Spatial Practices: “Common Spaces of Assembly,” Al-Quds Bard College, Urban Studies & Spatial Practices, Spring Semester 2018—2021. (introductory studio class)

Spaces are shaped and transformed not only by official apparatuses and professionals but also by the everyday spatial practices constructed by people. The course will revolve around a number of walks that aim at exploring new ways of thinking about geography, citizenship, and community. It is based on a particular conviction that creative practices could positively or negatively impact the identity of urban space and the ways in which spatial areas are made, experienced, andrepresented. The outcome of the course will be a carefully curated and edited diary that reflects on those practices and spaces encountered throughout the course. Using different approaches, from anthropology to geography, from empirical observations and urban interventions, from spatial activism to social justice, the spatial practices engaged with in this course analyze the transformation of urban spaces from the point of view of different actors.