CfP - STS Hub 2025: “Public Sector Innovation after Technical Democracy"

[Paulos Julio]

Dear colleagues, 

We are accepting papers for the panel “Public Sector Innovation after Technical Democracy” at STS Hub 2025 Berlin, which will take place from 11-14 March 2025 at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Abstract: Public Sector Innovation (PSI) has become a central framework for rethinking technical democracy. PSI’s emphasis on collaborative methodologies, such as co-design and citizen engagement, promises more responsive and adaptive governance. The challenge for STS is to critically engage with PSI while recognizing that the traditional tools of critique may need to be rethought in light of the reflexive, adaptive nature of these new governmental practices. How can STS scholars examine PSI without relying on a predefined notion of critique that might no longer be adequate for understanding these contemporary practices?

We are looking for contributions that move beyond simply exposing the limitations or contradictions of PSI by investigating how these initiatives open up or foreclose specific modalities of political action. We ask not whether PSI delivers on its promises of enhancing democracy, but how it might reshape our understanding of what democracy could and should be. By engaging with PSI in this way, STS can contribute to a deeper understanding of how innovation processes and democratic practices are co-constituted. This requires considering how it influences the broader atmospheres—political, cultural, technical, and environmental—in which democracy is experienced and practiced.

Convenors: Anke Gründel & Julio Paulos

For an extended abstract, please email the organizers.

Submission deadline: October 31, 2024. 

Please send your paper proposal, including a 200-word abstract and a 75-word bio, to: anke.g...@hu-berlin.de & julio....@arch.ethz.ch 

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

---

Dr. Julio Paulos  
Associate Director, Research 

Future Cities Lab (FCL) Global

Zurich Hub

ETH Zürich DARCH

https://futurecitieslab.world     
julio....@arch.ethz.ch   
 
Confidentiality Note: This message, its contents and the attachments thereto may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or if you received this message in error, do not disclose, use, print, store, copy or act in reliance on it or its attachments. Instead, please inform the sender and then delete all copies from your computer system. Thank you.