Pia Palo

About
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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.

Drawing of common space from one of the workshop - by Adna
 

Commons


PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH / WORKSHOPS / AUDIO VISUAL STORYTELLING / STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
Year: 2021
Site: Bergsjön, Gothenburg, Sweden
By: Naïna Dion-Barbin, Pia Palo & Phileas Schulhof
My roles were: Planning and running workshops, conducting interviews, video editing, and producing text and final drawings
The project looks at commoning practices, in particular, the idea of collaborative building and the potential that it has to promote agency and mobilization in the specific context of the Million Homes Program area Bergsjön.

The aim was to develop tools for participation among the residents of Bergsjön and to create spaces for dialogue that introduce the concept of collaborative building and the notion of commons to a structurally marginalized group.

The project was carried out in collaboration with the local community, associations and institutions connected to the neighbourhood, and resulted in the development of discussion tools and a collection of insights from the local community that could be used for further development into a spatial proposal. In addition, the project explored narrative approaches to architectural mapping and communication, such as audio-visual storytelling and speculative drawing.


Sleepwalkers - an audio-visual mapping of Bergsjön



Workshop #1 - drawing ideas of a common space
Participants: young people living in Bergsjön
Workshop #1 - discussing ideas of a common space
Participants: young people living in Bergsjön
Workshop #2 - needs of local association
Participants: Parenst active in association Läxhjälpen

Tools/methods for participation - The game

The rules of game COMMONS (swe. title DET ALLMÄNNA) - a discussion tool for workshops


Tools/methods for participation - speculative timeline of action points
Speculative timeline of what could happen in Bergsjön - incremental change based on input from workshops