Concept

K LAB develops independent research projects at national and international levels, working in close collaboration with the ISR departments as well as with other institutes, organizations and urban actors. The focus of its inter- and transdisciplinary research lies on the KOMMUNICATION of and on the urban, its visualizations, representations and mediations. We understand communication not as a unidirectional presentation of information, but rather as a multidirectional dialogue – i.e. exchange, mediation, and re-negotiation of our understandings of the urban and its spaces. Communication as a two-footed practice, pivoting on PRODUCTION & PRESENTATION of content and media on one side (i.e. the organization and visualization of information); and on the other, the INTERACTION of stakeholders and EXCHANGE of information for the purpose of constructive deliberation. Accordingly, K LAB deals both with the medium (or media) employed for transmitting information (e.g., maps, plans, infographics, drawings, sketches, texts, speech), as well as with the processes of transmission themselves (e.g., human/non-human interaction, participatory methods, collaborative work, co-production), and questions of how a collective understanding of the corresponding content succeeds. Therefore, methods, tools, strategies, typologies, skills and tactics to help navigating contemporary complexities and the messiness of our urban everydays play a central role in our projects.

Current Projects

SMUS

SMUS

2020 – 2024
Global Centre of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability

MAPPING CHANGE

MAPPING CHANGE

2018 – 2022
rhythms of resistance, situating mapping in craft*ing, countertopography

Closed Projects