SYN City: import export - architecture, culture and interurban exchange

SYN City is a postgraduate research and design studio at Canterbury School of Architecture, University for the Creative Arts. Each year the studio dedicates itself to one territory of investigation in order to explore the dialectical and contested nature of the contemporary city. By focusing on one exemplary context, specific and at the same time typical and paradigmatic conditions are addressed. The studio critically engages with the complex and often antithetical forces within the expanded field of urban transformation processes and synthesises them into programmatic and spatial design proposals. In 2013/14, the studio agenda was embedded in UCA's involvement in the Interreg IV A France (Channel) – England project ReCreate, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Embracing and augmenting the thematic framework of the European programme, the featured projects look into the role of architecture and urbanism for culture-led regeneration strategies and explore the disciplines' potential to catalyse contemporary and innovative forms of intercultural exchange. UCA ReCreate publication series editors: Amie Rai and Gabor Stark