Our Canada Council Prix de Rome research project heads to London, England! The majority of our time was spent in or near East London —neighborhoods that were once known for their industrial roots and manufacturing past.

Vibrant, layered and diverse, parts of East London are amongst the poorest of London’s boroughs.

We walked through historical projects that were purpose-built for live/make hundreds of years ago. We explored areas that were full of migrant and immigrant stories — people arriving on London’s shores in search of a better life. And we visited projects and neighbourhoods in various stages of urban renewal — in hopes of understanding their social context, strategies of urban planning and ambitions for community outreach.

In pre-industrial times, live/make spaces were quite common. The Industrial Revolution separated live and make, and rightly so. But in this current time of small batch production and perhaps less intrusive practices, can live and small-scale manufacturing once again co-exist?