THEMATIC GROUPS
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- Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS
- Category: Public Spaces and Urban Cultures
CALL FOR PAPERS
THE ASSOCIATION of EUROPEAN SCHOOLS of PLANNING (AESOP)
Annual Conference 11-15 July 2012 /
Special Session AESOP Thematic Group Public Spaces and Urban Cultures
(Under Conference Track / 9: Heritage, Urban Cultures, Urban Design) Working Theme: “Conviviality”
Abstract submission deadline: 15 January 2012
About working Theme Conviviality: A definition
Conviviality is a term which originates from the latin “convivium”, where it used to mean “live with”, and as such meaning sharing a living space, in which meal used to have an important role for the cohesion of the community. The term means also “banquet”, usually hosted as a celebration of a community event. In more recent times, the term has also been to refer to meal sharing, dinner parties, or other jovial and merry moments among friends or community of interest.
Convivial moments have been termed either local festivals/markets with social purposes (i.e. fundraising for local charitable programmes, such as the Milanese Convivio), or simple grass-roots initiatives organised in the streets (for example: The Big Lunch, Breakfast in the street).
A challenge
The topic of conviviality has recently seen a growing interest among urban scholars. Not only conviviality as a spontaneous social activity is in danger, in the recent popularity of privatised spaces, but it tend to be substituted by forms of regulation of urban spaces which lead to exclusion of social groups (for example the banning of drinking in parks outside very expensive café’ premises, in Italy), the enforcement of health and Safety regulation, interpreted in very instrumental way, to reduce spontaneous community gathering larger than a family (for example in UK), or the wide privatisation of streets and squares and their embedding into shopping centres, which introduce new forms of ownership, and reduce the tolerated non-consumption activities.
Nonetheless, we can also observe a raising number of spontaneous forms of re-appropriation of public spaces around convivial activities, such as food growing, food sharing, and food selling. Guerrilla gardeners, spontaneous ethnic gathering for food cooking and selling, or communities gathering around food markets are becoming more frequent, and a wide range of convivial practices are becoming part of the everyday life on the street.
Research questions
We are interested in:
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Knowing what convivial practices are emerging in your city. Who organise them? Where? Which resources mobilise? How are the local authorities or competing groups reacting to this? We are in particular interested in agency-structure dynamics.
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What is “conviviality” in these projects? What social meanings are embedded in these practices? What forms of sharing? Are these site –specific, therefore built around a specific public space, or type of space, or are them relatively mobile?
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How can a reflection on research and practice (in planning, architecture, cultural studies, and critical geography) add new insight into the trajectories of these convivial projects?
About abstract submission
The abstract submission for this thematic group special session will be via AESOP Conference website (https://www.arber.com.tr/aesop2012.org/index.php/page,57,call_for_papers) following the official procedure of the conference organization. The abstracts should be submitted for Track 9: Heritage, Urban Cultures, and Urban Design with a short notice on the text “Thematic Group Public Space and Urban Cultures / Special Session” which indicates your interest to present your work in this session. These abstracts will be judged as all other abstracts of the track by track co-chairs.
Important note: Participants who are not member of the Thematic Group are very welcome to submit an abstract to present their work in this session.
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- Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS
- Category: Public Spaces and Urban Cultures
HUMAN CITIES II: Reclaiming public space
Workshop in LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, 26/27th May 2011
Hosted by Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, Trnovski pristan 2, 1000 Ljubljana
Introduction:
The project Human Cities II: Reclaiming public space aims to highlight the values of public spaces in European cities and an understanding of different approaches that contribute to innovative and effective provision of public space in cities. It focuses on the users of public spaces in cities and examines how they experience, interpret and consequently use spaces. Special attention is given to urban equipment, in particular its role in (not) encouraging the activities in public spaces. Public spaces are not understood only as a physical form, but also as a social network to be established between users. Partners involved in the project are coming from Brussels (La Cambre, ProMateria), Milano (Politecnico di Milano), Saint‐Etienne (Cité de design) and Ljubljana (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia – UIRS).
For more information please visit http://www.humancities.eu.
The project and event is funded with the support from the European Commission – Programme Culture 2007‐
2013, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.
Intention & structure of the workshop:
Since the project is merging both players from practice and academia, it seems important to promote the approaches from both spheres to complement each other. The workshop focuses on the presentations of Slovenian initiatives that enhance the process of reclaiming the public space with their innovative activities as well as on the scientific approaches in the field of urban design. Therefore the local initiatives were invited to represent themselves in one of Ljubljana parks during the workshop. To highlight the scientific approaches to public space the members of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP – Thematic Group “Public Spaces and Urban Cultures) were invited to participate to the meeting as guests to the workshop.
Two‐day workshop is structured into three sections. Thursday morning is devoted to regular project review and prospective activities. Thursday afternoon is devoted to open‐air presentations of local initiatives from Slovenia and to a public debate related to the role of such initiatives in reclaiming public spaces. Friday is reserved for a study tour of all the partners and invited guests to Slovenian Carst and Coast, where the examples of public spaces will be presented.
The official language of the workshop is English.
