The notions of knowledge and mediation have been central topics in current urban research. Researchers and activists have been elaborating various community platforms to share information and initiate exchange about a neighborhood, a city, a development project or a policy question. Critical design and participatory cartography are prominent tools of mediating urban knowledge: giving inhabitants and professional communities the occasion to share and organize their insights and opinions in an accessible form, maps and other means of visualization are essential in enhancing the legibility of urban space. With a special focus on the production and use of public space, the course will experiment with various modalities and techniques of participation and information exchange, as well as explore the limits of such practices.
Details at http://skuor.tuwien.ac.at/?lang=en
The course offers an experimental and creative approach to urban research. Complementing the lectures delivered by the Vienna Visiting Professors, the course aims to develop skills in using community cartography to investigate the dynamics of the production and development of urban public space and to mediate knowledge about the city. The practice-oriented course is being carried out in three intensive mapping workshops where after establishing criteria and categories of data to collect, students will elaborate their methodologies and research projects. Interdisciplinary teams working in the area between Schwedenplatz and Reumannplatz will assemble impressions, identify problems, generate ideas and develop platforms to collect and share data with local and professional communities. The product of the course will be a variety of maps based on participatory platforms, continuing to host input and data even after the course.
