Rayne Laborde to her new role as Associate Director of cityLAB and Louie Leiva as our Assistant Director of Community Design Research!
BRUINHUB FEATURED IN THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
Our recently opened BruinHub is featured on LA Times. Read more to learn about how this multi-year research & coalition building project is serving housing-insecure commuter students.
AUG 13 3:30 - 8PM | GRIEVING SUN MURAL DEBUT | MACARTHUR PARK
Our very own 2023 Activist-in-Residence Marlené Nancy Lopez, public artist, will be debuting the Grieving Sun Mural at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park on Sunday, Aug 13, 3:30 - 4 pm, with indigenous-infused concert and programming at 5-8 pm during this year’s Mundo Maya Day. Please join this special event to dedicate this mural to the community and the debut of this public grieving space.
JUNE 1, 6 PM | BOOK LAUNCH: ARCHITECTURES OF SPATIAL JUSTICE
Join cityLAB and AUD to celebrate our very own Dana Cuff and her latest book, Architectures of Spatial Justice -- a field-defining work that demonstrates how architects are breaking with professional conventions to advance spatial justice and design more equitable buildings and cities. The interactive celebration will be held in Perloff Hall on Thurs, Jun 1, at 6:00 pm. Please join us to celebrate this huge moment!
MAY 15 - 19 | GRIEVING SUN MURAL DEBUT | PERLOFF HALL
Our very own 2023 Activist-in-Residence Marlené Nancy Lopez, public artist, will be debuting a new project May 15-19 in the Perloff Hall Courtyard. The Grieving Sun Mural will later be installed in MacArthur Park as a collective memory for the lost and struggles of the community, and as guidance through grief to joy and as a site for community programming, reflection, and ceremonies. Visit the mural any time during the week, or join Wednesday May 17 at 4:30 pm for the opening, and 5-6pm same day and Thursday May 18, 12-7 PM, for artist and community-member led activation events.
MARCH 2, 6 PM | “GROUND-TRUTHING THE CITY WITH MIKE”
Alongside UCLA Department of Urban Planning and Luskin School of Public Affairs faculty organizers honoring Mike Davis, cityLAB director Dana Cuff recollected “Ground-truthing the city with Mike.” A colleague, collaborator, teacher, mentor, and friend to many at cityLAB and UCLA, Mike Davis was the author of City of Quartz, Late Victorian Holocausts, Buda’s Wagon, Planet of Slums, Old Gods, New Enigmas, and the co-author of Set the Night on Fire. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award. The event recording is viewable here.
FEBRUARY 8 | ACROSS TOWN, ACROSS THE POND: UCLA-AA-USC CHARRETTE
As part of their critical studies seminar “Research in Practice: Design Studies at cityLAB and Beyond,” Rayne Laborde Ruiz and Dana Cuff coordinated a design charrette and series of tours for 40 students investigating cooperative and collaborative student housing, alongside USC’s Sascha Delz, AA’s Francesco Zuddas & Jon Lopez, Materials & Applications’ Kate Yeh Chiu, and Maura Chen. Tours of The Opportunity House and the UCHA Co-op connected theory to praxis in our own backyard. Learn more
FEBRUARY 15, 6:30-8 PM | LUSKIN LECTURE: KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR
Scholar, author, and activist, Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor of Northwestern University will present a UCLA Luskin Lecture reflecting her work around Black politics, social movements and racial inequality. Seeking to inspire attendees to think about their collective futures and refuse what Taylor has referred to as "housing under capitalism," Cheryl I. Harris of UCLA Law and Marques Vestal of UCLA Urban Planning will join Taylor in a discussion moderated by Professor Ananya Roy. Join us for this exciting event - RSVP required.
JANUARY 31, 4-6 | UCLA ACTIVIST-IN-RESIDENCE WELCOME RECEPTION
With a shared commitment to “turn the university inside out” and invite artists, community organizers, and movement leaders to undertake power-shifting scholarship and pedagogy focused on social change, the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and cityLAB-UCLA are pleased to announce Steve Diaz, Melissa Acedera, Josiah Edwards, and Marlené Nancy Lopez as the 2023 UCLA Activists-in-Residence. Join us to welcome them in an open reception. Register in advance here.
