The univie: ARL International Summer School 2021

The univie: ARL International Summer School 2021

"Urban and Regional Infrastructures"

29 September to 2 October 2021

hybrid at University of Vienna (Juridicum)

Infrastructure has regained interest in geography and planning studies in course of a global, interdisciplinary 'infrastructural turn' during the last two decades. The new systemic questions around infrastructure development and planning exceed well beyond engineering and technology issues of the former centuries and reach into social, political and economic spheres of debate. Global connectivity, mobility, digitalisation, urbanisation, energy demand, capitalist growth and crises attach their uneven trajectories to infrastructural networks and services. Through that, the development of urban and regional infrastructures may shape new geographies of inequality and re-negotiates standards of infrastructural provision – such as availability, accessibility, affordability, quality and variety. At the same time, normatively spoken, ‘good’ governance and development of infrastructure can be a key for sustainability oriented urban and regional planning as well as policy.

The summer school is sponsored and organized by the ARL - Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association in cooperation with the Department of Geography and Regional Research at the University of Vienna (UNIVIE) as a member of the UNIVIE Research Platform "The Challenge of Urban Futures".

Four invited speakers will contribute to the summer school programme with keynote lectures, tutoring and a panel discussion:

• Prof. Timothy Moss from Humboldt University of Berlin,
• Prof. Erik Swyngedouw from the University of Manchester,
• Prof. Marketta Kyttä from Aalto University Finland,
• Prof. Bas van Heur from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

14 doctoral students from all over Europe whose research addresses a variety of actors (from neighbourhood initiatives to businesses and government bodies), a range of issues (from mobility to green infrastructure), as well as diverse approaches and instruments (such as social interactions, public participation and platforms as well as climate adaptation).

Programme & Public Events

Over the course of four days, doctoral students work intensively with renowned academic experts and practitioners on a current topic. They discuss their research methods and first results, develop new approaches and questions, expand their professional network, and gain experience in publishing scientific papers.