Wednesday, 11 August 2021 | Main Conference Day
10:00 – 11:30
Opening Keynote
THE NEW NOW – Why are we here?
Michael Müller
Governing Mayor of Berlin
Video Statement
Where are we now in the pandemic?
Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten
Virologist
Introduction to Berlin questions & edition #4
Burkhard Kieker & Lutz Henke
visitBerlin
Interview
Harry Moseley
CIO Zoom Communications
Impulse
Pandemic and Protest: Africa as the Laboratory of the Future
Lesley Lokko
African Futures Institute, Accra
Impulse
To Tune or Not to Tune
Caroline Nevejan
Chief Science Officer, Amsterdam
Dialogue
Lesley Lokko x Caroline Nevejan
Fortnightism @ Virtual Conference
Carson Chan
Director Emilio Ambasz Institute at MOMA, New York City
Gustav Düsing
Architect & Educater
Coffee Break
12:00 – 13:30
Impulse
Private Money & Public Good
Patricia Atkinson
Philanthropy Advisor
Report from Zurich
Corine Mauch
Mayor of Zurich
Report from Nairobi
Silvester Kasuku
Economics and planning advisor Nairobi
Impulse
L’Union des Refusés: Unionizing for (art) workers commons, citizenship and decentralized grassroots governance
María Inés Plaza Lazo
Arts of the Working Class, Berlin
Report from Warsaw
Michał Andrzej Olszewski
Deputy Mayor of Warsaw
Report from Freetown
Yvonne Aki-Sawyyer
Mayor of Freetown
Impulse
A photojournalist’s perspective of Lagos in a pandemic
Yagazie Emezi
Artist & Photojournalist
Lunch Break
14:30 – 17:00
Interview
A world on the move: cities showing how humanity must adapt to change
Parag Khanna
Founder & Managing Partner FutureMap, Singapore
Report from Jakarta
Vera Revina Sari
Acting Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta for Spatial Planning and Environment
Impulse
The story of the Exile Museum – a dialogue between past and present
Dorte Mandrup
Dorte Mandrup A/S, Copenhagen
Report from London
Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
Impulse
On Constructing Belonging
Sumayya Vally
Counterspace, Johannesburg
Dialogue
Dorte Mandrup x Sumayya Vally
Impulse
THINK CIRCULAR – What can be done to rethink how we build and live together
Sabine Oberhuber
Turntoo, Amsterdam
Report from Los Angeles
Eric Garcetti
Mayor of Los Angeles
Dialogue
Michael Müller x
Horacio Rodríguez Larrera
Mayor of Buenos Aires
Impulse
A Global Moratorium on New Construction
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes
Harvard University, Cambridge
Dialogue
Charlotte Malterre-Barthes x Sabine Oberhuber x Martin Henn
Break
17:30 – 19:30
Impulse
Chris Lehane
Head of Policy and Communications Airbnb
Interview
Chris Lehane
Head of Policy and Communications Airbnb
Sumi Somaskanda
Presenter
Report from Seoul
Oh Se-Hoon
Mayor of Seoul
Impulse
Tragedy of the Commons, a Misunderstanding.
Hito Steyerl
Artist & Professor for Experimental Film and Video at the Berlin University of the Arts
Impulse
Revenge for the real – How our
cities have changed through the pandemic?
Benjamin Bratton
Professor of Visual Arts the University of Cali-fornia, San Diego, and Program Director of The Terraforming programme at Strelka Institute
Dialogue
Hito Steyerl x Benjamin Bratton
Report from Istanbul + Interview
Ibrahim Orhan Demir
City of Istanbul
Impulse
How to extend and preserve public space
Elizabeth Diller
Architect & Partner Diller Scofidio + Renfro
19:20
Timings and programming may be subject to change due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and respective time zones.
Thursday, 12 August 2021 | Deep Dive Program
14:00 – 16:30 Spreepark Berlin, Kiehnwerderallee 1, 12437 Berlin
14:00 – 16:30 Offline
Streamed online in „The Virtual Now“ at 17:30
Deep Dive „Public Luxuries“
Cities are the centres of creativity, diversity, and science; they fulfil citizens’ need for connectivity by offering density and spontaneity. In times of lockdown and isolation, we have come to value community and social interaction. Never has the abundance of possibilities for change been so evident as in this pandemic era. Urban living in this sense is a luxury. It offers opportunities in all spatial dimensions and scales, and it presents public space as a common good. Cities are home to people who can maximize these possibilities in new and unique ways, and who seek to engage with each other. How can we conceptualize and restructure public space to create the cities of the future, cities that we want to live in? What concepts should we consider in order to make our cities sustainable and resilient – and at the same time develop new ways for communities to strengthen public life in society? Which designs foster cohesion and dynamic interaction, and how can cities spark this organically? And most crucially: If all these elements have been entrusted to cities, how do we ensure they are maintained, protected, and adapted for the needs of future generations?