NOVEMBER 18, 3-4:30 | FOSTERING INTERGENERATIONAL PUBLIC SPACES
Join Assistant Director Gus Wendel, UHI Core Faculty member Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, and cityLAB team members Chris Giamarino and Claire Nelischer for a PSRG Network Event, Fostering Intergenerational Public Spaces in Disinvested Neighborhoods. They will discuss the potential for intergenerational public spaces, urban humanist methods for working with youth and older adults, and insights gleaned for more inclusive public spaces and collaboration opportunities between typically marginalized groups. Register in advance here.
JANUARY 12 | BRUINHUB STRATHMORE SOFT OPENING
UCLA’s new basic needs center, including a second BruinHub, had a soft opening at the Strathmore Building on January 12, 2023. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Monroe Gorden Jr. attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony and delivered speeches emphasizing the significance of ensuring every Bruin's obtainability of their basic needs resources on campus. Further design and implementation at BruinHub Strathmore will provide a safe and comfortable space for students to rest and relax, opening soon.
OCTOBER 2, 12-4 | MAKE SPACE WITH (UN)COMMON PUBLIC SPACE
The (Un)Common Public Space group invites you to MAKE SPACE at the West LA Civic Center. Bring your own chair to enjoy live music and food from West LA Farmers Market vendors while learning about the West LA Civic Center from the LA Conservancy. Skatepark Project will host a skate contest and the (Un)Common Public Space group, a collection of UHI alumni and cityLAB collaborators focused on activating public space in pursuit of spatial justice, will host an interactive art experience.
SEPTEMBER 23 | REFLECTIONS IN LAFAYETTE PARK: FLUIDITY
Join Heart of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Public Library, and artist Nery Gabriel Lemus in celebrating the first of many community interventions at the Felipe de Neve Branch Library in Lafayette Park, supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The event runs from 4-5 PM and will feature a weaving workshop with HOLA Artist Marlene Nancy Lopez.
JUNE 11 | COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER: AKANA JAYEWARDENE
Graduating architecture student and 2020-2021 cityLAB Fellow Akana Jayewardene was selected as the 2022 commencement speaker for the UCLA School of Arts & Architecture.
JUNE 6-12 | VISIT THE RUMBLE READING ROOM
To celebrate our first in-person RUMBLE since 2019, cityLAB is hosting a RUMBLE Reading Room in the studio space. Stop by to peruse our publications as well as work from xLAB, POOL, Urban Humanities, ArcDR3, and A.UD faculty including Ayala Levin, Georgina Huljich, Neil Denari, Yara Feghali, and more.
JUNE 7 | UCLA A.UD AWARDS NIGHT
Join cityLAB and the entire A.UD community for the conclusion of RUMBLE and the 2021-22 academic year, awards night. We will announce next year’s cityLAB Graduate and Undergraduate Fellows, as well as the Urban Humanities Initiative Fellow, at 6 PM.
MAY 18 | WILL DAVIS IN SAH DAVID B. BROWNLEE DISSERTATION AWARD ROUNDTABLE
After winning the prestigious Society of Architectural Historians David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award, cityLAB alum Dr. Will Davis will present his dissertation, “Palm Politics: Warfare, Folklore, Architecture” in a recorded roundtable discussion at 10 AM CST.
APRIL 18 | “MAKE IT HAPPEN!”
Join Dana Cuff, cityLAB Senior Fellow Jane Blumenfeld, and SCANPH’s Arianna Jukes to discuss how architects can influence state policy - even by writing it. The discussion will include critical moments in cityLAB’s past AB2299 (for ADUs), current AB2295 (for Education Workforce Housing), and the forthcoming United to House LA ballot initiative, and will touch on processes of initiating, drafting, testing, and building constituencies. Join us from 12 - 1 PM on Monday, April 18 in Perloff Hall’s DeCafe.
