Registration open for The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life

The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life

Economies |Cultures| Politics| Aesthetics

Thursday 16^th and Friday 17^th June 2016

University of York, UK

This two-day conference, co-organised by the Department of Sociology and CURB (Centre for Urban Research) at University of York, is an attempt to provide a lively, open-minded forum for urban sociologists to gather and discuss the challenges of conducting the craft of urban sociology in a fragmented, hierarchical urban world; an urbanizing planet where the very concept of ‘the city’--traditionally  the unit of analysis for urban sociologists—faces unprecedented levels of scepticism.  The title of the conference is a riff on T.J. Clark's (1984) book on Manet and Paris, The Painting of Modern Life. As such, the conference aims to engage with contemporary urban life in a  critical manner, using a  multiplex of economies, cultures, politics and aesthetics to explore  our contemporary urban experience/s (with or without the city).  The conference will also address the distinctive role that urban sociology has played, does play and may in the future play within the broader academic endeavour of Urban Studies.

Confirmed speakers include:

·         Fran Tonkiss (LSE)

·         Michael Keith (Oxford)

·         Emma Jackson (Goldsmiths, London)

·         Phil Hubbard (Kent)

·         Ayona Datta (Leeds)

·         David Pinder (Roskilde) 

·         Richard Sennett (LSE) (a public lecture given as part of the York Festival of Ideas).

There are also four panel sessions. Full details of the full programme is available here: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/about/news-and-events/department/2016/urbansociology/

Registration is £40.00 (full) or £20.00 (student/ postdoctoral) for the full conference. One day rates are also available. The direct link to payment pages is here: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/about/news-and-events/department/2016/urbansociology/#tab-2

Final call for papers: The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life: Economies |Cultures| Politics| Aesthetics

The final call for papers for an exciting event titled ‘The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life: Economies |Cultures| Politics| Aesthetics’ on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th June 2016 has just been announced.

This two-day conference, co-organised by the Department and CURB (Centre for Urban Research), is an attempt to provide a lively, open-minded forum for urban sociologists to gather and discuss the challenges of conducting the craft of urban sociology in a fragmented, hierarchical urban world; an urbanizing planet where the very concept of ‘the city’—traditionally the unit of analysis for urban sociologists—faces unprecedented levels of scepticism.  The title of the conference is a riff on T.J. Clark's (1984) book on Manet and Paris, The Painting of Modern Life. As such, the conference aims to engage the contours of contemporary urban life in a comparable critical manner, using a  multiplex of economies, cultures, politics and aesthetics to explore  our contemporary urban experience/s (with or without the city).  The conference will also address the distinctive role that urban sociology has played, does play and may in the future play within the broader academic endeavour of Urban Studies.

Several leading urban sociologists have already agreed to speak at this event including Fran Tonkiss (LSE), Michael Keith (Oxford), Emma Jackson (Goldsmiths, London), Phil Hubbard (Kent), Ayona Datta (Leeds), David Pinder (Roskilde) and Richard Sennett (LSE) (a public lecture given as part of the York Festival of Ideas).

However, the intention is also to run a limited number of open streams and will be considering abstracts for papers that connect empirically or theoretically with the four interconnecting themes of the event. 

250 word abstracts should be sent to both Gareth Millington (gareth.millington@york.ac.uk) and Daryl Martin (daryl.martin@york.ac.uk) by Friday 25th March please. Decisions on abstracts will be made the following week. We especially welcome contributions from early career researchers. Registration details for non-speakers will be released shortly.

New Publications on Marshall Berman

Gareth Millington has recently published a second paper on the work of Marshall Berman (1940-2013), author of key Marxist Humanist texts on the city such as All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (1982) and On The Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square (2006). 

Gareth’s paper, titled ‘The Right to the City (If You Want It): Marshall Berman and Urban Culture’, appears in the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies. Gareth’s earlier article on Marshall Berman appeared in CITY and is titled ‘Remaining Faithful to the City: Marshall Berman’s Provocative Optimism’. These publications are the latest products of Gareth’s long term and ongoing interest in the work of Marshall Berman.