Sofferenza urbana e partecipazione

Vando Borghi ci segnala un altro convegno, internazionale. Insieme a Lavinia Bifulco sta promuovendo una sessione all'interno del secondo Isa-Forum of Sociology dedicato a Social justice and democratization, che si terrà a Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 1-4, 2012.

Il call for papers è su:
Social justice and voice: Urban suffering between
transformations of the city and participation



(Rc21 – Session F)
Social justice and voice: Urban suffering between
transformations of the city and participation
Organisers
Lavinia BIFULCO, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy, lavinia.bifulco@unimib.it
Vando BORGHI,University of Bologna, Italy, vando.borghi@unibo.it
Hugo MERCER, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, hugo.mercer@gmail.com
The session aims to focus on the relationship between two issues that the
scientific debate tends to deal with separately:
a) The first one regards the relationship between social justice and
participation in interventions against social exclusion and it is central in the
analysis of urban regeneration policies based on methods of consultation and
negotiation. In both scholarly and public debates, skeptics and supporters of
participation confront one other with the same vigour. While recognizing the
difficulties involved, supporters tend to underline positive aspects such as more
efficient mechanisms of consensus, more integrated and appropriate solutions
and an improved democratic process. Its critics object that participation
generally involves only a few subjects and ends up reinforcing inequality. From
this point of view, we should understand how participation impacts on access
to opportunities, resources and rights.
b) The second issue concerns the worsening conditions in urban suffering
because of different and interwoven factors: dynamics regarding income and
employment, the impoverishment of social relations, the growing spatial
concentration based on income and ethnicity, the difficult access to opportunities
and rights (especially for immigrants). The problem here is to
understand: i. how these conditions are changing in relation to the changing
dimensions (tangible and intangible) of social life in contemporary cities; and
ii. how, in both analysis and interventions, we can give the appropriate space
to the agency and the voice of those who experience these changes.
In order to connect and to discuss these topics, this call for papers intends to
address the following questions:
• Researching urban suffering and citizens` voice: issues of definition,
concepts and methodologies;
• How do voice and agency interact with and effect social justice in
interventions of urban development?
• Social justice in urban contexts: what is the relationship between action
“from the top” and `”from below”?
• Urban suffering: what are the spatial scales and dynamics through which
it is changing? How do institutional dynamics and organizational artifacts
impact on it? What is the role of associations, NGOs, informal groups, social
movements in organizing it? What are the individual strategies for facing it in
everyday urban life?
We expect to receive theoretical and empirical papers. Cross-national papers are especially welcome.
Deadlines
• On-line abstract submission from August 25 to
December 15, 2011.
• All Forum participants (presenters, chairs, discussants, etc.) need to pay the early
registration fee by April 10, 2012, in order to be included in the programme. If not
registered, their names will not appear in the Programme or Abstracts Book.
• On-line registration will open August 25, 2011.