Cities are growing rapidly, are vastly unequal, facing socio-economic and ecological crises, often dangerous (from brutal and slow forms of violence), and are made up of many competing interests, values and agendas. Often approaches to addressing these issues move quickly from high level data to solution, not always adequately considering the complexities of different scales beyond economic and technical fixes. However, urban challenges are not the sum total of how cities can be understood or are experienced. Cities are also places where people imagine and make social, cultural and political lives and are inspired by embodied and emotive impulses. Culture, technology and society are inextricably intertwined in human-non-human entanglements, where bodies, technologies and environments intersect in real, imagined and virtual worlds.
With a shared fascination with these arrangements, textures and interconnections, the Culture, Technology and Society cluster comprises of an interdisciplinary collective of researchers and creative practitioners interested in four interconnected themes:
1) the ways in which socio-cultural and technological infrastructures shape solidarities, mobilities and socialities of urban residents
2) the role of cultural politics, belonging and wellbeing in cities
3) the bodies, technologies and data ethics related to knowledge production
4) inter/trans-disciplinary, collaborative, and creative modes and methods of conducting, communicating, and mobilising applied research through knowledge solidarities
Objectives of the Culture, Technology and Society cluster:
Two billion people – 58% of the global workforce – work in the informal economy, playing essential roles in urban systems like care, retail, transportation, and waste management. More than one billion people live in urban informal settlements, frequently using their homes as workplaces. Despite constant challenges, those working and living informally navigate built environments, urban policies, and local practices to survive. These activities are relatively light on the planet through practice of reuse, refurbishment, and recycling.
ACC’s work in this cluster focuses on the intersection of structure and agency, partnering with worker movements and slum dwellers to illuminate grounded realities and achieve tangible gains through governance processes at local, national, and global levels. The objectives of the Inclusive and Circular Economies cluster are to understand the lived realities and contributions of those working and living informally, as well as the terms of their integration into the formal economy and existing governance processes. This work aims to identify, support, and develop policy and practice for inclusive and circular economies.