Opening Keynote

THE NEW NOW – Why are we here?

Video Statement

Where are we now in the pandemic?

Introduction to Berlin questions & edition #4

Interview

Impulse

Pandemic and Protest: Africa as the Laboratory of the Future

Impulse

To Tune or Not to Tune

Dialogue

Fortnightism @ Virtual Conference

Impulse

Private Money & Public Good

Report from Zurich

Report from Nairobi

Impulse

L’Union des Refusés: Unionizing for (art) workers commons, citizenship and decentralized grassroots governance

Report from Warsaw

Report from Freetown

Impulse

A photojournalist’s perspective of Lagos in a pandemic

Interview

A world on the move: cities showing how humanity must adapt to change

Report from Jakarta

Impulse

The story of the Exile Museum – a dialogue between past and present

Report from London

Impulse

On Constructing Belonging

Dialogue

Impulse

THINK CIRCULAR – What can be done to rethink how we build and live together

Report from Los Angeles

Dialogue

Impulse

A Global Moratorium on New Construction

Dialogue

Impulse

Interview

Report from Seoul

Impulse

Tragedy of the Commons, a Misunderstanding.

Impulse

Revenge for the real – How our
cities have changed through the pandemic?

Dialogue

Report from Istanbul + Interview

Impulse

How to extend and preserve public space

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?

17:30 -19:00 Offline

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?

14:00 -16:30 Streamed online in „The Virtual Now“

17:00 – 17:30 Offline

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?

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.

19:15 – 21:00 Offline

14:00 – 16:00 Offline

“The nature of urban ecological practice” – workshops and talks curated by raumlaborberlin & Floating University

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.

18:00 – 20:00

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?”