BK Talks: Perspectives
Urbanisms of diversity
22 September 2022 18:00 till 20:00 - Location: OOSTSERRE & ONLINE - By: Communication BK | Add to my calendar
On 22 September, the BK Talks 'Perspectives. Urbanisms of diversity' will take place.
The second edition of the BK Talks, co-organised with BK’s Diversity Officer Roberto Rocco, explores the wide variety of ways in which questioning traditional planning mobilises the uncommon prospects of the city, opening other possible urbanisms.
Back in the 60’s, Jane Jacobs already questioned, from the angle of the everyday, the absolute supremacy of the narrow view of the – mostly - heterosexual white male techies in charge of planning cities. Even today, people across the world, identifying beyond the binary notion of gender and sexuality are often limited to freely access and appropriate the city and feel a sense of belonging. At the same time, recent events across the United States and other countries have proved the links between urban planning, structural racism and social segregation. For its part, the physical form of patriarchal urbanism tends to perpetuate the tasks, stereotypes and roles attributed to women. In the meantime, colonially-rooted urban development across the planet keeps dismissing and ignoring the very concept of the ‘indigenous’…
And the list goes on.
Acknowledging that a child, an adolescent, a homosexual, an immigrant, an older person, people with disabilities, etc., must be able to fully exercise their ‘right to the city’, the panel, moderated by Dr. Caroline Newton, aims to seek some answers about the role of ‘other’ perspectives within design professions and the spatial consequences of these notions.
Hosts
Caroline Newton
Associate Professor at the Department of Urbanism, TU Delft
Caroline Newton is an architect, urban planner and political scientist. She holds a PhD in social geography from the University of Leuven (Belgium). Her research focuses on the socio spatial dimensions of design and critical spatial practices in Europe and the Global South, centred on the interrelationship between social processes and the built environment. She has been working on the participatory upgrading of (informal) dwellings in post-colonial environments and also on the methodological and pedagogical challenges of a 'designerly way of knowledge production'.
Roberto Rocco
Associate Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy, TU Delft
Roberto Rocco is an architect and spatial planner with a masters in planning from the University of São Paulo, a specialisation in urban management tools by the École d’Urbanisme de Paris and a PhD from TU Delft. He is a specialist in governance for the built environment, covering issues of spatial justice and social sustainability as crucial dimensions of sustainability transitions. He has coordinated several courses and design studios over the last 13 years working at TU Delft. As the Diversity Officer at the Faculty, he also leads the discussion on diversity and inclusion.
Panellists
Alexander Auris
Architect and researcher
Alexander Auris (he/him) is a Peruvian architect and researcher based in Brussels. His work unfolds from an intimate exploration of his own intersectionality in relation to space. The results are presented in different types of media such as video, writing, performance, and spatial design. He is the founder of Queer Commons, a research project exploring queerness as a human condition and its relation to space in cities worldwide.
Roser Casanovas
Founding partner of the Col-lectiu Punt 6 Collective
Roser Casanovas is a founding partner of the cooperative Col-lectiu Punt 6 (www.punt6.org). She qualified as an architect from Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) in 2008 and has a Master of Housing of the XXI Century from the FPC (2010) and Master of Urbanism and Spatial Planning of the UPC (2017).
Jonah van Delden
Urban designer and recent graduate of MSc Urbanism, TU Delft
Jonah van Delden is an urban designer who graduated last year from the Urbanism MSc track. His master thesis: Masculinities in Public Space, researched and illustrated how a built environment in Amsterdam primarily facilitates a dominant & hegemonic masculine identity. To foster more just and inclusive cities, his design proposal aims to include more diverse perspectives on masculine identities in public space.
Bettina van Hoven
Associate Professor Cultural Geography at University of Groningen
Dr. Bettina van Hoven is Associate Professor of Cultural Geography at the University of Groningen. Her past research has focused on the experienced dimensions of wellbeing and liveability, predominantly in urban spaces, addressing different aspects of and perspectives on ageing. She employs a qualitative methodology and increasingly include participants actively throughout the research. To find better ways to access the life-worlds of different groups of people, and to connect knowledge production to wider audiences, she recently has begun to work at the intersection of science and arts.
Sophia Holst
Artist and architect
Sophia Holst (1988) is a Brussels-based Dutch artist and architect. She obtained a Master’s degree in Visual Arts at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam and a Master in Architecture at the KU Leuven in Brussels. Until 2015 she worked for the architecture office Studio Anne Holtrop. Sophia questions the design and use of architecture and public spaces in relation to politics, social paradigms and everyday human activities.
Practical information
This BK Talks will be streamed live from the Oostserre and can be followed via this link.