APRIL 11 | RETHINKING THE ARCHITECTURE OF SOCIAL HOUSING
Dana Cuff will be lecturing on spatial justice and housing at the Carlos Museum Ackerman Hall at Emory College of Arts and Sciences. Click here to register and join the lecture via Zoom.
MARCH 29 | CALIFORNIA 100 SCENARIOS FOR CALIFORNIA’S FUTURE
cityLAB, the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation will launch our report on Housing & Community Development on Tuesday, March 29 as part of the California 100 initiative, a new statewide effort involving California's infrastructure future. All California 100 research partners will discuss their findings and possible scenarios for the future in an online panel discussion. Register HERE.
JANUARY 19 | PARTNERSHIP MODELS FOR INCREASING PARK ACCESS
Parks provide opportunities for people to be physically active, spend time in nature, and connect socially with others. Yet over half of Los Angeles County’s population live in neighborhoods without access to parks and open space with the majority of high-need areas being concentrated in low-income communities of color. Click on the link to watch the recorded talk.
OCTOBER 25 | DEMO DEMO OPENS AT THE PERLOFF GALLERY
Mark your calendars! cityLAB's upcoming exhibition, Demo Demo, features new work on housing, open space, resilience, material transformations, and more from our initiatives and the work of UCLA A.UD faculty. Join us for the opening on Monday, October 25 at 6 PM at the Perloff Gallery.
SEPTEMBER 23, 5 PM | BRUINHUB OPENS FOR STUDENTS
Join cityLAB at the John Wooden Center for the grand opening of the BruinHub.
JUNE 24-25 | DESIGN FOR DIGNITY
Join Dana Cuff and other industry leaders in AIA LA’s 6th annual Design For Dignity conference which highlights best practices and highlight the work of architects, contractors, housing developers, clients, funders, and service providers delivering housing and supportive services to peoples and communities throughout the region.
This year’s conference includes a new element: a series of 10-minute ‘deep dives’ (20 individual short talks in all) that showcase built projects and successfully implemented programs (and coalitions), from which we can learn more about what’s working well and identify specific areas where we need to improve processes, procedures, and outcomes.
Register HERE.
Possible Worlds Lecture Series
MAY 6 | POSSIBLE WORLDS FEATURING ALEJANDRO ARAVENA & DANA CUFF
Possible Worlds is a partnership between the UCLA Division of Humanities and the Los Angeles–based Berggruen Institute. Next Thursday, May 6, from 11-noon PT, UCLA AUD Professor Dana Cuff will be moderating a discussion with Alejandro Aravena, architect and founder/executive director of the firm Elemental. Register HERE.
cityLAB Opens House
OCTOBER 20 | CITYLAB OPENS HOUSE
October 20th, 2020 we hosted a three-part event about activism in design. The event began with a guided gallery tour of cityLAB’s most provocative current projects, exhibited in a virtual Perloff Hall. A conversation among civic leaders was followed by a panel of architects who practice principles of spatial justice. At the close, attendees were invited to roam independently through the exhibition. View the seminar recordings here.
Broadcast with AirTalk
Check out this recent broadcast featuring Dana Cuff with AirTalk discussing how COVID-19 could prompt change and innovation in offices, homes, and cities. Link to the broadcast here.
cityLAB on instagram
cityLAB tweets
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Thank you Gus!! https://t.co/2mAXH5h6Yy -
Architectures of Spatial Justice by @danacuff is out @mitpress — wait no more!! https://t.co/KBw2DwWR3w
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RT @ChallengeIneq: Thrilled to see @UCLA Magazine's cover story feat. the #UCLA Activist-in-Residence program🔥Grateful to keep learnin… https://t.co/lYv0i7fUko
Past Headlines
08/01/2020 - Former cityLAB fellow, Per-Johan Dahl, on BIHOME
The global pandemic has put into question how urban planning and ADUs can provide a greater resilience to future outbreaks, writes Dr. Per Johan Dahl.
07/19/2021 - cityLAB joins California 100 to envision our future
What is the future of housing in California? In partnership with the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, cityLAB is continuing to expand our vision of innovative, sustainable, and equitable housing solutions statewide. Housing and Community Development is one of 13 research categories funded by the new California 100 Initiative, which seeks to produce a transformative guiding vision for our state’s next century. We are excited to bring design research and community engaged planning to this landmark project, which will be publicly available by year’s end.
