Removing the Divide--Respecting and Understanding Cultures
​Iain Borden
BA MSc MA PhD HonFRIBA
Iain Borden is Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where he is also Vice-Dean for Communications for the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment.
His wide-ranging research includes explorations of architecture in relation to cities & public space, film & photography, critical theory & philosophy, and human bodies and spatial experiences. He is the author and editor of over a dozen book on architecture and cities. Authored and co-edited books include Drive: Journeys through Film, Cities and Landscapes (Reaktion, 2012), Bartlett Designs: Speculating With Architecture (Wiley, 2009), Manual: the Architecture and Office of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (Birkhauser, 2003), Skateboarding Space and the City: Architecture and the Body (Berg, 2001), The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space (MIT, 2001) and InterSections: Architectural Histories and Critical Theories (Routledge, 2000).
Iain has also worked extensively in the public arena, making numerous media appearances on the radio and television worldwide, while also curating and participating in exhibitions, debates, symposia, workshops and other public events. Iain has also been a skateboarder for over 35 years.
Vice-Dean of Communication
Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL
Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture
Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Email: i.borden@ucl.ac.uk
Her Excellency Mrs. Aloun
Ndombet-Assamba
Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet-Assamba became Jamaica’s 12th High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in May 2012. She is also non-resident Ambassador to five countries namely; Ireland, the Republic of Finland, and the Kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Prior to her current assignment, High Commissioner Assamba served as Managing Partner and mediator in her private law practice, Aloun Ndombet-Assamba & Company. She was also a part time lecturer at the Mona School of Business, a Mediator and trainer in Mediation at the Disputes Resolution Foundation.
Throughout her work life, High Commissioner Assamba was well respected for her service in both the public and private sectors. She was the Minister of Industry & Tourism and then Minister of Tourism Entertainment and Culture during the period 2002-2007. Previously she was a Senator, Member of Parliament and Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Technology. In the private sector, the High Commissioner had an illustrious career at the City of Kingston Co-operative Credit Union (COK) rising to the level of General Manager in 1994.
In the voluntary sector, she is known for her work with United Way of Jamaica, the Jamaica Cancer Society, the Jamaica Bar Association, Women’s Leadership Initiative and the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons to name a few.
The High Commissioner was born in the parish of St. Catherine but grew up in St. Ann. She is the proud past student of Ferncourt High School, Merl Grove High and Convent of Mercy Academy Alpha, University of the West Indies and the Norman Manley Law School.
Among her many achievements is the prestigious Heinz Fellowship which she obtained from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States of America where she studied Strategic Management.
She is the mother of one son, Dominic. High Commissioner enjoys fashion designing, cooking and baking.
