Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment

This project investigated the relationship between scarcity and creativity for the built environment at different scales from neighbourhoods to whole cities.

The research had two complementary strands:

• Development of a theory of scarcity relevant to the production of the built environment
• Analysis of case studies in four European cities: London, Oslo, Reykjavik, Vienna

These strands fed and reinforced each other, resulting in a productive understanding of scarcity relevant for practitioners and policymakers.

The project focused on the analysis of ‘systems’ at different scales, locations and contexts. It examined:

• a neighbourhood example from London
• Oslo in the historic national context
• Iceland as an ‘autonomous’ island
• Vienna as a city

The researchers looked at how in these conditions various players involved in the production of the built environment might respond, or have responded, to scarcity. They also examined how creativity might be affected under these conditions. The project viewed these new conditions as motivations for change rather than inhibitors of creative activity.