South Designs: Planetary Futures

Critical Urbanisms at the University of Basel announces South Designs: Planetary Futures. This eight-month series of discussions reflects on how design, thought and practiced from the South, forges planetary futures.

What do design responses to ecological crisis look like when they are grounded in the aspirations and struggles of those most affected, predominantly residing in the Global South? How does design grapple with radical interdependence in conditions of enduring injustice and rapid urban and environmental change?

In 2022, we launched a global call for projects to answer these questions. Over 150 multidisciplinary teams from across the world responded. In dialogue with emerging thought and design leaders, the six winning project teams will reflect on their collaborative and speculative work with communities, sites, and materials and discuss how current social and ecological theory confronts the pragmatics and urgencies of making things together.

Tuesday 26 September, 4-6pm CET – Opening Roundtable Discussion with Jennifer Gabrys, Paulo Tavares, and Michael Uwemedimo. Moderated by Kenny Cupers

Register here

Tuesday 24 October, 4-6pm CET

Planetary Occupations x Nana Yaa Biamah Ofosu

Register here

Tuesday 14 November, 4-6pm CET

Re-Imagi(nations) x Françoise Vergès

Register here

Tuesday 28 November, 4-6pm CET

Rural Futurism x Germane Barnes

Register here

For further details, please visit South Designs. Four more lecture events will follow in Spring 2023.

All events are online and open to the public. Please register for the events you would like to attend by following the respective zoom link above. Events will also be live streamed with closed captioning via the Critical Urbanisms YouTube channel.

Organized by Kenny Cupers (Critical Urbanisms, University of Basel) and Laura Nkula-Wenz (African Centre for Cities, Cape Town) as part of the SNSF-funded Sinergia project Governing Through Design.