CoSEP

 COLLECTIVE for SOCIO-SPATIAL
 & ENVIRONMENTAL PRAXIS 

 UC DAVIS  



RESEARCH TRACKS AND THEMES


1/ Technoscience of Environmental Governance


2/ Socio-Material Palette for a Just Transition


ABOUT
Established in Dec 2023, CoSEP undertakes transdisciplinary,
research-driven projects to address the socio-spatial and political nature of designing and governing the built environment to facilitate the fullness of life.  CoSEP's projects lie at the intersection of design, technology, governance, and social justice. We are committed to praxis, or the reflective manner of combining theory and practice to achieve and sustain just futures. CoSEP is housed at the University of California, Davis, on the land of the home of the Patwin people.


       © Akshita Sivakumar 2023 - 2024


LAB ETHOS


As designers and architects, our lab is privy to how design can be of both benefit and harm. Design can also maintain the status quo of extractive ideologies and dominant groups marginalizing others.  We also integrally understand the power of design to facilitate transformative, positive change. To ensure we contribute to transformative change through design interventions in relationship to governance, technoscience, and social movements, we lead with a sense of accountability.

Governance:  Governance refers to the processes, structures, and mechanisms through which authority and decision-making are exercised within a society.  

Technoscience:  Technoscience refers to the interconnected practices of science and technology that not only produce knowledge but also shape social realities and governance.

Social Movements: The organized efforts by various social groups to promote positive social change, in response to injustices or inequalities. 

We are driven by accountability to justice-oriented outcomes, for which we prioritize the following:
1. Trust-based relationships
2. Equity of knowledge and lived experience
3. Collaboration rather than competition
4. Creative synthesis and translation to extend impact
5. Questioning dominant relationships set by the market  
6.  Systems and infrastructural thinking