Dr. Aimee Felstead

My route into Landscape Architecture began in 2007, after enrolling on the dual Architecture and Landscape degree course at the University of Sheffield. I went onto complete a Master’s in Landscape Architecture in 2013, sparking an interest in understanding the relationship between people, nature and the built environment. My interest in socially orientated urban design eventually led me to pursue an MA in Social Research followed by an ESRC funded PhD exploring the topic of community involvement in residential landscapes.

I have spent several years practicing as a Landscape Architect, firstly for VWA in Switzerland and then HLM Architects in Sheffield, where I worked on a wide range of design projects, including university campuses, hospitals, schools, public realm and residential projects. Throughout my time working in practice and studying, I have enjoyed teaching on a wide range of design and planning modules in the department of Landscape Architecture.

Alongside my lecturing role at the University of Sheffield, I am currently working on the Collaborative Housing and Innovation in Care research project at the University of Bristol, which explores the potential of collaborative housing to support the health and care needs of older people. This research project is due to be completed by Autumn 2023.

My research interests are underpinned by an aim to understand how people collectively influence and adapt their environment to support more sustainable ways of living together. Recently, this has led me to explore the idea of ‘urban commons’ as a community-led approach to managing shared spaces within the city, and the impact this way of governing resources has on landscape practice. In particular, I am interested in exploring how urban commons can be applied in residential landscapes, where there is the greater potential for social interaction between neighbours, localised levels of control and ownership over space and impact on residents’ daily life and routines. This is something that I explored in my PhD research through the study of Cohousing communities to identify ways residents get involved in designing, building, managing, and maintaining shared outdoor spaces together.

My research interests extend to understanding the broader roles of design practitioners in facilitating community involvement in shared urban spaces and creative methods for engaging people in research and design. Recently this has included developing a methodology for creating a pattern language for urban commoning in residential landscapes as a card game format. Looking forward, I am interested to explore whether aspects of community-led housing can be applied more widely across a wider range of residential landscape contexts.