Out-of-place: Redundant infrastructures and walking in auto-landscapes

Date: Thursday 14th November, 12pm

Location: U Bahnhof Schloßstraße

Focusing on urban landscapes designed for driving and contestations to this ideal of the car-centric city, this walkshop will explore out-of-placeness - both highway infrastructures that were redundant before they were ever used and how it feels to be a walker in places built for cars. In an exercise in opening our sociological imaginations to the city, this is not a guided tour but rather an open and experimental collective exploration. We invite participants to attune to their bodily and emotional experiences in the places through which we walk, to allow our conversations to be prompted by what we encounter and to be open to the unexpected and happenstance. In connecting our ‘personal troubles’ to ‘public issues’, together we will reflect on how these embodied and affective encounters with the auto-infrastructure can attune us to questions of infrastructure’s social life, the politics of its siting, urban power dynamics, distributional (in)justice and forms of (infra)structural violence. We also consider how this out-of-placeness alerts us to questions of the future of auto-landscapes, in particular in the current context of plans to extend Berlin’s A100.

The route:

The walk will be approximately four kilometres, with the pace set by participants. The terrain is pavements with a variety of textures. It includes several flights of stairs which can be circumnavigated if necessary. Otherwise, the walk is generally flat with some slopes and may be uneven in places. It will involve walking along and crossing busy roads. There is a public toilet along the way.

Please bring water and snacks and wear appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather.

If possible, please bring a smartphone in order to contribute to a communal Padlet map documenting the walkshop.

If you have any specific access requirements or concerns please get in touch so we can make sure we plan the route accordingly. Email Laura henneke@tu-berlin.de and Louise louise.rondel@brunel.ac.uk for access and other information about the walk.

Meeting point:

U Bahnhof Schloßstraße, at street level in front of the Uniqlo shop at 12:00.

Suggested reading:

Rondel, L., & Henneke, L. (2024). Walking the (Infrastructural) Line: Mobile and Embodied Explorations of Infrastructures and Their Impact on the Urban Landscape. Sociological Research Online. https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804241247713

Image credit: Emma Jackson