An introduction and welcome to the conference.
Dr. Graham Cairns is an academic and author in the field of architecture who has written extensively on film, advertising and political communication. He has held Visiting Professor positions at universities in Spain, the UK, Mexico, the Gambia, South Africa and the US. He has led academic departments in the UK and the US. He has worked in architectural studios in London and Hong Kong and previously founded and ran a performing arts organisation, Hybrid Artworks, specialised in video installation and performance writing. He is author and editor of multiple books and articles on architecture as both a form of visual culture and a socio-political construct. He is currently director of the academic research organisation AMPS (Architecture, Media, Politics, Society), and Executive Editor of its associated journal Architecture_MPS.
Mgr. Jitka Cirklová, M.A., Ph.D. is a sociologist, Assistant Professor at CTU, department of Social Sciences. She completed her Ph.D. in Sociology at Charles University in Prague and her M.A. studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Jitka currently teaches graduate courses in Sociology, Sociological Research, and Sociology of Public Space. The focus of her research work is on the Sociology of culture, identity and transformation of lifestyles, and intergeneration changes in value models. The focus of research projects is on the value models and business practices of people inspired by sustainability that suggest different preferences and choices these people are making while forming identities within a community. She concentrates continually on research fortified by the content, narrative, and visual analysis by using the innovative methodology of Engaged Photography and Netnography. She contributes to the research area by exploring the further understanding of adaptation processes and cultural accommodation of new concepts, values, and ideas in our communities.