“Our concern is about how the past plays itself out in the present, and how past and present recur into the future. If ‘imagination is working over the remembered,’ as James Joyce says, we are interested also in what one might call ‘memories of the future’.”

Kieran Keohane is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at UCC’s School of Sociology and Philosophy, recognised as a Teaching Hero by his students. His current work covers areas such as urban culture, the generation and legacy of cultural capital and the cultivation of cosmopolitanism. Kieran Keohane published “Collision Culture” (2004) on transformations in everyday life in Ireland and “Cosmopolitan Ireland” (2007) on globalisation and quality of life, both together with UL sociologist Carmen Kuhling.

“Futures of the past” looks at buildings of the past and how we think about their future. Aware of the necessarily creative and destructive role of architecture we hold a deep interest in what exists. This series of talks is a public forum intended to address a range of questions on architecture’s role, past and present.