Sheffield

University of Sheffield School of Architecture

SSoA is one of the leading schools of architecture in the UK. In 2014 SSoA launched their own ‘Urban Room’ called Live Works, located in Sheffield city centre. It is used to combine research, teaching and outreach to foster better citizen participation in the development of neighbourhoods, towns and cities, with a particular focus on the city of Sheffield. Since the launch in 2014, Live Works has worked with many local partners across the city and region, and engaged over 8500 members of the public, 2000 of which have visited our city centre Urban Room. Many of the projects are interdisciplinary and work with academics across the University to benefit clients with best practice and expertise from the arts, education, social sciences and humanities.

Work Package 3: Operating and Evaluating

WP3 has a focus on the operation of the Hubs and how to evaluate the impact of the activities by using the indicators to map the progress of the project. It also works on how to keep the impact of the UEL sustainable after the hub has moved to a new location by developing urban capacity and new networks.

Sheffield Community Place Initiatives

A key strand of the research in Sheffield was to map the community place initiatives in the city – many of whom we had already worked with through our Live Projects programme. This mapping expanded our knowledge of the network of place-based groups in the city. We then worked with many of them further, through focus groups and interviews, to understand the main challenges they face and to explore how the University could support them to do more for their communities and localities.

Download Pdf:  Sheffield Community Place Initiatives Map – Poster

Download Pdf:  Sheffield Community Place Initiatives Map – Fold Out

Latest from Sheffield

Sheffield Community Place Initiatives Map

Sheffield-specific map of vibrant urban communities and innovative community place initiatives across Sheffield was the first step in the methodology of the Sheffield team of Urban Education Live research project. The starting point for this was our extensive number of collaborations with Sheffield-based community groups and organisations that has developed through the School of Architecture’s…

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Twenty years of pioneering Live Projects programme at the Sheffield School of Architecture could hold the key to the future of education and the profession

Founded by SSOA in 1999, Sheffield University’s Live Project programme is the longest running Live Project programme in the UK, with an established track record. The internationally renowned initiative could hold the key to reforming British architectural education and re-establishing the role of the architect in society through its pioneering engagement philosophy. Every year around…

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Sheffield School of Architecture Theory Forum 2020: Liveness

The SSoA Theory Forum is an annual event that showcases the work of architectural researchers and practitioners who are exploring a contemporary theme or challenge in architecture and urban design. The most recent online Theory Forum, held on 25-26th November 2020, explored the value of ‘liveness’ in architectural education. The event was co-curated and hosted…

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UEL:SHEF presents: Collaborations between the University and local communities

UEL:SHEF partners Ruth Nutter and Zak Ahmed talk about their collaborations with the University and the potentials of University-Community collaborations.

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UEL:SHEF presents: The role of physical presence vs virtual collaborations

UEL:SHEF partners Ruth Nutter and Zak Ahmed talk about their experience with being physically present in the city vs the recent shift to virtual collaborations.

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Operating and Evaluating University Hubs: The Case of Sheffield

”Universities will have to work towards better understanding the complexities of evaluating co-production with communities, in order to navigate the balance between imagining long-term visions and short-term solutions whilst maintaining academic rigour.” (UEL Report Summary Operating and Evaluating University Hubs: The Case of Sheffield) In the context of UEL the majority of such co-production collaborations…

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Urban Education Live Research Symposium 2020 in Sheffield

Urban Education Live Research Symposium hosted at SSoA Dates 27-30th January 2020 Sheffield team were very fortunate to host Urban Education Live research partners from Bucharest, Ljubljana and Tampere in late January 2020 – before travel restrictions came into force worldwide due to Covid-19 pandemic. During the 4-day Symposium, we took our guests on a…

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Play/Grounds: a celebration of play in the city

Pitsmoor Adventure Playground in the City Tuesday 5 November Live Works hosted a one day event to explore how the adventure playground can be a place of community, diversity, experimentation and spontaneity.  As part of the Festival of Social Science, this showcase event was the culmination of a 6-week co-design project by Architecture students, Pitsmoor…

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UEL and SSoA Collaborate on Exhibition of Student Work

Urban Education Live supported a recent exhibition of student work in a busy supermarket in Sheffield. Architectural design projects by undergraduate and masters students were on show in the Tesco Extra in the residential neighbourhood of Burngreave for a week in June. The exhibition, showing proposals for sites in the city centre and in Burngreave,…

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UEL at American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in Washington, DC

Representatives from Urban Education Live partners were presenting current research work and themes associated with the project at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting in Washington, DC in early April 2019. The panel was session was co-organised by Panu Lehtovuori,Tatjana Schneider and Gruia Badescu, the latter also chairing the UEL session. While it is…

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Sheffield Live Works: the UK’s first permanent University-funded ‘Urban Room’

Live Works is an innovative cross-cutting initiative that delivers excellence in live teaching, graduate employment, civic engagement & participatory action research, working at a local level to create & disseminate knowledge that has national and international relevance. It is the UK’s first permanent University-funded ‘Urban Room’, a space in the city centre where local people can…

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Sheffield Network of Practices — a socio-spatial map of local initiatives and groups

Learning about space through socio-spatial mapping   Urban Education Live Project partner Sheffield School of Architecture (SSoA) is currently working on a Sheffield-specific map of existing initiatives, groups, organisations and other local practices in an ongoing process throughout the duration of the research project. The initial aim of building this ‘Network of Practices’ is to explore the…

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2017 SSoA Live Projects

An educational initiative introduced in 1999 by the Sheffield School of Architecture, Live Projects are a pioneering collaboration between masters architecture students and local community groups, charities, health organisations and regional authorities. Urban Education Live team members from Sheffield and Bucharest were actively involved in Live Projects 2017, exploring and strengthening the innovative collaboration between…

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The first Focus Group Discussion with community groups in Sheffield

We had a fantastic kick-start of a series of focus group discussions with Sheffield community groups and grassroots organisations. Together with Adam Yusuf and Robin Forsyth from Israac Somali Community Association and Patrick Meleady from Pitsmoor Adventure Playground, we explored some issues surrounding the background of their organisations, the activities they create with local communities, the views on…

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UEL Sheffield team

The University of Sheffield School of Architecture is one of the longest established architecture schools in the UK, opening in 1908. It is known for its strong social conscience, recognised nationally and internationally for its commitment to socially-engaged design and research. The students, staff and graduates are committed to working with community groups through teaching, research and…

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