Christoph Brumann and Evelyn Schulz (Eds.), _Urban Spaces in Japan:
Cultural and Social Perspectives_, London: Routledge, 2012.
http://www.routledge.com/books/detail/9780415695459
This volume explores the workings of power, money and the public interest in the planning and design of Japanese space. Through a set of vivid case studies of well-known Japanese cities including Tokyo, Kobe, and Kyoto, this book examines the potential of civil society in contemporary planning debates. Further, it addresses the implications of Japan’s biggest social problem – the demographic decline – for Japanese cities, and demonstrates the serious challenges and exciting possibilities that result from the impending end of Japan’s urban growth.
Continue reading “BOOK Christoph Brumann and Evelyn Schulz (Eds.), Urban Spaces in Japan: Cultural and Social Perspectives, London: Routledge, 2012.”
PhD “Small Cities, Urban Environments and Governance in India”. Deadline: 30.6.2012
https://applicationsw.unil.ch/adminpub/?MIval=PoIntHome&TypelC=811&PoId=2633
Faculté des géosciences et de l’environnement
The Institute of Geography invites applications for a position of a
PhD Student
Entrée en fonction: 01.10.2012
Durée du contrat: One year, renewable once for 2 years (max. 3 years)
Taux d’activité: 100 %
Profil souhaité:
Master’s degree in geography, development studies or a related discipline or field
Research, work or volunteering experience in a developing-country context (preferably South Asia and India)
Familiarity with qualitative methods of data collection
Excellent analytical, research and writing skills
Ability to work effectively independently and in a team
Motivation and ability to carry out extended field research in urban India
Knowledge of an Indian language (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi) would be considered an asset
Eligible and willing to enter the geography PhD program at the University of Lausanne
Seeking to promote an equitable representation of men and women among its staff, the University encourages applications from women.
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SUMMERSCHOOL Interactive Moscow: spatial theories, practices, interventions. Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, Moscow. 4.-12.7.2012.
http://www.interactive-city.org/
From 4-12 July, “Interactive City” will hold a summer school at “Strelka” – Interactive Moscow: spatial theories, practices, interventions. The central theme of the school will be the study of specific urban issues and trends; its aim, the engagement of young researchers and practitioners, professionals and citizens into equal dialogue. Interactive Moscow: spatial theories, practices, interventions is not an attempt to simply refresh the city’s image, but to understand who is the source of change in the city and how and what lies behind the concept of “right to the city.”
The school is open to undergraduates in a wide variety of fields: architects and urbanists, planners and geographers, sociologists and cultural scientists, economists and anthropologists (as well as other areas).
“Interactive Moscow” – is an independent project organised by researchers and architects of University College London, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Vilnius), Higher School of Economics and Russian State University for the Humanities.
CONF Taking up Space – Postgrad Conference, Goldsmiths, University of London. 25-26.6.2012
TAKING UP SPACE POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE
Centre for Cultural Studies
Goldsmiths, University of London
http://takingupspace2012.blogspot.co.uk/
25-26 June, 2012
This is a one / two day conference exploring the meaning and understanding of space in its physical manifestations as well as in its discursive forms; through which identity, meaning, value and authority can be mapped in particular ways.
We cannot avoid space. It is inevitable. The ways in which we understand ourselves, others and the world around us implies some notion of space. Our sense of self and society is worked through and is contained in space: culture does not only take place, but also creates it “making symbolic use of its objects” (Lefebvre).
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WEBSITE The Culture of Suburbs
The Leverhulme Trust funded Cultures of the Suburbs International Research Network is pleased to announce the launch of its new website at
http://suburbs.exeter.ac.uk
The Network is a partnership between the Universities of Exeter and Kingston (UK), Witwatersrand (South Africa), Hofstra (USA), Griffith (Australia) and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. It aims to further the scholarly, professional and public understanding of the cultures of the modern (post-1900) suburbs through international and interdisciplinary research. Launched in 2011, the project’s interests are transhistorical, international and cross-disciplinary. The Network facilitates research, organises events and conferences and fosters collaboration between scholars, community groups, professionals and other interested parties.
The website is an important feature of the Network and hosts a wealth of online information about suburban cultural studies for scholars, professional groups and local communities.
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CfP, CONF Korea’s Place in the World: Now and Twenty Years Hence. British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS) University of London 17.11.2012 Deadline: 1.9.2012
KOREA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD: NOW AND TWENTY YEARS HENCE
British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS)
University of London
17 November, 2012
Deadline: 1 September, 2012
What is the future for the Korean peninsula, north and south, in the world of 2032? What are some major drivers of change that will create the Korea of 2032? What are possible scenarios for urbanisation and Korean cities?
How will an immersive digital environment affect Korean culture and economy? What will the grey shift mean for Korean society and infrastructure in 2032?
The British Association for Korean Studies will hold a Workshop at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, on 17 November 2012 on the topic of ‘Korea’s Place in the World: Now and Twenty Years Hence’. We invite paper presenters to turn their expertise to the future, particularly in the fields of urbanisation, demography, and the digital revolution, and consider Korea as a case study. We will favour proposals that address the impact of technology on society and social change, and papers from post-graduate students are particularly welcome. All full papers submitted will be considered for publication in the Papers
of the British Association for Korean Studies, after a peer review.
