Dust to dust competition reveals winners

SECL are delighted to announce the opening of the exhibition for the Eastern Academic Research Consortium (Eastern ARC) project, ‘Dust to Dust: Redesigning Urban Life in Healthy Soils‘. The project took the form of an urban design competition in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which include zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, and climate action. Held in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, the exhibition will showcase winning proposals from the competition that took place earlier this year.

Currently 98% of cultivable land on earth is being farmed and two thirds of the world’s soils are suffering degradation. The continued encroachment onto, and transformation of, soils resulting from urban sprawl will significantly impact the sustainability and resilience of urban life. Ideas were invited for urban designs, planning approaches, and tangible interventions that could be implemented in real-life cases of urban planning and development with successful designs promoting a close relationship between urban life and soil ecosystem services.

Six teams were selected and took part in a charrette at The Prince’s Foundation in London to cross-fertilise ideas and refine designs to prepare museum exhibits. Teams comprised people from various countries, taking on cases from cities in Europe and the Americas. These teams included representatives from NGOs, city government, design and engineering firms, consultancy, and academics.

The project was organised by Dr Benjamin Vis, Eastern ARC Research Fellow (Digital Humanities) in the Department of Classical & Archaeological Studies. Dr Vis said of the project: ‘This exhibition goes beyond simply learning from the past. It is fantastic to see how cross-disciplinary engagement with the archaeology of tropical Maya cities has highlighted a relationship between soil health and urban life that can be translated into sustainable improvements through contemporary urban design.’

The exhibition takes place from 30 November 2018 – 17 February 2019 at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia. There will be a formal opening on Friday 30 November; for details of this event, email secl@kent.ac.uk.