The studio considers an expanded idea of conservation to urban housing. In doing so the studio also expands the idea of urban renewal as an act of re-newing or reviving. Urban renewal is certainly a practical response to the aging, dilapidating, and supposed exhaustion of building stock in urban areas. But the “urgency” and the nature of renewal of urban areas is dependent on several factors (economy, politics, scale of the city, etc.) In that sense urban renewal is the first challenge that a conservation approach needs to navigate. The second challenge that a conservation approach to aging urban areas must respond to is the changing climate patterns (that might aggravate the dilapidation) and the challenges it poses to inhabitation (comfort, liveability, durability, etc.). The third and equally important aspect of such an approach to aging urban housing stock is the aspirational dimension of inhabitants. The fourth challenge is the gap between the source of demand and target of supply of housing in urban areas. The studio works with the following question: how can conservation be a viable route to urban renewal particularly with respect to housing today?
