DECOLAB works across five interconnected areas, bringing together design, research and participatory practice to respond to complex spatial, social and environmental challenges.
We develop spatial equity assessments, climate justice strategies, accessibility and inclusion frameworks, heat and climate resilience approaches, and inclusive urban strategies. Our work examines how spatial, social and environmental inequalities are experienced differently across communities, bringing lived experience and diverse forms of knowledge into policy, planning and design to create more equitable, inclusive and just futures.
We design and facilitate co-design processes, community consultations, participatory and creative mapping, storytelling, workshops and engagement strategies. We work with communities as knowledge holders and collaborators, bringing lived experience into the processes through which places are understood and transformed.
We develop city and neighbourhood strategies, public-space frameworks, place-based interventions, climate-responsive design guidance and strategic spatial approaches. Working across scales, we connect research and lived experience with design thinking to develop practical and contextually grounded responses to place.
We undertake commissioned research, evidence reviews, policy development, evaluation, impact studies and knowledge-exchange programmes for governments, universities, organisations and communities. Our research combines critical inquiry with applied approaches to generate evidence that can inform policy, practice and future investment.
We develop design labs, studios, professional training, workshops, international knowledge exchanges and institutional capacity-building programmes. Our programmes connect education with real-world challenges, creating opportunities for students, practitioners, communities and institutions to learn and experiment together.