THE MEDIATED CITY
two multidisciplinary conferences examining “the city”... a virtual, filmic, social, political and physical construct.
November 04 2013
CONFERENCE 1. Place: London
Dates: 01-03 April 2014
Host: Ravensbourne (University)
CONFERENCE 2. Place: Los Angeles
Dates: October 2014 (TBC)
Host: Woodbury University
Outline:
The nature of the city is a contested concept. For architects it is generally a question of bricks and mortar - a physical entity. For human geographers it is a place of human interaction and engagement. For filmmakers it is a site for action and futuristic nightmare. For animators and computer programmers it becomes a virtual world - a second life, a SIMulated city. For sociologists, it is a defining aspect of cultural identity. For political activists and theorists, it is a place to ‘occupy’ and the site of the polis.
THE MEDIATED CITY conference offers a platform for multiple and diverse examinations of the city. It aims to bring people together from diverse backgrounds and fragment, multiply and reconfigure our readings of the city; to offer multiple and conflicting discipline perspectives. The intention is to share views of the city as physical entity, online community, film set, photographic backdrop, geographical map, sociological case study, political metaphor, digital or video game etc…. – to examine it as a mediated and shared phenomenon.
Themes:
The intention of the conference is to leave thematic questions open. Proposals can be subject bound or cross disciplinary. It is anticipated that conversations across disciplines will evolve and emerge through the juxtaposition of perspectives. On this basis the following ideas should be read as the type of questions we hope to elicit from discipline grounded knowledge - provocations for further thought:
How do today’s exploding ‘metropoli’ of China, and India, or the shanty towns of Brazil and South Africa coexist with the ‘other’ cities of online communities?
Is the sustainable model now proposed for the West’s declining industrial centres a template that has anything to offer the developing world?
How can imaging the city as a film set or photographic location help the designers of tomorrows – or today’s – physical infrastructures?
Can human geographers exploit the tools of digital worlds to further their understanding of contemporary social-urban pressures?
Do the politics of ‘occupy’ force us to recalibrate the design of the public realm and its architecture into more – or less – ‘democratic’ models?
Do the virtual worlds of film and gaming cultures create radically new paradigms for human interaction and coexistence?
Can the imagination and vision of science fiction transform predicaments and actions ‘on the ground’ in today’s developing and developed cities?
Key dates – Conference 1 – London
15 September 2013 Deadline for abstracts / initial proposals
01 October 2013 Feedback on abstracts / initial proposals
15 January 2014 Deadline for full papers / detailed proposals
01 February 2014 Feedback on full papers/ detailed proposals
15 March 2014 Resubmission of full papers
01 April 2014 Conference – 1. London (Ravensbourne)
Nb. Information on dates for Conference 2 - Los Angeles – will be available on the website in October 2013
Formats:
THE MEDIATED CITY conference(s) revolve around the standard conference format of short paper presentations. A book publication is anticipated in collaboration with Cambridge Scholars Publishing. However, the organizers propose a range of activity formats such as those listed below and invites delegates to make their own alternative proposals:
Conference Paper – standard 20 minute presentations
Panel Discussions – 60 minute debates on selected themes
Workshop Activities – Time limited collaborative sessions
Screenings / Q&As – Films, videos, documentaries etc.
Product / Book launches – Presentations of new and alternative ideas
Delegates wishing to submit papers or make proposals for any of the above (or other) activities, at Conference 1 – London – are encouraged to contact the organisers using the Abstract / Initial Submission forms Below. Submission forms for Conference 2 – Los Angeles - will be available on the website in October 2013.
Return all completed forms to Rachel Isaac-Menard: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
For queries on ideas and themes before a formal submission contact Graham Cairns:.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)