International PhD Seminar: Learning from the South: Cultural Landscapes and Transnational Dialogues on Urbanization in Transition / HRC
Event details
| Date | 10.06.2025 › 11.06.2025 |
| Hour | 13:45 › 18:00 |
| Speaker | Satish Kumar, Armelle Choplin, Sabina Favaro |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Download the program
10-11 June 2025
10 June, 14:00 – 19:30 CET
11 June, 9:00 – 17:00 CET
Foyer SG + Online
EPFL, Lausanne
Zoom ID: 611 0407 0355
The Habitat Research Center International PhD Seminar Learning from the South explores how various global urban and cultural landscapes address socio-ecological transitions. The seminar will take place on June 10-11, 2025 in Foyer SG showcasing PhD research from India, Brazil, Senegal, China, Ecuador, Mali, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Lebanon, and Iran and it’s open to the public.
By South, this seminar refers to diverse regions historically impacted by colonial legacies and uneven economic development, such as South America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, recognizing the term’s contested nature and complexity. The transnational and interdisciplinary character of the seminar encourages participants to challenge existing paradigms and incorporate diverse perspectives, thereby enriching the discourse surrounding cultural landscapes and urbanization transitions.
Cultural landscapes can be defined as “the combined works of nature and humanity” (UNESCO, 1992), and embody the imprint of regional practices, cultures, and traditions in architecture, urban planning, and social structures. By acknowledging the relational nature of these environments, designers are reminded that every technical choice is also an ethical and political act - one that shapes not only spatial configurations but also the ways in which we relate to one another and to the Earth.
Focusing on historical and contemporary urban challenges, this exploration centers on the notion of radical interdependencies (Escobar, 2017), recognizing how indigenous and local practices offer alternative ways of perceiving and shaping cultural landscapes. These landscapes are not merely physical environments but dynamic, co-produced spaces where human agency and ecological systems are deeply intertwined.
As global territories undergo rapid urbanization, investigating the interconnections of humans and climate within these landscapes emerges as critically important. By emphasizing cultural landscapes, the course discusses how the built environment can translate indigenous and innovative actions to address the socio-ecological transition.
By observing how different urban and cultural landscapes deal with the socio-ecological transition globally, the seminar will engage the current PhD research on both planetary and regional practices. It will also offer EPFL and international PhD students different methodological and theoretical perspectives on the Urbanization in Transition through a series of lectures by keynote speakers.
With the PhD Students
10-11 June 2025
10 June, 14:00 – 19:30 CET
11 June, 9:00 – 17:00 CET
Foyer SG + Online
EPFL, Lausanne
Zoom ID: 611 0407 0355
The Habitat Research Center International PhD Seminar Learning from the South explores how various global urban and cultural landscapes address socio-ecological transitions. The seminar will take place on June 10-11, 2025 in Foyer SG showcasing PhD research from India, Brazil, Senegal, China, Ecuador, Mali, Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Lebanon, and Iran and it’s open to the public.
By South, this seminar refers to diverse regions historically impacted by colonial legacies and uneven economic development, such as South America, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, recognizing the term’s contested nature and complexity. The transnational and interdisciplinary character of the seminar encourages participants to challenge existing paradigms and incorporate diverse perspectives, thereby enriching the discourse surrounding cultural landscapes and urbanization transitions.
Cultural landscapes can be defined as “the combined works of nature and humanity” (UNESCO, 1992), and embody the imprint of regional practices, cultures, and traditions in architecture, urban planning, and social structures. By acknowledging the relational nature of these environments, designers are reminded that every technical choice is also an ethical and political act - one that shapes not only spatial configurations but also the ways in which we relate to one another and to the Earth.
Focusing on historical and contemporary urban challenges, this exploration centers on the notion of radical interdependencies (Escobar, 2017), recognizing how indigenous and local practices offer alternative ways of perceiving and shaping cultural landscapes. These landscapes are not merely physical environments but dynamic, co-produced spaces where human agency and ecological systems are deeply intertwined.
As global territories undergo rapid urbanization, investigating the interconnections of humans and climate within these landscapes emerges as critically important. By emphasizing cultural landscapes, the course discusses how the built environment can translate indigenous and innovative actions to address the socio-ecological transition.
By observing how different urban and cultural landscapes deal with the socio-ecological transition globally, the seminar will engage the current PhD research on both planetary and regional practices. It will also offer EPFL and international PhD students different methodological and theoretical perspectives on the Urbanization in Transition through a series of lectures by keynote speakers.
With the PhD Students
- Eleonora Aronis (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)
- Sherin Assaf (University of Poitiers, France)
- Diana Catalina Barrera Agudelo (Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy)
- Clarisse Figueiredo de Queiroz (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
- Felipe Flores (University of Oklahoma, USA)
- Flore Ghichot (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
- Noélie Lecoanet (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
- Sofia Leoni (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
- Pietro Manaresi (Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
- Elvira Pietrobon (IUAV Venice, Italy)
- Clément Rames (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
- Marco Salazar Valle (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
- Amrita Kaur Slatch (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
- Shyam Sunder Sirimalla (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
- Nima Tabrizi (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands)
- Evelien Van den Bruel (Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
- Alejandro Varela López (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
- Yegor Vlasenko (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Habitat Research Center; Chenal, Jerôme; De Almeida Milani, Anna Karla; Graezer Bideau, Florence; Gitai, Ben; Viganò, Paola with Shyam sunder Sirimalla
Contact
- Anna Karla Almeida - [email protected]