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REPOSITORY: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places – Reflections from the book launch

Books on table with flowers.
Image: Arto Jalonen.

REPOSITORY: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places book launch was held in Tampere this year, supported by STUE Action Grant. Read reflections by Dalia Milián Bernal, one of the authors of the book and organisers of the event.

For the past few years, I have had the honor to be part of the core group of the COST Action CA18126 – Writing Urban Places. My role was co-leader of Working Group 3 responsible for locating, collecting, organizing, and sharing methods that help read, understand, and construct narratives of the tangible and intangible dimensions of urban places. It is within this context that our working group began its quest for methods employing different tools and organizing different activities and projects, all of which “merged and morphed into an iterative space we call the Repository of Methods: a project that has no specific form – it takes many forms – and is in permanent expansion, discussion, and auto-generation”(Milián Bernal & Machado E Moura, 2023).

One of the most important outcomes of this project, however, has been the book titled, REPOSITORY: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places. It gathered a set of methods titled with a verb, followed by a short description and an assignment to help mobilize the method. The book is intended to be taken to the field by students, scholars or anyone interested in exploring the city in diverse ways and invites “creative, often embodied, sometimes playful engagements with the material and immaterial dimensions of urban places” (Machado E Moura et al., 2023)

Cover of the book.
Front and back cover of REPOSITORY. Graphic design by Sanne Dijkstra.

On 27 April 2023, with support from STUE Action Grant, we celebrated the launch of the REPOSITORY in Tampere. To the event attended all of the editors: Carlos Machado e Moura, Esteban Restrepo Restrepo, Klaske Havik, and Lorin Niculae in addition to the graphic designer, Sanne Dijkstra. Minna Chudoba kindly commented to the book.

The event was hosted by Arkkitehtityöhuone Tiili, which at the time was in Pirkankatu, and included a wine reception and a small exhibition of the work produced on the workshop Narrating Hiedanranta. The invitation was open to the public. We had full house in a warm and sunny April day and were glad to see many members, colleagues, and friends from STUE as well as teachers and students from Tampere University and beyond.

We invite you to explore the book, test out the methods, and report back!

Editorial team of the book giving welcoming words.
Welcoming words by the editorial team: Dalia Milián Bernal, Klaske Havik, Lorin Niculae, and Carlos Machado e Moura. Image: Henrietta Soininen.
Minna Chudoba in the book launch.
Minna Chudoba commenting on the book. Image: Arto Jalonen.
Picture of audiece of the book launch.
An amazing crowd comprised of colleagues and friends from STUE, students and teachers from Tampere University and friends from beyond the academic community. Image: Arto Jalonen.
Picture of Arkkitehtityöhuone Tiili
Arkkitehtityöhuone Tiili. Image: Arto Jalonen.

Text: Dalia Milián Bernal

References:

Machado E Moura, C., Milián Bernal, D., Restrepo Restrepo, E., Havik, K., & Niculae, L. (2023). REPOSITORY – 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places. NAI PUBLISHERS.

Milián Bernal, D., & Machado E Moura, C. (2023). Unearthing Urban Narratives. Towards a Repository of Methods. Writingplace, No. 89 (2023): Writing Urban Places: New Narratives for the European City. https://doi.org/10.7480/WRITINGPLACE.8-9.7251