Re*City
Aysha Kabeer’s MArch thesis investigates how the 15 minute city model can establish a framework for pandemic resilient urbanism within Trafford’s redevelopment. As the city becomes increasingly dense and vertical, the project explores how urban environments can remain adaptable, socially connected, and resilient during disruption. The research rethinks isolation not as social separation, but as a spatial strategy that allows communities to function safely while maintaining access to essential amenities.
Using a Genetic Algorithm methodology for Generative design, the project develops a computational tool that translates site analysis, 15-minute city principles, and lessons from Paris and Barcelona into spatial relationships. Through iterative testing, the system explores how self sustaining neighbourhoods can be configured to ensure proximity, accessibility, and sustainability performance while supporting temporary isolation during future crises.
The project positions architecture and urbanism as adaptive systems rather than fixed forms, proposing a resilient urban framework that balances density, flexibility, and community well being through generative and data-driven design strategies.