Impulses and Discussion with:
Guerilla Architects, artistcollective
Dr. Matthias Kollatz, Senator for Finance, Berlin
Matylda Krzykowski, Designer & Curator
María Inés Plaza Lazo, Founder, editor & publisher of Arts of the Working Class
Christian Windfuhr, Chairman Board & former CEO Grand City Properties
Florian Wupperfeld, Founder Leading Culture Destinations
moderated by Sumi Somaskanda
17:30 – 20:30 San Gimignano Lichtenberg, Am Wasserwerk 22f, 10365 Berlin
17:30 -19:00 Offline
Explore San Gimignano Lichtenberg
19:00-20:30 Offline & Online (live stream in „The Virtual Now“)
Deep Dive „Quarantine Economies“
The pandemic has shown us how swiftly local and global economies could shift potentially. Complete industries thrived, have been disrupted or completely re-structured. The time of quarantine marked a moment of standstill: The urgency of the pandemic made fundamental and structural change inevitable. The pandemic thereby proved the idea of Alternativlosigkeit wrong. Human paradigm and cultural values are not a given, but inscribed in the social, economic and legal frameworks that structure our everyday lives. How can we find and implement new policies for a common and better future of global metropolises?
How can we mobilize the law—too often producing processes of injustice and economic subordination at the service of companies and neoliberal forces—to act spatially and counter speculative construction, gentrification, social and spatial segregation, resource depletion, and technological escalation? Is a moratorium the right legal tool to bring spatial matters and resources to public debate? More generally, how to harness policy as a space regulator, bearing in mind its powers and limitations?
Discussion with
Manuel Ehlers, Head of Sustainable Properties Triodos Bank
Sabine Oberhuber, Co-Founder Turntoo
Deane Simpson, professor of architecture, urbanism and urban planning at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen
Saskia Hebert, Co-Founder subsolar* architektur & stadtforschung
Tobias Hönig und Andrijana Ivanda, Co-Founders c/o now
and opening impulse by
Ramona Pop, Deputy Mayor and Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises
The program will be moderated by Charlotte Malterre Barthes (Harvard GSD) and Angelika Hinterbrandner (Brandlhuber+ Team/bplus.xyz)
20:30 Sundowner & Networking
Friday, 13 August | Deep Dive Program
14:00 – 16:30
14:00 -16:30 Streamed online in „The Virtual Now“
Deep Dives and discussion with:
Nik Hafermaas, Managing Partner Graft Brandlab
Ross Douglas, Founder & CEO AUTONOMY Paris
Katja Diehl, Activist & Founder She Drives Mobility
Ghazaleh Koohestanian, Founder & CEO Re2you
Prof. Dr. Meike Jipp, Head of the Institute, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Transport
Research
Nico Gramenz, CEO Factory Berlin
moderated by Ali Aslan
17:30 – 21:00 Haus der Statistik, Berolina Straße 21,
10178 Berlin
17:00 – 17:30 Offline
Arrival at Haus der Statistik
17:30 – 18:15 Offline
Streamed online in „The Virtual Now“ at 19:00
Deep Dive Civil Responsibility
Panel 1: „Public Civil Partnership – New Forms of Cooperative City-Making (en)“
As a rule, civil society initiatives and neighborhoods have little opportunity to influence business operations and strategic decisions within state-owned companies responsible for the creation of affordable housing, commerce and socio-culture. At most, they can „participate“ through associated advisory boards such as (e.g., tenant advisory boards). Public participation in urban development processes should include all urban actors. New forms of participation must be supported and improved. These include co-production
as well as collaborative design processes. In civic-public partnerships, civil society, politics and administration set out together to achieve a common goal. In contrast to classic commissioned work, however, what is jointly decided and controlled is also jointly implemented here. Responsibility for
the whole is thus formally shared in the long term. By combining different talents and approaches, better solutions to existing challenges are developed together. The conflict between formal and informal urban development is resolved.
This new type of cooperation within a shared organizational structure can lead to an openness of the administration away from purely compulsory tasks and thus to more active support for projects oriented toward the common good. A civic-public partnership as an
independent legal entity also offers an agile framework for action that municipalities do not have due to their often rigid administrative structure.
The discussion will shed light on the following questions:
Which factors are relevant for the success of a joint ownership?
What conditions (legal, financial, cultural, political) must be met in order to establish a civic-public partnership?
How can shared values be secured in the long term while retaining decision-making power?
How can new roles be taken on in politics, administration and civil society so that the competencies of all can be bundled in a targeted manner? What support is needed for the actors on this path?
How can collaborative action and long-term shared responsibility be continued into operation?
What can be learned from the experience of public-private partnerships that can be transferred to public-civic partnerships?
