Conference of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British
Geographers, 26-28th August 2009, Manchester
Abstracts and expressions of interest with full contact details should
be emailed by 6th February 2009 at the latest to one of the organizers
at the following email addresses:
Jennifer Foster: [log in to unmask] or Susannah Bunce:
[log in to unmask]
Second Call for Papers on:
Marginalized urban places and the contours of planning discourses
Session sponsored by the Planning and Environment Research Group (PERG)
Session Conveners:
Jennifer Foster, York University, Canada
Susannah Bunce, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Canada
How is power deployed through planning in and for marginal and
marginalized urban areas? Urban places that have been historically
overlooked or neglected by planning efforts are often considered ripe
for ?rediscovery? (or in some instances, ?discovery?), through both
formalized planning regimes and informal yet potent socio-spatial
changes. Whatever the planning focus ?typically social, ecological,
and/or economic transformation ? the processes and practices that
enable change are infused with power relations. The ?rediscovery? of
marginalized urban areas offers possibilities for environmental
sustainability and community-based empowerment through planning
practices that counter
marginality. But, conversely, it also presents new contexts for the
reproduction of planning regimes and the appropriation of existing
social relations in these places. As Harvey (1996) notes, ?the
rediscovery of place ? poses as many dangers as opportunities for the
construction of any kind of progressive politics? (325).
This session seeks to explore how politics are discursively expressed
through planning on the periphery, edges or outside of conventionally
valued urban places. The contextual focus of papers in this session
might range from such sites as abandoned lots and buildings to
socially marginalized communities and neighbourhoods. Questions to be
explored are: What are the conceptual frameworks that guide
institutional and community-based actions and decisions in these
areas? What are the planning discourses of urban marginality? How are
biases of marginality mobilized? What are the discourses of urban
?discovery? or ?rediscovery?? Why are certain urban places
?rediscovered? and how
are these places represented in planning discourses? How are alternate or
counter-discourses articulated? How do processes, subjects, objects
and meanings
intertwine?
Potential themes that might be explored through this session on
marginalized spaces and planning discourses include, but are not
limited to:
experience, knowledge and agency in planning
language and social practices
discourse coalitions
neo-colonialism and planning in cities
politics of urban redevelopment and regeneration
uncertainty and planning processes
displacement and planning
discourses of gentrification in planning
hegemony and planning practice
social constructions of nature
cultural politics of representation
science, capital and culture
graphic forms and visual representations
performative images of marginal space
inhabiting contested worlds
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