Within the Limits of Scarcity:
\nRethinking Space, City and Practices<\/p>\n
27th February \u2013 1st March 2013
\nUniversity of Westminster, London<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.scibe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/cfp_phdconference_scibe.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n Keynote Speakers: Scarcity is often considered as a fundamental condition of human societies. On the one hand, the state of not having enough has been at the bottom of a variety of strategies and techniques to overcome it; on the other, it has served as an explanatory argument for social order, for distribution or for conflict. This conference seeks to investigate the processes through which scarcity is constructed in specific urban settings, shedding light on its setting, emergence and production in the built environment. Moreover, it seeks to understand how the challenges posed by this condition can shape alternative ways of investigating,\u00a0conceptualizing\u00a0and theorizing city and space so as to inform innovative strategies and challenge the existing normative practices.<\/p>\n Papers could aim to answer one or more of the following questions:<\/p>\n The conference aims to engage a selected group of PhD students in presentations and discussions as a peer-to-peer response, supplemented by keynote speakers and networking sessions. Submissions are encouraged from disciplines dealing with the built environment (such as Architecture, Planning, Geography, Development Studies and related disciplines) in various contexts and from different perspectives. It welcomes papers theorizing or framing the issue of scarcity as well as papers based on case-studies or research by\u00a0 art or design.<\/p>\n Selected papers will be published in the journal Places http:\/\/places.designobserver.com\/about.html<\/a>\u00a0 subject to peer review and editorial evaluation.<\/p>\n
\nPier Vittorio Aureli, Architectural Association \/ Berlage Institute
\nCamillo Boano, The Bartlett \u2013 DPU UCL
\nOle Bouman, Nederlands Architectuurinstituut
\nErik Swyngedouw, University of Manchester<\/p>\n
\nScarcity has accompanied the becoming of the urban condition. Repeatedly, (im-)material shortage has been at the core of the city\u2019s struggles. More recently, global economic uncertainty, widespread urban inequality and pressing environmental questions in both North and South, are posing acute challenges to all involved in producing the built environment. Within this scenario, different actors, from architects and other built environment professionals to local authorities and community based organisations, will be increasingly pressured to deploy strategies to work within or against the limits of scarcity.<\/p>\n\n