The Bartlett


The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment is the academic centre for the study of the built environment at University College London, part of the University of London in London, United Kingdom. It is home to twelve departments that have expertise in individual fields of the built-environment, including the Bartlett School of Architecture, Bartlett School of Planning, Bartlett Development Planning Unit, and Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. The Bartlett is consistently ranked the highest in Europe and the UK and among the highest in the world for the "Architecture and the Built-Environment" category in all major rankings. In the 2019 QS World University Rankings, it was ranked first in the world, but fell to third in the 2020 Rankings.

Background

University College London created its first chair of architecture in 1841, making The Bartlett the first architecture and built environment school established in the UK. A Chair in Planning was created at UCL in 1914 and The Department of Urban Planning then merged with the School of Architecture. The faculty was named The Bartlett in 1919 when the original benefactor, Sir Herbert Bartlett consented to his name being given to the department. It is currently one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties.

Buildings and resources

The school has two London sites, the UCL campus in Bloomsbury and Here East at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. On the UCL campus, The Bartlett Faculty and The Bartlett School of Architecture are based at 22 Gordon Street since 2016, which was built around the retained structure of the old building, Wates House. Five of The Bartlett's departments and its library are located in Central House. The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management is housed in 1-19 Torrington Place. The Bartlett Development Planning Unit is located in 34 Tavistock Square. In 2017, The Bartlett and UCL Engineering expanded into new facilities at Here East, on the site of the London Olympics Media Centre. The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis is located in 90 Tottenham Court Road.

Rankings

Education

The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment is the UK's largest and leading multidisciplinary faculty of the built environment, covering architecture, planning, construction and project management, development planning and environmental design as well as many other specialist fields. It is particularly well known for its architecture and planning schools following the leadership of Sir Peter Cook and Sir Peter Hall respectively in the 1990s. The faculty undertakes research in the built environment, and is known for developing the space syntax theory. The current Dean is Christoph Lindner.

The Bartlett School of Architecture

In 2011 the university appointed Frédéric Migayrou as the new Bartlett Professor of Architecture. Notable professors include Iain Borden, Adrian Forty, Jonathan Hill, CJ Lim and Jane Rendell.
The Bartlett School of Architecture courses are validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The school has been rated by the Architects' Journal as the best architecture school in the UK for the past 11 years, and consistently ranks in the top in the Guardian university league tables for architecture.
In 2013, the research publication Survey of London moved from English Heritage to join the School of Architecture. The School also houses the Space Syntax Laboratory, the international Centre of the theory and methodology of space syntax.

The Bartlett School of Planning

In 2011 Fulong Wu was appointed as Bartlett Professor of Planning. There have been a succession of eminent Bartlett Professors of Planning at UCL including Stanley Adshead, Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Lord William Holford, Lord Richard Llewelyn-Davies, Gerald Smart, Sir Peter Hall, Michael Batty and Matthew Carmona, all of whom have been associated with planning and cities in Britain and elsewhere. Sir Patrick Geddes, the father of town planning, studied physiology at the College in the late 1870s.

The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis

The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis is The Bartlett's research centre for interdisciplinary urban analytics. It was established in 1995 by Professor Michael Batty, who sits as the Centre's chairperson. It is currently headed by Dr. Adam Dennett. The Centre specialises in urban informatics, geospatial intelligence, geographic information systems, urban modelling, the application of smart city technology, and complexity science. The Centre is originator for OpenStreetMap, Prospective Labs, GeoFutures, and Intelligent Space. Today, the Centre works with numerous public administrations, inter-governmental organisations, and private institutions globally to research and address urban issues.
The Centre has conferred some 50 PhDs since 2000. More recently, it has opened up postgraduate courses at masters-level in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics, Spatial Data Science and Visualisation, and, since 2020, a new course on Connected Environments.

The Bartlett Development Planning Unit

The Bartlett Development Planning Unit was founded in 1954 by Otto Königsberger. Formerly the Architectural Association Department of Tropical Studies, it was absorbed by UCL and joined The Bartlett Faculty in 1971. In the early 1990s, Prof Caren Levy established the Gender Policy and Planning Programme, one of only four internationally recognised programmes addressing gender inequality in this period. It runs a doctoral research programme leading to the award of PhD, six one-year master's degree courses and a professional Postgraduate Diploma. The current Head of the DPU is Professor Julio Davila, and the previous one was Professor Caren Levy. The DPU is the founding partner of the Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality consortium with contributors across nine countries that aims to make cities fairer.