05/04/2021 - Reflections in Lafayette Park
With our community partners at HOLA and the Los Angeles Public Library, coLAB is embarking on a multi-year partnership to “reinvigorate a neglected garden in the middle of our city.” Reflections in Lafayette Park, which was awarded a prestigious NEH Planning Grant, will return the space behind the historic Felipe De Neve Branch Library in Lafayette Park to active community use through interdisciplinary humanities programming. Events and installations will be enacted through our research and collaborations with community artists and curators.
06/13/2021 - cityLAB is back IRL!
After more than a year and a half apart, the cityLAB team is back in person. We’re welcoming new faces and new initiatives this summer but most importantly our continued efforts in reimagining urban space is stronger than ever!
Follow along with us as we continue to share the brilliant work happening at cityLAB, The Urban Humanities Initiative, and coLAB.
12/23/2020 - Spectrum News 1 - Vision 2021: The Future of SoCal
BruinHUB and the Study Bean prototype were featured in Spectrum News 1’s “Vision 2021: The Future of SoCal.” The segment features an updated interview with super-commuting Bruin Christian Durán, whose experiences contributed to our 2019 exhibition Fitting In: Fitting Out and the clear need for more spaces and services for students with extreme commutes; prototype testing with commuting student representatives; and Dana Cuff on why we need design for spatial justice throughout LA. Watch via Spectrum to learn more:
06/21/2021 - Bruin Hub : 1st Study Pod prototype installed.
We recently installed the first prototype of a full scale “study pod” in the John Wooden Center. This is the first of a series of pods that can be deployed across campus or stacked on top of one another. The study pod is designed as a spot for commuting students to study, rest, nap, and wait out traffic.
05/28/2021 - Collaborations to Support Educational Housing: Serving the Needs of California's Underserved Community Collge Students
Earlier this year, SCANPH, invited cityLAB to participate in a series of roundtable discussions producing a subsequent report exploring the barriers and potential opportunities to build affordable housing for vulnerable and/or underserved students on community college land.
05/28/2021 - Structural Changes: How the Pandemic could Influence Architecture
In a virtual roundtable discussion, Natasha Sandmeier and professors Dana Cuff and Greg Lynn weigh in on how the practice may evolve in the aftermath of the pandemic. Check out the article here!
05/28/2021 - Explore coLAB
The expansion of Urban Humanities into the lived fabric of the City of Los Angeles is a logical step, given the increased centrality in all our efforts of spatial justice, community engagement, and public impact. The neighborhood has welcomed coLAB into its midst, where all research will be undertaken with community partners, will be guided toward opening futures with greater spatial justice, and will hold lessons for other cities. coLAB, a model of the next generation of embedded, collaborative, and in situ urban humanities research, is headed by Dr. Gustavo Leclerc, Academic Administrator of the Urban Humanities Initiative.
05/28/2021 - cityLAB is Hiring for the 2021-22 year!
cityLAB, an urban design research center housed within UCLA AUD, is seeking new collaborators for Summer 2021 and the 2021-22 Academic Year.
11/13/2020 - Providing hubs for students experiencing housing-insecurity only short-term fix!
DailyBruin quotes Gus Wendel in the article, Providing hubs for Students experiencing housing-insecurity only short term fix!
05/28/2020 - Architecture as Demonstration: Design for the Long Games
In collaboration with the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design and the Helms Design Center, please join us Thursday, May 28th 4pm PST for a lecture and live discussion with Dana Cuff. The topic will be Architecture as Demonstration: Design for the Long Game.
05/01/2020 - cityLAB Undergraduate Fellow 2020-21 position open to apply!
cityLAB’s Undergraduate Fellow 2020-2021 position is open to apply! We’re looking for undergraduate architecture students interested in architecture and urban research. Check out this link for more application details, eligibility, and requirements.
