Call for Papers: “The Idea of the Public in Urban Narrative”

Via the Planet Listserve:

"'The Idea of the Public in Urban Narrative'

Second Biennial of Public Space

Italian National Institute for Urban Planning (INU)

Rome, Italy

May 17-19, 2013

Organizers:      

      
Gregory Smith                 Gilda Berruti
Cornell in Rome              University of Naples Federico II                
gos2@cornell.edu            gberruti@unina.it

This seminar follows on the success of the encounter organized in 2011 concerning Public Space in Rome through the Ages. That effort yielded an excellent set of essays which have now been accepted for publication. Consistent with the spirit of the 2013 Biennial, the proposed seminar wishes to open the geographical range of interest, and appeal to scholars who work in any part of the world. The stress, however, is on contemporary cities, and on research methodologies engaging living communities, using fieldwork or other techniques of investigation. Scholars from any relevant disciplinary background are invited to participate, to stimulate reflection and debate on the different ways of knowing the city. We anticipate that the chief approaches will be drawn from these fields:

§       Urban studies

§       Sociology

§       Geography

§       Anthropology

§       Ethnography

§       Linguistics

§       Gender studies

During the 2011 encounter we concluded that the idea of the public is a slippery cluster concept implying all or some of the notions of ownership, accessibility, and assembly. Given the notion‘s semantic plasticity, we anticipate that the proposed seminar will yield interesting insights into how the idea of the public is used in actual linguistic, narrative and discursive practice. Additionally, the seminar should yield insights into the practical challenges and opportunities present in everyday life. Finally, we hope to encourage debate on the different critical frameworks within which narrative practices can be analyzed.

A key concept is the idea of the citizen, and the notion of urbanicity. The idea of belonging to a public community or space varies spatially according to the perceptions of different categories of citizen, and correspondingly the dividing line between the public and private will vary in different perceptions. We expect to find strong difference, say, in how the threshold is perceived in immigrant groups as opposed to traditional residents. Gender will influence the way the line is drawn, as will age. Formal planning may stage or encourage specific responses among citizens, and citizens may in turn adopt spatial practices which may or may not coincide with planning intentions. Plans as texts may be read and interpreted contrastingly by different readers, even with respect to the planner’s objectives.  Power is of course an important factor, including the way the idea of the public is declinated by various categories of community representatives.

The analysis of narrative, understood as the exchange of built accounts of life events, can be used as an instrument of qualitative research in the most diverse settings. It can concern the micropolitics of the planning process. It can focus on immigrants, urban regeneration, the impact of class, the definition of territory, or the notion of justice, to name of few possibilities. An exploration of narrative in these and other settings will help us gain a better understanding of how the idea of the public is constructed and deployed in everyday urban practice, and the impact such constructions have on the quality of urban life.

Abstracts of about three hundred words should be submitted to either of the organizers. Abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information: a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to 10 keywords. Inclusion of a brief cv is appreciated.