The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management

Duccio Turin founded the Building Economics Research Unit at UCL in the 1960s and The Bartlett ran masters and undergraduate degrees in building economics and management in the early 1970s, which are still running to this day. Peter W.G. Morris, author of The Management of Projects, founded the precursor of The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management in 2002. In its current form, BSCPM celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2019. The school has expanded considerably since its conception and now has over 80 members of staff. The current Director is D'Maris Coffman. Other notable academics include Peter Hansford, Jim Meikle, Michael Pitt, Stephen Pryke, Hedley Smyth, Tim Broyd and Jacqueline Glass.

UCL Energy Institute

The UCL Energy Institute was set up by the Provost of UCL in June 2009 as cross-faculty initiative within the built environment, to unify and strengthen research and teaching efforts in the field of energy. The founding Director was Tadj Oreszczyn. Neil Strachan is Director of the Institute. The Institute is home to the RCUK Centre for Energy Epidemiology and the London-Loughborough Centre for Doctoral Training.

UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering

The UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering was formally established in 2014, however Richard Llewelyn-Davies had introduced Building Science to The Bartlett in 1960, and Ralph Hopkinson was appointed the first Chair in Environmental Design and Engineering in 1965. Around one-third of the UK's lighting design community have completed the MSc Light and Lighting at UCL, which was established in 1987. The current Director of the Institute is Dejan Mumovic.

UCL Institute for Global Prosperity

The UCL Institute for Global Prosperity was launched in 2014 by founding Director Henrietta Moore, who also holds the Chair in Culture, Philosophy and Design. The Institute leads The RELIEF Centre in collaboration with the American University of Beirut and the Centre for Lebanese Studies.

The Bartlett Real Estate Institute

The Bartlett Real Estate Institute was launched in the Faculty in October 2018. The Institute Director is Andrew Edkins, Professor of the Management of Complex Projects and formerly Director of The Bartlett School of Construction & Project Management. Yolande Barnes, formerly Director of World Research at Savills, holds the Chair. The Institute now runs a masters programme in Healthcare Facilities which is one of the first of its kind in the UK.

UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage

The Institute for Sustainable Heritage was established by its Director May Cassar in 2001. May Cassar also Directs the Centre for Doctoral Training in Science and Engineering in Arts, Heritage and Archaeology, a partnership between UCL, University of Oxford, and University of Brighton. SEAHA trains students with heritage, industry and policy partners via a research-based masters and doctorate programme.

UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources

The UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources was launched in 2011, as part of an agreement with founding contributor BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities. Paul Ekins is the Director, and Raimund Bleischwitz is Chair in Sustainable Global Resources.

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose

The UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose was established in October 2017 by founding Director Mariana Mazzucato. Rainer Kattel is the Deputy Director. Visiting Professors include Charles Leadbeater, Francesca Bria and Ian Hogarth. Brian Eno, James K. Galbraith, Jayati Ghosh, Stephanie Kelton, Hermann Hauser, Roly Keating, Hadeel Ibrahim, Cornelia Parker, Roger Martin, Carlota Perez, and Jeffrey Sachs sit on the Advisory Board.

Affiliate Centres

UCL Urban Laboratory

Established in 2005 as a university wide initiative, UCL Urban Laboratory is a cross-disciplinary centre for urban thinking, teaching, research and practice. The centre co-operates with four UCL departments: The Bartlett, Engineering Sciences, Social and Historical Sciences, and Arts and Humanities. Its Director is Clare Melhuish.

UCL Robotics

UCL Robotics is a cross-faculty initiative to develop a world-class teaching and research platform in Robotics and Autonomous Systems. It operates within the faculties of Medical Sciences, Engineering Sciences and The Bartlett, and is based at Here East.

UCL Bartlett Library

The UCL Bartlett Library houses books, journals and DVDs. These include a variety of built environment databases, e-resources and books.
The Library was originally located in Wates House but was relocated to Central House in 2014. The new premises were designed by Hawkins\Brown.

Notable academics