04/03/2020 - InterActions LA: Uplifting Women’s Safety in Transportation
UCLA Lewis center for Regional Policy Studies’ upcoming event, InterActions LA: Uplighting Women’s Safety in Transportation, will discuss the opportunities to improve safety for women, girls and other vulnerable populations as they travel throughout the Los Angeles region. Fears shouldn’t be the status quo for anyone - so what are the solutions?
03/09/2020 - Humane Infrastructures
This event considers how we can build more humane infrastructures, and how we can build capacity for humanistic/human/humane to take a lead in responding to societal challenges and complex processes. Our core faculty, Dana Cuff and Todd Presner, joins many other participants coming from the humanities and related fields to look at ‘activating’ frameworks, methods and approaches from the humanities.
03/03/2020 - Housing: S, M, L, XL Symposium
Join Woodbury School of Architecture for our spring symposium, HOUSING: S,M,L,XL featuring Dana Cuff, Christopher Hawthorne, Barbara Bestor, Michael Maltzan and moderated by Madeleine Brand. This symposium addresses the challenges of building housing across scales, and is free and open to the public. This symposium takes place on Tuesday, March 3 at 5pm at the Fletcher Jones Auditorium.
02/21/2020 - Forensic Architecture: Socialising Evidence by Eyal Weizman
Check out this part two lecture of the lecture series. “Evidence and Human Rights in a Post-Truth World: A Multidisciplinary Symposium” that takes place on February 21st, 5pm at UCLA James Bridges Theater (1409 Melnitz Hall)! This part-two lecture explores the politics, aesthetics, affect, and interpretation of geospatial images as well as the architectures of knowledge production and the challenges that emerge when using these technologies.
02/18/2020 - Failure of Senate Bill 50 represents a step backward for affordable housing
DailyBruin quotes Gus Wendel in the article, Failure of Senate Bill 50 represents a step backward for affordable housing !
12/10/2019 - Documentary: "Vision 2030" Explores the Future of SoCal
Featuring Dana Cuff, the recent Spectrum News 1 documentary Vision 2030: The Future of SoCal explores how Southern California’s landscape will be different by 2030. Issues including housing, transportation, social justice, employment, and the environment are discussed to predict the impacts on future SoCal communities. Watch the documentary here!
12/01/2019 - Living in the 21st Century Schoolyard
Living in the 21st Century Schoolyard is a report on an ongoing research about the feasibility of siting affordable housing on public schoolyards. The research attempts to reveal hidden housing sites to combat the housing crisis, especially among students.
11/26/2019 - 2020 ARCC James Haecker Award for Distinguished Leadership in Architectural Research
ARCC James Haecker Award for Distinguished Leadership in Architectural Research honors Dana Cuff, who has made outstanding contributions to the growth of research in architecture and related fields, including urban and regional planning, landscape architecture, and interior design.
10/08/2019 - Next City: Dana Cuff on Backyard Houses
Dana Cuff talks with Next City about cityLAB’s work and involvement in affordable housing policies in California. The interview further addresses Los Angeles’ doubling density and the role of architects approaching the housing crisis. Read Next City’s conversation with Dana Cuff here!
10/02/2019 - DailyBruin Covers cityLAB's Work on Affordable Housing
DailyBruin covers Dana Cuff’s award for affordable housing and mentions cityLAB in an opinion piece calling for informal housing alternatives.
09/11/2019 - Dana Cuff Talks Technology, Smart Cities, and Surveillance on The Midnight Charette
Dana Cuff joins David and Marina on The Midnight Charette to discuss the challenges of changing state policies, combining urban design and research, why smart architecture hasn’t quite revolutionized the design world, life stories of orange groves and living in Sweden, and more!
09/06/2019 - Architectural Record Honors Dana Cuff as one of the Five Women Architecture for 2019
Dana Cuff is one of the five winners of Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture Award, which recognizes leaders for their activism in architectural design and leadership.
09/01/2019 - "My Commute is Hell"
Extreme commutes play a part of the larger affordable housing crisis affecting UCLA students. This recent publication unpacks the nature and causes of extreme commuting, and raises potential solutions that can accommodate students seeking housing needs.
