URBAN TALK
May 5, 2015 | 18.30 Uhr | HBS 02

Ben Campkin & Neil Klug
The politics of "Practice-Orientation"
Reflections from London and Johannesburg

The Urban Talk will reflect with two examples, one from Witwatersrand University of Johannesburg one from Urban Laboratory at the University College of London the notion of "practice-orientation" within the context of higher education in architecture, urban planning and related fields. The aim is to exchange ideas and experiences concerning methods and tools as well as the political and practical challenges around the design and implementation of practice-oriented learning and teaching.

Ben Campkin, London

This talk will outline some of the activities established under the umbrella of UCL’s Urban Laboratory, in collaboration with other partners, with a view to nurturing ‘engaged urbanism’. This term designates an emerging field of cross-disciplinary research on cities, bridging across the epistemologies and methods of art, architecture, design, the humanities, and the social, physical and engineering sciences. It refers to work that is practice-led and/or oriented towards practical interventions to address the critical realities of contemporary cities and the urbanization processes and socio-cultural structures through which they are produced and experienced. 

Neil Klug, Johannesburg

While the spatial legacy of apartheid is proving to be very persistent, there have been rapid and significant changes in the urban environment in South Africa. It could be argued that the bulk of these changes have reinforced the apartheid status quo. In order to address these persistent trends one needs to understand the diversity/complexity of our economy and society through a deep understanding of power, politics and state practices. This lecture will briefly contextualise the current urban realities, and then reflect on some of the “practise oriented” pedagogies that the school and CUBES are exploring in attempting to prepare students to engage with the rapidly changing, diverse and complex built environment.

The lecture series "Urban Talks" is jointly organized by the Habitat Unit and the Urban Management Program at Technical University Berlin.

Room HBS 02, TU Berlin
Hardenbergstrasse 16-18
10623 Berlin