Lisbon, Tiago Castela (2013)
Themes and Aims
This one-week summer program will focus on the spatial manifestations and consequences of the ongoing European debt crisis. Since the global credit crisis of 2008, brutal austerity programs implemented in return for loans from external sources such as the World Bank and the European Central Bank have led to massive cuts in public expenditure and growing unemployment; these cuts have in turn fueled downturns through collapsing revenues and large-scale disinvestment. The precipitous decline has led to widespread “accumulation through dispossession,” where devalued, and even abandoned public assets have been sold at a fraction of their former value to speculators operating at the front edge of a wave of state-enabled privatization. The liquidity crisis that now extends across all levels of government has had dramatic effects on the urban environment, not only through the growth of homelessness, and the deterioration of public infrastructure in cities across Europe, but also through the collapse of public services needed to address the human consequences of austerity. The unequal distribution of debt across the European context has reinstated a corrosive north-south inequality divide that the EU – at least in its more optimistic founding rhetoric – was intended to help eliminate. The growing political crisis in Greece and the emergence of growing resistance against austerity policies in France, Italy, and Portugal point towards a new phase in the struggles around the continuing implementation of neoliberal austerity programs, which may well involve the collapse of the EU in its current form.
While the extent of creative destruction underway has exacted a devastating human toll, it has also served to energize new political solidarities and alternative forms of creative practice that respond to austerity through radical teaching and research, policy initiatives, and experimental forms of social/spatial organization – some temporary and others more lasting in the motivations and impact. This summer workshop will regard the current crisis as both an opportunity to share as well as extend critical and historical insights, and to foster creative interventions and practices that move beyond disabling and sometimes over-determined narratives of decline.
The workshop has three major goals. First, we seek to locate the recent events within the historical development and transformation of global capitalism and the institutions of liberalism, with emphasis on their changing relationship to the production and management of debt as a form of social regulation. Second, we will consider the broader historical framework for the workshop alongside the close investigation of the city of Lisbon as a case study. We will explore Lisbon within the policies and practices of neoliberalism, in order to understand how new modes of inequality have reshaped the cultural practices and meanings of urban life. A particular emphasis of the program will be on the new importance attached to international tourism as a much needed source of revenue, and its asymmetrical impact on the culture, economy, and spatial politics of Lisbon. Finally, we propose to direct the workshop towards new projects of political imagination and transformation that have started to emerge in the midst of the crisis. These range from alternative systems of economic exchange and development (including participatory budgeting and radical models of economic exchange) to new forms of spatial intervention and practice aimed at creating both temporary and permanent conditions in urban space within which to imagine and enact alternative futures.
Format
Each of the three themes constitutes a distinctive emphasis in the workshop sequence. Part One will provide participants with an introductory framework with which to locate subsequent discussions of the Lisbon case studies in a broader social/historical framework. Part Two will examine the epistemologies and practices of debt, both historically and the present, by considering its entanglement with colonialism and the postcolonial present. We will explore debt and austerity as forms of individual and collective violence, and consider how processes of conflict resolution associated with armed conflict and war might offer a starting point to rebuild societies emerging from the effects of extreme austerity. The final section of the workshop will draw together the critical insights and empirical understanding developed in the preceding sections with examples of spatial interventions, tactics, and counter-appropriations that reimagine social space in ways that both acknowledge and move beyond the constraints of current urban conditions.
This CES Summer School workshop includes five seminar sessions, as well as one opening keynote session, a day tour in the Lisbon area, a roundtable session, and a closing forum. All readings will be in the Workshop Reader, available in PDF. Each participant will receive a certificate of attendance at the end of the workshop.
Schedule (summary)
Monday (June 29): Opening Keynote Session (access free and open to the public) | Afternoon Seminar “Social and Historical Introduction”
Tuesday (June 30): Day Tour “Historical Foundations”
Wednesday (July 1): Morning Seminar “Decolonizing Knowledge” | Afternoon Seminar “Urban Violence and Urban Peacebuilding”
Thursday (July 2): Morning Seminar “Financialization and Housing” | Afternoon Roundtable “Activism and Democratization”
Friday (July 3): Morning Seminar “Spaces of Dissent and Alternative Futures” | Closing Forum
Coordinators
Greig Crysler (University of California, Berkeley, USA) and Tiago Castela (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Keynote Speaker
Margit Mayer (Technical University of Berlin, Germany)
Instructors
João Cabral (Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, Portugal),
João Carlos Afonso (architect and Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Lisbon Municipality, Portugal),
José Castro Caldas (CES-Lisbon and Observatory of Crises and Alternatives, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
Tiago Castela (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
Greig Crysler (University of California, Berkeley, USA),
Jorge Figueira (Department of Architecture and Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
General D (musician, Lisbon, Portugal),
António Brito Guterres (Lisbon University Institute, Portugal),
Maria Paula Meneses (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
Mariana Paisana (architect, Rés do Chão, Lisbon, Portugal),
José Manuel Pureza (Faculty of Economics and Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
Sílvia Roque (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
Ana Cordeiro Santos (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal),
Tiago Mota Saraiva (architect, ateliermob, Lisbon, Portugal),
among others TBA
Workshop Administrator
Sílvia Lima (CES-Lisbon, Portugal)
Participants
This summer program is open to built environment professionals, and to citizen activists, as well as to researchers and graduate students, notably in the fields of architecture, urban planning, geography, anthropology, urban sociology, among others.
