Cities
today are increasingly at the forefront of the environmental and social crisis.
They represent both one of the major cause of the aggravation of these crises,
but also a potential solution to them. All over Europe we now see a new wave of
urban social movements arising: movements fighting hostile immigration
policies, misogynistic culture, ecological devastation, and social exclusion –
movements building economic, social, and political alternatives based on
solidarity, equality and participation.
With
the general theme of this year’s conference, “The Right to the City and Social
Ecology – Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities”, we want to address the
dire need to re-build our cities and urban environments –from their physical
structures to their social and political realities. In the framework of Social
Ecology we want to discuss the prospects and characteristics of radical urban
movements of today; examine the revolutionary potential in the mobilizing
concept of “the right to the city”; and look at how activist, scholars, and
movements across Europe can work together towards an ecological and democratic
future.
The
conference will last from Friday to Sunday and consist of a broad range of
seminars, workshops, paper presentations, and round-table discussions. Our
ambition is to provide a moment for reflecting together on the current
situation in Europe, in a fruitful conversation between theories and practices.
Thus, we welcome interventions that aim at addressing one of the following
sub-themes:
1) Recent developments and advancements in the theory
of Social Ecology
Social
Ecology is a rich body of ideas spanning over many different subjects and
fields of thought: Ethics and philosophy; Urbanism and social development;
Democratic theory and practice; The Nation state; Social hierarchies;
Technology and Economy – to name just a few.
In
this session, we welcome contributions that seek to trace and discuss recent developments
in Social Ecology theory, or that make a theoretical contribution to a specific
area of Social Ecology.
2) Social Ecology practices for urban system change
In
order to transform our cities and fulfil the promise of “the right to the city”
we need to address and work for change on multiple scales and fields. We need
to change the way we work, produce, socialise and make decisions. And we need
to do it in a way that challenges the logic of capitalism and hierarchical
structures.
In
this session we welcome contributions that deal with subjects such as Energy
democracy, Liberatory technology, Food sovereignty, Radical agriculture,
Sanctuary cities, Commons, Assembly democracy, Feminist city planning,
Squatting and Housing co-ops etc. In short we are looking for concepts, tools,
and practices that could be strategically important for bottom-up social
change.
3) Case studies of radical urban movements in European
cities
In
recent years, we have seen the emergence of new urban and municipalist
movements across Europe – movements that often differ in character and focus,
but with a common denominator in their experimental and radical approach to
politics and democracy.
In
this session, we welcome contributions that look more closely at a specific
city or town in Europe, describing the urban social movements active there and
analysing their practices and characteristics to highlight both their strengths
and shortcomings.
We
welcome abstracts from activists and
scholars by 1st of July 2017 and we
welcome contributions in the form of paper presentations or workshops. If you
wish to take part, please submit a short abstract (max 300 words) explaining
the content of your talk or workshop, including a short CV briefing (about 5
lines).
Send your
proposal to: conference2017@trise.org
