Beschreibung |
In recent years, the call for developing more sustainable design solutions, planning approaches or construction methods has become one of the main strands of discourses on the future of the built environment, both in professional and public debates, in the face of the dramatically accelerating climate crisis. Yet the notion of sustainability is highly complex – and the goal of this block seminar is to engage with tools and methods to unpack it through case studies.
Rather than focussing on contemporary practices, we will engage with the genealogy of sustainability by critically investigating categories such as the concept of “appropriate building technologies”, – which is intrinsically connected with the framework of development aid, as well as discourses on climatic adaptability of buildings and sustainable city planning. The geographical focus of the seminar shall be decisively on cases and practices in the “Global South” – not only to counter the Eurocentric focus but also to trace how projections from the “Global North” are being circulated, translated, transformed, challenged and opposed in a variety of settings. Through such historical and geographical contextualisation, we shall be able to reflect on calls for action such as “Think Global, Build Social!” (A. Lepik in Arch+ 2013).
The block seminar invites students to work in groups on literature and case studies, which will be presented and discussed during the seminar's final day. Apart from the themes mentioned above, participants are strongly encouraged to propose their own research questions and case studies. |
Literatur |
Selected bibliography
Arboleda, Gabriel. Sustainability and Privilege: A Critique of Social Design Practice. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022.
Keiner, Marco, Christopher Zegras, Willy A. Schmid, and Diego Salmerón. From Understanding to Action: Sustainable Urban Development in Medium-Sized Cities in Africa and Latin America. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.
Rottenburg, Richard. Far-fetched facts: a parable of development aid, Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 2009
”Think Global. Build Social”. Theme issue Arch+, #211/212, 2013. |