Location
The summer program will be held at CES-Lisbon in Lisbon, Portugal, an extension of the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. The opening and closing sessions of the program will be held at the Lisbon Urban Information Center of the Lisbon Municipality.
Language
The teaching language will be English.
Registration
Registration will end on June 18, 2015. An early bird fee will be available until May 20, 2015. A 500 word statement of interest in PDF should be sent upon registration to ceslx@ces.uc.pt.
Maximum number of participants
The maximum number of participants is 20.
Fee
Early bird fee (until May 20, 2015): 170 Euros
Early bird student fee (until May 20, 2015): 70 Euros
Regular fee: 200 Euros
Student fee: 100 Euros
The fee includes all materials, lunch, and coffee break on Monday and Friday (for the opening and closing sessions), as well as an 8-hour tour on Tuesday. Information on accommodation and food near the Picoas area of Lisbon will be provided.
Contact
If you have any questions, please write to us at ceslx@ces.uc.pt
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=logo}
Margit Mayer has taught comparative and North American politics at Freie Universität Berlin since 1990 and is associate professor at the Center for Metropolitan Studies at Technical University Berlin. Her research focuses on comparative politics, urban and social politics and social movements. She has published on various aspects of contemporary urban politics, urban theory, (welfare) state restructuring and social movements. She co-authored Nonprofits in the Transformation of Employment Policies (2004), co-edited Urban Movements in a Globalizing World (2000), Cities for People not for Profit (2013), and Neoliberal Urbanism and Its Contestations (2013). Currently she is co-editing a volume on Urban Uprisings: Challenging the neoliberal city in Europe (forthcoming 2015), and writing a monograph on urban social movements and the state. She serves on the board of the International Graduate Program ‘Berlin-New York-Toronto’ organized by the three Berlin universities. She served as editorial board member of The International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, on the Editorial Committee of the book series “Studies in Urban and Social Change” (Blackwell). She has won the 2014 RJ-AvH fellowship for Göteborg University, Sweden.
Greig Crysler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture of the University of California, Berkeley. He obtained his professional degree in Architecture from the Architectural Association in London, and has extensive experience in architectural practice in Canada and the UK. He completed his Ph.D. in the Graduate Program in Architectural History and Theory, at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He teaches introductory courses in architectural theory and criticism, and graduate seminars that explore the relationship between architecture and social processes such as nationalism, globalization and the politics of identity. In 2010, he launched a new class at the intersection of architecture, ethics, and activism. Crysler was Program Director of the “Arcus Endowment” of the College of Environmental Design (CED) for a decade. During that time, he oversaw the development of an international awards program for critical and creative activity at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and the built environment. He coordinated the annual “Arcus Endowment” Lecture, and worked with students and faculty to develop numerous events and public programs at CED around LGBTQ issues.
Tiago Castela is an urban historian and a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, integrating the research group on Cities, Cultures, and Architecture (CCArq). He holds a PhD in History of Architecture and Urbanism from the University of California, Berkeley (USA), and a ‘Licenciatura’ professional degree in Architecture from the University of Lisbon (Portugal). His doctoral dissertation discusses the history of the illegalized working-class suburban subdivisions of the Lisbon area of Portugal, foregrounding the role of the government of informality in the formation of a dual planning regime during the late Twentieth Century. His current research prolongs this genealogy of planning in the postwar development project by exploring the history of colonial urbanism in Mozambique from the end of the Second World War to independence, focusing on the ways in which Portuguese state planning managed the informal production of urban peripheries in present-day Maputo. He is the coordinator of the exploratory research project “Urban Aspirations in Colonial/Postcolonial Mozambique: Governing the Unequal Division of Cities, 1945-2010,” undertaken at the Center for Social Studies for the Portuguese state Foundation for Science and Technology.
