[URBANTH-L]CFP: Urban Geographies of Post-Communist States

[Angela Jancius]

Sorry for cross-postings, please spread widely / Thomas Borén

Call for papers
The Inaugural Nordic Geographers Meeting, 10-14 May 2005, Lund, Sweden
Conference Web Page: http://www.ngm.cc/

Deadline for abstracts: 20 February 2005; send them to both
thomas.boren at humangeo.su.se and michael.gentile at kultgeog.uu.se.

Session(s): Urban geographies of post-communist states

The demise of the economic order of central planning in the countries of
Central and Eastern Europe and of the Former Soviet Union has opened up a
new research agenda for social scientists interested in cities. The purpose
of this session(s) is to gather contributions from urban geographers from
the Nordic countries and beyond. Fifteen years have gone since the
pulverization of the iron curtain between East and West. What has happened
in the set of post-socialist cities and their inhabitants since then? How
important is the legacy of a centrally planned past? What impact has the
economic transition had on the social, spatial and socio-spatial structure
of cities? In what directions are the political, social and cultural
transformations developing? What is the impact on the everyday spatialities
and lifeworlds? How are environmental legacies being tackled, and what new
challenges have appeared?

Some of the topics which we would like to cover are as follows, but we
welcome paper proposals within a variety of themes related to the
post-communist urban setting:

* Urban spatial structure before and after 1989 (1991)
* Urbanization and settlement structure (including suburbanization,
counter-urbanization and the like)
* Residential Segregation
* Gentrification and Urban Renewal
* Urban livelihoods, everyday economies and survival strategies
* Urban poverty alleviation strategies
* Papers on methodology
* Inter-urban competition (competitiveness of cities)
* Urban governance and political structure
* Urban environmental management
* Gender perspectives on the post-communist city
* Demographic challenges faced by the post-communist city
* Children and the post-communist city
* Maps, mapping practices and cartography

The language of the sessions will be English, although presentations in
Russian may be allowed if agreed in advance.

Conveners:
Thomas Borén
Dept. of Human Geography
Stockholm University
e-mail: thomas.boren at humangeo.su.se

Michael Gentile
Dept. of Social and Economic Geography
Uppsala University
e-mail: michael.gentile at kultgeog.uu.se