local knowledge

Aurora Marijke Martin

Researcher Name: 
Aurora Marijke Martin
Affiliation/s: 

Associate professor History of Architecture and Town Planning / Expertise Center Architecture, Urbanism and Health, University of Groningen, NL.

Architecture Institute of Prague (Archip), CR (healthy city research; guest lectures).

Country/ies: 
Netherlands, Czech Republic
Contact Email: 
Description of Research in Relation to Placemaking : 

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.

Interest in Contribution Field/Context: 

Architecture and Town Planning history; 20th C. housing estates; Bildung/emancipation through architecture; post-trauma and post-unsafety/exclusion urban revival.

Case Studies Conducted / Participated In: 

Post-conflict urban revival – and community building in Medellín and Bogotá / Colombia (https://www.academia.edu/30426732/Bogota._El_renacer_de_una_ciudad._Planeta_Editoriales._Bogota._2007 and https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qdb7t).

Bohemia/Prague: 19th Century emancipatory place making processes (in progress → to be compared to other cases – to figure in current post-1989 place making processes)

Place-making and Local Knowledge Production: comparative (re-)mapping of twentieth century ‘native’ housing estates as planned and (sometimes) realized in Nairobi, Accra and Douala (together with/as daily supervisor of PhD-researcher Pauline Bezemer, University of Groningen, NL).

See our article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02665433.2019.1602785

Keywords for research interest for collaboration: 
External Stakeholders Engaged With: 

Architects, urban planners, policy makers, scholars in Europe and beyond (the Netherlands, Prague, Medellín, Bogotá, Subsahara Africa).

Modes of Investigation: 

Classical academic research (archival/primary sourcing); oral sourcing; ANT-related; discourse analysis.