YOUTH
The urban studies project YOUTH seeks to create a comprehensive methodological framework for studying foundational disadvantages as part of youthhood within the context of social inequality and its intersection with social media. This framework aims to understand youthhood as a constructed reality with discursive, symbolic, and material dimensions, impacting the (non)digital access to urban public spaces and their (non)virtual representation. The project leans towards an action-research based pedagogy in collaboration with NGOs to include the voices of young people, especially in their use of digital and non-digital means to access public spaces.
Call for Application: Spring School 2024
The international YOUTH consortium is organizing a five-day Spring School (June 10th to June 14th), which aims at international Masters and PhD students as well as early-stage researchers and practitioners working on young people’s (non)digital access to public space. The Spring School focuses on the methodological, empirical, and theoretical deepening of the study of social inequality of youth to engage with and participate in a trans-local and transdisciplinary exchange with international academic partners and NGOs.
Theme
YOUTH is a research project of five higher education institutions – three in Vienna (Austria), one in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and one in Tel Aviv (Israel) – which, together with associated NGOs, aim at developing a transdisciplinary and intersectional methodological framework to the changes and challenges taking place around young people’s access to public space due to socio-technical innovations. Such socio-technical transformation of what we emphasize as ‘(non)digital access to public space’ has become part of multiple articulations of youthhood as it basically affects how young people spend their youthhood, informed by both digital ways to approach urban public space, yet also by more traditional and analogues forms. Which type of (im)mobile everyday geographies of young people can be found when studying the multiple ways how streaming services, social media platforms and messenger services are combined by young people to gather in public space for myriads of reasons? Youth and youthhood is approached as a relational age category which varies according to the social, political and cultural context. In that sense, we analyse relational approaches to youthhood as a constructed discursive, symbolic and material ‘reality’ that is increasingly intertwined with the use of social media platforms and deeply affected by social inequality. We perceive social inequality as a positioning and a standpoint and therefore propose its intersectional study.
Programm
The Spring School will take place at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space at the TU Wien (including some session in a hybrid format), combining in-presence with blended forms of academic learning. The five-day long program will consist of multiple sessions a day with morning and afternoon units. Participants are expected to arrive in Vienna on the 9th June while departure can be realized on 14th June after 1 pm.
We understand the YOUTH Spring School as an educational format based on the principles of scientific co-production, in which consortium partners and NGOs from different world regions, and international students co-produce new urban forms of knowledge relevant to young people, universities and wider society. This should focus on how the use of technologies impact the (un)equal access to and use of public space among youth.
Application
Please send a 2-pages letter of motivation (what is your interest in Youthhood, Social Inequality, (Non)Digital Access, Public Space?), a copy of your active student ID card, your address details and your CV until 10th of March 2024 to office@skuor.tuwien.ac.at.
Application deadline 20th of March, 2024
Costs
50 Euro (security against short term cancelations, will be used to refinance lunches). Participants will need to cover expenses for travel and accommodation by themselves, while the project offers support in identifying fair accommodation opportunities.
ECTS
The Spring School is organised at the TU Wien, and its successful completion is equivalent to 3 ECTS which will be guaranteed in the form of an official participation certificate . TU Wien, FH Technikum or FH Campus students please also send us your full application details as identified above, and please contact us in addition per mail so that we can facilitate your regular course registration in case your application has been accepted.
Local Scientific Team
Sabine Knierbein, Richard Pfeifer, Emilia Linton-Kubelka
Funding Institution: Center for Technology & Society (CTS)
Funding Programme: Open Call for Projects
Main Issues:
How does digital mediatisation through social media, streaming platforms and messenger services affect young people’s engagement with urban public space, taking into account the influence of social inequalities, and how do young people use spatial strategies and digital tactics to disrupt or reshape social routines and representations in public space?
Project Partner:
TU Wien (AUT), Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space, Lead Partner
Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (BRA), Institute of Human Sciences of PUC Minas
Bar-Ilan University, (ISR), Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Geography and Environment
FH Campus Wien (AUT), Bachelor Programme Social Work
FH Technikum Wien (AUT), Department Computer Science
Duration of the Project: 12 months
Start of the Project: December 1st 2023
