Pia Palo

About
LinkedIn
piapalo@outlook.com

pia.palo@umu.se

I am an architect and urban designer, currently working as a PhD researcher at Umeå School of Architecture (UMA).  My interests lie at the intersection between the social and the physical, in understanding lived experiences and realities, and in how experimental and artistic processes can be used to think and talk about how and for whom we build our cities. In addition to research work, I teach at both BA and MA levels.

My ongoing PhD research is in critical studies of architecture and urbanism, and focuses on just urban transitions in the context of northern Sweden. I explore how spatial practice (and practitioners) can take on a transformative and productive role in imagining radical and inclusive futures beyond growth through theoretical and practical engagements with ideas of care and relationality.

The site Lundbystrand, and the three design experiments 


Experiments, imaginaries, desires


MICRO-SCALE DESIGN EXPERIMENTS / 1:1 BUILD / SPECULATIVE DESIGN / QUALITATIVE & SITUATED MAPPING
Year: 2022 - 2023
Site: Lundbystrand, Gothenburg, Sweden
By: Jessica Lundin & Pia Palo
Role: Conducting interviews, research and mapping, and producing diagrams, models and drawings. 
The project explores urban qualities that are often seen as negative, the messy and rough, the disorganized and uncontrolled, the hidden and the inaccessible. Since these qualities often attract people who do not follow the city's norms, those who dislike cleanliness and rigidity, or those who are excluded from contexts that require conformity, they play an important role in creating an open city. The project resulted in three design experiments carried out on-site in Lundbystrand.

The project started with the question of how architects and designers can take action. We asked this because action is needed, action that goes beyond the constraints of current systems. The focus is on the micro-scale and open-ended instead of the fixed forms. On the experiment instead of the proposal. On the questions instead of the answers.

The following questions set the framework:
(a)
What role does micro-scale experiments have in provoking desires and imaginaries of other models of shaping the city?
(b)
What is the value of the disorderly, the uncertain and ambiguous in public spaces?
(c)
How can the focus on subjective experiences and relationships influence spatial planning practices in Lundbystrand?

Read the full report here



Experiment #1 - Traversings



Experiment #2 - Groundings


Experiment #3 - Elevatings


Affects
The relationscape traces how our interactions (interviews, informal conversations, site visits, design experiments) affects the existing network of actants. Through these interactions the project draws new relations that create a movement towards action.




Use - observations of people interacting with the experiments
The stairs, roughly treated
A break in the sun by the basketball court
Looking at the exhibition