Professor Dr. Madlen Kobi

Biography

As a research professor in the unit for social anthropology, I have led the project 'Urban Bricolage: Mining, Designing Constructing Reused Building Materials' since January 2022. This project, funded by a PRIMA contribution from the Swiss National Fund, focuses on the intersection of social anthropology and architecture, addressing practical challenges surrounding the reuse of building materials in selected European countries. Before joining the University of Fribourg, I worked at the Accademia di Architettura of Università della Svizzera Italiana Mendrisio (2017-2021), the Ethnological Museum of the University of Zurich (2015-2016), and the Institute for Social Anthropology of the University of Bern (2010-2014). I have completed research stays at the Xinjiang University Urumqi, China (2011), Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Halle (2013/2014), Institute for Technology in Architecture ETH Zurich (2020/2021), and Department of Built Environment Aalborg University Copenhagen (2023). My research and teaching focus on human-material and human-environment relationships in urban contexts, with a regional emphasis on China and Europe. My expertise extends to architectural anthropology, urban political ecology, eco-modernist technologies and infrastructures, circular economy, and waste anthropology. I believe that ecological change cannot be achieved through isolated academic research alone; interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to develop understanding of how cities and the technologies shaping them can evolve towards a more just, resilient, and livable future.

Research Interests

Experience