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From: "Evert Meijers - OTB" <[log in to unmask]>
(apologies for cross-posting)
Dear colleague,
I would like to draw your attention to an intensive two-day workshop on
'Urban Systems 2.0' that will take place September 16-17 in Delft, The
Netherlands.
The aims are:
- to bring together an international group of researchers with an
interest in the geography of contemporary urban systems;
- to present and discuss research findings on the spatial
organization and structure of cities, metro areas, countries and
transnational regions and how these (may) affect their performance;
- to explore opportunities for joint research by discusssing a future
research agenda;
- to select papers for a special issue of Regional Studies
Please see the attached CFP for more information. Abstract deadline: July
31.
Kind regards,
Evert Meijers
This Workshop is organized by the Regional Studies Association Research
Network on 'Regional Urban Systems and Performance'. Below you find a sketch
of the themes addressed by this workshop.
The city is developing into a regional phenomenon. What is 'urban' spreads
out over a larger regional space, way beyond the traditional city
boundaries. The geographical scope of social and economic processes (such as
commuting, leisure and social trips, inter-firm relations, and business to
consumer relations) has increased, which leads not just to ever more complex
urban- rural relations, but also to new functional linkages at higher
spatial scales between historically distinct urban regions. A key message of
recent concepts like 'megaregions', 'polycentric mega-city regions' or
'polycentric urban regions' is that we are gradually moving away from
monocentric cities to polycentric mega-city regions. Nevertheless, theories
on cities and agglomeration, as well as empirical analyses of cities still
often depart from conceptualisations of the city that hardly acknowledge
this wider regional context. This means that we face major theoretical and
empirical challenges in urban research.
At the same time, polycentricity and regional networking between cities have
become major issues in strategic development strategies of many countries.
These policies stress benefits of polycentric development, relating for
instance to the improved exploitation of critical urban mass,
complementarities, the presence of less agglomeration diseconomies and
providing equal opportunities to inhabitants. However, the economic
rationale behind polycentric development policies is still rather unclear
and such policies so-far lack an empirical and theoretical base.
It is important to understand which economic and social mechanisms in cities
are important for the development of the spatial layout and fabric of urban
agglomerations and the 'regionalizing' of urbanity. Moreover, there is a
need to critically discuss and evaluate the conceptual mechanisms and
theories behind polycentric development strategies before implementing such
policies.
You are warmly invited to participate in this workshop. To participate,
simply send an e-mail with abstract to [log in to unmask] before July
31. Also contact this e-mail address with any questions.
Dr. E.J. Meijers | Delft University of Technology | OTB Research Institute
for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies |
P.O. Box 5030 | 2600 GA Delft | The Netherlands | T +31 15 2787892 | F +31
15 2783450 | [log in to unmask]
|