Dr Serena Pollastri

Serena Pollastri is a Lecturer in Urban Futures at Imagination Lancaster, the design research think tank at Lancaster University, and is Year 1 coordinator at Lancaster School of Architecture.

Her practice-based research is concerned with developing and applying design methods and approaches for posthuman coastal futures. She is particularly interested in collaborative, hands-on approaches, and was Principal Investigator in projects such as SaMPaS (Saltmarsh Participatory Sensing), Coastal Nature Lab, and Tracing Tides. In 2023 Serena organised the Aqueous Futures Symposium, funded by AHRC and The Future Observatory of The Design Museum (London), to explore ways in which embodied and experimental approaches to place-based knowledge can be adopted in processes of planning, implementing, and monitoring interventions for climate adaptation in coastal areas.

Serena holds a PhD in Design from Lancaster University, with a thesis titled “Visual Conversations on Urban Futures: Understanding Participatory Processes and Artifacts”.

Prior to joining Lancaster University she has worked as a senior design researcher at Tektao, a urban design studio in Shanghai China. Here she led a series of project for urban/rural regeneration through urban acupuncture in Chongming Island.