Call for Projects: The Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2013

The Urban Intervention Award Berlin is intended to bring to the public eye interventions in urban space which contribute substantially to newly defining, revitalising and valorising inner-city neighbourhoods. This can be the case with the transformation and conversion of old buildings as well as with new construction, temporary buildings and installations in the urban space. It is not a matter of achieving architectural effects or an expressive design vocabulary, but of architecture as a stimulator of processes which contribute to transforming a location.

The prizes will be given to outstanding realised projects which are examples of excellent architecture in conjunction with new innovative concepts of use and/or conversion, and which were developed through cooperation between partners coming from varying fields and disciplines.

In order for a project to be entered for the Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2013, it must have been realised in Europe within the past five years. Projects which were already entered in 2010 cannot be entered again.

The Urban Intervention Award Berlin is composed of two categories:

• Built - a realised construction project
• Temporary - a realised temporary project

In both categories, information must be provided about:

• the urban and spatial approach
• the sociocultural and societal context
• design aspects
• the use concept
• the cooperation between project partners.

In addition, we require a description of the stimuli the proposed project provides for the development of the urban environment.

More information: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/staedtebau/baukultur/urban_intervention_award/en/aufruf.shtml

PhD Fellowships: Urban reconfigurations in post-Soviet space

The Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), Leipzig 

Application deadline: 20 July 2013
 

The Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig kindly invites applications from highly qualified and motivated individuals for 3 PhD fellowships to commence as soon as possible. The IfL is a non-university research institute and member of the Leibniz Association with currently around 70 employees. It is institutionally financed by the Free State of Saxony and the Federal Republic of Germany in the context of a common research funding agreement.
 

The fellowships include
• a monthly stipend of 1400,00 € granted for six months plus financial support for conferences and field research,
• access to the academic service infrastructure of the IfL (e.g., the Central Geographical Library; The Archive for Geography; cartographic and IT services, scientific seminars),
• individual support in terms of exchange and discussions within the international research network of ira.urban and
• flexible working arrangements in Leipzig.

The fellowships will be financed within the framework of the international comparative re-search project “Urban reconfigurations in post-Soviet space” (ira.urban). They aim at analyzing and explaining continuities and discontinuities in the reconfiguration of urban spaces in the light of traditional, reproduced Soviet and newly formed post-Soviet conditions as well as of changing global economic and social orders. On basis of transnationally comparative case study research, the project focuses on the question to what extent urban development has become part of a socially negotiated adjustment processes, and a mirror of a comprehensive modernisation process of urban societies in the republics of the former Soviet Union.
 

The fellowships will be offered to researchers working in one or more of the following three fields:
(1) Large Housing Estates in post-Soviet Cities: Housing strategies and prospects for sustainability – (subject: ira.urban_housing)
(2) Contested and Negotiated Urban Space: modes, impacts and potentials of civil and economic actors in post-Soviet urban development – (subject: ira.urban_conflicts).
(3) Spatial Organisation of Knowledge-Based Urban Economies: The Role of Permanent and Temporary Clusters in post-Soviet Space – (subject: ira.urban_economy)
 

The research fellows are expected to empirically and/or conceptually contribute to one of the aforementioned topics. The successful candidates will be in an advanced stage of their PhD projects, have gained skills in social research methods as well as experiences in urban research in post-Soviet space and/or have elaborated concepts for researching one of the topics in question. Furthermore, we expect geographic flexibility, fluency in English and in at least one language of the post-Soviet space, as well as working knowledge in Office software. The positions require hard working individuals with analytical strengths, communication skills, self-initiative and a strong team spirit.
 

Please submit your complete application package in English or German as one pdf-file by e-mail to: Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography, Administration Management, Beata Kirchner, personal@ifl-leipzig.de. The deadline for applications is July 20th 2013.
 

Please enclose the following documents:
o CV
o letter of motivation/ statement of purpose, including a short display of the links between your PhD project and ira.urban (2 pages max.)
o exposé of your PhD project, including your time table and work progress (5 pages max, excluding sources)
o list of your publications and presentations
o Certificates, references etc.

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Isolde Brade (I_Brade@ifl-leipzig.de) or Carola Neugebauer

(C_Neugebauer@ifl-leipzig.de).