João Cabral (Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, Portugal)
João Carlos Afonso (architect and Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Lisbon Municipality, Portugal)
José Maria Castro Caldas is an economist and a Senior Researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He is a member of the research group on Science, Economy and Society (NECES), of the Observatory on Crisis and Alternatives, and of the Risk Observatory. He was previously Assistant Professor at the Economics Department of the Lisbon University Institute, Portugal and a researcher at the Dinâmia research center. He graduated in Economics and concluded a Master in Mathematics Applied to Economics and Management at the Higher Institute of Economics and Management of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and holds a PhD in Economics from the Lisbon University Institute, Portugal.
Jorge Figueira is an architect and architectural theorist. He graduated in Architecture at the University of Porto, Portugal in 1992, and completed his PhD in Architecture at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2009. He is currently the Director of the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, where he is Assistant Professor. He is a researcher at the Center for Social Studies. In addition, he teaches for the doctoral program of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, Portugal.
António Brito Guterres is a researcher at the DINAMIA’CET research center on socioeconomic change and the territory of the Lisbon University Institute, Portugal, and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Urban Studies from the Lisbon University Institute. His thesis addressed the social and cultural impacts of rehousing policies. He graduated in Social Work at the Higher Institute of Social Work of Lisbon, Portugal. He has experience in various projects of territorial development, in particular as the Director of the Vale da Amoreira Operation of the Critical Urban Areas Initiative, and as the coordinator of the Performance Arts Center in the same neighborhood. He currently works for the Aga Khan Foundation Portugal, focusing on issues such as participation, governance, education, youth, diversity, and pluralism. He is also part of URB, a process for the development of a TV series about the diversity and imaginations of everyday life in the Greater Lisbon area, and works as a freelancer and a volunteer with grassroots organizations and informal groups; he often lectures on participation, urban regeneration, gentrification, the commons, and about the role of arts and culture in urban development. He is a member of the International Network for Urban Research and Action (INURA).
Maria Paula Meneses is an anthropologist and a Senior Researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, integrating the Research Group on Democracy, Citizenship and Law (DECIDe). She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Rutgers University (USA) and a MA in History from St. Petersburg University (Russia). Maria Paula Meneses is also a member of the Center for Social Studies “Aquino de Bragança” (CESAB) in Maputo, Mozambique. She lectures in various doctoral programs: “Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship”, “Governance, Knowledge and Innovation”, and “Law, Justice, and Citizenship in the 21st century.” She also co-coordinates the Ph.D. Program on Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship. Previously she was a Professor at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
José Manuel Pureza is a researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, of which he is the current Head of the Scientific Board. He is Professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, where he coordinates the Master in International Relations and the PhD program on International Politics and Conflict Resolution. He is also the scientific coordinator of the PhD Program on Human Rights in Contemporary Societies offered by the Center for Social Studies and by the Interdisciplinary Research Institute of the University of Coimbra. José Manuel Pureza has been visiting professor at various universities: Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina; University Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain; Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil; Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; University of the Basque Country, Spain; and University of Deusto, in Bilbao, Spain.
Sílvia Roque (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Ana Cordeiro dos Santos is an economist and a Researcher at the Science, Economy and Society Research Group (NECES) of the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She received her PhD from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands, and her Masters from the University of Roskilde, Denmark. She has a ‘Licenciatura’ in Economics from the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. Her research interests include methodology of economics, experimental economics and behavioral economics, and she has published on these topics in various journals. She has recently started working on the topics of financialization and household indebtedness. She is the author of The Social Epistemology of Experimental Economics (2010).
Tiago Mota Saraiva is an architect and an urban planner. He holds a ‘Licenciatura’ (professional degree) in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in Architecture, Territory, and Memory from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. As a practicing architect, he worked at the office of Massimiliano Fuksas in Rome, Italy, among others. At the office of Fuksas he was project coordinator, notably for the Shimon Peres Center for Peace in Israel. Presently, he is managing partner at the ateliermob office, where he has practiced since its creation in 2005; the office’s work has since achieved various awards, including the first prize in Future Cities’ “Planning for the 90%” international competition (2012), the first prize in the public competition for a plan for Amareleja, Portugal (2010), the first prize in the public competition for a new cemetery in Moura, Portugal (2008), as well as the first prize in the international competition for the dynamization of the margins of the middle Tagus river (2007).
Mariana Paisana is an architect, born in Lisbon in 1986. She studied architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon. She also studied for one year as a visiting student at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Italy. After her graduation, she worked for three years at the architecture studio of B. V. Doshi—Vastu Shilpa Consultants—in Ahmedabad, India, initially as an Inov-Art scholar of the Portuguese state Culture Secretariat. She is now living and working in Lisbon, developing a project of social entrepreneurship called “Rés do Chão” (i.e. “ground floor” or “near the floor”).