In the upcoming Alternative Urbanism course, we will explore the situation of young people in newly developed neighborhoods in Vienna through field research. Throughout the semester, we will engage in qualitative social science approaches to gain insight into how these neighborhoods are socially and spatially constructed within urban planning before and after moving in, with a special interest in young people's voices and how they are heard and valued through open youth work and participation tools. Students will actively engage in situational mapping techniques to explore where and how young people's voices resonate within the broader themes of urban planning.
We will investigate recent trends in community development and commoning approaches as well as other (in)formal planning tools, urban development, cultural and social policies from the perspective of young urban dwellers, examining whether these instruments can be situated within the discourse of the right to the city and to what extent they may stimulate meaningful encounters with young people in urban space. Above all, this project will allow for creative and ethically sound experimentation in the work with youth. Our research will closely trace how and where urban issues related to young people intertwine with urban development, community service and social infrastructural policies, with a particular spatial focus on Viennas' South. Specifically, we aim to analyze how organizations and policy makers are committed to amplifying young people's voices in urban development, particularly through open youth work and other initiatives. Conceptually, the groups will analyze emerging patterns of (dis)engagement of young people with certain places and localities within the current urban development of Vienna against the backdrop of different urban concepts such as neoliberal, post-political, embodied and ordinary city, with which we aim to analyze the interplay of implicit rationalities embedded in social, cultural and planning strategies within the urban landscape.
Methodology wise, our approach embodies alternative urbanism, with a strong emphasis on understanding and amplifying the needs and interests of young city dwellers. Inspired by Action Research (AR) strategies, among others, we are committed to co-producing knowledge and inductive theory building grounded in situational and situated research perspectives. Urbanistic, sociological and ethnographic empirical methods and e.g. artistic and other situational mapping techniques will serve as our basic methodological framework, ensuring a deep understanding of where young people's voices resonate within the complex fabric of urban development and open youth work. Additionally, we are committed to making both our findings and the research process accessible to a wider audience using innovative and sensitive presentation formats. We aim to gain insights into access to the role of social and cultural infrastructure, in its presence and absence all with the overarching aim of understanding and amplifying young people's voices.
The geographical focus of the project is on Viennas southern development area, the 23rd and 12th district. The center of Liesing and parts of Meidling is being restructured and densified. Two of its development areas, Atzgersdorf and In der Wiesen, have become increasingly dynamic districts. The Carré Atzgersdorf project, for example, with some 1,500 apartments, and other projects are already occupied. And on other former industrial sites, new homes, jobs, parks, schools and lively neighborhoods are being built. Given this situation, we would like to ask: where is the place for young people in all of this?
Tu sum up, this project offers a unique opportunity to engage with issues surrounding the integration of young people's voices in the dynamic landscape of Vienna’s urban development. We aim to unravel the intricacies of how youth, open youth work, and other youth-related initiatives are intertwined with but also partially disconnected from urban policy and urban planning. Our research seeks to uncover how socio-cultural institutions, especially those dedicated to the realm of youth and open youth work, are influenced by and influence current everyday routines on the urban frontiers of densification.
Fieldwork in small groups; application of explorative, mobile and performative research methods of Alternative Urbanism; focus groups or plenary discussion, and more.
Special emphasis is placed on the planning, implementation, evaluation and critical reflection of the urbanist field research methodology applied, specifically the primarily qualitative empirical data collection (including by means of data walking or cycling interviews, qualitative interview methodology), evaluation of the data collected (including by means of situational analytic mapping strategies), generalization and narrowing of scope, presentation.
The course mainly addresses master students (and late bachelor or early doctoral students) from planning and architecture. We explicitly welcome students coming from other Viennese universities in disciplines relating to urban studies such as educational studies, migration studies, urban design, geography, (work, urban) sociology, political science, landscape architecture, cultural studies (‘Mitbeleger’ at TU Wien). The course language is English. We support students’ active participation in debates and interactive teaching formats. We encourage students to bring in and develop their own ideas and critical perspectives. We seek to create an international level of debate and exchange and welcome students from all countries and cultures. Just contact us: info@skuor.tuwien.ac.at
