CoSEP
COLLECTIVE for SOCIO-SPATIAL
& ENVIRONMENTAL PRAXIS
UC DAVIS
RESEARCH TRACKS AND THEMES
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
RESEARCH TRACK:
Socio-Material Palette
for a Just Transition
This research track centers on the relationship between the built environment and a just transition, or the multi-coalition effort between labor, environmental, and climate justice social movements to achieve a low-, zero-, or post-carbon future. To this end, CoSEP is invested in material innovation but also cultural and social materialism and materiality. Social materialism refers to how materials are shaped by social processes, cultural practices, and power dynamics, how objects carry social meanings, and how they are involved in social practices. Materiality, on the other hand, focuses on the properties of materials, innovations regarding their properties, and how these characteristics affect human interactions with them.
Amidst rapid climate change, the building industry's greenhouse gas emissions face intense scrutiny. Despite efforts over three decades to introduce material innovations and certification systems, this progress falls severely short of achieving carbon neutrality by international deadlines (UNEP 2022). Recognizing the need for transformative change, it's evident that addressing carbon neutrality requires more than just material innovation and "green product" specification. Instead, it demands buy-in across technical and lay expertise (Epstein 1995) and a deeper understanding of this transition’s impacts on workers and marginalized communities (Aronoff et al. 2019) at all local, state, federal, and international levels (Chomsky, et al. 2020). This theme addresses the urgent need to integrate design, environmental sustainability, supply chains, labor practices transformation, and environmental justice as a comprehensive system rather than discrete parts. A socio-material palette for a just transition into a carbon-negative future combines material innovation with social implications on marginalized communities and building industry workers.
EXPLORE THEMES UNDER THIS TRACK:
#1............Hemp and the Built Environment
PUBLICATIONS:
Sims, Christo, and Akshita Sivakumar. “Making Sustainability Concrete: Designs for Green Architecture in Silicon Valley.” Public Culture 35, no. 3 (101) (September 1, 2023): 367–78. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-10742537.