As you can imagine, biodiversity and grow your own were also key themes at New Designers 2012, with many graduates looking at ways to improve the well being of our native insects as well as urban growing.

Our first spot was at the University of Brighton – these great urban growing units called The City Pods by Lucy Macdonald.

Designed as parasitic planters, the units can link together to green up facades of buildings – fitting to both the wall and drainpipes.

We really liked the modular nature of the units and their simplicity and we would be interested to see them in action across a few city walls in Brighton.

These absolutely beautiful bird houses we found at the University of East London.

They were created using bound waste materials – we loved the linking of man made materials as waste used to make the houses – in a similar way to how birds use found items to create their own nests.

Lastly, Sam Hancock from Sussex University showed a really interesting concept for the education of children (and adults) in growing your own, utilising technology.

The Own Grown system gives feedback to the children through a soil monitor and ‘tamagotchi’ style character generation and app, showing how the vegetables are growing and the soil conditions, allowing action to be taken to maximise the care of the produce.

A great selection of projects at New Designers and an interesting take on the issues facing urban living.

(images via claire potter design and Sam Hancock)