Project acronym SELFCHEM
Project Information Transfer through Self-organization Processes in Systems Chemistry
Researcher (PI) Nicolas Giuseppone
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary Today, one of the greatest challenges facing physics, chemistry, and (bio)materials science, is to precisely design molecules so as to program their spontaneous bottom-up assembly into functional nano-objects and materials, based on recognition and self-organization processes. Beyond that, in order to reach higher-performing new materials and to bridge the gap between materials science and life science, it appears essential to bring together both multiple responsive levels of hierarchical organization and time-dependent processes.
The objectives of the SelfChem research project are part of this bundle of explorations and thus lie within an area inquiry which encompasses a better understanding of complex systems, self-organization, and emergence of order from chaos. The main specificity and novelty of the SelfChem project is to focus on an issue that has not been approached to date, namely the possibility to transfer chemical or physical information, in space and time, through the self-induced organization of their own supramolecular carriers. In other words, we wish to show that the circulation of information can be the driving force for the self-assembly of systems that will in turn serve to transfer this very information. The main axes of the proposal are three-fold and deal with: a) the duplication of chemical information towards several generations of bounded systems that couple small molecular self-replicators within self-replicating vesicles (reproduction); b) the transfer and conversion of chemical information between two compartments separated by a non permeable membrane (transduction); and c) the transport of physical information, i.e. electric charges, by the enforced self-organization of molecular wires between two electrodes (conduction). In addition to these fundamental investigations, we plan to use the knowledge produced for the design of smart, responsive, and adaptive (bio)materials.
Summary
Today, one of the greatest challenges facing physics, chemistry, and (bio)materials science, is to precisely design molecules so as to program their spontaneous bottom-up assembly into functional nano-objects and materials, based on recognition and self-organization processes. Beyond that, in order to reach higher-performing new materials and to bridge the gap between materials science and life science, it appears essential to bring together both multiple responsive levels of hierarchical organization and time-dependent processes.
The objectives of the SelfChem research project are part of this bundle of explorations and thus lie within an area inquiry which encompasses a better understanding of complex systems, self-organization, and emergence of order from chaos. The main specificity and novelty of the SelfChem project is to focus on an issue that has not been approached to date, namely the possibility to transfer chemical or physical information, in space and time, through the self-induced organization of their own supramolecular carriers. In other words, we wish to show that the circulation of information can be the driving force for the self-assembly of systems that will in turn serve to transfer this very information. The main axes of the proposal are three-fold and deal with: a) the duplication of chemical information towards several generations of bounded systems that couple small molecular self-replicators within self-replicating vesicles (reproduction); b) the transfer and conversion of chemical information between two compartments separated by a non permeable membrane (transduction); and c) the transport of physical information, i.e. electric charges, by the enforced self-organization of molecular wires between two electrodes (conduction). In addition to these fundamental investigations, we plan to use the knowledge produced for the design of smart, responsive, and adaptive (bio)materials.
Max ERC Funding
1 494 075 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-11-01, End date: 2015-10-31
Project acronym SENSiSOFT
Project New sensor devices based on soft chemistry assisted nanostructured functional oxides on Si integrated systems
Researcher (PI) Adrien CARRETERO
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2018-STG
Summary Piezoelectrics are the active elements of many everyday applications, from ink-jet printers to ultrasound generators, representing a billion euro industry. They are the key elements of motion sensors and resonators present in any wireless network sensor (WNS) node. However, an increased production of piezoelectrics in a sustainable way is to-date a milestone. SENSiSOFT proposes to come up with materials that can provide a solution to this problem: piezoelectric materials that are abundant, cheap and harmless. The aim of this project is to produce new piezoelectric devices of nanometer size with an unusual limit for wireless mechanical sensors, using direct and combined chemical integration of quartz, perovskite and hollandites materials as nanostructured epitaxial thin films on silicon. This is a major challenge that demands bridging the gap between soft-chemistry and microfabrication techniques. Three strategies are proposed for this goal:
i) Implement a soft chemistry unified, monolithic process that will allow integrating epitaxial quartz, hollandite and perovskite oxide thin layers on silicon substrate with high piezoelectric response.
ii) Nanostructuration of piezoelectric epitaxial oxide thin films into controllable morphologies or nanostructures, in particular porous structure and 1D nanowires or nanorods, allowing excellent properties of oxides to be exploited to the fullest, mainly by avoiding clamping and improving its sensitivity.
iii) Fabrication of nanostructured SAW resonator-based and a LAMB-WAVE multisensor for monitoring mechanical parameters (mass, forces, pressure…). We will use MEMs technology in order to be able to define resonating structures (plates, membranes, bridges…) by silicon micromachining.
