MLA Options Studio Field Report: LA4702/LAD4010/AR5802 | MLA Studio City/ Design 8/ Design Research Studio 2: Overtourism Studio

The Overtourism Studio is focused on periurban Denpasar, Bali and taught by Dr Victoria Jane Marshall.

On 1-6 February 2026, thirteen students from the Department of Architecture were hosted by Ngurah Rai University, Denpasar. Together with local student co-researchers, the students visited Desa Penatith, a periurban locality where questions about the future of the settlement are actively being identified. Informed by pre-fieldwork research, the students explored topics of

– everyday life, place, and spatial practices,

– environmental change and human–nature relationships,

– tourism, economy, and uneven impacts,

– culture, identity, power, and the future.

The study area is an urban-rural district in the north of Denpasar, where residents do not want touristic development as usual. They are, however, not sure what else to do. In response, students in the Overtourism Studio will be designing a “large park”, broadly defined and creatively reinterpreted for densely settled, periurban Southeast Asia. The studio is part of a multi-year creative research project entitled Enacting Periurban Practice by the studio tutor.

The students will present their final projects on 22 April 2026 at NUS.