Anna Pöyry

A collaborative project in Bath with Buro Happold exploring how design might change the urban design process. The project looks closely at how technology and design could be used to make a city more innovative, especially with regard to the planned Bath EA Masterplan development of the western riverfront of the city. Together with my colleague, Iban Benzal, we have explored the deeper needs and demands of today’s cities and citizens in order to establish what truly makes a happy successful city. Working together with Buro Happold in Bath, we are investigating the design principles of regenerating a city to promote innovation and creativity. What will attract students to a new city district? What motivates start-ups when locating their offices? How can we promote collaboration and create a network of creativity and innovation? We call these consideration the soft infrastructure that must be built around the physical one in order to bring success and vitality to any city. How could a city ever be successfully designed without knowing what its residents truly need?

We are designing a platform that explores the real problems and opportunities of the city by engaging with all the residents, after which it allows for those problems to be collaboratively worked on by the creative communities (students, start-ups, designers) - it’s about creating communication between segmented communities of the city!