So, SENSiSOFT presents three innovative strategies to develop sensor devices capable to answer the metrology demand, with a detection threshold 10 to 100 times more sensitive resulting from a 1D and 2D configuration of novel piezoelectric oxides.
Summary
Piezoelectrics are the active elements of many everyday applications, from ink-jet printers to ultrasound generators, representing a billion euro industry. They are the key elements of motion sensors and resonators present in any wireless network sensor (WNS) node. However, an increased production of piezoelectrics in a sustainable way is to-date a milestone. SENSiSOFT proposes to come up with materials that can provide a solution to this problem: piezoelectric materials that are abundant, cheap and harmless. The aim of this project is to produce new piezoelectric devices of nanometer size with an unusual limit for wireless mechanical sensors, using direct and combined chemical integration of quartz, perovskite and hollandites materials as nanostructured epitaxial thin films on silicon. This is a major challenge that demands bridging the gap between soft-chemistry and microfabrication techniques. Three strategies are proposed for this goal:
i) Implement a soft chemistry unified, monolithic process that will allow integrating epitaxial quartz, hollandite and perovskite oxide thin layers on silicon substrate with high piezoelectric response.
ii) Nanostructuration of piezoelectric epitaxial oxide thin films into controllable morphologies or nanostructures, in particular porous structure and 1D nanowires or nanorods, allowing excellent properties of oxides to be exploited to the fullest, mainly by avoiding clamping and improving its sensitivity.
iii) Fabrication of nanostructured SAW resonator-based and a LAMB-WAVE multisensor for monitoring mechanical parameters (mass, forces, pressure…). We will use MEMs technology in order to be able to define resonating structures (plates, membranes, bridges…) by silicon micromachining.
So, SENSiSOFT presents three innovative strategies to develop sensor devices capable to answer the metrology demand, with a detection threshold 10 to 100 times more sensitive resulting from a 1D and 2D configuration of novel piezoelectric oxides.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 360 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-01-01, End date: 2023-12-31
Project acronym SEQUENCES
Project New Strategies for Controlling Polymer Sequences
Researcher (PI) Jean-François André Victor Lutz
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary Sequence-controlled polymerizations play a key role in Nature. Although formed from a rather modest library of monomers, sequence-defined macromolecules such as proteins or nucleic acids are largely responsible for the complexity and diversity of the biological world. By analogy, one may predict that synthetic sequence-defined polymers could play an important role in modern applied materials science. Paradoxically, very little effort has been spent within the last decades for developing sequence-specific polymerization methods.
In this scientific context, the target of the present proposal is to develop new approaches for controlling macromolecular sequences. In particular, new possibilities for controlling comonomer sequences in standard synthetic processes such as chain-growth polymerizations (e.g. controlled radical polymerization) and step-growth polymerizations will be investigated. The strategies for controlling sequences will be principally chemical (e.g. controlled monomer insertion, organocatalysis, sequential monomer additions) but physical (e.g. confinement, transient monomer complexation) and eventually biochemical (e.g. biocatalysis) routes will be also considered.
The essence of this project is indeed highly fundamental. Indeed, the control over polymer sequences remains one of the last holy grails in polymer science. Nevertheless, on a longer term, this research may be also extremely relevant for applications. Indeed, sequence-controlled polymers are most likely the key towards new generations of functional sub-nanometric materials.
Summary
Sequence-controlled polymerizations play a key role in Nature. Although formed from a rather modest library of monomers, sequence-defined macromolecules such as proteins or nucleic acids are largely responsible for the complexity and diversity of the biological world. By analogy, one may predict that synthetic sequence-defined polymers could play an important role in modern applied materials science. Paradoxically, very little effort has been spent within the last decades for developing sequence-specific polymerization methods.
