Society in Motion
Migration is a key driver of urban change across the globe. It has created opportunity for new patterns of urban diversity but will also pose particular social and political challenges in Europe over the coming years. Whilst permanent built environments are essential characteristics of cities, architects should search for solutions that include the needs of today’s flexible life amid the jungle of buildings. Yet a state of regarding migrants as a temporary phenomena gives permission to omit their needs in planning urban settlements. Within this research, we will analyse and identify the consequences of the movement of social and economic capital that people in motion often bring about. This will require study of related networks of social, architectural and spatial fields at multiple scales from local, regional, European and beyond. The ideas and tools we will accumulate will directly question the ongoing legitimacy of existing practices and propose alternatives to the current planning of our cities and settlements.
The aim of the research project is to investigate architectural and spatial challenges for new emerging society in motion from various perspectives. Hence, the research deals with the social and political issues of people in motion and explores design and spatial opportunities for the actors involved. Furthermore, the project calls a more social justice in planning and for social actions which can take place at various planning levels. In this context, these issues will be discussed in open dialogue together with students, teachers, researchers, local and regional experts and actors.
The research is supported by an additional Erasmus+ grant for strategic partnership for higher education to conduct three workshops together with students and researchers from Bergen Architecture School, Angewandte Wien and the University of Liechtenstein.
The workshops took place in the summer of 2017, 2018 and winter 2019.
Further information on the project is available at: Link