CFP RGS-IBG ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2022: NEITHER TOP-DOWN NOR BOTTOM UP? GEOGRAPHIES OF MICRO URBAN INTERVENTIONS
Session Organiser: Shaun Teo, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
Micro urban interventions (MUI) are everywhere (see Talen, 2015): bottom-up, small-scale, community-generated projects that respond to urban needs (Finn, 2014) but also provide a platform for ordinary people to interact with urban space and other people in different ways (Coombs, 2012). These include community gardening; flash mobbing and other shock tactics; appropriations of public space and empty buildings; yarn bombing, graffiti/street art, skateboarding, parkour and more (Iveson, 2013). MUI are usually framed under the banner of “temporary”, “DIY”, “tactical” and “guerrilla” urbanism, placing them against state-sanctioned, top-down, and capital-intensive urban transformations. They have therefore emerged as a popular movement for people who have a desire to reconfigure their city without governmental involvement (Alisdairi, 2014). Yet we also see governments taking an interest in MUI, ‘appropriating’ them and turning previous movements into events under banners of austerity (Tonkiss, 2014), the creative city (Mould, 2014) and/ or placemaking (Sweeney et al., 2018). This has led scholars to argue that MUI are becoming “divorced from its citizenry and activist ethos and fast becoming the latest iteration of ‘cool’, creative urban policy language” (Mould, 2014: 530).
This paper session invites submissions that seek to go beyond the top-down/ bottom-up dichotomy in conceptualizing MUI, to critically illuminate their pragmatic and political potential. I welcome papers that engage one or more of the following questions (as well as other relevant questions):
1. How can micro urban interventions inspire and inform policy change and more permanent urban transformations?
2. What is the state’s relevance for micro urban interventions?
3. How can we assess the potential of micro urban interventions beyond a solely radical lens?
4. How can purposefully radical forms of micro urban interventions remain political despite governmental interest?
5. What is the relationship between micro urban intervention and more formal forms of urban planning?
6. How can micro urban interventions in the global South challenge inherited knowledges in the field?
Please kindly send your abstracts to Shaun Teo ([log in to unmask]) by Tuesday 22 March 2022. I will notify you of the outcome by Wednesday 23 March 2022. Accepted presenters must complete the abstract submission and conference registration process with the RGS-IBG by 25 March 2022 GMT.
I plan to attend the conference in person and expect this session to run live and in person. I also welcome submissions from colleagues who plan to attend virtually and, if necessary, will explore hybrid session options. Please let me know your preference. Thank you.
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