Manchester Salon Discussions

Monday 18 June, 6:45pm start

Alastair Donald, Mindy Gofton, Martin Bryant and Lisa Raynes will introduce a discussion on the lure of the social city and what role it can play in regenerating city space.

‘Open source cities’; ‘smart cities’; ‘intelligent cities’. The choice of prefix may change, but enthusiasts seem increasingly convinced that digital technologies are transforming not only the nature of communication, but also the way we design, build, use, and interact within cities. On awarding the TED 2012 prize to The City 2.0, the organisers disputed the idea that this city of the future was a ‘sterile utopian dream’. Rather, they argued, we are seeing a real-world upgrade, tapping into humanity’s collective wisdom to create places of ‘beauty, wonder, excitement, inclusion, diversity, life.’

There are many other claims made for new technologies. Hewlett Packard’s version of City 2.0 asserts that the Information Age is reinventing the city for scalability and sustainability. IBM argue that intelligent technologies are turning neighbourhoods into ‘manageable ecosystems’. According to engineers Arup, new malleable systems increase citizen awareness of the relationships between activities, neighbourhoods, and wider urban systems. Unlike the inflexible, monolithic 20th century city, the Smart City, they say, is a place that citizens collectively modify.

http://www.manchestersalon.org.uk/lure-of-the-social-city.html

“Manchester was the heart of the industrial revolution. Cotton form the city travelled to every corner of the world. Inventors and businessmen flocked to Manchester – hoping to make their mark in the world’s first industrial city. Then, through much of the twentieth century, industrial decline led to urban decay and the city centre was devastated by an IRA bomb. Yet, at the start of the 21st century, a culture of creativity and business drive has put Manchester on the world map again.”
(Center for Cities, 2010)

‘FutureStory: Manchester‘ might read like an advertising gimmick, but it also offers an interesting view on new and creative businesses that are shaping Manchesters’ future economic development.

Edward Soja talks about regional urbanisation at the Urbanismweek 2011 in Delft, the Netherlands.

Neon: 100 years of the greatest light show on earth  Peter Conrad celebrates a century of the medium that sells the raffish charms of America and has inspired film-makers and artists, from Hitchcock and Coppola to Bruce Nauman and Tracey Emin.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/aug/28/100-years-of-neon

(as far as I know, there has never been a Polis thesis on ‘Neon’!

Gentrification, die Verdrängung ärmerer Bewohner/innen aus bisher preiswerten Wohnvierteln, hat sich zu einem ständigen Begleiter städtischer Veränderungen entwickelt. Doch nicht nur immobilienwirtschaftliche Interessen, sondern auch symbolische Umwertungen sind für die Veränderungen in den Städten verantwortlich.

Interview mit Andrej Holm, Sozialwissenschaftler und Aktivist aus Berlin.

More than 370 cars set alight so far this year with police saying some crimes are ‘politically motivated’ against gentrification

watch?v=UsePUn5-88c&feature=relmfu

The brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas, according to a brain-scanning study. Scientists found that two regions, involved in the regulation of emotion and anxiety, become overactive in city-dwellers when they are stressed and argue that the differences could account for the increased rates of mental health problems seen in urban areas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/22/city-living-afffects-brain