Deljana Iossifova
Reshaping Everyday Life: Urban Transformations in the Global East
Deljana Iossifova is Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies at the University of Manchester. She is the Chair of the Urban Studies Foundation and Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Architecture. Her work has focused on urban borders, cities and biodiversity, urban ageing and infrastructural transformation in the Global East and South. With expertise in urban transformations, she has published extensively on topics related to infrastructural development, borderland urbanism, and everyday practices.
This talk discusses how infrastructural transformations in the Global East (and China, in particular) have the potential to shape urban everyday life. Building on almost two decades of research, it demonstrates the intentional and unintentional transformation of systems vital to human life, involving technology, resources, and agency at the scale of the neighbourhood, as part of urban development. In reshaping the patterns of everyday life, the shift from low-rise to high-rise living, for instance, impacts social bonds, human-infrastructure and human-nature interactions. We will discuss how design might foster equitable urban practices that underpin ‘sustainable’ urban development under the climate emergency.
