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| Semester | fall semester 2023 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Kenny R. Cupers (kenny.cupers@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Laura Nkula Wenz (laura.nkula@unibas.ch) |
| Content | This public conversation series explores how design, thought and practiced from the South, forges planetary futures. What do design responses to ecological crisis look like when they are grounded in the aspirations and struggles of those most affected, predominantly residing in the Global South? How does design grapple with radical interdependence in conditions of enduring injustice and rapid urban and environmental change? In 2022, as part of the SNSF-funded Sinergia project Governing Through Design, Kenny Cupers (Critical Urbanisms, University of Basel) and Laura Nkula-Wenz (African Centre for Cities, Cape Town) launched a global call for projects to answer these pressing questions. Over 150 multidisciplinary teams from across the world responded with project proposals. In dialogue with emerging thought and design leaders, the six winning project teams will reflect on their collaborative and speculative work with communities, sites, and materials and discuss how current social and ecological theory confronts the pragmatics and urgencies of making things together. Schedule Tuesday, 19 September, 4.15-6pm CET, Alte Universität Hörsaal 101 Introduction to the topic and to each other; running through the syllabus together; setting course expectations; Tuesday, 26th September, 4.15-6pm CET, online zoom Opening Roundtable Discussion with Jennifer Gabrys, Paulo Tavares, and Michael Uwemedimo, Chaired by Kenny Cupers (Urban Studies, University of Basel) Zoom Registration: https://unibas.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2xgJJsseRq-o7FmcL8HANA Tuesday, 17 October, 4.15-6pm CET, Alte Universität Hörsaal 101 Preparatory discussion for “Planetary Occupations x Nana Yaa Biamah Ofosu” Preparatory reading: TBD Tuesday 24 October, 4.15-6pm CET, online zoom Planetary Occupations x Nana Yaa Biamah Ofosu Zoom Registration: https://unibas.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UzQ7EOuTREGJgKC7H7uuyQ Tuesday, 7 November, 4.15-6pm CET, Alte Universität Hörsaal 101 Preparatory discussion for “Re-Imagi(nations) x Françoise Vergès” Preparatory reading: TBD Tuesday 14 November, 4.15-6pm CET, online zoom Re-Imagi(nations) x Françoise Vergès Zoom Registration: https://unibas.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RRkZsriwSridPvtBH5-0zA Tuesday, 21 November, 4.15-6pm CET, Alte Universität Hörsaal 101 Preparatory discussion for “Rural Futurism x Germane Barnes” Preparatory reading: TBD Tuesday 28 November, 4.15-6pm CET, online zoom Rural Futurism x Germane Barnes Zoom Registration: https://unibas.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VCyCHpRPQGqe37lT7icrwA |
| Learning objectives | Students will learn about different modes of design practice in response to environmental crisis Students will actively engage with debates that connect design, geopolitics, and climate justice Students will learn about the opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary and collaborative practice and have the space to reflect on how the different projects presented navigate both In the assignments, students will have the opportunity to try their hand in effective science communication |
| Bibliography | Rationale The climate crisis is only the latest manifestation of a longstanding history of planetary injustice. While the global North has historically produced and, together with China, continues to produce the bulk of emissions that have caused climate change, its consequences are felt disproportionally by vulnerable subjects and ecologies in the Global South. Current sustainability agendas are shaped by the interests of wealthy and polluting countries, rather than the world’s human and other-than-human majority. Addressing the global ecological crisis requires overcoming planetary modes of colonial extraction and asymmetric industrialisation, and the resulting global inequities. Fuelled by the climate crisis, design solutions have increasingly gathered around a call to build and strengthen sustainable and resilient systems. Politicians, planners, designers, development agencies, and community organizations invest hope in design as they aim to foster environments and subjects that can effectively respond to new levels of risk and uncertainty. Critics, however, have noted that adopting resilience as an end goal may entrench rather than undo political- economic systems of violence and marginalization. The Global South designs, obviously. It does so relentlessly and often with urgency. These majority-world projects and practices, however, are routinely overshadowed, co-opted, or suppressed by institutions that govern in the name of resilience, sustainability, or development. The conversation series starts from the premise that to carry through the promise of design against catastrophe, the South remains indispensable—not as a geographical location, but as an ethos of engagement. The project asks what resilience means when it is mobilized from the South, and how design can work for living landscapes and autonomous communities to foster global justice. Considering the colonial relations to which both “design” and the “global South” are tied, this prompt invites a fundamental questioning of design and points to a world beyond inherited spatial and epistemic divides. |
| Weblink | Syllabus |
| Admission requirements | No requirements |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Tuesday | 16.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Hörsaal -101 |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 19.09.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Hörsaal -101 |
| Tuesday 26.09.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Tuesday 17.10.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Hörsaal -101 |
| Tuesday 24.10.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Tuesday 07.11.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Hörsaal -101 |
| Tuesday 14.11.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Tuesday 21.11.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | Alte Universität, Hörsaal -101 |
| Tuesday 28.11.2023 | 16.15-18.00 | - Online Präsenz -, -- |
| Modules |
Doktorat Urban Studies: Empfehlungen (PhD subject: Urban Studies) Modul: Praktiken (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques) Module: Fields: Environment and Development (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | You are assessed on a Pass/Fail basis. To pass this course, you are required to attend all four lecture events and at least two of the preparatory discussions. You will also need to submit the following assignments: three blog posts reflecting on one of the lectures (due two weeks after the respective lecture) and one reflective essay, which presents your thoughts and analysis across the four public events (due 22 December, 5pm). If you know that you cannot make it to one of the four public conversation events, please do not register for this class. Of course, you are still welcome to attend the public lectures. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Urban Studies |