In this scientific context, the target of the present proposal is to develop new approaches for controlling macromolecular sequences. In particular, new possibilities for controlling comonomer sequences in standard synthetic processes such as chain-growth polymerizations (e.g. controlled radical polymerization) and step-growth polymerizations will be investigated. The strategies for controlling sequences will be principally chemical (e.g. controlled monomer insertion, organocatalysis, sequential monomer additions) but physical (e.g. confinement, transient monomer complexation) and eventually biochemical (e.g. biocatalysis) routes will be also considered.
The essence of this project is indeed highly fundamental. Indeed, the control over polymer sequences remains one of the last holy grails in polymer science. Nevertheless, on a longer term, this research may be also extremely relevant for applications. Indeed, sequence-controlled polymers are most likely the key towards new generations of functional sub-nanometric materials.
Max ERC Funding
1 200 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31
Project acronym SUPRAFUNCTION
Project Supramolecular materials for organic electronics: unravelling the architecture vs. function relationship
Researcher (PI) Paolo Samorì
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE INTERNATIONAL DE RECHERCHE AUX FRONTIERES DE LA CHIMIE FONDATION
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2010-StG_20091028
Summary SUPRAFUNCTION aims at mastering principles of supramolecular chemistry, in combination with top-down nanofabrication, to achieve a full control over the architecture vs. function relation in macromolecular materials for organic electronics, by analyzing and optimizing fundamental properties through which new capacities can emerge.
Highly ordered supramolecularly engineered nanostructured materials (SENMs) will be self-assembled from conjugated 1D/2D molecules, and ultra-stiff multichromophoric arrays based on poly(isocyanides). Their interfaces with chemically functionalized top-down/bottom-up nanofabricated electrodes and with dielectrics will be tailored to reach SENM energy barriers with height <0.1eV and interface roughness of 3-7Å. Multiscale characterization of SENMs, nanoelectrodes and various interfaces will be done by Scanning Probe Microscopies, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and other methods, especially to quantitatively study 3 relevant properties, viz charge injection at interfaces, charge transfer, and photoswitching current through a molecular material. Prototypes of nanowires and Field-Effect Transistors (FETs) will be fabricated especially focusing on (1) unravelling charge transport vs. charge injection, (2) the effect of photo-doping in electron acceptor-donor dyad based SENMs, and (3) novel photo-switchable FETs based on either (i) photo-responsive azobenzene SAMs chemisorbed on electrodes/dielectrics to reversibly modulate the charge injection at interfaces, or (ii) electroactive SENMs of dithienylethenes featuring extended conjugation in the side arms to promote a light tuneable p-p stacking among adjacent molecules, ultimately affecting the charge transport in stacks.
The generated knowledge will offer new solutions to nanoscale multifunctional organic based logic applications.
Summary
SUPRAFUNCTION aims at mastering principles of supramolecular chemistry, in combination with top-down nanofabrication, to achieve a full control over the architecture vs. function relation in macromolecular materials for organic electronics, by analyzing and optimizing fundamental properties through which new capacities can emerge.
Highly ordered supramolecularly engineered nanostructured materials (SENMs) will be self-assembled from conjugated 1D/2D molecules, and ultra-stiff multichromophoric arrays based on poly(isocyanides). Their interfaces with chemically functionalized top-down/bottom-up nanofabricated electrodes and with dielectrics will be tailored to reach SENM energy barriers with height <0.1eV and interface roughness of 3-7Å. Multiscale characterization of SENMs, nanoelectrodes and various interfaces will be done by Scanning Probe Microscopies, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and other methods, especially to quantitatively study 3 relevant properties, viz charge injection at interfaces, charge transfer, and photoswitching current through a molecular material. Prototypes of nanowires and Field-Effect Transistors (FETs) will be fabricated especially focusing on (1) unravelling charge transport vs. charge injection, (2) the effect of photo-doping in electron acceptor-donor dyad based SENMs, and (3) novel photo-switchable FETs based on either (i) photo-responsive azobenzene SAMs chemisorbed on electrodes/dielectrics to reversibly modulate the charge injection at interfaces, or (ii) electroactive SENMs of dithienylethenes featuring extended conjugation in the side arms to promote a light tuneable p-p stacking among adjacent molecules, ultimately affecting the charge transport in stacks.
