We heart the Suburbs will work closely with the community of St. Luke's in Southend-on-Sea in an effort to understand and document the true motivations and concerns of suburbanites. These findings will be translated into a temporary built form for the summer of 2010 that will address something unique about the community. The project is innovative as no predeterminations have been drawn about the physical outcome. The community of St. Luke's will be offered various opportunities to contribute ideas and energy from early brief development through to construction. This will result in the community shaping their own suburban environment.

The objectives of We heart the Suburbs can be categorised by two main distinctions: community objectives and professional objectives. 'Community Objectives' refers to the aims to serve the suburban community and make positive changes to suburban environments in collaboration with its residents. 'Professional Objectives' refers to Sarah's and Melanie's aims to highlight the overlooked territory of suburbia within the architectural profession and to test and document the updated role of the architect within this environment.

Melanie Bax and Sarah Considine are both Masters graduates from the University of Sheffield. They have a keen interest in community participation and how the role of the architect can be expanded to include social and political contexts. They have worked in various practices in London, New York and Madrid. They are currently working with CABE to expand their case study library to include participatory and collaborative projects.

For further details about the project visit http://weheartthesuburbs.blogspot.com or write to weheartthesuburbs@gmail.com.