Cities are our natural world, created by us and yet, in their constantly shifting complexity, almost beyond our grasp. Urbanization processes do not end at the city boundaries. Almost infinite networks, alienated communication, hasty consumption and conflicts of social marginalization or economic injustice determine our urban survival. Cities form contested spaces, whose present refers back to the past, whose power structures can be identified and also changed. It is important to predict the need for change well in advance but also to be able to react to acute crises great and small with fresh solutions.

Innovations are driven on a bottom-up basis. Not infrequently they arise at the margins of society, where established structures encounter influences from without, traditional responses no longer work, or safeguards apply to some but not to others.
The projects developed in the studio situation of our Social Design program show that societal innovation–meaning extraordinary results and unexpected approaches–becomes possible where different forms of knowledge and methods interact, where artistic acumen combines with creativity from the so-called hard sciences, where design, theory, architecture and the fine arts not only pool their strategies but also enter into confrontations and alliances that can be both risky and productive.

Innovative methods construct new meanings, strengthen responsibility and thus create the preconditions for identification with one’s own actions. Students who choose the Master’s in Social Design – Arts as Urban Innovation signal their determination to play a critical and active part in influencing society and a refusal to discount the future!

Curriculum

The master programme Social Design Arts as Urban Innovation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna is oriented towards graduates from diverse fields of study, thereby stipulating work in transdisciplinary teams as the central teaching and learning approach in the programme. On the basis of professional competences acquired in their respective previous studies, students become acquainted with transcending disciplinary codes and thinking and working in greater interrelationships. Art in synergy with project-related scientific methods and knowledge is seen as a tool for urban innovation.

Duration and Scope:
4 semesters / 120 ECTS 
Graduation: "Master of Arts" (MA)

Download the curriculum as a PDF:  Deutsch  English

People

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Gabriela Urrutia Reyes

Architect, Managua/Vienna

I am an Architect from Nicaragua, where I got involved in different projects and social workshops. I Lived in Berlin and London working as a diplomat for the Embassies of Nicaragua.Now I am interested in interventions in the public space, housing and to experiment with the city social interactions.

Gerald Cirilo Reyes

Aid Worker and Photographer, Vienna/Erbil

Gerry seeks to understand and apply artistic design in aid work. His diverse set of experiences and expertise are manifested in the projects he has worked on. Being Austrian/Filipino, he tries to bridge the different socio-economic, cultural and political differences through his work and daily life.

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Clara Rosa Rindler-Schantl

Urban Planner, Vienna

After studying Landscape Architecture, looking into political science and spatial planning, she arrived here. During the search for theoretical input and questions, she worked on various projects such as urban interventions, Landscape Architecture, music and performances. And there’s basketball and books.

Student
Landscape Architecture
+43699 18822881
clara.rindler.schantl@gmail.com

Frida Robles

Artist, Mexico City

Frida Robles’ artistic practice focuses on urban and personal narratives and its intersections. A personal quest on how poetry resides outside the written page. Open to collaboration, she focuses on finding new artistic research and participatory strategies; exploring the idea of street-based art. She holds a bachelor degree in History from the Iberoamericana University. Her first book entitled “All love letters are ghost stories” was recently published.

Alumni
Writing/ History/ Performance
fridarobles@gmail.com
fridarobles.wordpress.com
cargocollective.com/fridarobles

Bernd Rohrauer

cummunity based socialwork, social sciene, trick-film animation /editing / compositing, 1200 Vienna

I see myself as a found footage worker based on the sources of arts, social science, etc. to be combined in the fields of social interaction. I don’t care too much about authorships and trust in the power of community synergies and open sources.

Thomas Matthias Romm

Architect, Vienna

Thomas Romm is a civil engineer and pioneer in resilient architecture. He is a co-founder of BauKarussell - a cooperation network for social urban mining. He teaches ecology for architects at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna at the Institute for Art and Architecture (IKA). Some of his work has recently been published in the “Manual of Recycling” (2019). He also contributed to the social design reader #3 “Circular Change: 42 richtungsweisende Gespräche” (2019).

Resilient architecture and circular economy
thomas.romm@romm.at
www.baukarussell.at
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