Earth is our Common Ground.
The USRG research team at the University of Liechtenstein currently consists of one professor, two senior scientists, and two doctoral students, using shared methods to investigate “ordinary” places as diverse as Rankweil, Austria and Bihar, India. Our primary areas of research include urbanization and urban theory; urban development; qualitative/mixed methods and fieldwork; infrastructure and mobility; densification and gentrification; transdisciplinarity; and engendering change in the building industry through material like rammed earth.
Research Areas
-
Grounded in the theories of Henri Lefebvre, this research stream assert that the dialectics of center and periphery generate an ever-shifting web of urbanization processes. This philosophical and theoretical engagement with key concepts in urban studies today brings together postcolonial theory with the literature on planetary urbanization/urbanization processes. Johannesburg is a key site in this; we also investigate the formation of densities and peripheries more locally, in Vorarlberg. This is main thrust of USRG’s publications in peer-reviewed and scientific journals. In particular, Lindsay’s new collaborative project on peripheralization (currently being developed with partners at UZH/NADEL), builds on her doctoral and postdoctoral work - published in outlets like Antipode, Urban Studies, and Urban Geography - to link empirical research on urbanization processes with a more global, systemic perspective. It will show how peripheries are formed across multiple scales by following a selection of materials identified as key to the sustainable energy transition.
-
Qualitative, empirical research and the importance of everyday life - from how people engage with the state to housing financialization, the commodification of the urban environment, collaborative/ communicative planning theory, urban citizenship, and household decision-making processes - is another research stream represented at the group. This is encapsulated by USRG’s teaching, for example, the explicitly postcolonial focus in introductory sociology coursework. Another example is a forthcoming book chapter, based on collaborative research about transport infrastructure as key to understanding the everyday mechanics of urban life in Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique. Much of this work relies on original digital tools like volunteered geographic information (VGI).
-
This research stream focuses on translating work to real-world results and imaging a brighter, more collaborative future. Some of this work is oriented towards producing written output and policy reports from research, but it is mostly even more concrete. Pro Bono teaching, with tangible built-project results, is one of the largest contributions of USRG to this principle, as well as projects such as the evaluation of co-production potentials for earth building in Bihar. This includes proposing radical alternatives for the use of space, and social acceptance of sustainable but non-standardized building practices like earth and timber in conjunction with companies from the private sector. Exhibitions are also a major output of this research stream.
Current Work
-
The Global Peripheries Project
Our previous research has shown that the structure of space itself is a key factor in whether cities and regions become more equitable or deepen existing inequalities over time. Space is generated from a dialectical relationship between centers and peripheries—not just within urban and regional areas, but in relation to one another, globally. The formation of “global peripheries” is illustrated by the raw materials that are required for sustainable energy transitions. Understanding the extraction and processing of copper, lithium, and cobalt - some of the main mineral resources we require for the production of mobile phones, computer chips, and electric vehicle batteries - is the subject of this ongoing comparative and multi-scalar research project, with sites of investigation in Southern Africa and South America.
-
mobiLIty
Mobility and sustainability are some of the most pressing challenges of our time. While socio-technical solutions are transforming the urban environments that characterize much of the globe today, infrastructure planning often fails to adequately incorporate the everyday movements of people - which are key to how cities and regions function on a daily basis - into these plans. This often results in a disjuncture between the routine "spatial practices" of people and the policies that attempt to shape the urban environment and engender a more sustainable future. Using mixed methods, including a novel smartphone application collecting volunteered geographic information (VGI), this ongoing research projects attempts to link patterns of movements with choices and practices.
-
Densification Processes
This research project investigates how a growth-oriented discourse of sustainable spatial development (the “sustainability fix”) effects the governance of the material change of the Alpine Rhine Valley through urban densification. The governance of spatial planning is characterized by territorial fragmentation, through small but morphologically and functionally highly interconnected municipalities and high executive competencies in spatial planning. However, in contrast, other actors such as investors and project developers are highly mobile. As such, this research compares densification projects within three different municipalities that are implemented by the same project development office. Different forms of cooperation between the project developer and the municipalities can be observed, to comparatively analyse the emergence of what can be termed “densification regimes.”
-
Sustainable Building Practices
This project concept is currently under development. It plans to engage with the social as well as technical components of raising acceptance for earth architecture in the construction industry and wider society, and examining paths for sustainable hybrid construction in earth and timber. Check back soon for more!
