Design as Worldmaking – technologies, mobilities, architectures

Welcome to Design as Worldmaking – technologies, mobilities, architectures

Description: 
Across areas such as design, architecture, urbanism, urban planning, anthropology, geography, and sociology there is a need to understand the social and environmental repercussions of architecture and design. In this PhD course there will be lectures based on ‘exclusionary design’ showing how unhoused and vulnerable citizens are subject to power-ridden designs of urban spaces. There will also be lectures on the ‘super rich’ and how design allows them to dwell in sheltered, luxurious worlds that are simultaneously sealed off from surrounding spaces and exposed (in comfort and safety) to extreme environments .
From these areas, ethnographic, theoretical, and methodological lessons will be drawn into a didactic space where the course participants reflect upon their own research projects. The course contains smaller exercises in empirical research design where the participants try out ways in which to operationalize the theories and concepts presented by the lecturers.
Participants must read a moderate number of readings in advance of the course. There is an option for earing 2 extra ECTS course credits for a successfully evaluated post-course assignment submission.

Prerequisites: Participants with master’s degrees in urban design, architecture, industrial design, urban planning, traffic engineering, sociology, urban geography, Human-Computer-Interaction, or similar.

Learning objectives: The course is based on a didactic that moves between lecturing and tutoring from the lecturers and exercises enabling the participants to explore and test theories and concepts on their own PhD projects. Learning to reflect upon how one’s PhD project based on the explored state-of-the-art research is the key learning objective.

Organizer: Ole B. Jensen, AAU

Lecturers: Professor Ole B. Jensen and Professor Phillip Vannini, Royal Roads University, Canada

ECTS: 3

Date: 14, 15 and 16 September 2026

Place: Aalborg University

City: Aalborg

Maximal number of participants: 15

Deadline: 24 August 2026

Important information concerning PhD courses: 

There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course.

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.