Decolonising the curriculum: US Study Abroad: London Architecture and Urbanism – Albertopolis, South Kensington

Abstract

This article focuses on ways of decolonising the curriculum of a one-semester London Architecture and Urbanism course taught differently across several US Study Abroad programmes in London. These introductory courses took place in the seminar room and out in the field. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a greater focus on teaching in open spaces. The courses are principally structured around the capital’s key public developments. Many of the sites have an older historical antecedence. They were largely built between the mid-eighteenth century and the opening decades of the twentieth century during the time of the Empire and the Industrial Revolution. While the Empire has gone, London continues to transmit ideas revolving around the cultural hegemony of a politically, economically and socially superior nation through its urban histories. These histories are sometimes explicit, but are more often hidden, as they become subsumed into London’s evolving cityscape. On this basis, introductory architectural courses that outline the city’s development, by default, recapitulate the values of British cultural imperialism. This article examines how London’s architectural history and imperial visions can be re-evaluated through the lens of a culturally responsive teaching and learning study abroad platform.