Phd conference - Within the Limits of Scarcity: Rethinking Space, City and Practices
University of Westminster, London

submissions of abstracts until 1st November 2012
to: scibephdconference@gmail.com

Notification of acceptance: 21st of November 2012
Paper submission: 15th January 2013


Call for Papers:
Scarcity is often considered as a fundamental condition of human societies. On the one hand, the state of not having enough has been at the bottom of a variety of strategies and techniques to overcome it; on the other, it has served as an explanatory argument for social order, for distribution or for conflict.

Scarcity has accompanied the becoming of the urban condition. Repeatedly, (im-)material shortage has been at the core of the city’s struggles. More recently, global economic uncertainty, widespread urban inequality and pressing environmental questions in both North and South, are posing acute challenges to all involved in producing the built environment. Within this scenario, different actors, from architects and other built environment professionals to local authorities and community based organisations, will be increasingly pressured to deploy strategies to work within or against the limits of scarcity.

This conference seeks to investigate the processes through which scarcity is constructed in specific urban settings, shedding light on its setting, emergence and production in the built environment. Moreover, it seeks to understand how the challenges posed by this condition can shape alternative ways of investigating, conceptualising and theorizing city and space so as to inform innovative strategies and challenge the existing normative practices.

Keynote Speakers:
Pier Vittorio Aureli | Architectural Association | Berlage Institute
Camillo Boano | The Bartlett – DPU UCL
Ole Bouman | Nederlands Architectuurinstituut
Erik Swyngedouw | University of Manchester

Organizing Team:
Barbara Elisabeth Ascher
Isis Nunez Ferrera
Michael Klein

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