*Deadline for abstracts: 1 September 2012
Deadline for full papers: 1 November 2012 (for those with an intention
towards publication in BAKS Papers)
Contact for Workshop:
Dr. Owen Miller
SOAS, University of London
om4@soas.ac.uk / http://soas.ac.uk
CfA, JOURNAL Do it yourself (DIY) Urbanism. Special issue of _The Journal of Urbanism. Deadline: 1.11.2012
DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY) URBANISM
Special issue of _The Journal of Urbanism_
Guest Editor, Donovan Finn, PhD, Stony Brook University
Deadline: 1 November, 2012
A new attitude toward public space is emerging in cities across the globe. Though certainly not a new phenomenon, citizens are increasingly using urban space to advance political and social justice goals through protest, occupation, unsanctioned modification, and other means. Of particular relevance to planners, urban designers and local policymakers are the actions called, variously, do-it-yourself (DIY), tactical or guerilla urbanism. DIY activities engage the increasingly blurry distinctions between design and activism through which individual actors have become increasingly empowered to create and implement low cost interventions in public space aimed at solving fine-grained urban dilemmas. Though often illegal or at best unsanctioned, DIY interventions are increasingly lauded within certain activist segments of the planning, design and social justice communities as pragmatic and fiscally prudent approaches to addressing unmet needs of urban residents in the face of municipal fiscal crises, increasing privatization of public space and other recent trends.
DIY efforts offer a unique opportunity to celebrate citizen-based action and make urban spaces more vibrant, sustainable and user-friendly. But such unsanctioned interventions also raise important questions and issues for planners, designers and local governments as they seek to provide safe, equitable access to urban infrastructure, amenities and resources. Additionally, quasi-DIY tactics are sometimes co-opted by local governments, thus complicating their allure as forms of grassroots expression or dissent.
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CfP, CONF Rivers, Cities, Historical Interactions. LMU, Munich, Germany. 21.-23.2.2012. Deadline: 1.8.2012.
RIVERS, CITIES, HISTORICAL INTERACTIONS
Conference at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC),
LMU Munich, Germany
21– 23 February 2013
Deadline: 1 August, 2012
Conveners: Martin Knoll (Darmstadt Technical University), Uwe Lübken (RCC), Dieter Schott (Darmstadt Technical University)
What is the river’s place in urban history? The historical co-evolution of cities and rivers is a re- search topic that requires both an urban and an environmental perspective. Rivers have been essential to the foundation, growth, prosperity and development of many major cities around the world. At the same time, cities have considerably altered rivers and created their own hydraulic regimes. Rivers perform a variety of fundamental functions for the cities they touch, providing transport, en- ergy, food, drinking water, and a site for leisure. They are concurrently universal sinks for waste. Rivers protect cities, as well as link cities to each other, attracting traffic from far afield via natural fords or bridges. Whereas cities tried to control and manage their rivers for centuries, these attempts have never been fully successful due to the natural dynamics of rivers. Enormous variations in water discharge due to frequent floods could result in heavy damages to urban infrastructure and drinking water contamination by pathogens transported from riverine landscapes, which heavily affected urban populations.
Continue reading “CfP, CONF Rivers, Cities, Historical Interactions. LMU, Munich, Germany. 21.-23.2.2012. Deadline: 1.8.2012.”
CfP, CONF Sustainable Housing for the Urban Poor. Abuja, Nigeria. 20.-21.7.2013. Deadline: 17.8.2012.
SUSTAINABLE HOUSING FOR THE URBAN POOR
International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism
Sheraton Abuja Hotel
Abuja, Nigeria
July 20th-21st, 2013
Deadline: 17 August, 2012
There is tremendous pressure put on formal housing for the poor in cities, most especially in developing countries. This is mainly due to the great influx of people from rural areas in search of jobs and basic services such as schools, hospitals etc. In order to solve this mounting problem there needs to be an increase in discussions and proposals about linking sustainable architecture and construction with urban housing. Sustainable architecture and construction should transcend environmental design and embrace economic and social measures which will add value to quality of life of individuals and communities. The developed world has been able to drive the architectural and construction industries towards reducing global concerns with a range of policy initiatives and instruments. It is time for the developing world to join in the fight for the management of climate change.
The conference will bring together academics, architectural, building and policy professionals, state and local government officials and financial institutions working together to seek new housing models that will be affordable, healthy and inclusive as well as respectful of the environment and local cultures.
Continue reading “CfP, CONF Sustainable Housing for the Urban Poor. Abuja, Nigeria. 20.-21.7.2013. Deadline: 17.8.2012.”
WORKSHOP The Creativity of Property: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Reinvention of Ownership. UCL, London, UK. 26.6.2012
The Creativity of Property: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Reinvention of Ownership
One-day workshop on the 26th of June at UCL
Aleksi Knuutila, UCL Anthropology (a.knuutila.11@ucl.ac.uk)
David Jeevendrampillai, UCL Anthropology (david.jeevendrampillai.10@ucl.ac.uk)
Gabrielle Ackroyd, UCL Anthropology (gabrielle.ackroyd.10@ucl.ac.uk)
The workshop invites contributions on the topic of property and ownership in moments of change, i.e. the way concepts, institutions and structures of ownership are being negotiated and reinvented, how notions of ownership are being symbolically challenged and promoted, and how the constraints of property elicit creative responses. It will explore what it is, in our times, to possess or author something; on what grounds a place belongs to people or people to a place; what it takes to claim something or to make it common for everyone; and how people are creatively making something of their own out of the institutions of property. It explores the reasons and consequences behind the constitution of property, showing how it fabricates certain categories of persons, groups and objects, and assigns originality or origination.
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