Something promising ..CfP: Lisbon Street Art & Urban Creativity International Conference

The Lisbon Street Art & Urban Creativity International Conference will unite the interests of anthropologists, art historians, architects, urban planners, designers, artists and institutions as well as a wide diversity of visual arts and cultural studies researchers.If you would like to submit a paper, please e-mail to conference.urbancreativity@gmail.com, providing an abstract for a 20 minute presentation; in the subject line indicate for which session you are submitting an abstract. 

Abstracts are to be of no more than 300 words, and to include your name, institutional affiliation (if any) and a short biographic note. All abstracts will be submitted to blind-peer review.

See author guidelines for more information regarding the preparation of your abstract and full paper. Deadline for submissions: 15th February 2014

For queries concerning the conference, contact: Conference Organisation, Pedro Soares Neves and Daniela V. de Freitas Simões:

info@urbancreativity.org 

http://www.urbancreativity.org/

CfP: Eastern European art history

East European art history enjoys a surge of research interest, but at the same time still represents a marginal area within art historical research. Accordingly, there are only few suitable platforms to discuss issues focusing on this subject area. With the forum for doctoral candidates, which from 2014 on will take place annually, we intend to establish such a platform offering doctoral candidates studying Eastern European art history, visual history or architectural history (or a neighboring discipline) the opportunity to address conceptual, methodical and practical problems, to socialize, and to synergize their competences.

Doctoral candidates dealing with a topic in East European art history (or a neighboring discipline) are cordially invited. If you are interested in taking part in the event, please send us an exposé outlining the issue as well as possibly the sources and methodology of your dissertation project. Dependent on the thematic focuses resulting from the exposés submitted we will select 8 to 10 contributions for twenty-minute presentations. The other participants will have the opportunity to introduce themselves and their topics (5 minutes). In addition, printed copies of all exposés will be provided. Important to us is to have plenty of time for discussing and exchanging ideas. Languages are German and English.

Please submit your exposé of ca. 4000 characters (including blanks) and some personal information as well as contact details by January 30, 2014 to:

Prof. Dr. Michaela Marek (michaela.marek@culture.hu-berlin.de)

Katja Bernhardt, M.A. (katja.bernhardt@culture.hu-berlin.de)

The forum is organized by the Chair of Art History of Eastern and East Central Europe, Humboldt University Berlin and will take place on May 9, 2014. On request, contributors will be granted a travel allowance. Other participants are requested to bear their travel and accommodation costs.

Summer Institute in Urban Studies

Summer 2014 marks the first Summer Institute in Urban Studies. It will take place at the University of Manchester over the week 29 June to 4 July.

Open to just 25 doctoral students (usually post-fieldwork), postdoctoral researchers, and recently appointed faculty/lecturers (normally within three years of first continuous appointment), the Institute comprises an intensive, week-long program of activities.

It is designed to provide participants with an in-depth understanding of the innovatory developments and enduring controversies in urban studies, as well as mentoring and support in the different aspects of the academic labour process, from applying for grants to designing courses, from editing books and special issues of journals to writing book proposals, and from publishing in journals to working at the academic/non-academic interface. It consists of panels, lectures, reading groups, with participants involved in shaping the final programme.

More details can be found at: http://www.cities.manchester.ac.uk/events/summer-institute-2014/ OR contact Kevin Ward (kevin.ward@manchester.ac.uk)

CfA: PhD fellowships "Urban Reconfigurations in post-Soviet space"

The Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig kindly invites applications from highly qualified and motivated individuals for 2 PhD fellowships to commence as soon as possible. 

The IfL is a non-university research institute and member of the Leibniz  Association with currently around 70 employees.  It is institutionally financed by the Free State of Saxony and the Federal  Republic of Germany in the context of a common research funding agreement. 

The fellowships include 

● a monthly stipend of 1400,00 € granted for six months plus financial support  for conferences and field research, 

● access to the academic service infrastructure of the IfL (e.g., the Central  Geographical Library; The Archive for Geography; cartographic and IT services, scientific seminars), 

● individual support in terms of exchange and discussions within the international research network of ira.urban and 

● flexible working arrangements in Leipzig. 

