Globalization and Urban Studies: How to study the metropolis in transition?

/ Termine

Globalization and Urban Studies: How to study the metropolis in transition?

Veranstalter
Institute for Urban and Regional Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences & International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK)
Veranstaltungsort
International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK), Reichsratsstrasse 17, 1010 Vienna
Ort
Wien
Land
Austria
Vom - Bis
24.10.2002 - 25.10.2002
Deadline
30.05.2002
Website
www.ifk.ac.at
Von
Lutz Musner, Christof Parnreiter

Call for Papers
"Globalization and Urban Studies: How to study the metropolis in transition?"
International Workshop, Vienna, October 24-25, 2002

Institute for Urban and Regional Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences
International Research Center for Cultural Studies
in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, the Department of Geography and Regional Research (University of Vienna) and the City of Vienna (MA 18)

The purpose of the international workshop “Globalization and Urban Studies: How to study the metropolis in transition?” is to discuss and to develop innovative research practices in transdisciplinary “urban studies”, which emerge from analysis dealing with the globalization of cities. We encourage the discussion of both research problems and methodological issues; papers to be presented could and should therefore be “work in progress”.

To promote the work of younger scholars, some of the invited international experts will not deliver a paper on their own (see preliminary program). Rather, they will comment on papers presented by young researchers living in Austria. The Institute for Urban and Regional Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences as well as the International Research Center for Cultural Studies therefore explicitly invite young scholars (“Magister” or recent Ph.D.) to present papers at the workshop.

Papers have to deal with theoretical and/or methodological issues arising from the study of cities and their transformation in an era of globalization. More precisely, papers should tackle one of the following problems:

•) Analyzing the changing relation between politics, culture and economy in urban spaces (instead of conducting additive research on each of the named areas).
•) Situating the analysis of relations between politics, culture and economy in urban spaces on different spatial scales. That implies, on the one hand, locating the global in the local and interpreting the local as global. On the other hand, perception and interpretation of “Spaces of Flows” and their different scales is shaped by specific cultural settings.
•) Overcoming the common split into different so-called disciplines (such as geography, sociology, cultural studies or anthropology). Different theoretical and methodological approaches should be brought together in order to recognize the complexity of ongoing urban changes.

Interested persons are invited to deliver an abstract of their paper by May, 15th 2002. The abstract has to be in English and should not exceed two pages. Submission of papers per email only. A jury made up by researchers of the institutes in charge will select six papers, to be presented in two different sections: (1) The Urban Imaginary of Global Cities (2) The Political Economy of Global Cities. Costs of accommodation for the presenters will be covered (two nights each).

Abstracts should be submitted to:
Lutz Musner: musner@ifk.ac.at
IFK, Reichsratsstraße 17, 1010 Vienna
Christof Parnreiter: Christof.Parnreiter@oeaw.ac.at
ISR, Postgasse 7/4/2, 1010 Vienna

Scope

Metropolises play a crucial role in processes of globalization. Transnational corporations and banks are headquartered in the so-called global cities, and stock markets as well as advanced producer services firms are located there. In a similar vein, cultural globalization is both seen and produced in the big cities. Information is produced and interpreted mainly in global cities, and fashion and taste are shaped there. In addition, mass immigration from all over the world changes characters, languages and identities in metropolises.

The transition of the metropolis caused by globalization processes challenges some well established theoretical and methodological approaches in urban studies. Cities are no longer closed entities, nor are they simple containers of economic processes. Metropolises develop in overlapping and competing dynamics and flows, which are located on different spatial scales (local, national, regional, global). These dynamics and flows on different scales can neither be captured by data commonly used (because they are state-centric and / or static) nor by the concept of the “city as text”, which is popular in cultural studies (because it neglects material conditions of urban development).

The main purpose of the workshop “Globalization and Urban Studies: How to study the metropolis in transition?” is to put innovative research practices on the agenda. The basic aim is to discuss and develop innovative research practices that apply an integrated perspective, which overcomes the dichotomies of “political economy” vs. “cultural studies”, of “global” vs. “local”, and of “sociology” vs. “anthropology”.

International and national experts (see program) as well as students (see Call for Papers) are invited to present their work, which should focus on theoretical approaches and / or methodological tools. We encourage the discussion of both open questions and doubts. Papers to be discussed could and should be “work in progress"; the meeting should be an authentic work-shop. To promote the work of younger scholars, some of the invited experts will not present a paper on their own. Rather, they will comment on papers delivered by young researchers living in Austria.

Programm

24th October 2002: The Urban Imaginary of Global Cities
Chair: Rolf Lindner, Department of European Ethnology, Humboldt University at Berlin

Focus:
Theoretical writings on global cities clearly privilege economic explanations which largely disregard concrete places and the specificity of local populations. The reduction of concrete spatial circumstances to mere carriers of economical and political “command centers” demonstrates the hegemonic concept of urban space as an a priori given “container”. But for better or worse, cities are not neutral “containers”, which can be arbitrarily filled, but rather historically saturated, culturally coded and already loaded up with meaning and mental images. Urban spaces are lived and experienced by way of accompanying meanings, pictures, and symbols. This is what is meant by the concept of urban imaginary, which will the focus of the first workshop day.

Proposed international participants:
James Donald, Curtin University of Technology, “Imagining the Modern Metropolis”
Sergio Tamayo, UAM, Mexico City, “Global Cities and Everyday Life – The Case of Mexico City”
Kathrin Wildner, University of Hamburg, “Local Sites of globalization – Transformation, everyday practice and imaginary of urban space in Mexico City”
Alan Blum, University of Toronto, “The Imaginative Structure of the City”

25th October 2002: The Political Economy of Global Cities
Chair: Karin Fischer, Institute for Urban and Regional Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences

Focus:
Global Cities are places where globalization is produced. This implies very specific economic activities, which differ markedly from the ones that characterized the “Fordist” metropolis. Thus, the making of Global Cities is accompanied by the transformation of relations between capital, labor, and space. Old social and spatial inequalities are deepened, new ones emerge. The Global City is therefore a multi-fragmented rather than a polarized “dual” city.

Proposed international participants:
Lourdes Beneria, Cornell University, “Globalization and the Informalization of the Labor Market”
Pablo Ciccolella, University of Buenos Aires, “Shopping Malls and Spatial Segregation”
Bryan Roberts, University of Texas at Austin, “Globalization and Latin American Cities”
Rick Tardanico, Florida International University, “Grasping the New Dynamics of Social Inequality in the Latin American City”
Peter Taylor, Loughborough University, “Generating Data for Global City Research”

Kontakt

Lutz Musner
IFK
Reichsratsstraße 17
1010 Vienna
musner@ifk.ac.at

www.ifk.ac.at