Political Urbanism and Sustainable Spatial Development, University of Bern

Please join us for the Revaluing Care in the Global Economy Working Papers Seminar, a forum to discuss article-length works-in-progress by emerging scholars. This eight seminar of the 2024-2025 series on Urban Care will feature two papers, including mine: Care-Full Municipalisms to Mitigate the Social Reproduction Crisis at the Urban Scale 🍀 📩Please email revaluingcarelab@duke.edu to sign up!

𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂? Are you interested in how the #commons contribute to #degrowth discourse through various African #philosophies? 🫵 Join us at the 𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐄-𝐃𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 2025 #conference in Oslo (June 24–27) for our panel: "𝑫𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉: 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔” 🗓️ Deadline: January 20, 2025 🔦 Further information: Reach out to Adrien Guisan (adrien.guisan@unibe.ch), Samuel Agyekum (samuel.agyekum@unibe.ch) and find the detailed abstract in the comments below 👇.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺? 🔝This is the core question of #CommonPaths, an international research project focused on urban commons in the areas of housing, food provision, and green space in Ghana and Switzerland. 📅 Last week, CommonPaths kicked off its second year! For this annual meeting, team members from Ghana, the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland met at the University of Bern. 👇 ✨ Over two inspiring days, we engaged in deep discussions about urban #commons, explored design principles for sustainable commonification, and examined approaches for comparative analysis between #Ghana and #Switzerland. Our interdisciplinary work packages—from urban ecology, individual behavior, and intersectional feminism to institutional analysis—shared rich empirical findings from both countries, fostering vibrant exchanges and valuable insights. 🤝 These cross-disciplinary perspectives sparked meaningful connections and synergies, as our scientific partners contributed further knowledge on urban studies, degrowth, and the historical landscape of commonification. The meeting concluded with exciting new ideas and insights, setting the stage for our next annual gathering in Ghana! #UrbanCommons

𝐔𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚: 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦? This week, the 8th edition of the SWISS RESEARCHING #AFRICA DAYS 🌍 takes place at the Universität Bern. With a panel on «Urban Commons in Africa: sustainable City Development beyond Market and State?», we deliver another contribution on #commonification as a pathway to urban #sustainability. This is what our colleagues will be talking about: 👇 - 🏘️ With rapid #urbanization, securing access to affordable #housing is becoming a key challenge for urban populations in Africa. In recent decades, #Ghana has seen a boom in the real estate market, but it has mainly catered to upper-income groups. Coupled with no real housing policy from the Ghanaian state, the market gap for low- and middle-income housing has left large parts of the urban population relying on themselves to fulfill their housing needs. In this presentation, based on preliminary results from exploratory fieldwork in Accra and Kumasi, Adrien Guisan will outline some of the arrangements established by communities to collectively provide for their housing needs. - 🌿 Customary arrangement, the most dynamic and dominant #institution across Sub-Saharan Africa, has spurred complex governance «arenas» for collective social and environmental value resources. While the literature on the commons raises issues with them due to limited considerations for local conditions and social sustainability, the commons have been suggested as a resilient alternative, which is more responsive to local resource management arrangements. In his presentation, Samuel Agyekum examines the contribution of collective management approaches of the customary arrangement for perpetuating urban green commons in dense and non-homogeneous urban #environments across Sub-Saharan Africa 🌳🏙️. The panel will take place this Saturday, 3:15 pm, at the University of Bern, Unitobler, Lerchenweg 36, Bern. ℹ️ More information: https://lnkd.in/dA4FghwD We are looking forward to seeing you there!