The fellowships will be financed within the framework of the international  comparative research project “Urban reconfigurations in post-Soviet space” (ira.urban). They aim at analyzing and explaining continuities and discontinuities in the reconfiguration of urban spaces in the light of traditional, reproduced Soviet and newly formed post-Soviet conditions as well as of changing global economic and social orders. On basis of transnationally comparative case study research,  the project focuses on the question to what extent urban development has become  part of a socially negotiated adjustment processes, and a mirror of a comprehensive modernisation process of urban societies in the republics of the former Soviet Union. 

The fellowships will be offered to researchers working in one of the following fields: 

Research field (1): 

Structural change of post-Soviet city regions: Comparative research on socio-economic dynamics and interregional linkages (subject: ira.urban_typologies). The awardee addresses in his PhD thesis the aforementioned topic (1), and deploys it empir-ically and methodologically for a single or multiple regional case studies in the post-Soviet space. In the context of the ira.urban project he contributes to the organization and analysis of an international database which comprises statistical indicators as well as further materials about the socio-demographic and economic developments of post-Soviet city regions. The database, including its visual compilation in terms of maps, represents the starting point for comparative, quantitative analysis as well as qualitative multiple case studies. Against this backdrop, the successful candidate will be in an advanced stage of his/her PhD project and show relevant experiences and skills in quantitative, structural analysis, cartographic methods as well as in urban research in post-Soviet space.
Research field (2): 

Peripheries of post-Soviet city-regions: Trends, Factors and Actors of the Post-industrial Transformation (subject: ira.urban_peripheries). The awardee addresses in his PhD thesis the aforementioned topic (2), and deploys it empirically and theoretically for a single or multiple case studies in the post-Soviet space, except the city regions of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The candidate analyses the contexts, processes and socio- and/or economic effects of the suburban transformations within the city region(s) under study from an actor-focused perspective. Thus, the successful candidate will be in an advanced stage of his/her PhD project, have gained relevant skills in social research methods as well as experiences in comparative urban research in post-Soviet space and/or have elaborated concepts for researching the aforementioned topic (2). 

Furthermore, we expect of both candidates geographic flexibility, fluency in English and in at least one language of the post-Soviet space, as well as working knowledge in Office software. The positions require hard working individuals with analytical strengths, communication skills, self-initiative and a strong team spirit. Please submit your complete application package in English or German as one pdf-file by e-mail to personal@ifl-leipzig.de. 

The deadline for applications is January 20th 2014. 

Please enclose the following documents: 

o CV 

o letter of motivation/ statement of purpose, including a short display of the links between your PhD project and ira.urban (2 pages max.) 

o exposé of your PhD project, including your time table and work progress ( 5 pages max, excluding sources) 

o list of your publications and presentations 

o Certificates, references etc. 

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Isolde Brade (I_Brade@ifl-leipzig.de) or Dr. Carola Neugebauer (C_Neugebauer@ifl-leipzig.de). We are looking forward to your application!

For further Information about the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography: www.ifl-leipzig.de. For further Information about the Leibniz foundation: www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de

New book by Ben Campkin - Remaking London: Decline and Regeneration in Urban Culture

Between the slum clearances of the early twentieth century and debates about the post-Olympic city, the drive to ‘regenerate’ London has intensified. Yet today, with a focus on increasing land values, regeneration schemes purporting to foster diverse and creative new neighbourhoods typically displace precisely the qualities, activities and communities they claim to support. In Remaking London Ben Campkin provides a lucid and stimulating historical account of urban regeneration, exploring how decline and renewal have been imagined and realised at different scales. Focussing on present-day regeneration areas that have been key to the capital’s modern identity, Campkin explores how these places have been stigmatised through identification with material degradation, and spatial and social disorder. Drawing on diverse sources – including journalism, photography, cinema, theatre, architectural design, advertising and television – he illuminates how ideas of decline drive urban change.