UPE11 - "Steering Urban Transformation. A debate on directions, orientations, strategies and policies to shape (our) next cities"

La Plata, Argentina
CALL FOR PAPERS CLOSED
IUPEA | International Urban Planning and Environment Association
IIPAC | Instituto de Investigaciones y Politicas del Ambiente Construido
FAU | Faculdad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo
UNLP | Universidad Nacional de La Plata

The International Urban Planning and Environment Association – IUPEA- organized and led International Symposiums since 1994 in different cities. UPE 11 is the eleventh Symposium that will be held and the first to take place in Latin America. The venue that was chosen is the city of La Plata.

La Plata, Argentina




THE THEME
Discussions about cities are increasingly becoming a central issue globally. In recent years, widespread consensus have been achieved on some of the key attributes that should characterize our cities: protection of ecosystems, biodiversity, water; driven by low carbon energy matrices and increasing reliance on renewable energies; economies that aim to meet human needs instead of over-consuming (or even exhausting) natural resources; compact and polycentric territorial models and continuous, non-fragmented urban morphologies with increased efficiency in terms of land uses and distance management, etc. But these agreements and consensus are controversial, as those attributes often assume different meanings: ‘sustainability', ‘urban development', ‘environmental quality', ‘resilience' of cities, ‘appropriate technologies' or ‘social accessibility' do not mean the same for all those who propose or advocate these concepts. Occasionally, proliferations of sectorial programs and projects with high visibility and communicational impact may disguise the fact that the policies contained in them are often disjointed, which in turn reflects the fragmentation of institutional visions and representations of the city. The role of urban planning in reducing vulnerability or in building sustainable cities is not always clear or obvious and - too often - is barely visible to the population at large or even to government agencies themselves. 
IUPEA's 11th Symposium in La Plata aims to focus precisely upon these decision-making and political processes that steer the many different transitions that will define (give its form, contents and purpose to) the socio-territorial liveability and equity of our next cities.

SPECIFIC THEMES
1. Dilemmas of socio-territorial development and urban-regional planning facing sustainability challenges;
2. Urban form and structure: organizing territories, guiding growth patterns;
3. Changing perceptions and approaches to the “Right to the City” ;
4. Building the new socio-environmental agendas. Steering, guiding and managing urban transitions and transformations.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 
• Spanish, Portuguese and English will serve as official Symposium languages, and UPE11 will include researchers, public officials, planners, educators and representatives of civil society organizations involved in dealing with urban growth and environmental planning in a variety of socio-political and cultural settings.
• For guidelines, registration fees, and other information, please visit www.UPE11.org
• Please send abstracts to expo@upe11.org.
• UPE11 is hosted by the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. 

IMPORTANT DATES
• March 21, 2014 | Abstract submission Deadline
• April 14, 2014 | Abstracts approval
• May 30, 2014 | Early registration fee
• July 28, 2014 | Full paper / presentation submission
• September 16, 2014 | UPE 11 opens