🌆 Urban Commons Panel @ hashtag #IASC2025: 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔! Are you interested in forms of self-organised resource hashtag #governance systems in the urban with higher degrees of autonomy from neo-liberal structures of domination and exploitation? 💡 Then consider submitting an abstract to our panel (11.3) on “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨” at the 20th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the hashtag #Commons, taking place from 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟲-𝟮𝟬, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱. Both 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 and 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 presentations are welcomed! 📅👉 Submit your abstracts now or by 𝗢̲𝗰̲𝘁̲𝗼̲𝗯̲𝗲̲𝗿̲ ̲𝟮̲𝟱̲𝘁̲𝗵̲,̲ ̲𝟮̲𝟬̲𝟮̲𝟰̲ at the latest through the online submission platform: https://lnkd.in/d2iGtbjh [ ✅ Please don’t forget to select panel number 11.3 when registering your submissions. ] #UrbanCommons #SustainableCities

(2/2)  𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭: Contemporary #foodsystems are often dominated by global corporations that employ technological fixes, such as upscaling, rationalization, specialization, and standardization with the objective of achieving economies of scale, and ultimately, mass consumption. At the same time, a vast and diverse array of practices and modes of organization under the conceptual heading of food #commons and commoning have persisted and continue to emerge. They include, for example, self-organized food production and redistribution, collective eating and cooking, and alternative food networks. These initiatives rely on shared resources, community-based decision-making, and joint responsibility. This prompts questions about their potential for #transformation pathways towards more #sustainable and #just food systems:   - How do food commons and commoning initiatives organize food systems, including food production, processing, distribution, and consumption?    - What are the defining characteristics of these initiatives across different (geographical, cultural, socio-economic, political) contexts?    - Which strategies do they use to achieve their intended transformations?   - Which conditions and challenges affect the realization of their transformative potential?  👉 This panel aims to bring together empirically grounded contributions on food commons and commoning initiatives to answer, among others, the above questions. It seeks to explore concrete practices and institutional arrangements by which food commons and commoning initiatives are seeding change. Submit your contribution now: https://lnkd.in/d2iGtbjh

(1/2) ✨ Food Commons Panel @ #IASC2025: 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔! ✨ We’re pleased to invite you to contribute to our panel on 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 at the 20th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons, taking place from June 16-20, 2025! The panel will be held online. 🌱🌍 👉 Submit your proposals by *October 25th, 2024* under the following link: https://lnkd.in/d2iGtbjh *** #Commons #Food #Sustainability #FoodSystem #FoodJustice

𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲: Can it help achieve food sovereignty? #Senegal is grappling with the negative impacts of globalised industrial #food systems, which have led to land degradation, biodiversity loss, #climatechange impacts and persistent import dependencies. With a new government in power that has made sovereignty a top priority, alternative ways of production are gaining momentum: #Agroecology promotes a holistic food system that respects biodiversity, social equity and economic sustainability. In our latest blog post, Lise Landrin introduces the #ARTSprogramme - a transdisciplinary initiative following the emerging agroecological transition in Senegal. 👉 https://lnkd.in/dTd7uxDb

𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: A sustainable “third way” for affordable housing provision? As a possible solution to growing #housing unaffordability, housing #cooperatives have attracted increasing attention over the past decades. In our latest blog post, our colleague Adrien Guisan takes a moment to zoom out for the big picture in #Switzerland: 👉 How did housing cooperatives come about? 👉 What role do they play on today's housing market? 👉 What does the future hold for housing cooperatives? https://lnkd.in/dFhfeM2J #UrbanPlanning #AffordableHousing #PublicPolicies

Yesterday we had the pleasure of following Rachel Reimer 's presentation at #BHK. In 2019, Rachel published a groundbreaking study examining #diversity and mental health in the Canadian avalanche and mountain guiding industry. Rachel showed that over 46% of participating female guides and avalanche workers have experienced gender discrimination. This is mainly manifested in the fact that female bodies are seen as less competent than their male peers. Rachel disclosed the strong #gender roles established in the industry: While female are expected to be 'soft' or 'emotional' and take on less physical/risky tasks, male are expected to be 'hard', 'unemotional' and take on more physical/risky tasks. This 'mountain masculinity' as the set of masculine norms and ideals that people are expected to fulfill is linked to the configuration of non-urban, rural, mountain and wilderness spaces as masculine 'frontier' spaces. The relationship between the gendered coding of #space and human performance within it was found by her to be interdependent and dynamic. In her current project 'Rise', Rachel is exploring the lived experiences behind the findings from her first study and investigating their implications for safety and risk management at an international level. Further information: https://lnkd.in/dRHYqBUS Thank you Rachel for the insights into your important #research!