In the City: A Seminar Series on Urban Life, Art, Culture and Politics

Presented by the Centre for Cultural Studies Research & the School for Arts and Digital Industries, University of East London

All seminars 18:00-20:00 

Room US.1.01 

University Square Stratford, 1 Salway Road, Stratford, London E15 1NF

All free, All welcome, no advance booking required

Directions and Map: http://www.universitysquarestratford.ac.uk/find-us.htm

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THIS SEMINAR HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO UCU NATIONAL STRIKE ACTION. FUTURE DATE TO BE CONFIRMED.

The Participative City: Democracy, Participation and the Right to the City 

Anna Minton (UEL) on resisting the neoliberalisation of the city. 

Alessio Kolioulis (Engagée journal ) on radical cities and the democratisation of nightlife culture

Jessica Adams (UEL) on participatory art

Jeremy Gilbert (UEL) on radical democracy and the right to the city 

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Previous seminars in this series:

Seminar 1 October 9th 

Living For the City: Imagining, inhabiting and creating in urban (and suburban) space

Speakers

Andrew Branch (UEL)

Suburban reverie Social (im)mobility and resisting acts of domination 

Tim Lawrence (UEL)

Dancing in the city: Legacies of the 1970s and early 1980s

Blake Morris (Walk Exchange www.walkexchange.org)

A Wander is not a Slog: Walking Together at a Distance

Clare Qualmann (UEL)

East End Jam, walking, foraging, picking and preserving the city

Debra Shaw (UEL)

Monsters in the Metropolis

November 6th 

The Municipal Commons: Urban governance and the idea of community

After nearly a decade of austerity-led neglect, many local urban communities are struggling to cope with the erosion of important services that help to bring them together. Amid all the gloom, however, there are a few encouraging signs on the horizon. Local authorities like Preston and Newham have engaged with the concept of community wealth building and its aim to produce inclusive and seemingly democratic local economies [1]. Similarly, while under economic pressure to grow student numbers and become global players, universities are also being asked to consider how their research can engage with, and impact on, the places in which they are located [2]. Certainly, in contrast to the metrics intended to gauge the global reach of academic work, these institutions need to further consider their connection to the local community.

This seminar in the CCSR series, In the City, sets out to explore how various ideas of urban community might relate to, or can become realized in, initiatives like community wealth building and the truly civic university. It also asks what kind of role so-called anchor institutions, like the university, might play in revitalizing post-austerity local communities.

Programme

Carys Hughes (UEL) on left governmentality and participatory governance (tbc)

Julian Manley (UCLan) on community and co-operative wealth building: from top-down to rhizomatic-up!

Paul Watt (Birkbeck) on urban community 

Keir Milburn (Leicester) on ‘Public-Commons Partnerships’ 

Tony Sampson (UEL, CERG) introduction and chair

Followed by Q&A and discussion

All seminars 18:00-20:00. Venue: University Square Stratford, 1 Salway Road, Stratford, London E15 1NF. Room US.1.01. All free, all welcome, no advance booking required. Directions and Map: 

For further information please email t.d.sampson@uel.ac.uk

[1] See CLES on community wealth building. https://cles.org.uk/tag/community-wealth-building/

[2] See UPP Foundation report Truly Civic: Strengthening the connection between universities and their placeshttps://upp-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Civic-University-Commission-Final-Report.pdf