The generated knowledge will offer new solutions to nanoscale multifunctional organic based logic applications.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
Project acronym SYNINTER
Project Smart interrogation of the immune synapse by nano-patterned and soft 3D substrates
Researcher (PI) Kheya Sengupta
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "We aim to design smart substrates and suitable detection techniques to understand better the dynamics and spatial organization found in the immunological synapse, with the ultimate goal of developing new diagnostic tools for sensitive detection of immune deficiency diseases that arise from faulty adhesion. The immunological synapse (IS), formed at the interface between a T-lymphocyte and an antigen presenting cell, has been the target of intense multidisciplinary research in the last decade. Studies point to a crucial role for adhesion mediated by protein clusters for the stability and activity of the synapse. However, even the cluster size - micro or nano scale - remains contentious. Furthermore, while in vivo, the synapse is formed in a soft 3D environment, most in vitro experiments are on hard 2D surfaces. Clearly, one way to probe how the micro/nano environment of the T-cell influences the IS is by interrogating it with artificial substrates that are soft, three dimensionally structured and exhibit motifs down to the cluster length-scale. We shall develop 3D and soft polymeric structures with controlled placement of adhesion molecules and antigens on a single molecule level. The structure, assembly and signalling for stable as well as dynamic IS, on such substrates, will be investigated. Mechano-transduction at IS will be probed by using soft substrates of tunable Youngs modulus. Advanced optical techniques will be developed for quantitative and dynamic mapping of proteins and the cell-cell interface topography. Quantitative reflection interference contrast microscopy, will permit characterization of adhesion of native cells without the need of a special labelling strategy. Our advanced substrates and observation techniques will open up new ways to probe inter-cellular adhesion in general and the immunological synapse in particular. The acquired knowledge will be used for fabricating a cell sensor device for diagnosing T-cell pathology."
Summary
"We aim to design smart substrates and suitable detection techniques to understand better the dynamics and spatial organization found in the immunological synapse, with the ultimate goal of developing new diagnostic tools for sensitive detection of immune deficiency diseases that arise from faulty adhesion. The immunological synapse (IS), formed at the interface between a T-lymphocyte and an antigen presenting cell, has been the target of intense multidisciplinary research in the last decade. Studies point to a crucial role for adhesion mediated by protein clusters for the stability and activity of the synapse. However, even the cluster size - micro or nano scale - remains contentious. Furthermore, while in vivo, the synapse is formed in a soft 3D environment, most in vitro experiments are on hard 2D surfaces. Clearly, one way to probe how the micro/nano environment of the T-cell influences the IS is by interrogating it with artificial substrates that are soft, three dimensionally structured and exhibit motifs down to the cluster length-scale. We shall develop 3D and soft polymeric structures with controlled placement of adhesion molecules and antigens on a single molecule level. The structure, assembly and signalling for stable as well as dynamic IS, on such substrates, will be investigated. Mechano-transduction at IS will be probed by using soft substrates of tunable Youngs modulus. Advanced optical techniques will be developed for quantitative and dynamic mapping of proteins and the cell-cell interface topography. Quantitative reflection interference contrast microscopy, will permit characterization of adhesion of native cells without the need of a special labelling strategy. Our advanced substrates and observation techniques will open up new ways to probe inter-cellular adhesion in general and the immunological synapse in particular. The acquired knowledge will be used for fabricating a cell sensor device for diagnosing T-cell pathology."
Max ERC Funding
1 133 565 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym TEMPORE
Project Self-Regulating Porous Nano-Oscillators: from Nanoscale Homeostasis to Time-Programmable Devices
Researcher (PI) Marco FAUSTINI
Host Institution (HI) SORBONNE UNIVERSITE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2018-STG
Summary Living systems exhibit unique autonomous behaviors such as homeostasis, self-regulation or spontaneous oscillations, not existing in conventional materials. Designing artificial systems with life-like functionalities is a long-standing challenge in chemistry and material science. This groundbreaking research field has been developed exclusively at the molecular and supramolecular level, through chemical self-regulation based on interconnected networks of reactions in solution.
