Professional background:
History of Architecture and Town Planning, including non-Western countries
Periods/places of interest:
Historical (as of late-18th C) and current periods, their interrelation, and the way into which content and results of historical place making/knowledge production processes figure in - and contribute to current ones; for example: Colombia (post-trauma urban renewal processes), Prague (19th Century Czech-Slavic emancipation under Austrian rule; humanizing tendencies as part of design and realization of Socialist neighbourhood); sub-Saharan African ‘native’ housing estates (the actors involved and (transferred, colonial) models/concepts applied in their production - and their current threatened situation).
Topics/overarching themes:
Place making processes in contested, traumatized, neglected spatial and political-societal contexts as part of (ethnic, citizens’) emancipation, community building and post-trauma renewal.
Perspectives:
The (supposed) intertwined relation between cité and ville; civic culture and culture building through architecture and place making; the actors involved (elite, citizens; top down versus bottom up); the effects of architecture and urban design on mental, physical and societal health and security; inclusion - exclusion.