Mapping Re-figurations: Migrants, Residents, Visitors – New Forms of Collectivity

In three research studios, we employ visual analysis and mapping tools to investigate current changes in the production of space. Part of a larger collaborative research center, the studios emphasize changes brought about by digital technologies and transnational dynamics. Looking at renegotiation and rearrangement of collective forms of everyday life, we develop mappings to document and interpret these transformations. Our visual techniques enable us to integrate different scales, temporalities and relational interactions. The three studios are an interdisciplinary collaboration between sociology, architecture and urban design. The trans-scalar mapping ‘Residing in the Hidden’ reveals the spatial, organizational and social structures of Berlin's hostel industry in its capacity of accommodating homeless newcomers. It argues that the invisibility of the phenomenon is a necessary condition for its existence. The photographic mapping ‘Instant Smart Cities’ elaborates on everyday urban life of the middle classes in residential neighborhoods of the ‘Smart City Songdo.’ Overdrawn ethnographic photo series point at collective phenomena of spatial re-figuration. The mapping series ‘Accessibilities of an Art Institution’ investigates the inclusivity and exclusivity of ‘Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.’ On different scales this analysis points at the relation between the spatio-material structure and modes of accessibility and appropriation.