Everyday Life in the Segmented City
Florence Conference, July 22-25, 2010
For the first time in human history, a majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and by 2050 more than 2/3 will live in metropolitan regions across the globe. At the same moment metropolitan regions confront unprecedented economic, social, and political challenges, the meanings of everyday life are put into question because of the changing structure and interdependence of urban economies. North American cities register the largest number of foreign-born persons in their history, while cities in Europe confront issues of social integration with emergent minority populations in the suburbs and inner city neighborhoods. The rapidly growing urban regions in China and India confront the continuing pressures of rural to urban migration that will produce the largest urban populations in human history. While the focus on the global city often emphasizes similarities in the development of metropolitan regions and neo-liberal regimes, we are interested in better understanding how individuals and groups respond to and create dynamic change in everyday life within the ever changing urban environment.
We invite contributions for a conference on everyday life in the segmented city to be held in Florence this July 22-25, 2010. The presentations will be grouped into the following subject areas:
Cinematic urbanism: Images and representation of the segmented city; emergent symbolic economics of consumption and production; tourism and visual consumption of the city.
Governance and planning: Multicultural cities and ethnic spaces; strategies to govern the multicultural city; citizenship and participation in the segmented city.
Suburbanization and the post-urban city: Suburban growth and urban sprawl; revolt of the banlieues; social exclusion in the inner suburbs; urbanity and urbanism in the suburban fringe
Appropriations of urban space: Emerging patterns of social exclusion and personal security; privatization and surveillance of urban space; reclaiming public space
The right to the city: Migration and immigration in the 21st century metropolis; social participation in the segmented city; contested urban spaces.
We invite submissions for papers on these and related topics. Please send abstract of your paper or presentation by March 15, 2010 to the address listed below.
Papers on cinematic urbanism: Dr. Lorenzo Tripodi, Berlin (lorenzo.tripodi@googlemail.com)
Papers on governance and planning: Dr. Camilla Perrone, Università degli Studi di Firenze (camilla.perrone@unifi.it)
Papers on Suburbanization and the post-urban city: Dr. Gabriele Manella, Università degli Studi di Bologna (Gabriele.manella@unibo.it)
Papers on appropriations of urban space: Dr. Circe Monteiro, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brazil (monteiro.circe@gmail.com)
Papers on the right to the city: Dr. Milan Prodanovic, University of Novi Sad (ecourban@eunet.rs) or Dr. Ray Hutchison University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (hutchr@uwgb.edu).
Participants will be contacted with information concerning participation in the conference by March 15th, 2010. Completed papers will be required by May 30, 2010.
For other general inquiries concerning Everyday Life in the Segmented City, contact Ray Hutchison, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (hutchr@uwgb.edu)
Selected papers from the conference will appear in special edited volume titled Everyday Life in the Segmented City (a volume in the series Research in Urban Sociology, published by Emerald Press).
Discounted hotel accommodations in Florence will be available to participants in the conference. This conference is supported with funding from the Del Bianco Foundation in Florence.
More information concerning conference location and lodging may be found on the web at Everyday Life in the Segmented City. This will be updated with additional information concerning housing and other conference details as it becomes available.
