Critical Artistic Thinking in Design (CATiD)

Critical Artistic Thinking in Design (CATiD) is an international, multidisciplinary research, design and consultancy hub based in Birmingham, UK.

CATiD builds on more than 20 years of sustained research by Professor Kathryn Moore and focuses on a 'new idea of landscape'. Based on Moore’s internationally persuasive work around the re-conceptualisation of landscape as the relationship between materiality and culture, CATiD brings together a multidisciplinary network of academics and practitioners to develop an integrated and cohesive approach to landscape and infrastructure. Our aim is to explore and advance the possibility that a new idea of landscape can change the identity and reputation of an entire region.

CATiD’s research aims to place quality of life and sustainability-oriented transformation of the region at the top of the political agenda. We are doing this by investigating and proposing a new innovative and territorial approach to spatial planning and delivery: one that is based on an in depth understanding of the physical materiality of the region; its identity; and social, cultural, environmental and economic drivers. The research will help cultivate alternatives to the traditional development practices which have contributed to long-term social, economic and environmental loss or damage.