Urban Lab Conversation: Extractive Infrastructures and Spatial Justice

What is the role of research collectives in resisting extractive infrastructures in (post)conflict situations? Abir Saksouk (Public Works Studio) and Pelin Tan (Arazi Assembly) will share the research and activities of their collectives and discuss the role of research/solidarity in redefining spatial and ecological justice in a more-than-human world.

Public Works Studio is a multidisciplinary research and design studio that engages critically and creatively with a number of urban and public issues in Lebanon. Their projects aim to forge possibilities that make urban planning a democratic process where ordinary citizens can understand, judge and take decisions to make interesting, viable and just spaces. 

Arazi Assembly considers collective research as a form of knowledge production of decolonisation, care and solidarity. Consisting of urban and architectural researchers, they work together at different spatial scales, focusing on the southeast region of Turkiye. Arazi aims to understand and develop uncommon methodologies of architecture, urbanism and territorial research.

Moderator: Prof Nishat Awan

Speaker bios

Abir Saksouk graduated as an architect in 2005 and completed her master's in Urban Development Planning. She is co-founder of Public Works Studio, focusing on urbanism and law, property and shared space, and the right to the city for marginalised communities. She explores how local organising can shape urban futures. Abir is also a member of the Legal Agenda and co-founder of Dictaphone Group.

Pelin Tan is a sociologist, professor and head of the Film Department and Cultural Studies Master's Programme at Batman University, Türkiye. She received the Keith Haring Art & Activism award in 2019. Tan is a member of Arazi Assembly and the Research Steering Network Committee of CCA Montreal. Her book Forms of Non-Belonging is published by e-flux books, Sternberg Press and MIT.

Image: Şikefta village submerged under water, photo by Yelta Köm