Lecturers & Staff

Keywords: transformations of social space, urban interventions

Globalization, transnationalism, migrations and transformations of urban spaces: The impact of transnationalization, and more specifically, of transnational migrations in specific urban spaces; the constitution of migrants communities, diasporas and neighborhoods in urban spaces; the interethnic and intra-ethnic relations and the changes in urban neighborhoods; households of migrants and the feelings of “home”;  the constitution of ethnic clusters and economies; the transnational urbanism perspective and the analysis of the urban changes; the feelings of belonging and non-belonging, the urban uprootings and re-groundings in a global context. All these shifts can be considered in relation with the current period of crisis and change

Transnational families and households in urban spaces: Recently, it has been shown the emergence of different kinds of transnational families and households that, despite the spatial dispersion of some of its members, continue to maintain regular relations between them and a certain notion of being a domestic unit. Therefore, students are invited to examine any of the following topics: What forms adopts these households in cities like Brussels, Vienna, Copenhagen and Madrid; how these households  are configured on a multi-scale level, and how are involved in their constitution factors of each scale, from the local to the global; how are reconfigured the productive and reproductive activities inside these families and households, and what are the consequences in the urban spaces; how are re-articulated the relations between these households, the public policies, the markets, and the other aspects of local urban life in the different urban spaces; what trajectories of change follow these households; where are located the households with which they maintain a regular contact and a sense of unit; what shifts take place in the gender and intergenerational relations inside these households; how it takes place within these households distance relationships among its members; how these relationships are articulated with those that take place in the spaces of proximity; and what forms of virtual and face-to-face communication use their members in order to keep in contact and  reproduce the  network of transnational or global households as a domestic unit.

The analysis of the urban spaces from a gender and intersectional perspective: Gender perspective and urban spaces. Gendered spaces in the city: social practices and symbolic and imaginary representations. Gender and places. Intersectional perspective and the examination of the interactions between social agents with different social origins, ages or gender in public urban spaces. Ages of the city: changes along the life course. Disability, accessibility and dependency. Mobilities, immobilities and social practices by gender, age and other diversities.

The higher education students in the urban spaces: It is possible to exam the following topics: the changes in the volume of students of higher education; their socio-demographic characteristics -with special attention to their age, gender, social and educational familiar background, forms of livelihood, etc.-; their academic characteristics –area of their studies, type of university, etc.-; dedication to their studies and work; forms of accommodation and household; social conditions of life in the city; internal an international mobility. All these topics should be studied from a comparative approach, taking into consideration the cases of Vienna, Brussels, Copenhagen and Madrid, and in relation to the changes that have taken place in the last years.

Keywords: urban studies, culture and economic development, tourism, nature and development

Urban tourism: Since the Grand Tour in the eighteenth and nineteenth century tourism has been an innate activity in cities, mainly in those which has an important cultural heritage and has been traditionally considered as ‘historic cities’. However, it has not been until the last decades when tourism has acquired an important presence in the political, economic, social, cultural and special urban life. Due to this new public presence of tourism, deeper researches are need in the relationships between urban dynamics and tourism sector in many different aspects, as for instance: a) tourism as an urban economic sector; b) cultural and monumental heritage and tourism; c) tourists and the use of public space; d) social and cultural implications of tourism.

Urban cultural sustainability: Although the cultural dimension has been traditionally accepted as one of the main pillar of sustainability, environmental and physical viewpoints have traditionally dominated this scientific approach to cities. Due to this predominance of these aspects, deeper researches are needed in relation with a huge array of concepts and processes directly related with the role of culture in the processes of urban sustainable development, such as heritage, cultural capital, identity and sense, how to measure sustainability and so on.

Cultural industries and urban city centres: In the last decades culture has begun to be considered as an important economic sector. Form an urban point of view, this change has entailed that apart from been promoted as a social right through equipments and facilities, culture is considered a strategic sector for the regeneration of the urban city centres. Among other important issues, it is crucial to understand a) how these cultural actors and micro-companies cluster to develop a chain of value; and b) how some characteristic cultural urban activities such as theatre, music, cinema and so on could improve the cities centres for an geographical, social and economic point of view.

City image and urban marketing: Among many other aspects, the globalisation and liberalization of the economy has meant that cities have become important actors in the global economic competition. For this reasons, cities are using the traditional process of marketing to promote or ‘sell’ themselves in a global market, to attract investors, companies, visitors, events and so on. This process involves reflecting and research about a) the traditional image conveyed by a city and b) how it has been use/modify/change for the new economic purpose; as well as c) the means used to convey new images and d) their social, cultural and geographical effects.

Keywords: urban geography & planning, neighbourhood development, gentrification, public space, integration policies, governance, social innovation, practice approach, urban living labs The emergence of new “arrival spaces”: The century of urbanization is characterized by established and newly emerging migration patterns. The process of “arriving to a city” becomes more complex and multi-layered as cities are not only growing by population, but they also face challenges with regard to housing shortage, gentrification processes and the need for multiple integration policies. Besides education and workplaces, the urban housing market is of crucial relevancy for the “arriving population”. Critical reflection is needed on the availability, accessibility and affordability of housing for new residents in order to assess the limitations of “arrival spaces” in cities. The impact of social innovation in neighbourhood development: Social innovation has been an emerging concept across policy, practice and academia to overcome societal challenges by collaborative practices between civil society, private stakeholders and public actors. The basic understanding of social innovation can be broken down to “any co-created innovation closing the gap of public welfare state service and contributing to a societal benefit”. When it comes to urban studies and more precisely to socio-spatial analyses, the questions arises: How does social innovation impact neighbourhood development? This thesis aims at a better conceptual understanding on social innovation in neighbourhood development, the involved actors and framework conditions, as well as at the development of “social innovation proxies” to identify and measure the potential of social innovation at the local scale. The role of public spaces for socially cohesive neighbourhoods: Living quality and human wellbeing have come under increased pressure in “successful cities” due to population growth, physical densification, economic valorisation, limited open space and an increased vulnerability to climate change. More than ever, public spaces have become increasingly important as spaces for leisure and relaxation, but even more importantly as spaces for (daily) appropriations, democratic participation and spaces of encounter in diversifying societies. The core interest in this field of research asks how public space can contribute to creating cities that are more ecologically, economically AND socially resilient.

My research interests are situated in the field of critical urban studies. It explores five main (inter-related) themes, namely: the production of space in the neoliberal city; spatial dimensions of social domination; gentrification (processes, policies, and ways to resist it); alternative urban policies and urbanizations from below. Keywords: urban political economy, neoliberal city, gentrification, urban policies, urbanizations from below Research methods: qualitative fieldwork, cartography, statistical analysis

Keywords: Surveillance, urban infrastructure, datafication, digital technology, domesticity, tech abuse, cultural theory, feminist theory