Contacts of Human Cities UIRS team:
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Project leader: Barbara Goličnik Marušić / barbara.golicnik‐
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Biba Tominc /
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; Matej Nikšič /This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; Nina Goršič /This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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- Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS
- Category: Public Spaces and Urban Cultures
AESOP Thematic Group “Public Spaces and Urban Cultures”, Annual Meeting 11/2011
Local Coordinator: Gabriella Esposito De Vita, Thematic Group Coordinator: Nikolai Roskamm HostingInstitution: IRAT-CNR (National Research Council of Italy), Via Schipa 91, I-80122, Naples
Topic: Conviviality in Public Places: planning for Security and Multiculturalism
The contemporary city is affected by a profound crisis due to the loss of traditional social networks (with no alternatives), the loss of cultural identities (with no multicultural identities), the loss of a shared way of living spaces and places of the city (with no places for interactions and integrations), the loss of the sense of security (with no any management) - in sum, the loss of the city effect. Public places and spaces are the mirror of this scenario: places of public life are changing images, forms, functions, symbols and perceptions, following new trends superimposed by globalization phenomena. The privatization and commercialization of public and quasi-public places in affluent or well-connected areas of the city, on one hand, and the decay and abandonment of public places in deprived areas, on the other hand, are both causes and effect of the social transformations. The recent economic crash, transformation of the job- market, as well as dynamics and quantities of migratory flows are all strictly related to the tendency to live in gated communities and privatized public places dedicated to a forced conviviality. The idea of convivium could be the umbrella concept for surveying, interpreting, assessing, designing, managing public spaces as places of multicultural identity, security and security perception, democracy and discussions, ethic and aesthetic and human development. The conference – presenting different points of view: architecture, urban planning, anthropology, urban sociology, etc. – will be the place where research, education, marketing, production and politics can meet, improving sense of citizenship.
The specific area of Naples presents interesting aspects of organization, form and functions of public spaces: a historical center crowded and deprived peripheries affected by macro-criminality and the decay of streets, squares and parks. The Meeting could meet the demand of institutions, scholars and citizens for public spaces for building communities, improving security and reinterpreting identity.
Key actors: CNR, key universities of Naples, local governments, charitable associations, stakeholders from the diverse economic sectors and professional associations.
Schedule
Venue: Villa Doria d’Angri – University of Naples Parthenope, Duration: 10th-12th November 2011
10th Arrival
18.00 welcome briefing 20.00 Come together
11th Meeting
Open Meeting
9.00 Welcome coffee
9.30 Opening session (one representative of the local institution and one representative of the TG) 10.30 Thematic session with invited scholars and local stakeholders (position papers on the Naples experiences and case studies on conviviality)
13.00 Mediterranean Lunch
Internal Meeting
14.00 Discussion/Presentations by the members of the TG (position papers on the different aspects of the theme of conviviality)
16.00 Discussion about the coming events of the Thematic Group and projects
21.00 Social event
12th Meeting/Excursion
10.00 Site visits and lunch (Positano or other coastal area)
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- Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS
- Category: Planning and Complexity
Abstract submission deadline was extended until 13th February 2011
Address
Yildiz Technical University Faculty of Architecture
Department of City and Regional Planning
Phone: 00 90 212 383 26 45 E-mail:
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- Parent Category: THEMATIC GROUPS
- Category: Public Spaces and Urban Cultures
INVITATION THEMATIC GROUP LAUNCHING EVENT, AESOP HELSINKI CONFERENCE, FINLAND
Date: Thursday 8th July, 5.30-7pm.
Place: Track10_SCCRP-T10, Room 22.
The newly established AESOP thematic group on Public Spaces and Urban Cultures is inviting you to the launching event to be held during the AESOP Annual Conference in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2010. Public spaces as arenas of social interaction are one of the vital elements of city’s public life as they play a significant role to bring together different groups of people from different cultural backgrounds regardless to aspects of class, ethnic origin, gender and age. Public spaces, however, are under the pressure of globalization, privatization at the macrolevel and of city image and marketing strategies as well as other private sector inspired regeneration strategies at the microlevel. During the phase of postfordist transitions, especially cultural approaches within the planning community have characterized debates on how to deal with this manifest pressures on public spaces. With rising rhythms of development. the degree of conflicts and fragmentation in public spaces – taken from a descriptive perspective – is changing. From a normative perspective, the role of public spaces as places for integration and democracy is, therefore, challenged and contested.
The new AESOP Thematic Group on Public Spaces and Urban Cultures aims at an improved understanding of the relational nature of public spaces by using different concepts of urban culture as analytical perspectives. Thereby, debates shall be stimulated that relate to three main strands of investigation:
- Issues of artistic and intellectual practices and urban planning;
- Emerging urban cultures and socio-spatial practices in public spaces and
- Postdisciplinary academic education regarding urban cultures and public spaces
Everybody welcome
Please feel warmly invited to join us!
Coordinators:
Ali Madanipour (Professor of Urban Design, Newcastle University)
Ceren Sezer (TU Delft)
Sabine Knierbein (SKuOR, TU Vienna)
Chiara Tornaghi (University of Leeds)
