’Struggle for Spaces’ - Where does the War in Ukraine leave us?

The Berlin University Alliance and the Collaborative Research Center 1265 "Re-Figuration von Räumen (Re-figuration of Spaces)" will try to clarify this question in a panel discussion (including livestream). In the Ukraine war, not only borders are being contested, but social orders are also shifting. To better understand these rearrangements, a panel discussion with live-streaming will be held at the Institute of Architecture at Technische Universität Berlin on March 29, 2022, at 6 p.m. The 21st century is considered a globally networked age. "But in the Ukraine war, imperial military occupation of space is now colliding with economic network spaces," says Martina Löw, spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Center 1265 and the Grand Challenge Initiative on Social Cohesion of the Berlin University Alliance. Not only are there more fortified borders around the world than ever before, but in the Ukraine war, new borderlines are also being contested. "Culturally significant Ukrainian cities are being destroyed. With urban space, Ukrainian nodes of connectivity are under attack," Martina Löw continued. This destruction does not stop at the digital space, either. Russia, for example, is sealing off its network spaces against foreign influences, and in Ukraine digital infrastructures are undergoing lasting destruction. The panel with other renowned co-discussants such as Katharina Bluhm, Dr. Ievgen S. Donskyi, and Steffen Mau will discuss whether the struggle for space can be understood as a consequence of globalization. However, the focus is not only on the causes, but also on the consequences of the war. Is social cohesion eroding locally and globally, or is it not being reinforced in many cases?