In this project, I will explore a conceptually new and different approach based on interconnected nanomaterials in open atmosphere; I will design a new family of autonomous systems, called porous Nano-Oscillators, exhibiting a “physical” self-regulation mechanism at the nanoscale. To do so, I will engineer nanoparticles, nanoporous materials and light in a very specific way in order to activate artificial feedback loops; self-oscillatory behavior will be time-programmed by exploiting the sorption dynamics of the nanoporous materials.
I will exploit a multidisciplinary approach based on nanochemistry, nanofabrication and optics to fabricate isolated and groups of nano-oscillators and to investigate their dynamic behaviors. By analogy with cells, communication, synchronization and collective response will be investigated by a new methodology able to describe the spatiotemporal evolutions of self-oscillating nano-objects in controlled environments. Themo-optical simulations will support the experimental work by providing thermodynamic and kinetic guidelines.
Inspired by examples from nature, I will provide proof-of-concept of time-programmable, autonomous devices, working in open atmosphere with unprecedented functionalities.
Summary
Living systems exhibit unique autonomous behaviors such as homeostasis, self-regulation or spontaneous oscillations, not existing in conventional materials. Designing artificial systems with life-like functionalities is a long-standing challenge in chemistry and material science. This groundbreaking research field has been developed exclusively at the molecular and supramolecular level, through chemical self-regulation based on interconnected networks of reactions in solution.
In this project, I will explore a conceptually new and different approach based on interconnected nanomaterials in open atmosphere; I will design a new family of autonomous systems, called porous Nano-Oscillators, exhibiting a “physical” self-regulation mechanism at the nanoscale. To do so, I will engineer nanoparticles, nanoporous materials and light in a very specific way in order to activate artificial feedback loops; self-oscillatory behavior will be time-programmed by exploiting the sorption dynamics of the nanoporous materials.
I will exploit a multidisciplinary approach based on nanochemistry, nanofabrication and optics to fabricate isolated and groups of nano-oscillators and to investigate their dynamic behaviors. By analogy with cells, communication, synchronization and collective response will be investigated by a new methodology able to describe the spatiotemporal evolutions of self-oscillating nano-objects in controlled environments. Themo-optical simulations will support the experimental work by providing thermodynamic and kinetic guidelines.
Inspired by examples from nature, I will provide proof-of-concept of time-programmable, autonomous devices, working in open atmosphere with unprecedented functionalities.
Max ERC Funding
1 496 225 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30
Project acronym TRUST
Project Culture, Cooperation and Economics
Researcher (PI) Yann Algan
Host Institution (HI) FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2009-StG
Summary My research project TRUST aims at looking at the links between culture of cooperation, economics and institutions, with causality running in both directions. The first step is to assess the causal effect of cooperation on economic decisions and happiness. Social attitudes such as trust seems a prerequisite to expand economic exchanges, in particular in modern societies characterized by the increased complexity of information and relations with anonymous others. Cooperative beliefs might also directly affect happiness by reducing the feelings of risks that humans have to cope with in modern societies. The second step of my research is to look conversely at the effect of economic policies on social attitudes. I will assess the effect of human resources management and welfare state policies on cooperation within organizations and the society. I propose cutting-edge methods to carry on this research agenda. First, I will track social and economic attitudes on the cyberspace by using a Medialab. The development of new communications technologies has triggered a revolution in the social traces that citizens leave simply by using digital technologies. The available data reservoirs on the web are colossal and can provide a new way to relate self-reported social and economic attitudes. I will also provide to the civil society new instruments of reflexivity on the state of social and economic cooperation. Second, I will introduce the new tools of randomized experiments in the sphere of social sciences to estimate the impact of economic policies on social attitudes. I will run these experiments in the context of the management of human resources to understand how inequalities and organizational structure can influence cooperative attitudes.
