[URBANTH-L]CFP: Urban Spaces and Private Quarters

[Angela Jancius]

CFP: Urban Spaces and Private Quarters 
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Post-Graduate College "Technology and Society", Darmstadt
12.10.2005-14.10.2005, Technical University Darmstadt
Deadline: 15.05.2005

Call for Papers for the Panel:
Urban Spaces and Private Quarters

at the International Conference: Technisierung/Ästhetisierung -
Technological and Aesthetic (Trans)Formations of Society
12.10.2005-14.10.2005, Darmstadt

Post-Graduate College "Technology and Society" at the TU-Darmstadt


Panel: Urban Spaces and Private Quarters
In this panel the focus lies on spatial relations and the city both as
object of and as the location for scientific scrutiny. Perceptions of
symbolic and material artifacts in the city guide the everyday life of a
majority of the world's contemporary population. The tacit power of
architecture, the subtle influences of the aesthetics of things are
constantly reconfigured by the practices of the people moving through
and using urban spaces. However, built space is not the only hub of this
panel. The staging of events in the city by different actors and the
conflicting uses of publically accessible spaces directs our interest to
presentations and representations of the city and its diverse
inhabitants. This area of inquiry connects discursive with visual and
performative aspects of urban life. Finally, we are interested in the
multiple ways in which the modeling and visualization of urban space in
architectural design influences the development and the decision making
processes that eventually solidify into concrete buildings, plazas, and
parks. Regarding all three of these hubs we want to encourage
presentations that explicitly deal with the ambivalent or dialectic
character of aesthetics in the cities. Touristic interests produce sites
that are intended to attract people, their time, their money and their
attention. These sites become places of a specific cultural and economic
significance. At the same time other places are produced and presented
as repellent - the "no-go areas" of the modern ghetto, ethnic
neighborhoods, and the hidden or gated communities of the rich and
powerful. Aestetics are a central component of the processes of
attraction and exclusion that regulate our everyday practices. We are
particularly interested in presentations that include photographic,
acoustic or audio-visual components. The presentetations should be tied
to empirical phenomena.

Abstracts from a wide variety of disciplines are welcome. These include
history, sociology, philosophy, economics, engineering and art history.
Submit 500-word abstracts by Mai 15, 2005, as a Word or RichText
document to:

Lars Frers/Lars Meier
TU Darmstadt
Fachbereich 2
Graduiertenkolleg "Technisierung und Gesellschaft"
Karolinenplatz 5 (Fach 1404)
64289 Darmstadt
Germany

e-mail: tagung-graduiertenkolleg at ifs.tu-darmstadt.de

Information:
http://www.ifs.tu-darmstadt.de/fileadmin/gradkoll/Konferenzen/abschluss/main.html