“Queering” Soho: Contesting the borders of normative space in the neoliberal city

In the context of the recent “black lives matter” and “me too” movements, the issue of inclusivity and diversity, identity, gender, race, “otherness”, is brought forth in many disciplines, architecture, academia, teaching and design practices. Although this is, of course, a positive progress, one needs to be mindful of the complexities and the potentially conflictual effects of a normalisation, especially if this dismisses or disallows space for further processes of disruption, or if this commodifies queer space, objectifies the other, and hence distances it further. In this context, this study reflects on the relationship between place, bodies, contested norms and social conventions, focusing on Soho, London as a case study, and on the associated evolution of queer spaces and narratives. It reflects upon the complex and shifting relationship between the visible/norm and the peripheral/deviant/hidden territories and their performative nature in the city

Architecture and Neuroscience; what can the EEG recording of brain activity reveal about a walk through everyday spaces?

New digital media and quantitative data have been increasingly used in an attempt to map, understand and analyse spaces. Each different medium with which we analyse and map spaces offers a different insight, and can potentially increase our tools and methods for mapping spaces and understanding human experience. The emergence of such technologies has the potential to influence the way in which we map, analyse and perceive spaces. Given this context, the project presented in this paper examines how neurophysiological data, recorded with the use of portable electroencephalography (EEG) devices, can help us understand how the brain responds to physical environments in different individuals. In this study we look into how a number of participants navigate in an urban environment; between specific identified buildings in the city. The brain activity of the participants is recorded with a portable EEG device whilst simultaneously video recording the route. Through this experiment we aim to observe and analyse the relationship between the physical environment and the participant’s type of brain activity. We attempt to correlate how key moments of their journey, such as moments of decision making, relate to recordings of specific brain waves. We map and analyse certain common patterns observed. We look into how the variation of the physical attributes of the built environment around them is related to the fluctuation of specific brain waves. This paper presents a specific project of an ongoing cross-disciplinary study between architecture and neuroscience, and the key findings of a specific experiment in an urban environment

Architecture and Neuroscience; what can the EEG recording of brain activity reveal about a walk through everyday spaces?

New digital media and quantitative data have been increasingly used in an attempt to map, understand and analyse spaces. Each different medium with which we analyse and map spaces offers a different insight, and can potentially increase our tools and methods for mapping spaces and understanding human experience. The emergence of such technologies has the potential to influence the way in which we map, analyse and perceive spaces. Given this context, the project presented in this paper examines how neurophysiological data, recorded with the use of portable electroencephalography (EEG) devices, can help us understand how the brain responds to physical environments in different individuals. In this study we look into how a number of participants navigate in an urban environment; between specific identified buildings in the city. The brain activity of the participants is recorded with a portable EEG device whilst simultaneously video recording the route. Through this experiment we aim to observe and analyse the relationship between the physical environment and the participant’s type of brain activity. We attempt to correlate how key moments of their journey, such as moments of decision making, relate to recordings of specific brain waves. We map and analyse certain common patterns observed. We look into how the variation of the physical attributes of the built environment around them is related to the fluctuation of specific brain waves. This paper presents a specific project of an ongoing cross-disciplinary study between architecture and neuroscience, and the key findings of a specific experiment in an urban environment

The concept of 'the everyday': ephemeral politics and the abundance of life

Against the background of a continuing interest in the everyday in international relations, this article asks what kind of analytics upon and within the world mobilises one through the concept of the everyday and what consequences this may have for thinking about politics. In particular, it explores a conception of the the everyday that foregrounds the abundance of human life and ephemeral temporalities. The abundance of life invites a densification of politics combined with an emphasis on displacing levels or scales by associative horizontal relations. The ephemeral introduces a conception of temporality that foregrounds the political significance of fleeting practices and the emergent nature of life. When applied to politics, this conception of the everyday performs politics as emergent, as possibilities that are not already defined by fixing what politics can possibly be. The order of politics is then understood as an immanently precarious succession of situations and practices in which lived political lives remain inherently aleatory, momentary and emergent rather than as an order of mastering the political. The concept of the everyday, thus draws attention to the immanent elusiveness and fragility of politics as it loses its ground, its referent

‘The Storm’ Community Oriented Real-Life Design Project; Revisiting the Curriculum

This paper discusses a case study; an interactive stage set designed by a group of postgraduate students for the Literacy Pirates charity, as part of their curriculum. It examines the role of real-life community-oriented design projects developed as part of the curriculum, in the context of the UK higher education’s controversial neoliberal direction. Academia is constantly changing and is considered to be in a transitional state – of ‘crisis’ according to many – in the UK and beyond. Its identity and purpose are being re-negotiated. Its role to be both speculative and pragmatic is challenged at times, by various constraints. With the introduction and increase of fees, as well as the subsequent shift in the perception of academia, studies are being commodified. The discourse shifts from the collective to the individual; it is no longer about the role of the university, education, critical debate for the common good, but rather a currency for individual exchange. Several conversations have been raised on this topic, some of which idealise the former state of academia and demonise any change, whereas others support the current paradigm as the only way forward. Within this debate, this paper examines the possibility of re-introducing shared values through the development of community oriented real-life design projects. It examines how the role of higher education to generate critical thinking and healthy debate – rather than merely complying to the needs of the market – can be reinstated in the current times of crisis. Real-life projects that work with – and empower – local communities can potentially achieve the above and can orient the conversation into how academia can drive critical thinking and critical conversations for making the world a better place