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Intensive Short Course “DISCLOSE”

Date:

Location:
Pavia , Italy

Email: urbancommons@unipv.it

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PhD/ECR Short Intensive Course at the University of Pavia

De-commodifying cIties towards SoCiaL and envirOnmental juSticE (DISCLOSE)

Organised by:
 

The City as a Commons research group, AUDe Lab -Architecture and Urban Design 

@The University of Pavia
 

Supported by:
Intensive School for Advanced Graduate Studies (ISAGS), University of Pavia

 

Dates and place 

27-30 October, Pavia (Italy)

 
Calendar

Open call for participation: 23 September 2025
Deadline for registration: 10 October 2025Intensive School “DISCLOSE”: 27-30 October 2025
Publication: 2026

Abstract

Cities across the globe are increasingly being commodified, a trend supported by global capitals and actors acting in the field of real estate and urban transformations. This phenomenon is paired (and one of the causes) by other challenges strongly emerging in the post-covid scenario, including issues of affordability, gentrification and touristification among others. Urban territories, surely not alone, are also increasingly under pressure from the environmental point of view, as climate emergency is hitting and provoking increasingly difficult conditions for urban life.

The impact of local populations and communities may be (and it is already, in some instances) massive: expulsions from city centres, dip in liveability and well-being, lack of services and support in ‘peripheries’, among others.
Forms of protests and resistance are usually showcasing a different narrative, providing very often a voice to underrepresented or excluded, powerless groups, sometimes even informal. Beyond protests, self-organization and activism seek circumstances and platforms for delivering tactics and actions, advocating (or implementing) more sustainable transformations and policies. These may regard open spaces and green areas as well as built heritage or housing complexes. Power relations, exclusions, sustainability over time, shared duties and responsibilities are only a few of the matters being discussed.

Aims:

  • To offer participants a well-positioned and truly interdisciplinary state-of-the-art overview of de-commodification theory and processes, including commons-based urban transformations, with contributions from scholars from all over the world.

  • To provide a live and up-to-date state-of-the-art on the Italian context, through a field visit and workshop in the city of Milan.

  • To host room for discussion and give each participant the opportunity to share their research, bringing multiple perspectives and methodological discussions to the table.

  • To identify potential areas for development and debate in relation to global challenges such as just cities and the climate emergency.

Participation is welcome from PhD students and Early Career Researchers. DISCLOSE is meant as truly interdisciplinary, hence targeting researchers from social sciences and humanities, including architecture, urban design, planning and landscape, geography, social sciences, urban sociology, political science.  Its interdisciplinary ethos will allow participants with different backgrounds to actively engage and contribute as well.

Schedule (draft):

Day 1: Registrations, opening and Keynote Lecture #1
Day 2: Field work in Milan

Day 3: Keynote Lecture  #2, group work and social dinner in Pavia 
Day 4: Group work, presentation, Keynote Lecture #3 and final ceremony

Keynote Lectures

 

Prof. Caroline Newton (TU Delft), presenting her newly published book: Newton, C. E. L. (2025). Envisioning Spatial Justice: Explorations, Reflections, Design. Jap Sam Books

 
 

Dr. Giuseppe Micciarelli (University of Naples “Federico II”) “From Claims for Participatory Democracy to Emerging Commons: Legal and Political Innovations for Decommodifying the City”

 

Prof. Alihan Senel (ITU Istanbul) is an Istanbul-based architect, researcher and educator, working on a research project entitled “Collective Imaginations”. 

Registration and attendance 
The ISAGS DISCLOSE is free of charge. Participants will have to support their own travel, accommodation and food expenses. 

 
 

Keynote Lectures will also be live streamed on-line (previous registration), while the attendance of the full workshop will grant 4 CFUs to PhD students in attendance.

Practical Information

 

Practical information on detailed programme will be shared in due course. In the meantime, those in need of a VISA or other support can get in touch with the organization. Additional information on travelling and accommodation opportunities will be shared as soon as possible.

 

If you need more information write to us: urbancommons@unipv.it

 

Social media: 
@the_city_as_a_commons
@architecture_and_urban_design