I’m taking a small dive into the Paris Digital Park for this mini-episode. This mega complex of four data centres, being built in the northern suburbs of Paris, is set to be the largest data centre in Europe. I’m asking, how useful is the Anthropocene framework when analysing data centres?

Produced by Aral Sea Sounds: www.aralseaproductions.com
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Let’s delve into the world of Dokufest, a documentary film festival in the city of Prizren in Kosovo. Pauline speaks with Alba Çakalli, the Festival Producer about the event's beginnings in 2001 and its growth into one of the most important film festivals in the region. We also learn about the festival's impact on the city of Prizren, its people, and the film industry and how the Lumbardhi building is at the centre of it all. The festival is now a major ambassador of Kosovo, bringing attention to the region's rich cultural heritage through qualitative programming and important partnerships with international organisations.

Link to DokuFest: https://dokufest.com/

Link to Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/5amupperstreet

This episode is supported by Balkanism - an educational platform that seeks to improve inter-ethnic relations for communities within the Balkans and its diaspora: https://www.instagram.com/balkanism__/?hl=en

In this episode, I'm joined by Martyra Peng, a long-time Berlin resident. We discuss the impact of gentrification on Berlin and how it is affecting the creative and subculture scene. We discuss the creative class's double-edged nature and the social exclusion of many parts of Berlin society, including migrant communities, and the violence against the LGBTQ community and sex workers.

Link to Martyra’s work: https://www.martyrapeng.com/

More about Martyra:

Martyra Peng is one of the most versatile writers in contemporary literature. Her work under changing pseudonyms consists of travel literature, 400 columns, numerous reportages, a highly acclaimed political non-fiction book, blogs, poems, photography and digital art. Her blog "Hooker Republic" was the eponym for the celebrated play "Lulu - the Hooker Republic" by Volker Lösch at the Berlin Schaubühne. Her open letter to the German government "J'accuse" also found its way into the novel "Bricks & Mortar" by Clemens Meyer.

Until the 1st Corona Lockdown, she mostly travelled abroad to create distance from Germany. Most recently, she published the non-fiction book "Sexwork 3.0 - and how we prevent forced prostitution".

Her autofictional novel "Bread" is the world of a consequent struggle for advancement in a capitalist environment, where the rebellious outsider Nadine is sorted out as dysfunctional when she shakes the existential foundations of a broken system.

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In this series, we dive into the world of cities and unveil the desires and actions of ordinary people who have the courage to try something unconventional in their cities. An underground network of actions brought to light here through their voices.

In this first episode, we explore how New Yorkers hold the city together and create common ground in an unequal and divided America. Guests include Claire Feuer, founder of Subway Social Club, Mitchell Borden and Rie Yamaguchi-Borden, founders of Ornithology Jazz Club in Bushwick and Brad Taylor, member of the Board of Friends of Morningside Park in Manhattan.

This episode is supported by 1014 ( www.1014.nyc) – space for ideas in New York City. Named after the address of its space at 1014 Fifth Avenue, this non-profit organisation creates a space to exchange ideas and work on solutions for more just and equal societies.

Produced by The Urban Activist (https://theurbanactivist.com/) and Aral Sea Sounds: (www.aralseaproductions.com)

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How does our built environment create new questions about our world today? Whether demolished or in construction, Pauline Blanchet explores cities, neighbourhoods, and buildings. Influenced by London's changing streets due to gentrification, in each episode, she dives into a question about the cities in the midst of change. From Modernist Estates to the 2024 Paris Games, she explores the social impact on communities at the heart of cities. In every third episode, the Urban Activist online magazine will also come on board to dive head-first into a city’s activist communities.

5am Upper Street is hosted by Pauline Blanchet and produced by Aral Sea Sounds in collaboration with the Urban Activist.

Design by Ruth Burgess.

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Follow Pauline Blanchet: I: @paulyblanchet T: @BlanchetPauline

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