Call for Papers



Matters of Urban Expertise: Who develops the city of the future?



Academic symposium at ETH Future Cities Lab, 6-8 November 2024



Organized by Julio Paulos, Future Cities Lab ETH Zürich; Jenny Lindblad, Urban & Regional Studies, KTH; Jonathan Metzger, Urban & Regional Studies, KTH



In a rapidly urbanizing world increased attention is being paid to the development of urban environments. At the same time the array of experts who are expected to design and develop the cities of tomorrow is currently in a state of flux (Björkman and Harris 2018; Savini and Raco 2019; Robin and Acuto 2023). Contemporary urban challenges are perceived to require new skills and competencies that go beyond the traditional urban professions. 



Digital technology, AI, and big data, financial or investment acumen, and climate change are just a few of the issues city administrations are currently struggling to address. Meanwhile, these issues pressure infrastructures in place, and demand city administrations’ attention to questions of infrastructure maintenance and expansion. 



As a consequence of these shifts, in a field that has traditionally been dominated primarily by the professions of planners, architects and engineers we now see diverse formations of expertise vying for influence, but without necessarily aspiring to the status or norms of the traditional professions.



Following from the above, we invite papers for a symposium that explores contemporary formations of expertise in the field of urban development. The symposium will explore the intertwining of the 'politics of what' with the 'politics of how' and the 'politics of who' in relation to contemporary urban development - thus critically addressing the fundamental question of who is shaping the city of the future, on what grounds, and to which effects.



Examples of some of the issues that the symposium will explore are:



• Which competencies are currently recognized to be of relevance to the urban development process and how are they organized and legitimized?



• What are the perceived relations of cooperation and competition between different formations of expertise in the field of urban development?



• How do shifts in the field of urban expertise interplay with the relative importance attached to different issues and concerns in the urban development process?



• How do professional or pseudo-professional cultures, norms and knowledge practices affect which issues are given consideration in the urban development process?



• How is the legitimacy of knowledge and expertise tested, challenged, qualified, and disqualified in urban development processes?



• Relationships between lay knowledge, indigenous knowledge, and various forms of recognized and unrecognized expertise.

We invite contributions that empirically focus on all types of geographical scales and contexts, as well as theoretically focused contributions. 



Papers that explore more systemic aspects of relations between different formations of expertise are particularly welcome.



Procedure



Accepted proposals will be invited to a 2½ day symposium in Zürich, 6-8th of November 2024, with full costs covered for hotels and meals. 



There is an ambition that the symposium will be followed by the publication of a research anthology based on the presentations. The ideas for a potential follow-up publication will be discussed at the symposium.



To apply for the symposium, please submit a 300-500 word abstract with relevant references (references not included in word limit) to [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask], no later than May 15th.



Accepted contributors will also be expected to submit an extended abstract / short paper (1500-3000 words) in advance of the symposium.



Timeline



• Abstracts due by May 15th, 2024



• Notification of acceptance by June 15th, 2024



• Extended abstracts / short papers (1500-3000 words) due by October 15th, 2024



For any questions regarding the symposium, do not hesitate to contact Jenny Lindblad ([log in to unmask]) or Julio Paulos ([log in to unmask]).



References 



Björkman, Lisa, and Andrew Harris. 2018. “Engineering Cities: Mediating Materialities, Infrastructural Imaginaries and Shifting Regimes of Urban Expertise.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 42 (2): 244–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12528.



Robin, Enora, and Michele Acuto. 2023. “The Politics of ‘Urban Expertise’: Shifting Horizons for Critical Urban Scholarship?” Urban Geography 44 (3): 431–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2022.2148504.



Savini, Federico, and Mike Raco. 2019. “The Rise of a New Urban Technocracy.” In Planning and Knowledge: How New Forms of Technocracy Are Shaping Contemporary Cities, 3–18. Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447345251-004.







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