Nikolina Bobic
Nikolina Bobic is an academic and an architect. After completing her PhD in Architecture at the University of Sydney (Australia), she moved to the UK and is now based at the University of Plymouth. Apart from her extensive experience in teaching at UG/PG levels in Australia, Hong Kong, and the UK, Bobic has also given lectures in the Netherlands and New Zealand. Her research is preoccupied with political constructs of architecture and urban space. Within this domain and engaging with the two disciplines in which she is trained (architecture and sociology), she addresses the intersections of power, politics, human geography and space in their oppressive and liberatory mechanisms. Some of her key publications include: lead co-editor of the multidisciplinary The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol I: Violence, Spectacle and Data (2022); and, The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics, Vol II: Ecology, Social Participation and Marginalities (2024); co-editor of the peer-reviewed Interstices: A Journal of Architecture and Related Arts thematic issue 20 ‘Political Matters’ (December 2020); and author of Balkanization and Global Politics: Remaking Cities and Architecture (Routledge, 2019). At present, Nikolina is working on a research project that addresses the nexus of contemporary defence, post-industrial heritage and (dis)orderly processes of waterfront re-developments to better understand the contemporary operational nature of spatial politics across the so-called Global North and Global South. Her impact based work is largely connected to EDI, where the focus cover two trajectories. The first trajectory is centred around waterfronts in terms of the complexities of spatial politics / justice associated with the mutually constitutive relationship of power and identity construction. The second focus is connected to children's awareness of and access to healthy / nutritious food.
Nikolina is a sought after scholar and has been invited to give talks nationally and internationally, as well as co-organise conferences such as: Space I Control I Resistance - Deleuze and Guattari Studies (Belgrade, 2023) and Political Matters: Spatial Thinking of the Alternative (Auckland, 2019). She has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level across history and theory, design, communications, and sociology, and has supervised over 120 UG dissertations and 15 PGT dissertations. She is also a PhD supervisor. Nikolina is an approachable mentor and is passionate about constructively guiding the next generation of spatial practitioners. Her industry experience stems from working in a well-esteemed and awarded residential practice in Sydney. The predominant concentration while working as an architect in Australia was on exploring and exploiting the interface between internal and external spaces, the means by which were addressed through materiality and a close consideration of the context.
Address: Room 401, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom
Nikolina is a sought after scholar and has been invited to give talks nationally and internationally, as well as co-organise conferences such as: Space I Control I Resistance - Deleuze and Guattari Studies (Belgrade, 2023) and Political Matters: Spatial Thinking of the Alternative (Auckland, 2019). She has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate level across history and theory, design, communications, and sociology, and has supervised over 120 UG dissertations and 15 PGT dissertations. She is also a PhD supervisor. Nikolina is an approachable mentor and is passionate about constructively guiding the next generation of spatial practitioners. Her industry experience stems from working in a well-esteemed and awarded residential practice in Sydney. The predominant concentration while working as an architect in Australia was on exploring and exploiting the interface between internal and external spaces, the means by which were addressed through materiality and a close consideration of the context.
Address: Room 401, Roland Levinsky Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom
less
InterestsView All (15)
Uploads
Books by Nikolina Bobic
The spatial connections between balkanization, violent remaking (destruction and renewal) and global politics have predominantly been analyzed via the former Yugoslav context and the Balkans, however, spotlight has also been directed to the current political climate of the UK, Australia and the Anglo-Saxon geopolitics. The analysis helps in understanding broader emergent patterns of sociospatial polarization across various scales, and in respect to global geoeconomic and geopolitical restructuring. This is particularly important because drawing connections between balkanization, economics, law, media and technology is to gain an awareness of - and engagement with - the emerging implications of spatial remaking and global politics.
Papers by Nikolina Bobic
This chapter highlights the possibility of alternative spatial practices that do not reproduce the same disparities or oppressive systems they were set out to unsettle. We must redefine the boundaries of architecture and the urban by acknowledging that societal challenges span multiple disciplines. Simultaneously, this shift necessitates critical spatial thinking and adaptation to the complex and evolving nature of contemporary contexts. Radical innovative architecture and urban approaches will only emerge through a slow revolution that involves constituencies, agonism and leveraging limited resources. This model may lead to ethical spaces that would promote social justice, equity and inclusivity across various sectors in response to a multitude of crises.
Caution should be taken with design approaches claiming to be sustainable, green, participatory or reformist. Operative democracies are not a given. We need to critically analyze any project claiming to be alternative and question whether the proclaimed emancipatory and aesthetic practices have the potential to problematize the status-quo. Moreover, architects and urbanists should recognize and repair the harm their discipline and professions have caused under the oppressive legacies of imperialism and colonialism. This includes reimagining the environment as a complex ecology beyond human concerns. The envisioning of which would give architecture and urbanism agency to create new ways of ethical, collective and ecological ways of living while addressing the challenges of the 21st Century.