Monday, January 13, 2014

CfP: Artists and the challenges of contemporary urban development

International Geographical Union Regional Conference in Kraków, Poland, 18-22 August 2014 
Thematic session: 
Artists and the challenges of contemporary urban development
[The deadline for abstract submission is January 15, 2014] 

Chairpersons: 
Jarosław Działek – Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, jarek.dzialek@uj.edu.pl
Monika Murzyn-Kupisz – Krakow University of Economics, UNESCO Chair for Heritage and Urban Studies, murzynm@uek.krakow.pl 

Confirmed speakers:
Tatiana Debroux (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium): Pioneers or tools? Artists and urban redevelopment in Brussels
Niamh Moore-Cherry (University College Dublin, Ireland): Beyond art in meanwhile spaces: the role of creatives in urban citizenship and sustainability 

Session outline: 
As an ambiguous yet specific professional group, artists are often mentioned in the contemporary debate on the inspirations and causes of urban transformations (Zukin, 1989; Landry, 2000; Montgomery, 2003; Markusen, Gadwa, 2010). On the other hand, since the publication of Florida’s (2002) influential but also controversial thesis (Peck, 2005; Hansen et al., 2009; Krätke, 2010), artists have been relatively rarely singled out in the discussions on the creative class, its spatial choices and impact on urban development (Markusen, 2006; Young, Borén, 2012). 
Similarly, although representatives of artistic professions are readily included in the discussions on cultural quarters, gentrification and urban regeneration (Zukin 1989; Ley, 2003, 2010; Cameron, Coafee, 2005; Clerval, 2008; Vivant, 2009; Makagon, 2010; Roodhouse, 2010), studies including references to them most often focus on the outcome of their spatial choices and observed processes or implementation of particular policy measures and not on the motivations and patterns of artists’ choices as such (Drake, 2003; Lloyd, 2004; Markusen, 2006; Bennett, 2010; Hracks, 2010; Young, Borén, 2012). In addition, the inter-urban rather than intra-urban perspective has so far tended to dominate the discourse, while most concepts developed and case studies pertained to few major cities in selected Anglo-Saxon countries (Dellbrügge, de Moll, 2005; Hansen et al. 2009; Debroux, 2009; Musterd, Murie, 2010; Stryjakiewicz, Męczyński, 2010). 
Moreover, artists are often by definition attributed the positive role of agents or catalysts of urban change, while their role in urban transformations may also be ambiguous and controversial (Cameron, Coafee, 2005; Hracs, 2007, 2009; Clerval, 2008; Zukin, Braslow, 2011; Harris, 2012; Ryberg et al., 2012; Gornostaeva, Campbell, 2012). 
There is thus still a need to precisely and critically theorise and assess the role of artists in urban transformations, especially taking a broader perspective including different cultural, geographic and spatial contexts (Young, Borén, 2012; Silver, Miller, 2012). As follows, the aim of the session is to contribute to and further the discussion on the presence of artists in contemporary cities by focusing on the multidimensionality of their potential and actually observed impacts on urban space, form and function as well as economic, social and cultural milieu. Departing from the viewpoint that a more nuanced geography of artists is still needed to fully conceptualise and visualise the diversity of roles artists play in urban transformations, we invite paper proposals which: 
1. distinguish artists as a unique group within the creative class; 
2. show different geographic contexts in which artists function and undertake decisions with respect to places of residence, creative activity and leisure; 
3. present a diversity of artists’ impacts on the contemporary urban centres. 

The session’s academic discussion will also by carried ‘outdoors’ as following the session all speakers (as well as other session participants within a set limit of persons) will be invited by the convenors to a short study tour of selected artistic quarters in Krakow. 
If you are interested in submitting a paper (oral or poster presentation) to this session,
please follow the instructions on the IGU 2014 website: www.igu2014.org
More information about IGU 2014 Regional Conference in Kraków: 

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