Predictive Urbanism

In this Public Colloquium, Melissa Butcher, Sarah Keenan, Joel McKim and Scott Rodgers engage in a roundtable discussion with Manu Luksch about her VR Exhibition Predictive Cities. The live colloquium, hosted by the BISR Urban Intersections Experimental Collective, will also be recorded and made available as a podcast.

The Predictive Cities exhibition –  sponsored by the BISR Urban Intersections Experimental Collective, running from 16 June – 31 August 2021 – is situated in the virtual space of a Mozilla Hubs VR chatroom. It contains two kinds of objects. First, memes that spawn a selection of Luksch’s artworks interrogating network urbanism and citizen agency, and second, spherical photographs of Songdo, South Korea, internationally famous as case study of greenfield smart cities. The series Songdo is custom-made for VR and shown the first time at this occasion.

Attendees are strongly encouraged to visit the exhibition before attending the Public Colloquium, though can also choose to do so afterwards.

Spaces and Flows conference

Looking forward to speaking at the 2018 International Urban and Extra-Urban Studies conference this week in Heidelberg. Giving a paper on gender, class and driving in Delhi.

https://spacesandflows.com/2018-conference/program

Gendering the City article

The introduction to our GPC special issue on ‘Gendering the City’ is now available online:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0966369X.2018.1462773

In Conversation with Korean film director Lee Hyuk-sang

Pleased to be holding a ‘conversation’ with Korean film director and activist, Lee Hyuk-sang, at the Korean Cultural Centre, London, 02 November.

Lee Hyuk-sang is part of the Pinks collective of activists and filmmakers, tackling subjects such as LGBTQ rights, workers’ struggles, and state violence against citizens. The London Korean Film Festival is screening three of their most recent works (Two Doors, The Remnants and Goodbye My Hero).

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lkff-2017-in-conversation-with-director-lee-hyuk-sang-pinks-tickets-38936078860?aff=es2

http://koreanfilm.co.uk/site/the-2017-festival/programme-lineup/documentary

New Publication from Creating Hackney as Home

Re-working encounter: the role of reflexivity in managing difference

Marked by high levels of diversity and gentrification, changing demographics in east London highlight the need for new analytical tools to examine how formerly familiar spaces must now be re-negotiated. Conceptual frameworks of habit and affect have informed the contemporary analysis of how encounters with difference unfold within transforming cityscapes. However, findings from a participatory research project with young people suggest a more reflexive management of classed and racialised encounters is occurring as accumulated cultural knowledge is tested and revised from which new practices emerge. Attention to processes of reflexivity highlighted the capacity of young people to consciously weigh options and choose a range of strategies under conditions of ‘breach’, including: degrees of acceptance of change; re-working space use through avoidance and adapting everyday practices such as dress and food; as well as developing attributes that enable engagement such as empathy. Feelings of judgement appeared as a dominant driver of reflexivity, while disposition and place contextualised and modified responses. Yet, while the possibilities for subjective re-evaluation and adaptation are apparent, the study raises questions of inequality in the expectation that young people are being asked to adapt to new cultural norms not of their making.