Dr Sabina Andron, Dr Konstantinos Avramidis, and Mr Tom Ward
Funding period: 1 November 2025 – 1 September 2026
Type of funding:
Seminar Series
Partner organisations: Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne (Australia), Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus; (Cyprus), and Department of Human Geography, Uppsala University (Sweden)
Events: November 2025 (Melbourne, Australia), May 2026 (Nicosia, Cyprus), August 2026 (Uppsala, Sweden)
Organisers: Dr Sabina Andron (University of Melbourne), Dr Konstantinos Avramidis (University of Cyprus) and Mr Tom Ward (Uppsala University)
Contact: Dr Sabina Andron
Abstract:
Urban surfaces are vital spaces of communication, governance, and political contestation. This project explores how surfaces are designed, managed, valued, and contested as public assets to enrich the diversity of public expression in global cities. The project brings together members of the international Urban Surfaces Research Network (USRN), founded by the project co-applicants in 2023.
The seminar series consists of three in-person workshops to generate a shared research agenda at the intersection of urban culture, public space, and social justice, focusing on walls and other urban surfaces. This is the first initiative to unite scholars from sociology, law, geography, architecture, heritage, design, and media studies to engage with the politics of urban surfaces. Key themes include graffiti removal and surface maintenance, street art investment, public signage as graphic heritage, and the governance of outdoor advertising.
The workshops will take place in Melbourne, Nicosia, and Uppsala, exploring these themes through shared fieldwork and discussion. In doing so, the project will foreground surfaces as central to how cities are shaped, governed, and experienced, and build an international framework for surface-focused urban research and practice.
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