Felicitas Sommer
Felicitas
Sommer
Department of Aerospace and Geodesy, Land Management, Technical University of Munich
BIO
Felicitas is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Aerospace and Geodesy, Chair of Land Management, at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). As a Science & Technology Studies-inspired legal anthropologist, she studies concepts and values of property and sustainability through the socio-technical infrastructures of data, registers, and administrations. She initiated the research project 'Green Data, Indicators, Algorithms: Connecting Green Finance and Smart Cities' that she now also leads. GreenDIA is an interdisciplinary consortium research project involving the Chairs of Land Management (TUM), Remote Sensing (Uni BW), and Statistics & Data Science (LMU). The project investigates cross-sectoral standards and criteria for sustainability measurement in relation to land sealing and land use for residential buildings. This focus builds on her experience as a sustainable finance analyst in a small consultancy, where she was responsible for developing an ESG-rating methodology.
At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Felicitas is involved in the program Reclaiming Common Wealth.
QUESTIONS
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What gives you hope?
Instances in which beings revoke seemingly universal and self-evident norms for their own and others' right to be nurtured, safe, and respected, and to have the capability to co-create their environment. -
How does change happen?
Change, to me, means dismantling the resistance to change and its underlying reasons. Who benefits from inhibiting movement and alteration? It entails finding the right perspective from which the incumbents appear out of place in a multifaceted, vibrant, and vivid world. -
What is the best advice you ever got?
Just because you entered a room later than others, or because they are older or more experienced, doesn't mean you should trust others' perceptions more than your own.