Call for papers
3rd International Workshop on Post-communist Urban Geographies:
17-19 September 2009, Tartu, Estonia
Dear colleagues,
Please find below call for papers for 3rd International Workshop on Post-communist Urban Geographies:
Actors Shaping Urban Change to be held 17-19 September 2009, Tartu, Estonia
The *3rd International Workshop on Post-communist Urban Geographies. Actors Shaping Urban Change* carries on the tradition established by two earlier workshops held in Lund (2005) and Stockholm-Tallinn (2007) with the aim (1) to draw together scholars interested in post-communist cities in order to discuss leading edge urban research in the region, and (2) to experience post-socialist urban change first hand through conference excursions. The previous workshops have been diverse both with regard to the topics presented and the geography of participants, drawing together about 50 young and established scholars in the field. The outcomes of past workshops have included the establishment of the *Cities After Transition* (CAT) network JISC-mailing list (with over 90 members across the globe), the CAT website, and special issues of leading international journals in the field (*Geografiska Annaler. Series B. Human Geography* 2007, 89(2), and *Urban Studies*, forthcoming).
*Call for papers*We call for papers in any field dealing with post-communist urban change, either empirical or theoretical in content. Both quantitative and qualitative research from population, political, cultural, economic geographic and other perspectives on such cities are warmly welcome. In addition to this open call for papers, the subtitle of the workshop focuses on the role of various local and/or global actors the state, people/households, enterprises, public/third sector in shaping post-communist urban areas. For example, the organizers encourage submission of papers on the topic of people in the city, focusing on issues such as everyday lives and socio-cultural groups in the city-space, patterns and causes of segregation and desegregation, and the role of mobility (daily mobility, residential change, internal and international in- and out-migration) in shaping the post-communist urban change.
Session *Social (f)actors shaping the change: attitudes towards heritage*
We accept the fact that society and its space are mutually constitutive. Surrounding environment influences our health and mood, makes us feel humble or festive, and more generally determines our well-being. Still, shaping the place is not only in the hands of city planners, architects, foreign investments, international conventions but lies also within the local community and its everyday activities. Campaigns for beautifying home districts are well know from soviet as well as post-socialist times, the shift has occurred in the direction of flows of ideas (top-down or bottom-up) - or has it? Impetus for each such activity must be first initiated or approved by local charismatic leader. Alternatively we have been witnessing the gradual rise of long yearned for citizen society, grass-root developments, and willingness to take on responsibility of changes in the neighbourhood. These areas are mainly built before socialist era; consequently the chosen path involves restoration, sustainability and communal eco-friendly way of life. Definitely there are mass-housing areas within post-socialist cities where local inhabitants are not satisfied with
their living and recreational conditions but are unable to change it. Which practices and which milieus are worthwhile to be preserved as heritage? Several soviet era practices are making comeback: fixing one’s car, having a garden plot, etc. What is causing this unequal development and spatial injustice; can we blame it on path-dependent town planning of the past or to the society of today? How do new ideas born and what is their social dynamic to be generally accepted, which actors (human or non-human) determine the course of social life and its improving projects that include heritage in post-socialist cities? Papers which take a theoretically-informed stance on societal change issues with focus on individual, group or community level perspectives deciding what is worthwhile to maintain and what should perish within post-socialist cities are most welcome.
Paper abstracts (max 250 words) to be submitted by: 1 May 2009
Please contact us through veuk@ut.ee
We encourage the submission of full papers by all participants since we would like to continue the tradition to publish the best contributions in the form of a special issue of a peer reviewed international journal.
Information on the workshop is available at: http://www.ut.ee/VEUK
With best wishes,
Anu.
Anu Printsmann
Centre for Landscape and Culture
Estonian Institute of Humanities
Tallinn University
Uus-Sadama 5
10120 Tallinn
Estonia
E-mail: anu.printsmann@tlu.ee
Phone: +372.6199 539
Fax: +372.6199 556
Mobile: +372.5347 1524