RC21 CONFERENCE 2013
Resourceful cities
Berlin (Germany), 29-31 August 2013
Humboldt-University Berlin, Institute for Social Science, Dept. for Urban and Regional Sociology
Resilience cities and the crisis: Causes, processes and changing cities
Whilst the recent meltdown of financial markets, the credit crunch and economic recession have been global phenomena, there has been growing recognition of the uneven impact of the crisis between nations, regions and cities of the world, as well as between different groups of people.
Recessions have historically had uneven spatial impacts as national and sub-national economies differentially connected to the global economy have been affected in a variety of ways by and responded differently to economic downturn. Global connectivity and crisis impacting at these different spatial scales are conditioned in turn by political interpretation and policy responses: at global level, through the G20, IMF and World Bank; at European-level through the EU and the politics of the Eurozone countries; at national level by central government; and, dependent on levels and degree of political autonomy, at regional and local levels through sub-national government and governance arrangements. The impact of the economic recession on places and the people who make up the households in them is conditioned by the interconnected political and policy choices at these different levels of government. Understanding the differentiated nature of risk and resilience within and between cities and households is therefore vital for the understanding of post-crisis cities and their potential for sustainable growth, both in the Global North and Global South.
In the context of globalisation and the rescaling of cities and states, the papers in this session;
a) will further develop our understanding of the relationship between economic crisis and the international and transnational processes shaping different kinds of cities and the everyday lives of residents, thus embedding global dynamics within the cultural political economy and micro social relations of cities;
b) provide a more detailed understanding of the social and spatial elements of the economic crisis;
c) highlight the diverse `avenues of transmission’ and the uneven impact on and varied responses of different types of cities and households in the Global North and the Global South.
Session Organizers
Dr. Patricia Kennett, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, 8 Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TZ, T: +44 (0) 117 9546755, E: p.kennett@bristol.ac.uk
Prof. Richard Meegan, European Institute for Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University, 51 Rodney Street, Liverpool L1 9AT, T: 0151-231-5122 E: r.a.meegan@ljmu.ac.uk
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