Panelists:
Ephraim Gothe, Deputy District Mayor and District Councillor Berlin Mitte
Wenke Christoph, State Secretary for Housing Berlin
Caroline Paulick-Thiel, Executive Director Politics for Tomorrow
Patricia Atkinson, Philanthropy Advisor
Moderated by Leona Lynen, Haus der Statistik
18:30 – 19:15 Offline
Panel 2: „Urbane Governance“ (de)
Städtische Politik und Verwaltung agieren im Spannungsfeld finanzieller und gesetzlicher Vorgaben, der Erwartungen ihrer Bürgerinnen und Bürger sowie lokaler Unternehmen, aber auch im Kontext der demographischen Trends der Region. Während sich die Handlungen von zivilgesellschaftlichen Initiativen in der Regel im Prozess des alltäglichen Machens entwickeln, folgt kommunales Handeln prinzipiell rechtlich überprüfbaren, kontrollierbaren, transparenten, mehrheitsfähigen, rationalen Normen. Gleichzeitig entstehen neue Formen kollektiven Regierens und demokratischer Kontrolle über lebenswichtige materielle Ressourcen wie Wasser und Wohnraum; für genossenschaftliche und lokale Ökonomien; für ein Recht auf Stadt für alle. Es geht weniger um ein “Fördern lassen”, als vielmehr um ein “selbst machen”, oder ein “neues miteinander”. Weniger Government mehr Governance.
Stadtmacher*innen werden von Beteiligten zu Ko-Produzent:innen von Stadt, indem sie Verantwortung für Orte und Prozesse übernehmen. Dabei erschließen sie sich neue Aufgaben und erproben neue Rollen abseits des Denkens in Zuständigkeiten. Mit dem Begriff Urbane Governance legt das Haus der Statistik den Blick auf eine veränderte Handlungspraxis und eine neue Art der Prozess- und Organisationsgestaltung frei – nicht zuletzt um die Notwendigkeit interdisziplinärer Kooperationen, Komplizenschaften und
Kollaborationen zu betonen.
Panel „Urbane Governance“ (DEU) with:
Claudia Sello, Vorständin Gängeviertel eG
Eric Honegger, Denkstatt Basel
Melanie Kryst
Moderiert von Konrad Braun, Haus der Statistik
19:15 – 21:00 Offline
Civil Responsibility in Action: Gemeinsamer Spaziergang zum 1.
Berliner Kiezgipfel
Saturday, 14 August | Deep Dive Program & Grand Finale
14:00 Floating University, Lilienthalstraße 32, 10965 Berlin
14:00 – 16:00 Offline
“The nature of urban ecological practice” – workshops and talks curated by raumlaborberlin & Floating University
With:
Marco Schmitt + Zoë Claire Miller / the Exorcier-Raku, Kathrine Ball / Water artist / Contaminations / Water filtration, Martina Kolarek / die Bodenschaft / life/live Composting, Hans Unstern + Simon Bauer + Kids Uni / Building situational Harps, Free Radicals – suprise, Club Real / open letter to the city, Kolonie Flughafen / Nachbarschaftstouren and Lukas Turtur as Bruno Latour
16:00 – 18:00 Offline & Online (live stream in „The Virtual Now“)
Deep Dive Ecology after Nature
For too little time cities have been challenging themselves to implement measures that mitigate climate change. So far most are failing miserably in doing so. The process of involving various stakeholders who represent competing and contrasting interests is crucial to make important progress on creating sustainable cities – but not many city administrations know how to change their top down policies. Change has been therefore intermittent and piecemeal, despite the acceleration of extreme weather patterns that have challenged urban centers to find solutions quickly and holistically. Our cities are facing everything from scorching heat waves to severe flooding and a scarcity of crucial resources like water. How can we introduce a climate caring urban practice?
Ecology after Nature goes beyond the ecological perspective and asks how the driving forces of technology, economics, society and more than human actors can help us create a truly sustainable future. Ecology will survive nature – but what will replace the role of nature on a damaged, urbanised planet? Shall we adopt a holistic approach to innovation and growth, incorporating for instance alternative models of economic thinking and the integrative nature, richness, and intelligence of urban space? Is smartness with data and numbers really the solution to fighting climate change? Or isn´t it radical empathy, resilient transparency, transdisciplinary communication and a solid funding of artistic work and cultural life in the urban space? Only a new culture of empowerment, responsibility and trust can support a resilient urban practice.
10 relational questions with
Aljoscha Hoffmann/Tempelhof Projekt GmbH vs. Gudrun Sack /Tegel Projekt GmbH, Niklas Maak / FAZ vs. Patricia Atkinson / Philanthropy Advisor and Marianne Ramsey Sonneck / Organismendemokratie.
Quizmaster : Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius / raumlaborberlin / Floating e.V.
18:00 – 20:00
Encounters at the Mudpit – concert, food and drinks with Hans Unstern – playing on situanional harps, Tischleindeckdich – offering terrestrial Food at Floating Bar supported by Kollektiv Benush – Experimental Limo
20:00 – open end
Offline & Online (live stream in „The Virtual Now“)
Marathon for the New Now
On the closing day of the conference, anyone can join the discussion and make a contribution to the theme of this year’s edition, Metropolis: The New Now, which explores the future of the city after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The “Marathon for the New Now” opens the stage to anyone who would like to contribute to the debate: questions, ideas and statements are all welcome. The Marathon’s central question is “If you only had five minutes, how would you describe your metropolis of the future?”
Moderated by Sumi Somaskanda & Friedrich Liechtenstein