07/12/2019 - Dana Cuff Comments on Miracle Mile Makeover
Dana Cuff, professor of architecture, urban design and urban planning, commented in a Los Angeles Times story on a number of new and updated cultural venues — including museums and a Metro Purple Line station — set to open in the early 2020s in the western portion of L.A.’s Miracle Mile
07/08/2019 - Big Data for Justice Summer Institute
This past summer, students in the Big Data for Justice Summer Institute used digital tools to explore and present urban issues as they relate to criminal justice in Los Angeles. Students examined urbanism and spatial equity in the context of Los Angeles through spatial technologies that can be deployed to research and document urban experiences.
04/24/2019 - Urban Humanities Institute Alumni Group Hosts Second Annual Exhibition+Symposium
May 24-26, Salon 02 Exhibition & Symposium is coming to UCLA's Perloff Hall. This year’s Salon will critically and creatively engage the idea of the “plan” in and across our various disciplines. RSVP for the Friday Launch and for the Saturday Symposium.
03/26/2019 - Alysia Bennett, Dana Cuff, and Gus Wendel publish an article about California's Backyard Housing Boom in TAD
In an effort to address California’s affordable housing shortage, lawmakers recently passed statewide legislation removing barriers to the development of accessory dwelling units (ADU). Through interviews conducted with emerging ADU service providers in Los Angeles, this paper identifies how digital technologies and regulatory change are enabling emergent forms of practice and production for addressing a significant housing shortage. Specifically, it asks what role digital technologies may play in facilitating the mass production of affordable housing in the post-suburban city.
03/19/2019 - The Growing NIMBY Movement
While NIMBY (an acronym for the phrase “Not in My Backyard”) has become a common position, rising housing costs have spurred a new grassroots YIMBY movement, whose members favor development, density, and accessibility. YIMBY activist Sonja Trauss, housing advocate and Abode Communities president Robin Hughes, and moderator Dana Cuff of UCLA cityLAB discuss the intersection of class and economic issues surrounding urban development.
03/01/2019 - cityLAB and SCANPH examine the feasibility of developing on-campus housing for homeless LACCD students
In an effort to combat high levels of student homelessness and housing insecurity cityLAB and SCANPH study the feasibility of developing affordable housing on underutilized parcels of land owned by LACCD. This report is to inform District leadership and relevant stakeholders with a basic but detailed overview of why, how, and where such residential developments could proceed.
02/26/2019 - Rice Architecture Tête - à -Tête : Interview with Dana Cuff
Dana Cuff discusses how she has drawn from her own education to inform her approach to architectural education, how her work at cityLAB pulls architecture, urban design and sustainability together and how these practices can be influential all over the world.
12/18/2018 - "What's the Buzz" Furniture on display at UCLA School of Arts and Architecture Opening
#WhatstheBuzz furniture was on display at the annual @UCLAarts party. The design and construction of the optical acoustical furniture was led by architect and artist Gabriel Fries-Briggs in collaboration with Remap, @cityLABucla and @UCLA_AUD students.
09/13/2018 - BuzzFeed features cityLAB in 11 ways UCLA tackles the challenges of tomorrow
With topics ranging from lifesaving gene-therapy procedures to transforming pollutants into building materials, Buzzfeed discusses 11 ways how UCLA is using cutting-edge technology to rise above some of the biggest hurdles of the future.
06/01/2018 - cityLAB Receives Two National Awards for Affordable Housing
cityLAB was awarded two national awards for its work related to affordable housing. The American Institute of Architects awarded cityLAB the "Small Projects Award" for the BI(h)OME, an experimental prototype lightweight accessory dwelling unit. Read more here.
cityLAB, along with partners LA MÁS and Mayor Eric Garcetti's Innovation Lab, was the recipient of the Fast Company World Changing Ideas award for their project that aims to streamline the process by which residents can conceive of and build an ADU. Read more here.
4/18/2018 - Learn about cityLAB summer institute
Professor Todd Presner leads an Info Session on the 2018 edition of the cityLAB Summer Institute. If you’re interested to learn about innovative ways to deploy tech and design thinking to research, analyze and transform the city of Los Angeles, this course might be for you. This intensive summer course is open to community college, undergraduate and graduate students around the world. Application closes soon.
