Positive Disturbance is a housing and public realm proposal developed in response to The Davidson Prize 2025 theme, Streets Ahead. Selected as a finalist, the project was created in collaboration with a ten-person, North East–based multidisciplinary team spanning architecture, landscape, environmental engineering, sustainability, visual storytelling, cost consultancy and research.

United by a shared curiosity for overlooked brownfield landscapes, the team approached regeneration as a process of care - ecological, social and spatial.

The project challenges conventional “clear-and-build” models by starting with what is already present. Soil conditions, existing ecologies, material histories and informal patterns of use are treated as assets rather than constraints. Research undertaken with environmental engineers and soil specialists from Durham University informed a soil-first strategy, exploring in-situ remediation, phytoremediation and low-disturbance construction as alternatives to carbon-intensive soil removal.

Housing is considered part of a wider civic ecosystem: adaptable homes, shared landscapes and everyday routes that support walking, play, biodiversity and social connection. Light-touch construction, timber systems and phased delivery respond pragmatically to viability, Biodiversity Net Gain requirements and emerging policy frameworks.

Long-term stewardship models - including co-operatives and community trusts - are explored as ways to support affordability, care and local ownership beyond completion.

Positive Disturbance proposes an alternative approach to brownfield regeneration: one that listens before it builds, works across disciplines, and measures success not only through homes delivered, but through ecological repair, community value and long-term resilience.