Call for papers for Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) meeting in Rotterdam, August 20-23 2008

Session:

STS in Urban Development: Actors, Networks and the Re-making of Cities

Until recently, STS studies of the ‘City’ and ‘City-making’ have been relatively rare. However, a generation of STS researchers have started studying architecture, planning and cities with a notable growth in published papers and conference sessions, notably at the 2007 4S conference in Montreal.  Generally, however, these explorations have tended to neglect the long-standing analytical approaches to urbanism developed in wider social sciences (e.g. geography, sociology, politics, anthropology). Moreover, STS has often positioned itself as providing an alternative, improved analytical approach to urbanism as a form of co-evolution of urban processes, practices and form.

This session aims to revisit this discussion between disciplines to encourage a discussion about the relations between STS and wider urban studies as either in tension or as mutually enriching in the study of city-making. We welcome papers focusing either on conceptual and methodological debate or theoretically informed case-studies, that explore how actors and networks co-evolve in the making and re-making of cities.

Those who are interested in this session, please send a 400 word abstract by February 10 to:

Simon Guy, University of Manchester, [log in to unmask]

or

Ola Söderström, Université de Neuchâtel, [log in to unmask]

Ola Söderström

Professeur

Institut de Géographie
Université de Neuchâtel
Espace Louis Agassiz 1
2000 Neuchâtel
Switzerland
Tél.:  +41 32 718 17 97