More info here.
4/12/2018 - UHI students present final CDMX Projects
Students from the current UHI cohort presented final works from their spring fieldwork in Mexico City to fellow UCLA colleagues. Check out their work here!
4/09/2018 - LA's Bold Plan to Pack its Backyards with More Housing
cityLAB, along with collaborators at LA-Más and Mayor Eric Garcetti's Innovation Team, is making it easier to build backyard homes in Los Angeles and across California.
More info here.
3/20/2018 - Dr. Aaron Cayer Appointed to Tenure-Track Teaching Position
cityLAB’s Senior Research Associate, Dr. Aaron Cayer, who has worked at cityLAB since 2012, has been appointed as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Architectural History at the University of New Mexico, where he will begin teaching in the Fall of 2018. To continue to follow Aaron’s post-cityLAB teaching and research link here.
01/01/2018 - cityLAB Hosts Makes UCLA Magazine Cover Story
UCLA Magazine reports on some of cityLAB's projects and procedures in the cover story for the latest issue.
Access the press release and learn more about this publication by clicking here.
10/17/2017 - "Act Like An Architect" - Dana Cuff publishes in POOL
cityLAB's Dana Cuff delivers a political call to action for architects in the second issue of the A.UD student journal, Pool: http://www.pool-la.com/cuff-act-like-an-architect
10/16/2017 - NPR's Marketplace features cityLAB on issue of affordable housing and ADUs
“There’s a lot of free land in the city, and it’s in people’s backyards.” Check out the full article and national broadcast by NPR’s Marketplace, featuring cityLAB's Dana Cuff on the issue of affordable housing and the new California ADU bill: https://www.marketplace.org/2017/10/16/world/california-law-relaxes-backyard-building-rules-ease-housing-crisis
8/06/2017 - cityLAB Co-Authors CA Assembly Bill 2299
Ensuring that accessory dwelling units, or backyard homes, can be built on more single-family lots throughout California, the bill will increase neighborhood environmental benefits, stability, and affordability.
8/02/2017 - cityLAB Publishes Guidebook to Constructing an ADU in Los Angeles
Building an ADU - Guidebook To Accessory Dwelling Units In The City Of Los Angeles
The ADU guidebook was produced in conjunction with AB2299, the land use bill that makes it much easier to build an accessory dwelling unit in the state of California. This guidebook helps you to get started and to prepare the basic information you will need to give the City (at the Dept. of City Planning and the Dept. of Building and Safety), your lender, your designer, and your contractor. When you have taken photographs, measured your backyard, and sketched your idea for an ADU, as this guidebook illustrates, you will be well on your way.
Access the press release and learn more about this publication by clicking here.
7/28/2017 - cityLAB's Dana Cuff interviewed by Curbed LA
Curbed LA interviewed Professor Cuff on gentrification and "how to be a good neighbor" in Los Angeles: https://la.curbed.com/2017/7/28/16053522/gentrification-definition-boyle-heights
7/3/2017 - LA Tech City Summer Institute Begins
UHI launched its first-ever undergraduate summer institute: “LA Tech City”. Students will spend the next three weeks investigating ‘spatial justice and injustice’ in the multi-ethnic city through the lens of three thematic technologies that have literally built and transformed LA into a global metropolis: cars and highways; networking technologies culminating in the internet and World Wide Web; and film and broadcast media.
6/18/2017 - UHI Publishes Ghost Guides to Tokyo 2020
These nine pamphlets offer an alternative reading of nine sites in Tokyo, so that those who come in 2020 will see beyond the Olympic spectacle to its ghosts and monsters.
6/17/2017 - UHI Tokyo Cohort Presents Final Projects and Celebrates Graduation
The students from 2016-17 present their final projects and are awarded a graduate certificate in the Urban Humanities.
4/9/2017 - cityLAB, times 10 Exhibition Closes
The cityLAb, times 10 exhibition at the A + D museum provoked debate about the way forward for LA.
