The December issue of Nordregio News includes an interview with me by Peter Schmitt. We discussed the implications of ‘Experiments and Living Labs’ and how they are attempting to steer urban development through co-creation activities. The interview is here (PDF link). Thank to Peter for the opportunity!
Congratulations to my PhD student, Kelly Watson, for successfully passing her viva with no corrections. Her doctoral research on ‘Learning Loops in Sustainable Design: Applying Social Return On Investment (SROI) to Buildings’ involved the development of a novel approach to assess the social value of architectural design. The work contributes to the growing wellbeing agenda of the built environment and approaches to evaluate building performance from a user perspective. Thanks to Alan Lewis and Flora Samuel for their examination work and to co-supervisors James Evans and Tim Whitley (Arup). Excellent work, Dr Watson!
Stockholm syndrome strikes! After seven years in Manchester, it is high time for new challenges. I just started a new position in KTH Urban and Regional Studies at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and am looking forward to new collaborations with Jonathan Metzger, Karin Bradley, Tigran Haas and many others. I will continue to conduct research on urban innovation, smart cities, and experimentation but in a very different context. Come and visit!
I contributed to a new Cambridge University Press edited volume titled Towards a Cultural Politics of Climate Change: Devices, Desires and Dissent. The book is edited by Harriet Bulkeley, Matthew Paterson, and Johannes Stripple, and includes case studies from the US, Europe and Australia on different modes of low-carbon transition. More info here.
I am very pleased to announce the formation of the Manchester Urban Institute in early 2017. MUI will extend the agenda of cities@manchester over the last six years and provide a platform of collaboration among the Centre for Urban Resilience and Energy, the Centre for Urban Policy Studies, the Cities, Politics and Economies Group, the Global Urban Research Centre, and the Manchester Architecture Research Centre. Prof Kevin Ward will serve as the inaugural director of MUI.
Kevin Ward, Cecilia Wong, and I co-hosted the third Summer Institute in Urban Studies from 27 to 30 June on behalf of cities@manchester. We were very fortunate to have 23 incredibly dynamic and talented early career academics from around the world for an engaging four days of presentations, discussion, workshops and conversation. A big thank you to our guest academics, Tim Bunnell (National University of Singapore), Stephanie Pincetl (UCLA), Andy Jonas (University of Hull) and Fran Tonkiss (LSE), as well as our University of Manchester colleagues who participated in the activities.
I am pleased to announce the publication of a new compendium, The Experimental City (Routledge 2016) that I co-edited with James Evans (University of Manchester) and Rob Raven (Utrecht University). The book provides new insights on what it means to experiment in and on cities with contributions from colleagues in the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, India, and the US. The book is available from the Routledge website here.
On 29 May, I participated in a workshop on Real-World Laboratories (Reallabor) at the Stuttgart Technology University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule für Technik) where I delivered a presentation on ‘Five Challenges of Real World Labs’. The event provided an opportunity for seven real-world labs in Baden-Württemberg to share their experiences and insights on designing, developing, and operating their innovative projects. I also co-hosted a workshop with Michael Stauffacher from ETH Zurich on scientific evidence and knowledge dissemination on real-world labs. Thanks to Niko Schaepke for organising!
I delivered a guest lecture to colleagues in Cosmopolis and MOBI at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel titled ‘From the Sustainable to the Smart City: Complementary or Contradictory Urban Visions?’. We had a very productive discussion about the opportunities and challenges of integrating notions of smart cities and sustainable cities.
I am pleased to report that my PhD student, Ahlam Sharif, successfully passed her PhD viva on ‘Sustainable Architectural Design between Inscription and De-scription: The Case of Masdar City’. Her work on the development and inhabitation of Masdar City’s student housing provides novel insights on how architects, developers, and building users interact in the production of sustainable cities. Congratulations to Ahlam!
Andrew Karvonen 