I co-authored an article with Stacy Vallis and Elina Eriksson that examines pandemics and the built environment using a human-building interaction framework. Specifically we look at analogue and digital responses to COVID-19 involving distancing and separating, monitoring and tracing, and sanitising and cleansing. The article is open access and can be downloaded here: https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.280.
I co-authored a book chapter on ‘The Challenges of Fostering Citizenship in the Smart City’ with Marikken Wulff-Wathne and Håvard Haarstad in the new edited volume Digital (In)justice in the Smart City (2023, University of Toronto Press). The collection includes a wide range of smart city insights from a great group of international scholars. Thanks to Debra Mackinnon, Ryan Burns, and Victoria Fast for the curatorial work!
I participated in the JPI Urban Europe Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) meeting in Copenhagen on 30 and 31 January. We listened to several inspiring talks and engaged in lively roundtable discussions about the 4 pilot PED projects that are now ending and the 9 new projects that recently started. It was fun to engage with such a dynamic community of practitioners and scholars. Thanks to Christoph Gollner and colleagues for hosting!
I contributed a chapter to a new UCL Press book on ‘Haste: The slow politics of climate urgency’ edited by Håvard Haarstad, Jakob Grandin, Kristin Kjærås and Eleanor Johnson. A wide range of contributors examine climate politics and the need for rapid transformations. My chapter (co-authored with Jonas Bylund) reflects on the opportunities and challenges offered by incremental approaches to urban development. The book is FREE to download here: https://bit.ly/3QTzZSg
I am excited about a new advanced study group funded by the Pufendorf Institute on Advanced Studies at Lund University to examine ‘Seamless Life: The imaginaries, experiences and peril of data-driven life’. We will discuss the underlying norms, assumptions, experiences and implications of smart solutions in the home and the street. The group is led by Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren (Political Science) and includes Lovisa Nyman (Theology and Religious Studies), Martin Garwicz (Experimental Medical Science), Jessica Enevold (Arts and Cultural Sciences), James White (Technology and Society), Alexander Paulsson (Business Administration), Ida Sandström (Architecture), and Robert Willim (Arts and Cultural Sciences).
The EmbedterLabs team met in Stockholm at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and visited the Norrtullsgatan summer street near Odenplan. We will be studying a wide range of similar urban living labs over the next three years.
I visited the Brunnshög neighbourhood in Lund with students from the Urban Process course at Lund University. Daniel Wasden led us on a detailed and informative tour of the planning and design of the new district.
CALL FOR PAPERS: ‘Data Politics in the Built Environment’, Special issue of Buildings and Cities, guest editors Andrew Karvonen (Lund University) & Tom Hargreaves (University of East Anglia)
How are data reconfiguring life in buildings and cities? Who are the subjects and objects of data-driven buildings and cities? What are the implications of data-driven buildings and cities for social equity and justice? How do these powers and associated practices align with policies and regulation?
The aim of this special issue is to improve our collective understanding of the practices, politics, and power implications of data-driven buildings and cities. How is data generated, metabolised, and gathered in the built environment? Who designs and governs these data flows and to what end? Who and what is enrolled in the datafication of buildings and cities? What forms and types of data are collected and what gets ignored in data flows at and across different scales? What are the broader implications for social justice and equity? We invite social scientists, planners, designers, building scientists, data scientists, and environmental scientists to shine a critical spotlight on the motivations, methods, and consequences of data-driven buildings and cities.
https://www.buildingsandcities.org/calls-for-papers/data-politics.html
Erica Eneqvist successfully defended her doctoral thesis yesterday at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology on ‘Experimental Governance: Capacity and Legitimacy in Local Governments’. The opponent was Annica Kronsell and the grading committee included Josefina Syssner, Mikael Granberg, Stefan Sjöblom, Lukas Smas, and Berit Brokking Balfors. Huge congratulations to Dr Eneqvist!
Amanda Winter and I published a new article in Land Use Policy titled ‘Climate governance at the fringes: Peri-urban flooding drivers and responses.’ We examined 26 case studies of peri-urban flood governance and found many instances of autonomous adaption as well as significant potential for adaptive governance approaches. The article is open access and free to download.
Andrew Karvonen 