3/24/2017 - The Urban Humanities Initiative Visits Tokyo During Spring Break
UHI students and faculty take off for ten days of intensive field work in Tokyo. Building off their investigations of urban and cultural erasure in Los Angeles, students will apply their toolkit of field-based and scholarly practices in Tokyo proper, focusing on the erasure for Tokyo of the 1964 Olympics and the future archeology of the 2020 Olympics. UHI students will collaborate with students from Waseda University on their research endeavors.
10/28/2016 - cityLAB forms UC-LA Partnership
cityLAB is partnering with LA city agencies and UCLA departments to implement a new project series that engages urban issues in Los Angeles. In our inaugural meeting, we came together to discuss precedents, ideas and feasibility of potential projects. The criteria for the project includes implementation in one year, a transformational nature, replicability, and engagement of community stakeholders. We believe that collaboration across disciplines, agencies, and jurisdictions will allow us to create a multifaceted project that addresses the changing needs of Los Angeles in the 21st century.
5/18/2016 - BIHOME Wins Design Merit Award from the Westside Urban Forum
The Backyard BIHOME recently won a "Design Merit Award" from the Westside Urban Forum in the category of Plans/Public Policy!
The BIHOME project, designed and built by AUD faculty member Kevin Daly, cityLAB,and AUD graduate students, continues with two further versions. The original BIHOME is being repurposed as an elementary school outdoor classroom and a new, fully-habitable version will be built in the City of Los Angeles as a backyard home demonstration project.
To learn more about this project, visit the BI(h)OME website.
04/01/2016 - Dana Cuff and Aaron Cayer Published in Ardeth
Dr. Aaron Cayer and Dr. Dana Cuff of cityLAB were both published in Ardeth's second issue aimed at grasping the socio-material dimension of architectural practice. Check out our publications page to read their articles.
Acess Publications here.
3/15/2016 - BIHOME Selected as a Finalist for Two Architizer A+ Awards
cityLAB's Backyard BIHOME has been selected as a finalist in the Architizer A+ Awards in the category for Concepts - Architecture + Low Cost Housing!
3/19/2016 - The Urban Humanities Initiative Visits Mexico City During Spring Break
UHI students and faculty travelled to Mexico City over spring break to conduct ten days of intensive field research. During the trip, students collaborated with three local organizations, Casa Gallina, Laboratorio Para La Ciudad, and LIGA (special thanks to Carmen Cuenca, Michael Krichman, Gabriella Gomez-Mont, Wonne Ickx). These collaborations will drive the UHI projects, which aim to imagine how interventions in the cultural and physical landscape of Mexico City might address challenges of spatial justice.
3/17/2016 - cityLAB visits Jet Propulsion Laboratory for Workshop on Designing Workspaces for 'Deep Think'
With the workday punctuated by constant meetings, attention distracted by steady digital communication, and the 24/7 workflow made possible by mobile technology, it is increasingly difficult to find the time and space for heads-down, concentrated, disconnected work. cityLAB has partnered with Jet Propulsion Laboratory to conduct research on these barriers to productivity and discover the ways in which the physical environment at JPL can be designed to overcome them.
cityLAB gathered a group of UCLA architects and technology design experts (Marta Nowak, Guvenc Ozel, Jeff Burke, and Randy Ilum) to participate in a design workshop at JPL to brainstorm innovative design solutions. Check out the results here.
2/17/2016 - cityLAB Hosts Book Launch on Informal Market Worlds
cityLAB recently hosted a roundtable discussion and book launch to mark the release of Informal Market Worlds - The Architecture of Economic Pressure (Atlas and Reader) edited by Teddy Cruz, Fonna Forman, Peter Mörtenböck, and Helge Mooshammer. The discussion focused on what Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman have termed, 'informal public demands', i.e. the changes in urban policies and planning practices required to engage with informality in a productive and fair manner.
Access the press release and learn more about this publication by clicking here.
Past Events
2/09/2017 - cityLAb, times 10 LABtalk Panel Discussions
1. Organizing: Designing an Inclusive LA
2. LA Emerging: Six Ways Forward
3. The Genius of Making
