The symposium Why The World Needs Anthropologists, Sustaining Cities is an annual event organized by The Applied Anthropology Network of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. The network provides a platform for sharing information and experience regarding the applications of anthropology and focuses on the transfer of anthropological knowledge to private and public sectors and to profit and non-profit organisations. This year’s event is the 7th symposium which looks at sustainability with an urban lens and asks how infrastructures in urban spaces play with or against our aspirations of smartness and greenness.

Pardis Shafafi is a convenor of the Applied Anthropology Network and the lead coordinator for the WWNA conference. Pardis is a British-Iranian anthropologist specializing in political violence and peoples´ tribunals, she holds a doctoral degree from the University of St Andrews. She is currently an advisor and associate researcher with the European Research Council ´Off-Site´ project, and a senior researcher with international design studio, Designit, in Oslo.

In today’s episode we talk to Pardis about the organization of the conference, the reasons behind choosing the core themes and the challenges involved in making it all happen; this year’s theme – sustaining cities – which will bring together industry representatives and academics to challenge each other to hopefully become better in their practice; how the organizing team plans and hosts this space of togetherness. At the end Pardis gives some practical advice to the conference attendees. 

Why The world Needs Anthropologists, Sustaining Cities, 25-27 October, Oslo, Norway, https://www.applied-anthropology.com/