Funding period: October 2021 – March 2022

Taking an intersectional, interdisciplinary approach—spanning architecture, urban design, psychology, political,and social sciences—, the project seeks to shed light on how the mental health/care system has been conceptualized, established, experienced or spoken up by different social groups, experts from a variety of disciplines, activists, or politicians within the complex temporal and spatial modalities of Berlin. “Mental healthcare system” in this context is not seen as an abstract discipline but as the superimposition of different environmental, physical (architectural), psychological, political, and social dynamics. The research takes two parallel research trajectories:

1. a historical assessment of the changes in the notion of mental health and consecutive urban planning paradigms and political discourses on the mental healthcare system in Berlin
2. understanding the effect of different urban crises on the mental health/care system and spatial justice framework. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of the co-production of injustices structurally, materially, and discursively.

Participating students:
The seminars will be held in English. It is open to host students from the humanities, architecture, urban design, political, social, and psychological sciences. Students should be in the third year of bachelor or later.

The research project invites students to actively engage in discussions, sharing experiences during implementing individual research (e.g., literature review, recruiting interviewees, conducting, and analyzing interviews), and preparation of public seminar. Experience in interdisciplinary approaches, qualitative research method, critical thinking, team/individual work, and public speaking is among those competencies that students will acquire during this project.

Link to the introductory session on October 21, 2:00-4:00 p.m.: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8587832485?pwd=ZmNHTHI2TTdMNmFYdHd2cldzSVBYZz09

Meeting ID: 858 783 2485

Passcode: nb35Bp

Contact:
Email: nassimmehran@gmail.com