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Bringing product design and architectural design together, this article looks into the extraordinary use of everyday objects in urban and suburban spaces in The Lost Room mini-television series (2006). The study questions the accepted meanings of products and spaces in relation to their physicality, perception and use. Through multi-layered analysis of the relationship between objects, (architectural and suburban/urban) spaces and their users, the article opens up a discussion about the purpose, meaning and influence of designed products and places.

In this context, this qualitative research makes use of moving images (as representations of products and spaces) to propose a critique of contemporary design via (sub-)urban design practices.

Using irony and metaphor to question the habit of object possession, accumulation and fetishism, the series challenges blind loyalty to contemporary beliefs. The Lost Room is not concerned with new forms or new designs. Instead, it forces the audience to consider the meaning of both objects and spaces in relation to one another. By transforming our understanding of space, the series also reveals humans' spatial limitations. The Lost Room is a unique small screen “product” in which people's relationship to the designed world is interrogated by having mass-produced objects and the built environment constantly in the foreground.

Film analysis from a design perspective is not new; however, this is the first time The Lost Room is brought to the attention of architects and designers via scholarly work. Film theorists and cinemagoers may also benefit from the unique design perspective outlined in the article.

Large-scale urbanisation has become a significant barrier to the natural migration of tree species, which is being exacerbated by accelerated climate change. Within this context, improving the permeability of urban landscapes is expected to be an effective strategy to facilitate the process of forest migration through cities. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method to assess the permeability of urban green spaces as stepping stones for forest migration, from the perspective of seed dispersal.

The proposed method combines a least-cost path (LCP) model and a graph theory-based approach. The LCP model is applied to map the potential pathways of seed dispersal at multiple spatial and temporal scales, based on which graph theory-based indices are used to quantify the accessibility of urban landscapes for seed dispersers. This method is demonstrated by a case study in the Greater Manchester area, UK. Eurasian jay, Eurasian siskin, coal tit and grey squirrel are selected as the main seed dispersers in the study area.

The results provide a comparison of the landscape permeability maps generated from different seed dispersers and identify key areas likely to facilitate the process of forest migration. Recommendations regarding landscape management for improving permeability are also discussed.

This method allows designers to re-visualise highly modified and fragmented urban landscapes as stepping stones for seed dispersal, which in turn allows for a more piecemeal form of landscape design to optimise urban landscapes for climate adaptation.