Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño

Diálogos Improbables: Investigación Participativa como Estrategia de Reconciliación. 2018-2020. Financiado por Colciencias y Newton Fund.

El proyecto explora las tensiones y desconexiones, entre lo formulado en el Acuerdo de Paz, firmado por el Gobierno nacional y las FARC-EP y la realidad territorial y organizacional en Vista Hermosa (Meta), Tibú (Norte de Santander) y Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca). A partir de un enfoque multidimensional sobre las conflictividades y la reconciliación, reconoce la diversidad de disputas en estos territorios (conflictividades por la tierra, demandas ambientales, reivindicaciones de género, exigencias relacionadas con la falta de gobernabilidad y de participación política) así como los aprendizajes y acumulados en la reconstrucción de tejidos intersubjetivos, sociales y políticos; con especial énfasis en lo espacial y estético. Con estos enfoques se busca reconocer, acompañar y fortalecer las capacidades locales de comunidades y organizaciones de las zonas, para responder contextualmente a esa brecha.

Documentality and Display: Archiving and curating the violent past in contemporary Argentina, Chile and Colombia. 2018-2020. Financiado por British Academy.

How should those effected by State violence and armed conflict record and collect their experiences to lend them effectively to future justice processes and future use? How are questions of inclusiveness, categorisation and material delimitations dealt with by established and emerging archives and documentation centres? How are these centres being used? This research draws upon the notion of 'documentality' in the philosophy of Ferraris (2013; also Bell, 2018), by which the social order is understood to be founded upon the ways in which human lives are inscribed materially and imaginatively, to study key centres of post-conflict documentation in Argentina, Chile and Colombia. It investigates how their modes of recording attempt to lend order to the messiness of violence, and how documents are put to work within legal, cultural and aesthetic processes that place them within other forums, e.g. courts, websites and community spaces, with their distinct modes of display.

Political violence and human rights violations accountability: circumstances, uses and effects of forced disappearance registration. Lessons from a comparative perspective in the Americas. 2019-2020. Financiado por Newton Fund.

During civil conflict and at times of state terrorism, people around the world are executed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons. Registration of human rights violations is essential to face such atrocities and seek justice, truth, reparation, memory, and non-repetition measures that strengthen the rule of law and democracy. Despite the social, political, legal, and cultural relevance of violence registration, there is limited research on this matter. In the project¿s first phase the team designed and employed an innovative framework to examine how these atrocities were recorded during the dictatorship and its implications for the transitional process. This phase involved extensive research on archives, truth commissions, and memory sites, creating a pioneering initiative of archive disclosure for all generations to become aware of the importance of recording violence, including an artwork exhibition. In partnership with experts from Colombia and Mexico, the second phase will expand the framework of the role of registry following the case of forced disappearance in societies that have suffered armed conflicts and drug wars; it will explore territorial, spatial and aesthetics implications of these processes. The goals are to boost the availability of these registries and associated public policies, to strengthen social justice, peace and democracy, and to develop robust comparative studies and policy recommendations.

Conexus: Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for restoration and rehabilitation of urban ecosystems. Propuesta para la convocatoria de la Unión Europea Horizon 2020. En proceso.

The core concept for the proposal involves co-creating context-appropriate NBS for sustainable urbanisation in CELAC and EU cities, solving problems together and using citizen-led ICT applications. Culture and socio-economic organization shape 21st century urban development and expansion at the most profound level. Whether we like it or not, the ¿socio¿ in socio-ecological systems is fundamental to shaping the role that ecosystems will play in and around urbanized areas in future. Engaging with the cultural, social and economic drivers that determine the uptake of NBS is therefore fundamental to this project. Restoring urban ecosystems presents both global and local challenges and opportunities for innovation. We will investigate context-sensitive blue and green infrastructure innovations at the macro-, meso, and micro scale. NBS pilots will combine social innovations with technology to deliver more sustainable urbanisation, systematically addressing local-global challenges, whilst establishing how to record, analyse and evaluate contributions to NUA and SDG indicators, linking them to future investment strategies. Particular pressures that the proposal seeks to address include: air quality, and associated health problems (asthma, obesity, mental health); urban river corridors - including city flooding, quality and amenity; inclusive design - cultural sensitivity and environmental justice; and local food and fuel - e.g. via urban forestry.