The Utopian Place

[i]Space, Places and Communities in the Contemporary City[/i] [i]Call for papers[/i] This seminar is part of the “Giovanni Ferraro: Space, Places and Communities in the Contemporary City” research project which, ten years after Giovanni Ferraro’s (1952-1999) death, wishes to commemorate his impassioned multi-disciplinary contributions to the field of urban studies: from economics to planning theory, from policy analysis to sociology, from the history of the city and urban planning to the history of ideas. Using Giovanni Ferraro’s work as a starting point the seminar aims to analyse the importance and relevance of the concepts of space, places and communities, especially where difficulties in describing and interpreting conditions in contemporary cities are concerned. The scientific committee, composed of Alessandro Balducci, Ada Becchi, Giovanni Caudo, Patrizia Gabellini, Luigi Mazza, Giorgio Piccinato and Luciano Vettoretto will select three papers, submitted by DPhil from all disciplines, covering the following three topics: Describing and re-“discovering” the contemporary city From the difficulties faced by urban planners in re-“discovering” the contemporary city arises the need to innovate observation and interpretation methods and techniques and experiment with narrative approaches rather than analytical ones, thus focusing on the relationships and processes that develop within a place. Submitted contributions will need to investigate the potential these approaches may have in satisfying the need for knowledge and action. Discontinuity and Memory A city’s memory is composed of multiple layers; these processes can be characterised by either fluid or erratic internal relationships. Up to know urban studies seem to have considered history as the objective presentation of past events. However, we would here like to see an analysis of the potential of said layering, as construed by people re-elaborating their cultural heritage today. Social heritage seems to come up once again as a research topic, one that takes on well-defined shapes within the contemporary city. Waste The contemporary city produces waste: leftovers of the modern city. Waste is “a multi faceted word,” writes Giovanni Ferraro, who describes process inputs and unnecessary losses, drawing on the concepts of limitedness and finiteness and raising the need for an ethical look at the contemporary city and its material, moral and intellectual resources. Submitted contributions will need to try and examine the meaning of waste and its potential within city transformation processes. Rules of Participation Participation is open to young researchers from all disciplines who have been awarded their PhD no later than the paper submission deadline. Interested candidates will have to send an abstract to [url=mailto:labic@uniroma3.it ]labic@uniroma3.it [/url] [b]by 2 March 2009[/b] The abstract will have to contain between 6,000 and 9,000 keystrokes (excluding bibliography and notes), make explicit reference to one of the three topics listed in the Call for Papers section and contain a well-reasoned proposed index for the paper. Candidates will also have to send a brief personal profile (maximum one page), which, in addition to personal details (including telephone number and email address) must contain a very short summary of qualifications and a more detailed description of areas of research they are involved in. With regards to abstract format please adopt the following settings: Page margins (top, bottom, side): 3cm. Font: Times New Roman. Title size and style: 12, bold. Size and style of author’s name: 11, italics. Text size and style: 11, normal, single spacing. Leave 10 blank lines between the heading (title and author) and the text. Notification that abstract has been accepted will be communicated to authors by 6 April 2009. The paper must be sent by 31 August 2009. Paper authors will be invited to lecture at the seminar planned for October 2009 and will take part in the final publication. Contact details: Giovanni Caudo [url=mailto:caudo@uniroma3.it]caudo@uniroma3.it [/url] Alice Sotgia [url=mailto:asotgia@uniroma3.it ]asotgia@uniroma3.it [/url]