[URBANTH-L] CFP: Inequality, Inclusion and the Sense of Belonging (San Paulo, Brazil)

[Angela Jancius]

[forwarded from Comurb_r21 at email.rutgers.edu]

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that ISA-RC21 will have a Sao Paulo conference on 
August 23-25, 2009, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The conference theme is Inequality, 
Inclusion and the Sense of Belonging.

Rationale: Cities have experienced considerable cultural, political and 
economic change during the past few decades. The roles performed by social 
actors and by the state have diversified rather than weakened, as was 
predicted by some in academic debates. Spatial segregation has changed less 
than was forecast in the literature but the social meaning of segregation 
varies depending upon demographic and social structure. The idea of 
polarization remains strong but it is now clear that this is too simple a 
concept to grasp the diversity of urban situations.

Nevertheless, inequality remains a central feature of societies, although 
inequality is now more fragmented, and more associated with specific groups. 
Class identities have also changed, and in a broader sense, so too has the 
way people understand their participation in society. Social inclusion 
remains a key material, symbolic and political issue in a variety of 
national situations, although also marked by local features in each case. In 
countries where the issue of inclusion was considered to be resolved, at 
least politically, some social groups have experienced a declining sense of 
involvement in society, reposing the problem of social belongingness.

Social configurations have become significantly more heterogeneous, 
combining local historical, spatial and political factors with economic and 
political elements of broader amplitude. This Conference intends to address 
these issues in a transdisciplinary way, focusing mainly on their 
association with social inequalities and with the identities that mark 
contemporary cities.

The Call for Session Proposals:
We'd like to solicit session proposals related to the conference theme. We 
also welcome other urban topics. Followings are some examples. Please send 
your session proposal with its title and short description (within 150 
words) to the Sao Paulo conference committee (isasp2009 at cebrap.org.br) with 
a copy to Eduardo Marques (ecmarq at uol.com.br) by November 20, 2008. We'll 
start the call for papers on January 10 and ends on April 30, 2009

-The new direction in urban inequality and poverty
-The new interpretation of urban inequality
-Comparative perspective on poverty
-The sense of belonging to neighborhoods and cities
-The state and urban inequality and poverty
-Urban mixed policies
-Comparative urban policies on inequality and poverty
-Urban justice and public policies
-Urban environment
-Urbanism and urbanization in history
-Configuration of urban spaces
-Territory, culture and identities
-Actors and political conflicts
-Space, networks and scales


Kuniko Fujita
President
ISA-RC21