Maria Ärlemo: "Local Demands for Justice Challenge the Architectural Profession to Reform" (Higher Seminar, Dec 18)
Within a Swedish society increasingly marked by socioeconomic and spatial polarization the renovation of economically deprived residential areas, built as part of the Swedish so-called Million Homes Programme, situates the architectural profession at a juncture manifesting the structural problems of our time. How therefore should architects approach this complex task?
Tid: To 2014-12-18 kl 09.00 - 11.00
Plats: E407
Medverkande: Maria Ärlemo, Ramia Maze
Over the recent years a local discourse of justice has been developed in the area of Husby, a suburb of Stockholm, in response to the process of renovation. The discourse promotes a procedural view of justice as participation, a view related to the notion of ‘the right to the city’ and one which fundamentally challenges the traditional role and authority of the architect.
In search for theoretical and practical guidance for the renovation task ahead the research discusses, based on an ethnographic exploration of the case of Husby, what such a view of justice could invoke for architectural practice. How could architectural practices respond to such a demand for justice?
Keywords: Million Programme Area, Renovation, Husby, Procedural Justice, Architectural Practice
Respondent: Ramia Mazé
Biographical Statement
Maria Ärlemo is an architect and doctoral researcher within the division of Critical Studies at the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. She holds a Master degree in Architecture from KTH and has qualifications in ethnology from the University of Stockholm and urban sociology from Berkeley, University of California, USA. Her field of interest focuses the potential for architectural practices to contribute to social change, more specifically she is interested in issues of agency, accountability and ethics within architectural practice. After some years of professional practice she has returned to academia to further her interest in an expanded perspective on and practice within the field of architecture.