Are local authorities meeting the needs of diverse communities?

Anna Ulrikke Andersen interviews researcher Tom Davies about socially driven building design in post-Second World War Oslo and the challenges inhabitants of those buildings face today. In this seventh episode, postdoctoral researcher Anna Ulrikke Andersen talks to Tom Davies from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. His research into the preservation of post Second World War architecture, explores the different ways that the social aspects of space have influenced the design process and how local authorities aim to meet the needs of diverse and complex communities living in ageing buildings. Working within a British and Norwegian context, Davies has a unique insight into the complex relationship between post-war designs and welfare. What were the priorities when blocks of flat were built after the war, and what are the practical and material challenges that residents of these aging blocks of flats face today?

Om Podcasten

Disobedient Buildings (disobedientbuildings.com) is a multi-sited research project about housing, welfare and wellbeing based at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, part of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (anthro.ox.ac.uk), at the University of Oxford. It is funded for four years by the Art and Humanities Research Council. Launched in January 2020, the project employs a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and visual practitioners to study the impact of neoliberal reforms over the past three decades on the everyday lived experiences of inhabitants of ageing tower blocks in different European welfare states: the UK, Romania and Norway. The Disobedient Buildings podcast is conceived and presented by Inge Daniels, the project's principal investigator, and the project’s two postdoctoral researchers: Gabriela Nicolescu and Anna Ulrikke Andersen. In Season One, the team scrutinises key themes guiding their research such as disobedience, inequality, urban development, welfare and health. The 10 episodes feature interviews with local experts and highlight commonalities and differences experienced by residents in the three field sites of London, Bucharest and Oslo. The podcast asks, what is a disobedient building, why is home ownership promoted, and will the State look after you?