Thomas Aquilina of Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture awarded 2012 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship for “Material Economies: recycling practices in informal settlements along African longitude 30ºE,” which addresses recycling in informal African settlements. Ricky Burdett on the jury. Read more here.

Jonas Schorr addresses the recent growth of city networks, and their overduplification in a two-part series. Along with co-author Andrew Stevens, he argues against the proliferation of grand city-senate ideas and instead to ‘concentrate on creating popular democratic demand for city networking, and on giving more power and media visibility to the knowledge exchange efforts that cities already pursue.’ Read part one here. Read part two here.

Ricky Burdett in Architecture Today describes the architectural and urban features of the new school:  ‘Over time, it has the potential to act as a social condenser for both existing and new communities in the area – a litmus test of whether the entire Olympic project will become an integrated part of East London or stand as an isolated ghetto.’ Read the full article here.

Mothers Unite was founded in 2007 in a mother’s home and provides a safe haven from gang pressures, drugs and violence that affect parts of the street and home life in the area. It wins R750 000 and was chosen by an independent jury from a record breaking 254 entries. Read more here.