After successful completion of the course, students are able to

• explore and theorise social inequality and space by focusing on the interplay of the materialities, spatial practices, shared meanings and discourses of the lived experiences and embodied interactions that take place in urban space. 
• understand and discuss concepts related to the appropriation of public space, and recognize the interrelationships of embodied practices and processes of space appropriation.
• discuss and critically reflect on care and communing debates and their relevance to the fields of urban developments, planning and architecture, with a particular focus on housing and public space.
• identify research problems, formulate research questions, and present and discuss developed research projects and results in a final presentation

**This course will mainly take place as an excursion to Graz (Austria)**

Main part of this course will take place in Graz from Sunday 15 to Thursday 19 October 2023. Aim of this excursion is to establish an intensive workshop atmosphere where we jointly with excursions and field trips explore locate social difference in urban public space and explore how public space is continually (re)made and claimed by different social groups in Graz. The seminar will draw on recent literature on the possibilities, and address methodological advances in intersectional research.
During our stay in Graz a combination of theoretical and methodological inputs, field trips, workshops and group-based explorations will take place.In Graz, group-based urban research will be carried out using a more focused ethnographic strategy, including participant-observation techniques, but also bodily-sensory methods, along with literature discussions of three partially overlapping and, in comparison to the history of Graz, more recent urbanization trends (suburbanization, neoliberal and new-municipal urbanization). Students will have time to explore and locate these recent trends, relate them to the rhythms of everyday public encounters, and discuss the materiality and logic of these chosen spaces in terms of their potential to co-structure social inequalities which are inscribed in urban spaces in various ways.

This may take the form of unequal opportunities to participate in decision-making processes about urban development, different levels of occupancy, presence and absence, or choices about where to live. People with low incomes or other forms of social, cultural, economic, environmental, and political disadvantage or discrimination often use the city less for their own benefit, have less attractive housing, or suffer much more from increasing urban heat. This form of inequality was particularly visible during the pandemic. We discuss the spatial analysis of social inequalities along different interlocking and interacting axes of discrimination or disadvantage, such as Socioeconomic factors, origin, color, religion, gender, and others. Such an approach is called intersectional urban studies. It is this "urbanist" approach that constitutes the complementarity with the seminar "Poverty, Precarity and Socio-spatial Inequality", also offered as part of the elective module 5s' and organized by the Sociology Research Department.

Urban space is a reflection of these intersectional inequalities, which can be seen at the level of everyday life, in the architecture and design of public spaces and their use. For example, opportunities to participate in decision-making processes are unequally distributed, whether in the form of voting rights or the design of urban space. Resistant practices in dealing with these unequal opportunities are protest, artistic and activist practices on the one hand, and alternative and socially innovative forms of use on the other. In this seminar, we will address difference, everyday life and intersectionality in the spatial study of social inequalities on a theoretical level. To this end, we will discuss different concepts and methods and examine places in the city where inequalities are inscribed. Each student will write a scientific article addressing theory and empire along a selected question previously explored in the group.

• Introduction to intersectional approaches to study social inequalities in the urban context
• Joint discussion along the reading of the basic literature
• Common explorations in public spaces and discussion of short films 
• Writing excerpts of these theoretical foundations
• Common work on formulating a scientific paper.
  
• Guideline on writing a seminar paper

The Kick-Off of the Elective Module 5: Society, Everyday Life and Space will take place on October 3, 2023, 10:00 - 12:00 am together with all Course Instructors.

We invite all students to participate:

Tuesday, 3.10.2023 | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm | Room BA 02B

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The courses mainly address master students from planning and architecture. We explicitly welcome students coming from other Austrian universities in disciplines relating to planning theories and urban studies to register as (‘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).

• Debate of the basic literature 
• Two excerpts of 3,000 characters including spaces (a 2 pages each) 
• Writing and presentation of the structure for a scientific paper incl. formulated introduction (a ca 3 pages)
• Common exploration in the urban space 
• 15-minute presentation of the preliminary research results and possible links to theory
• Written seminar paper of approx. 16,500 characters incl. spaces (8 - 10 pages)

The fulfilment of both criteria as well as 80% attendance are required for positive completion.

Please also visit, if possible, the core courses of this module (i.e. VO 280.909, UE 280.910, SE 280.911) as well as the VU 280.A77.