The Distinctiveness of Cities | Modes of Re-Production

by: Robert Grimm - April 27th, 2011  

International Conference | 15th-17th of June 2011, Darmstadt (Germany)

Venice is different from London and in Mumbai we will expect to have radically other experiences than in Paris. The simple mentioning of city names calls up mental images in us, positive or negative, exotic or banal. Cities appear to be dynamic or progressive, cosmopolitan or sentimental, but what is the origin of such images and associations?

The question of the international conference “The Distinctiveness of Cities | Modes of Re-Production” is the intrinsic logic of cities. Six thematic fields will serve to structure the approach taken to these questions at the conference on “The Distinctiveness of Cities | Modes of Reproduction”:
Body | Space | Power | Infrastructure | Knowledge | Heritage

Keynote lectures by Helmuth Berking, Friedrich Lenger, Sujata Patel and Kurt W. Foster. Talk and Film with Ulrike Ottinger.
Panel lectures by Fran Tonkiss, Trutz von Trotha, Stephen Graham, Phil Hubbard, Olivier Coutard, Ulf Mathiesen, Brenda S.A. Yeoh and many more.

http://www.distinctiveness-of-cities.tu-darmstadt.de/distinctivenessofcities/index.en.jsp

About: Robert Grimm

All over Europe, cities are faced with the challenge of using cultural resources to re-position their city in an increasingly culturally and economically diversified European space. Related to this is a clear recognition of the growing importance of cultural resources for economic and community development. This produces new opportunities and challenges for local cultural planning and management. In order to fully exploit the innovative and supportive role of culture in European urban development, it will be necessary to develop a new socially and culturally sensitive professionalism, able to cross the boundaries between the arts, design, urban and spatial planning, public policy and the market, artistic creativity and cultural management. The MA in European Urban Cultures offers a specialist programme aimed at graduate students from Europe and elsewhere with undergraduate degrees in subject areas such as the social sciences; cultural and leisure studies; art, design and architecture; urban theory and planning; cultural marketing and management. The course is also targeted at professionals and administrators eager for the latest experiences, ideas and insights in urban cultural policy.