Summary
My research project TRUST aims at looking at the links between culture of cooperation, economics and institutions, with causality running in both directions. The first step is to assess the causal effect of cooperation on economic decisions and happiness. Social attitudes such as trust seems a prerequisite to expand economic exchanges, in particular in modern societies characterized by the increased complexity of information and relations with anonymous others. Cooperative beliefs might also directly affect happiness by reducing the feelings of risks that humans have to cope with in modern societies. The second step of my research is to look conversely at the effect of economic policies on social attitudes. I will assess the effect of human resources management and welfare state policies on cooperation within organizations and the society. I propose cutting-edge methods to carry on this research agenda. First, I will track social and economic attitudes on the cyberspace by using a Medialab. The development of new communications technologies has triggered a revolution in the social traces that citizens leave simply by using digital technologies. The available data reservoirs on the web are colossal and can provide a new way to relate self-reported social and economic attitudes. I will also provide to the civil society new instruments of reflexivity on the state of social and economic cooperation. Second, I will introduce the new tools of randomized experiments in the sphere of social sciences to estimate the impact of economic policies on social attitudes. I will run these experiments in the context of the management of human resources to understand how inequalities and organizational structure can influence cooperative attitudes.
Max ERC Funding
988 376 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-01-01, End date: 2014-07-31
Project acronym urban-rev politics
Project The Urban Revolution and the Political
Researcher (PI) Ozan Karaman
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary This project is a transnational and comparative study of the political implications of the contemporary ‘urban revolution,’ namely the sweeping socio-cultural, economic, and territorial transformations through which the urban becomes the predominant mode of existence of societies across the world. Across the social sciences and as well as journalistic literatures, there has been a remarkable proliferation of debates around the social and ecological implications of contemporary urbanization.
What is largely missing in these timely debates, however, is any systematic and in-depth engagement with the political significance of the ongoing ‘urban revolution.’ This is due to a lack of systematic research and theoretical engagement regarding the unprecedented prominence of accumulation regimes based on the speculative production, trade and consumption of space. Similarly, extant theoretical tools of urban political analysis fall short of conceptualizing the increasingly planetary nature of privatization and exploitation of the urban and their intricate links to global finance. In addressing these gaps the project advances two overarching goals: 1. to develop conceptual tools for and comparative insights into the increasingly dominant urban-based accumulation regimes, and 2. to advance the politicization of academic and public discourses on the planetary urban condition.
I propose three relational levels (extended moments) of analysis, which respectively focus on the finance/real-estate/state nexus, the exploitation of the urban, and the emerging spaces of the political. These correspond to three subprojects that focus on transnational, everyday, and political dimensions of the urban revolution. The methodological approach will be multi-sited global ethnography, which will combine ethnographies of place-based relations and transnational networks. Filmmaking will be used not only as a research method but also as a storytelling medium.
Summary
This project is a transnational and comparative study of the political implications of the contemporary ‘urban revolution,’ namely the sweeping socio-cultural, economic, and territorial transformations through which the urban becomes the predominant mode of existence of societies across the world. Across the social sciences and as well as journalistic literatures, there has been a remarkable proliferation of debates around the social and ecological implications of contemporary urbanization.
What is largely missing in these timely debates, however, is any systematic and in-depth engagement with the political significance of the ongoing ‘urban revolution.’ This is due to a lack of systematic research and theoretical engagement regarding the unprecedented prominence of accumulation regimes based on the speculative production, trade and consumption of space. Similarly, extant theoretical tools of urban political analysis fall short of conceptualizing the increasingly planetary nature of privatization and exploitation of the urban and their intricate links to global finance. In addressing these gaps the project advances two overarching goals: 1. to develop conceptual tools for and comparative insights into the increasingly dominant urban-based accumulation regimes, and 2. to advance the politicization of academic and public discourses on the planetary urban condition.
I propose three relational levels (extended moments) of analysis, which respectively focus on the finance/real-estate/state nexus, the exploitation of the urban, and the emerging spaces of the political. These correspond to three subprojects that focus on transnational, everyday, and political dimensions of the urban revolution. The methodological approach will be multi-sited global ethnography, which will combine ethnographies of place-based relations and transnational networks. Filmmaking will be used not only as a research method but also as a storytelling medium.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 940 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-11-01, End date: 2021-10-31
