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Dear Chloe Please find attached a proposed abstract. Best Wishes James Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 17:57:46 +0000 From: [log in to unmask] Subject: [URB-GEOG-FORUM] Final CFP RGS-IBG Abandonment and decline: 'frontiers' for new populations and opportunities for post-recession regeneration? To: [log in to unmask] *Apologies for cross posting* Final CFP for the forthcoming RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2014, London 26-29 August 2014 Abandonment and decline: ‘frontiers’ for new populations and opportunities for post-recession regeneration? Organizers: Chloe Kinton, Darren Smith, John Harrison, Department of Geography, Loughborough University (Session sponsored by PopGRG and UGRG) While there are countless recent examples of ever-expanding populations within towns and cities (Rae 2013), there are also numerous enclaves of urban and rural places in which local populations are declining in marked ways, with concomitant social, cultural, economic, physical and political impacts (Daly and Kitchin, 2013). The emergence of these new geographies of urban abandonment, resulting for example in a patchwork of abandoned, vacant or underutilised properties, are having major and diverse consequences, not least for urban infrastructures and the built environment of many towns and cities (Goodman 2013). This trend is exemplified by the destudentification of university towns and cities (Kinton, 2013), whereby some former ‘student areas’ are now characterised by empty houses and high levels of voids due to a combination of factors. Indeed, in the current period of the so-called global economic crisis and austerity driven restructuring of societies and economies, it is timely to consider the character and consequences of the wider abandonment and decline on cities, such as the prominence of ‘ghost estates’ and derelict streets in depressed coastal resorts. Certainly, there are a series of open questions relating to how and why processes of abandonment occur, alongside the utility of planning and managing this decline. It is the aim of this session to open up the concept of urban abandonment to critical scrutiny and facilitate debate on the future environment of towns and cities. Papers are therefore welcomed that attempt to understand the contemporary geographies of urban abandonment, as well as more provocative think-pieces that endeavour to formulate a picture of urban futures and/or outline priorities for further research. Potential topics/themes of interest might include, but are not limited to: · Theoretical interventions and/or empirical studies which seek to advance new ways of conceptualising urban abandonment and decline · Papers which seek to connect new geographies of urban abandonment to broader processes of political, economic and social change · Empirical accounts looking at urban abandonment and decline through the lens of inner-city housing/developments, mobility/migration, population/demographic change, gentrification and new-build regeneration, economic restructuring, deprivation/poverty, destudentification · Accounts which examine the new geographies of urban abandonment and decline · Perspectives on the planning challenges posed by urban abandonment and decline, and potential responses/solutions to it Please email a proposed title, abstract of 250 words (max) and your contact details by Monday 1st February 2014 to Chloe Kinton ([log in to unmask]) Further details about the Annual Conference can be found at http://www.rgs.org/AC2014 Dr. Chloe Kinton Research Associate Department of Geography School of Social, Political and Geographical Sciences Loughborough University Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 3TU Email: [log in to unmask] Tel: +44 (01509) 222791 Mob: 07849 424386 _______________________________________________________ [log in to unmask] An urban geography discussion and announcement forum List Archives: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/URB-GEOG-FORUM Maintained by: RGS-IBG Urban Geography Research Group UGRG Home Page: http://www.urban-geography.org.uk _______________________________________________________ [log in to unmask] An urban geography discussion and announcement forum List Archives: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/URB-GEOG-FORUM Maintained by: RGS-IBG Urban Geography Research Group UGRG Home Page: http://www.urban-geography.org.uk