KEYNOTE SPEAKER

news: SHE CAN´T COME TO MADRID!

Martina Löw

Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Martina Löw is professor of sociology at the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. Her areas of specialization and research are sociological theory, urban sociology, space theory and cultural sociology. She was visiting professor and held fellowships at universities in Gothenburg (Sweden), Salvador da Bahia (Brazil), St. Gallen (Switzerland), Paris (France) and Vienna (Austria). From 2011 until 2013 she was president of the German Sociological Association. Currently she is head of the Collaborative Research Centre “Re-Figuration of Spaces” (DFG).

Refiguration of Spaces: current challenges for cities

Wednesday, 27^th June, 9.30-11.00

In her talk Martina Löw is going to show that spatial construction, at both the global and urban scale, will be transformed fundamentally. Space is the medium in which the transformation of society is taking place. Planning and architecture face the interesting challenge of designing spaces for people whose spatial knowledge has become more complex. If smart cities are merely seen as an opportunity to homogenize spaces anew, these aspirations won’t be met.

Martina Löw shows that uncertainty means welcoming different spatial logics alongside and overlaying one another. The challenge for cities is to provide opportunities for experiencing and understanding spatial and social interrelations (including contradictions, inequality, and linkages).