JUST CITY is a four-part series that aims to explore the question of how urban practice demands and tests a fairer city. This opens up new perspectives on current urban development. The four publications are to be understood as a beginning and an attempt to emphasise the following topics of urban practice:
This publication aims to explore discourses and practices that empower young people; children, teenagers and young adults, through artistic means, to achieve self-efficacy in the (re)shaping of the city.
"CHILDHOOD DREAMS: ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS AFFORDABLE RENT" (Leon Gross - Urbane Liga Alumni e.V.)
The dividing lines of spatial exclusion mechanisms therefore do not only run along the categories of young versus old, but are primarily based on whether people use their labour ‘productively’ in a neoclassical sense or not. (Leon Gross - Urbane Liga Alumni e.V.)
"What does it mean to be young in an ageing city? What challenges come with it? And what infrastructure is necessary for young people to not only feel comfortable but also grow up in living conditions that are as equal as possible?" (Milena Grösch, Maren Zünkler, Emilia Fuchs)
"Children and young people’s right to participation and co-determination of the city has become unquestionable in German urban development policies. But where do children and young people learn to make a city?" (Valeria Schwarz, Lorène Blanche Goesele - Urbane Künste Er(be)leben)
"Interventions by self-organised projects creatively, and often playfully, bring about a new perspective on space, recode it, and reveal other potential uses or designs." (Stephanie Haury, Anja Röding, Friederike Vogel - BBSR )
Guest Contributions:
Project Presentations:
Projects in Berlin:
In view of the threat of climate breakdown and the urgency of socio-ecological change, we ask ourselves: how does urban practice, with spatial activism, artistic means and cultural networks, contribute to a socio-ecological transformation of our cities? In addition to recognising, preserving and restoring ecological qualities, climate justice also includes a fair, social distribution of resources and participation, from the local to the global level.
"Companies and privileged social groups in the city are responsible for a large proportion of urban CO2 emissions, but are generally well able to adapt to the consequences of climate change. In contrast, the already precarious groups contribute to a much smaller share of the climate crisis, but are far more affected by heat stress, water shortages, flooding or storms and have fewer opportunities to adapt. This environmental injustice has a spatial dimension." (Hendrik Sander - Institut für Europäische Urbanistik)
"Architecture has long relied on an extractivist regime in relation to resources. The over-intensive extraction of resources and the polluting effects of their consumption and waste vastly contributes to climate breakdown. Resources are placed into networks of economic exchange, rather than being seen as part of an ecological system." (Sarah Bovelett, Tatjana Schneider - Mould)
"In the realm of urban practice, the concept of space transcends mere physical dimensions—it encom-passes parcels of land, public realm, neglected earth, personal grounds, and communal territories,shaping our social fabric as much as our physical environment." (Lea Karrasch, Clément Rames - aquí)
"In the journey towards climate justice, let us bring our focus back to where it matters most - the Earth beneath our feet." (Lea Karrasch, Clément Rames - aquí)
"Neither individuals nor local authorities should construct on living soils, but rather safeguard and protect them." (Leila Bensalem - FÉ.E.S DU MARAIS, BRUSSELS)
"We organised some playful strategies of popular environmental education to provide awareness of what species of flora and fauna inhabit our territory." (Laura Cala Mejía - SOMOS BOSQUE, BOGOTÁ)
Guest Contributions:
Project Presentations:
Projects in Berlin:
Terms and practices such as Urbane Praxis (Barbara Holub), critical spatial practice (Jane Rendell), critical care (Elke Krasny, Angelika Fitz) are intrinsically feminist. At the same time, the anchoring of feminist and queer approaches in urban practice is by no means self-evident and often requires explanation, especially in everyday life. In our practice, we are too often confronted with conservative patriarchal structures and power relations, unequally distributed (care) tasks and overload, (self-)exploitation and a lack of representation, spaces, recognition and appreciation. It is therefore all the more important to pursue queer-feminist approaches in order to enable a more diverse urban transformation.
"The patriarchal order inscribes itself onto constructed space, while constructed space brings forth the patriarchal order, thus influencing specific behaviours and role perceptions. However, this is not set in stone." (Marieke Fischer)
"Women, as the primary subjects of reproductive labour, have historically depended on access to the commons - from clean air and water to collectivised reproductive labour - and have therefore been at the forefront of struggles to secure them." (Mascha Fehse, Licia Soldavini - Who Are We?)
"Rather than art just being a response or being a particular output, it is a very potent space." (Carissa Pobre - AGAM AGENDA, QUEZON CITY)
"I think it’s also incumbent on those of us that have the privilege and the time for artistic inquiry to protest that it’s a privilege." (Padmapani L. Perez - AGAM AGENDA, QUEZON CITY)
Guest Contributions:
Project Presentations:
Projects in Berlin:
In a practice that acts for the common good, there must be a debate about what and who this refers to. In urban practice, a critical reflection of one’s own position is thus essential. Too often, “public good-oriented” projects in Germany are predominantly white, academic, economically privileged, able-bodied or native German. Underrepresented perspectives on practices and strategies of co-designing urban space often remain invisible. A starting point of this issue is the question: What can a solidarity based urban practice look like?
"Looking back on a long history of hegemonic and patriarchal urban design from above, it is essential for the pursuit of social justice to intervene here and design the city from below. From within urban society." (Laura Awad, Miriam Kreuzer)
"The field of urban practice must make its own structural exclusions visible and critically reflect on them in order to stop reproducing existing power inequalities and to fulfil its own aspirations." (Laura Awad, Miriam Kreuzer)
"If the goal of an equitable urban society is taken seriously, barrier removal should always be part of urban practice, just like the urban space and the people themselves. After all, these two factors are ultimately at stake. Without accessibility, actors remain hidden and thus also a large part of the urban realm." (Yasmina Bellounar - BPUP)
"Precisely because the goals of urban practice, its politically formulated vanishing point of the solidary city, are so important, the search for new perspectives on its localisation, content and methods is worthwhile." (Melanie Nazmy)
"But one of the biggest gaps that exists is the unequal access to information. Especially in a disaster, information is the most important resource. But even in crisis contexts, tech companies and consultation firms continue to propagate a business model reliant on the gatekeeping of information." (Nashin Mathani - YAYASAN PETA BENCANA, INDONESIA)
Guest Contributions:
Project Presentations:
Projects in Berlin:
Impressum
Animation: Korbinian Fischer
Design: Elisabeth Knoblich, Dana Schneider
Audio: Elisabeth Knoblich, Dana Schneider, Nils Haala
Magazin Design: Roman Karrer