In a context of increasing volatility in our cities, as practitioners we are desperate to find new ways of operating that more critically and impactfully responds to the emerging complexity. When sites, relations and politics become increasingly complex and disruptive, we need to find inventive and cunning ways to meaningfully engage in our cities through design. Through a series of projects, Thireshen will present a case through works undertaken in his practice on how a form of Insurgent Practice has become necessary in these volatile times.
Thireshen Govender is an architect, urbanism and researcher practicing through Johannesburg, South Africa. He was awarded the Chevening Scholarship through which he undertook a Masters in Urban Design at The Bartlett (UCL). Following extensive travels he founded UrbanWorks in 2008, a design-research studio concerning itself with the design and implementation of transformative infrastructures in post-traumatic sites. He is the co-author of Township Economies: People, Spaces, Practices (2020) – which brings new insights into how frontier territories are being established through rampant informal practices. His research through the University of Johannesburg’s Graduate School of Architecture, where he led Unit 14: Rogue Economies, documents the hidden forces shaping our cities while experimenting with methods on radical speculation in the context of extreme urban crisis.
Insurgent Practices of Necessity
Cases from a Volatile Field
by Thireshen Govender | Urban Works
Date & Time
Monday, 15.05.2023
14:00 CEST (Hybrid)
Venue
K1 building, Room 9.06 & via Webex
https://unistuttgart.webex.com/unistuttgart-en/j.php?MTID=m704ce6680d839a284438c0940469da73
Meeting-ID: 2731 822 2563
Meeting Password: dfAGJp4bd84
