Forwarded from the critical geography list....


Subject: FW: Call for Papers - Cities as Strategic Sites
Date:  Mon, 8 Oct 2001 10:09:05 +0100
From:  David Wood <[log in to unmask]>
To:  [log in to unmask]




> Call for papers
> Cities as Strategic Sites:
> Militarisation, Anti-Globalism, and Warfare
> Stephen Graham (Newcastle University, U.K.) and
> Simon Marvin (Salford University, U.K.)
> Manchester, UK, 7-9th November 2002
>
> Please note this outline was prepared before the appalling
> events in New
> York and Washington on September 11th 2001. We decided to
> proceed with the
> event because as we felt that there was an urgent need to
> critically and
> reflectively assess the changing role of cities in the
> context of growing
> tension and potential military conflict. While we do want to
> re-orientate
> the whole seminar around the recent events in the US we would welcome
> proposals that address the wider urban issues raised by the attack.
>
> Rationale for the Conference
>
> The twenty first century will be an urban century.
> Increasingly, the great
> contests of globalisation, cultural diversification, economic
> re-regulation
> and liberalisation, militarisation, informatisation and
> ecological change
> are boiling down to conflicts in the key strategic sites of our age:
> contemporary cities.
>
> In such a context, this seminar is designed to explore the
> contested role
> of contemporary cities as strategic sites of civil, military,
> economic and
> political importance. Bringing together up to 25 researchers
> representing a
> range of disciplines, including geography, planning,
> sociology, political
> economy, politics, geopolitics, surveillance and defence studies, the
> seminar will examine the tensions between attempts by corporate,
> governmental and security forces to impose 'order' and control over
> strategic urban sites and the contesting challenges of a wide range of

> social movements to subvert such strategies and (re) appropriate their

> meanings.
>
> The seminar will, therefore, be structured around three key themes:
>
> Theme 1. The Militarisation of Urban Civil Societies
>
> The first theme focuses upon the shift towards the "militarisation" of

> urban civil societies. This includes: the application of
> military-standard
> surveillance technologies such as CCTV, vehicle recognition systems;
> biometrics, the technological and physical fortification of
> public space,
> buildings, enclaves and networks; and the militarisation of
> police forces
> through application of military techniques and technologies.
>
> Theme 2. Anti-Globalisation and Urban Conflict
>
> The second theme focuses upon the city as the contested terrain of
> globalisation. Particular emphasis will be placed on
> understanding recent
> protests against the G8 World Economic Summits in major
> cities, and the
> responses of security forces. This will include the most
> recent incident in
> Genoa, but also looking back at the Seattle, Prague,
> Washington, and London
> demonstrations. The theme will explore the role of urban protests, its

> relationships with the parallel world of hacking and network
> sabotage, and
> the attempts of the proposed transnational police forces to enforce
> security at future summits.
>
> Theme 3.  The Urbanisation of Warfare
>
> The final theme focuses upon the intensifying military
> interest in the role
> of cities as key sites in which future military and
> geo-political conflicts
> are expected to be fought. Cold War military doctrine stressed the
> imperative of by-passing cities, based on the nightmarish spectre of
> Stalingrad-like house-to-house struggles. But recent assessments of
> post-cold war conflicts in Chechnya, the Balkans, and
> elsewhere highlight
> the urbanisation of warfare in a context of intensifying global
> urbanisation, the growth of urban terrorism, the implosion of nation
> states, and the efforts of US and its Allies to maintain and
> strengthen
> global political, economic and military hegemony. US and Nato
> forces have
> thus taken renewed interest in Military Operation in Urban
> Terrain (MOUT)
> with significant investment in urban warfare technologies,
> simulations and
> military exercises in existing cities. Major cross-overs are
> occurring here
> with the diffusion of such tactics into civil state and
> governance efforts
> at urban social control (Theme 1) and state efforts to
> protect strategic
> urban sites during major international economic conferences (Theme 3).

>
> Expressions of Interest
>
> The organisers are looking for one page expression of
> interest oriented
> around one or more of the themes identified above by March
> 31st 2002. Full
> papers are due by end October 2002. The conference will take place in
> November 2002. The conference will take place in Manchester,
> U.K. Costs of
> participation are to be decided but will be kept as low as
> possible. The
> papers will be published in the form of a major Edited book.
>
> Please e-mail a 150-word abstract and all contact details to
> both Simon
> Marvin ([log in to unmask]) and Stephen Graham
> ([log in to unmask])
> by January 31st 2002.
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Stephen Graham                           e-mail [log in to unmask]

> Professor of Urban Technology      Telephone +44(0) 191 222 6808
> School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
> 3rd Floor, Claremont Tower        Fax +44(0) 191 222 8811
> University of Newcastle upon Tyne   Centre for Urban Technology
> Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, U.K.   http://www.ncl.ac.uk/cut/
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

////////////////////////////////////////////
Dr David Wood
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
[Algorithmic Surveillance and Social Exclusion]

Centre for Urban Technology
School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
UK

[log in to unmask]
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