María Ignacia Jeldes Olivares

Global construction companies impact our futures. Yet, the role of these global players and their persistent presence in different regions has barely been reflected upon. This project uses German construction companies as a prism to address a wide spectrum of economic, political, environmental or cultural impacts in specific local contexts throughout the long 20th century and aims to critically analyse success stories and moments of failure. This choice is triggered by the label ‘Made in Germany’, which was established in the late colonial period and remains an unquestioned marker of quality. Focusing on production cycles, the research team scrutinises global flows of capital, labour, know-how and construction materials, primarily in West and Southern Africa as well as Latin America.<br/><br/> more info

The bridge project "Disruption and spatial development: concepts on spatio-temporal dynamics, modes of perception and strategies of action" continues the conceptual elaboration of the disruption heuristic, uses it to interpret empirical findings in the lead project research (and beyond) and, conversely, incorporates suggestions from the empirical research of the lead projects into the further conceptual development. more info