Book launch of North Sea Rising and Against an Architecture of Neoliberal Technocracy

We are delighted to welcome you to a double book launch and presentation of two books published by VI PER Gallery, Prague, as part of LINA European architecture platform activities: North Sea Rising: A Case for Water-Based Commons​ and Against an Architecture of Neoliberal Technocracy: Lessons from (the Dissolution of) the Architecture of the Welfare State in Britain (both 2024). 

Location: AA Bookshop, 33 Bedford Square, London.

About the books
In North Sea Rising: A Case for Water-Based Commons, editors Nabi Agzamov and Francesca Vanelli argue for a new perspective on regional commons across the North Sea watershed. Through a series of essays, experts and practitioners examine the historical evolution of this dynamic region and its legacy, climate change challenges, and the potential approaches needed to imagine a vision of a resilient and equitable future for the North Sea. Tom Holbrook’s “A New Hansa?” explores the region’s historical and present-day significance of trade and urban networks, “Mapping the Human-Ocean Nexus” by Di Fang critiques traditional cartography and advocates for biodiversity-focused “ocean thinking”, and Nashin Mahtani’s “To Dream Like a River” highlights the importance of community-led governance. The book concludes with “North Sea Manifesting”, where Agzamov and Vanelli propose a fluid, inclusive governance model that balances ecological and social dimensions. The book challenges conventional notions of territory and governance, advocating for a vision of a North Sea rooted in cooperation, resilience, and environmental equilibrium.

Nabi Agzamov is an architect and urban designer with expertise in urban ecology. He researches sustainable and resilient environments and the relationship between water, ecology, and cities. Francesca Vanelli is an architect and urban planner with land and water governance expertise. She focuses on multi-scalar flood adaptation and the relationship between disaster risk management and urban governance. Nabi and Francesca are PhD candidates, part of the European Doctoral Innovators (REDI) program and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellows.

As another history of the present, Eleni Axioti’s Against an Architecture of Neoliberal Technocracy: Lessons from (the Dissolution of) the Architecture of the Welfare State in Britain problematises the contemporary disappearance of the architectures of social welfare. It addresses the dismantling of the welfare state in Britain and the transition to a state of neoliberal technocracy. The book argues that it was through the proliferation of specific technocratic operations in the production of the built environment that these changes became possible and the deployment of neoliberal forms of governance were facilitated as actions at a distance that direct our behaviours. It aims to be a critique, and a call, to re-define the role of architecture as a mechanism of social governance where the use value of architecture is prioritised against its subjective exchange value. With an introduction by William Hutchins Orr.

Eleni Axioti is Lecturer and Year Co-ordinator in History and Theory Studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and Lecturer at University of the Arts London (CSM & LCC). She has been trained and worked as an engineer (MEng. AUTh), while she holds a PhD and an MA in Histories and Theories of Architecture from the AA. Her research focuses on architectural history in regard to issues of political economy, social policy and government.

Guests
Nabi Agzamov is an architect, urban designer and researcher working at 5th Studio, London, and a PhD candidate for the Marie Curie co-funded PhD at RMIT in Melbourne.

Francesca Vanelli is an architect, urban planner and researcher, currently a PhD candidate for the Marie Curie co-funded Dual PhD REDI at Politecnico di Milano & RMIT in Melbourne.

Tom Holbrook is an architect, co-founder of 5th Studio, London, and a Professor of Architecture at RMIT University.

Eleni Axioti is Lecturer in History and Theory Studies at the AA School of Architecture and Senior Lecturer at the University of the Arts London.

William Hutchins Orr is Lecturer in History and Theory Studies and the MA in History and Critical Thinking Program at the AA School of Architecture.