Toni Ahlqvist, University of Turku: Contradictions, economic imaginaries and spatial governance
- Time: Thursday May 23, 14.00 - 15.30
- Venue: Porthania P219 Lehtisali (2nd floor)
- The event is also available on Facebook.
Contradictions, imaginaries and expectations are intriguing lenses to spatial planning. In the presentation I discuss these in the context of Finnish bioeconomy, state spatial strategies and land use planning.
In the presentation, I discuss spatial governance through two lenses. Firstly, I open up a dialectical perspective on spatial governance and planning. In the classical Hegelian sense, dialectics is about conceptualizing societal trajectories and issues as theses, antitheses and, when theses and antitheses integrate, syntheses. I suggest “varieties of dialectics” in which different types of contradictions and antagonisms, and their spatial manifestations, are conceptually separated. This sorting is useful for deepening the perspective on how dialectics could be utilised in the analysis ofspatial governance, politics and planning. Secondly, I scrutinize the roles of economic imaginaries and expectations in the context of spatial governance. Here I build on the ideas of Jens Beckert and argue that his notion of fictional expectations has interesting repercussions not only for unravelling capitalist dynamics, but also for understanding spatial governance and related practices.
Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto, University of Tampere: Experiential knowledge on forced migration: principles of policy relevance research
- Time: June 12, 12.00 - 13.30
- Venue: Porthania P219 Lehtisali (2nd floor)
Migration drastically changes social and spatial ties and sites of belonging.
Forced migration is often discussed as social or political phenomena but analysis still lacks deeper emotive-spatial understanding. Migration drastically changes social and spatial ties and sites of belonging. This affects migrant populations for much longer periods of time than has been previously acknowledged. Also, for example, many national integration policies neglect the centrality of socio-spatial belonging in their governing efforts and thus many integration practices remain insufficient. My recent Academy of Finland research projects have argued for a need-based social support for unaccompanied minors. I will explain in more detail how needs become defined in multiple social, cultural and political encounters among young people, and how experiential knowledge of young people can be reached in academic research. In this presentation I discuss 1) how experiential knowledge comes into existence and how it can be collected, 2) how collaborative research methods influence the knowledge-making process itself, 3) what are the principles through which experiential knowledge can be utilized in policy practices and how this kind of policy work differs from academic publishing.