Georg-Simmel Center for Urban Studies

GSZ-Newsletter May 2017

Conference: Touristified everyday life – mundane tourism: Current perspectives on urban tourism

Topics:***International Conference at the GSZ on May 11th and 12th***Technische Universität Darmstadt: Job vacancy as professor***TU Berlin: Hybrid Talks***CfP: Chinese Urbanities***Barcamp: “Turn your City!”***URG Urban Commons: Urban Mindfulness*** CfP: The Urban Transcripts Journal***


Conference: Touristified everyday life – mundane tourism: Current perspectives on urban tourism
The contemporary city is shaped by a variety of variables, parties and actors. Two key factors are the urban everyday and tourism, both traditionally treated as opposing in scientific research. However, this established distinction has been losing its explanatory power recently. Residential neighborhoods have become attractive for travelers who look for experiences off the beaten track. At the same time, people who are actually living in a city cannot be distinguished from the “real” tourist so easily anymore because they participate in touristic activities as well. For example when they take part in guided tours or visit the famous sightseeing spots of their city. Both cases have profound effects and far-reaching consequences for the urban fabric.

The international conference addresses this changing and complex entanglement of the city, the everyday, and tourism. It is particularly focusing on the shifting and melting of boundaries which cause established dichotomies such as  tourism/everyday, visitors/residents or work/leisure to become increasingly blurry. The conference is organized by the Urban Research Group ‘New Urban Tourism’ and will be held at the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies in Berlin on May 11th
and 12th, 2017.

On May 11th Prof. Dr. Jonas Larsen (Roskilde University, Denmark) will open the conference with a public lecture entitled “Tourism and the Everyday Practices”. This lecture is part of the KOSMOSdialog series, admission is free.


On the next day, May 12th, three panels will deal with different aspects of the relationship between the everyday and tourism in regard to urban development. The panel “The Extraordinary Mundane” examines different places, scenes and representations of the urban everyday. It explores their construction processes and their appeal for tourists and residents likewise. The rise of new urban tourism also requires a detailed analysis of related spaces and temporalities. In the panel
“Encounters & Contact Zones” contributions discuss moments and spaces where tourists and locals meet such as the urban night or around a flat rented out on Airbnb. The third panel “Urban (Tourism) Development” puts the political dimension of the described dynamics and developments in the focus of attention. It discusses their consequences for urban development, particularly its connection to gentrification, and its influence on tourism and urban policy making.


If you are interested in the conference you need to register until May 4th, 2017 (there are only a few seats left). An attendance fee of 40 € will be charged to cover the expenses for the event. For students, trainees, unemployed, and the handicapped there is a reduced fee of 20 €.

The full program of the conference as well as the registration form is available here:
https://newurbantourism.wordpress.com/konferenz/


Luise Stoltenberg für die 'URG New Urban Tourism'

 

Call

Technische Universität Darmstadt: Job vacancy as professor
Deadline: May 11th 2017
The successful candidate for the vacant position as a Professor (W2) of Sociology – General Sociology/Sociological Theory - will be expected to cover all areas of the discipline, especially in General Sociology and Sociological Theory. Preference will be given to candidates with a research or teaching orientation focusing on aspects of place and space in regard to relevant sociological topics. Participation in the research focus unit on Urban Research of the Institute and the Department is
desired.

 

Vortrag

TU Berlin: Hybrid Talks XXV »Designing Space«
May 11th 2017 | 6 pm
Spacial design is a key activity in art and technology and encompasses sketching, technical construction, planning, creative design, and the material realization. The forming space can be of physical or mathematical nature, can be social or cultural space or also a space full of possibilities. In this respect spacial design includes not only objects, cities, and landscapes, but also products, services, and interfaces. There are not only new technological tools, but also fundamentally new digital strategies in science, art and technology, which enlarge the possibilities of spacial design. Which new spaces are arising, how are they created and what are the future possibilities for design? Those questions will be discussed in short contributions, each lasting ten minutes, of five speakers.

 

Call

FU Berlin – Workshop: Chinese Urbanities – Relations between Space and Society
Deadline: May 5th 2017
When talking about urbanity, we need to engage in qualitative modes of description and analysis. Urbanization has to be understood not only as a reconfiguration of built space, but also as a farreaching change in its social fabric. Studies of China’s rapid urbanization during the last 30 years have often emphasized its impressive quantitative aspects. Yet, how can we understand shifts in the reciprocal relationship between urban space and urban society? This workshop will take place on September 29th and 30th 2017 and focuses on the reciprocal relationships between space and society in smaller and bigger Chinese cities since the beginning of the reform and opening policies of the late 1970s. Contributions from a broad range of disciplines are welcome.

 

Konferenz

Barcamp „Turn your city!“ in Hamburg
May 13th 2017
The network Lebenswerte Stadt e.V. / Changing Cities functions as a sponsoring association for the referendum bicycle in Berlin. This referendum has influenced the transport policy debate in the past 18 month and therefore enabled the planned mobility law. It is shown that social movements not only in the context of housing and rental policy, but also in the context of transport policy are able to trigger sustainable development processes within cities. The network Lebenswerte Stadt is
organizing a barcamp within this context under to the theme “Turn your city!” to get together active people from (transport) policy, the field of OpenData, and science. The matters under consideration are the methods and strategies of transport political agenda setting, knowledge transfer, and networking.

 

Vortrag

URG Urban Commons: Urban Body and Mind Sessions - Urban Mindfulness
May 20th and 21st 2017 | 3 pm
The city, with its places, streets, parks and other Commons, provides the space and possibility to meet other people and to interact. The meeting might be intimate or superficial, yet the space always offers the opportunity to stay a bit longer and observe what is going on. You may discover architectural or natural structures, as well as underlying social structures, patterns, and communities and perceive their communality and individuality. Mindfulness is an old Commons! The practice of
mindfulness can be a tool to focus on these discoveries as well as on your personal or shared associations, thoughts, and experiences. During a walk,organized by the Urban Research Group Urban Commons, in the tradition of mindfulness potentially overseen secrets are to be detected through your body, mind, and the city.

 

Call

Call for Submissions: The Urban Transcripts Journal
Deadline: May 8th 2017
The Urban Transcripts Journal is calling for submissions of work that explores the multiple facets of our urban world. A range of media is sought: Short Articles / Long Articles / Urban Design Projects and Proposals / Urban Interventions / Mapping and Urban Visualizations / Drawing / Photography / Short Film. The Journal was recently launched and is an online quarterly publication that aims to unravel the complexity of the City through a synergy of verbal and visual content. The core mission is to advance a multitude of knowledges of the City, formulated through creative media, research inquiry, urban design, and planning practice.