RESEARCH / SPATIAL SYSTEMS / UNIT DAA
A research-led framework examining how architecture, social infrastructure and spatial inequality interact in Tottenham, North London — and how design could support community development.
Status: strategic research and preliminary concepts. No site acquisition, planning consent, funding, delivery partnership or institutional agreement is in place or implied.
01 / THE FRAMEWORK
The Tottenham Spatial Justice Framework is a Studio RDN-X research programme. It treats architecture as long-term social, spatial and economic infrastructure, and asks how the design of places can widen opportunity rather than concentrate it.
It is one of the initial case studies in Unit DAA’s research into community infrastructure. That line of work began with Damscape, which treated infrastructure as a catalyst for long-term capability, and continues with the Arochukwu programme. Tottenham adds a further premise: physical and economic opportunity is not enough on its own.
How the benefits of this kind of work should be measured — the skills people gain and the capability a community keeps — is an open research question, not a settled one.
02 / PLANNING CONTEXT
Summarised from London Borough of Haringey, Tottenham Area Action Plan (adopted July 2017). This page does not assess subsequent delivery or the current status of individual sites.
03 / LINES OF INQUIRY
Each line of inquiry is a research question with the evidence still to be developed. None is presented as a finding.
How have land use, investment and public infrastructure shaped who benefits from Tottenham’s built environment — and how is community identity carried through change?
Evidence to develop: Historical mapping from archival and planning sources; community-held histories gathered with consent.
How can housing access, affordability and retrofit be improved without displacing existing residents, and how is community benefit secured and shown?
Evidence to develop: Published housing-need and tenure data; review of regeneration outcomes; retrofit performance evidence, linked to AUREON Retrofit.
How do environmental conditions — air, noise, green space, housing quality — and access to services shape neighbourhood wellbeing?
Evidence to develop: Public-health and environmental datasets; community-reported and post-occupancy measures.
How can design education, vocational pathways and construction skills connect local people with local economic opportunity?
Evidence to develop: Skills and labour-market evidence; partnerships with education providers (none confirmed).
How do cultural infrastructure, heritage and creative enterprise sustain local identity as neighbourhoods change?
Evidence to develop: Cultural-asset mapping; heritage records; engagement with local cultural organisations.
Can regenerative materials, circular construction and urban ecology make neighbourhoods more resilient — and how would that be tested?
Evidence to develop: Material-testing protocols with qualified partners; climate-risk data; the Green Grid policy context.
What forms of engagement, transparent decision-making and accountability give residents real influence over change?
Evidence to develop: An engagement framework, stakeholder mapping and governance options — developed before any commitment is made.
Which small, testable interventions could generate evidence for the framework without overstating what they can prove?
Evidence to develop: Site due diligence, a defined brief, research protocols, funding and formal governance (see below).
04 / POTENTIAL DEMONSTRATORS
The proposed Living Materials Lab would explore meanwhile-use sites for material testing, fabrication, skills development and full-scale housing prototypes. Its purpose is to connect practical learning with evidence about construction, climate responsiveness and neighbourhood value.
An indicative 500–1,500 m² site and an initial 14-trainee concept have been explored in the design material. These are study assumptions, not an identified parcel, confirmed enrolment or operational programme. Testing and UK regulatory validation would require appropriately qualified partners and formal protocols.
A wider DAA Haringey and Tottenham Urban Campus proposition explores learning infrastructure that brings design education, construction skills and community use together, potentially building on what a Living Materials Lab could demonstrate.
It is an early proposition. No site, partners, curriculum or programme have been confirmed.
05 / RESEARCH RELATIONSHIPS
Architectural research, spatial strategy, design intelligence and feasibility.
Explore Spatial SystemsThe research and innovation framework connecting spatial, material and educational systems.
Explore Unit DAAPotential programme development, community engagement, partnerships and delivery pathways — subject to organisational capacity and formal agreements. No funding, land, institutional agreement or delivery commitment is in place.
Design Associates AfricaAn independent research pathway addressing the environmental performance of existing buildings. A new-build prototype alone would not validate retrofit performance. Explore AUREON Retrofit
06 / STATUS OF THE FRAMEWORK
07 / NEXT STEPS
Any future demonstrator would require site due diligence, community and stakeholder engagement, a defined brief, regulatory assessment, research protocols, funding and formal governance before implementation.
We welcome conversations with researchers, community organisations and institutions about the questions this framework raises. This is an invitation to discuss research, not a call for project commitments.