Call for Papers: Urban Subversions: Conceptualising Urban Pastimes in the
Contemporary World City

Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers Annual
Conference, 1st – 3rd September 2010, RGS, London.

Session conveners:
Oli Mould, Department of Geography, Loughborough University.
Bradley Garrett, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway.

Sponsors:

Urban Geography Research Group
Geographies of Leisure and Tourism Research Group

Abstract:

The increase of the urbanised population (presently and in the projected
future) and the rise of procedures for creating a ‘world city’ to attract
the global flows of capital, means that the usage of urban space is coming
under increasing tension. Not only in terms of a city’s primary functional
capitalist usage, but increasingly so in terms of alternative, subversive or
‘underground’ uses. Alternative urban activities (or subcultures, practices,
pastimes – what we have termed ‘urban subversions’) such as skateboarding,
graffiti, parkour, exploration, guerrilla street theatre and many others,
have all seen an increase in popularity (in terms of participants and
coverage), but often exist uncomfortably with city authorities and in many
cases are marginalised or prohibited altogether. In other cases, the march
of commercialisation has seen these practices been subsumed into the
capitalist regime, either by sponsorship, tight regulation or dilution of
content.

In these modern complex times, these ‘alternative’ usages of the city by a
variety of different groups and individuals are becoming more prevalent.
This is in part due to the increase technological capabilities of citizens,
with the Internet facilitating the dissemination of information, videos,
ideologies and trends. This has had the effect of these practices becoming
more ‘visible’ and hence is adding to the complexity of urban studies. The
duality of capitalist versus subversive urban practices is no longer
sustainable as the boundaries are being blurred by the practices (both
physical and virtual) of urban citizens practicing these urban subversions.

Therefore, the session organisers invite papers that discuss the alternative
uses of urban space by a multiplicity of practitioners. In particular, we
will look for contributions from scholars who are engaged in any one of a
plethora of ‘urban subversions’ and the theoretical implications for city
life. This may include, but are not limited to:

    * Street Art and the City
    * Activism, urban movements and cityscapes
    * Technologies, Social networking and the mobilisation of urban
sub-cultures and communities
    * Subversive Practices as Placemaking
    * Performing the Urban: Embodiment and Participation
    * Case studies and empirical cases of specific urban subversions such as
parkour, skateboarding, urban exploration, urban pranks, trial riding, urban
golf, graffiti and guerrilla street performance

Moreover, the session encourages presentations that blend theoretical and
empirical case studies to further develop our understanding of how the urban
terrain will be utilised in our increasingly urbanised future. There will
also be a ‘fieldwork’ session in which participants will be encouraged to
visit particular sites nearby to observe particular urban subversions (such
as parkour, graffiti, skateboarding etc).

Please submit an abstract (of no more than 250 words) to
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