CONFERENCE THEME
Streets connect but also disrupt. Streets are traces of cities’ evolution and of civilizations. In the 21st century, with unprecedented urbanization and the need for planning resilient cities, the impact on streets is tremendous in relation to transport, communication, identities, safety, functions and socio-cultural roles. Queries arise, on whether anticipating or influencing change in the roles and characters of streets should be addressed within pre-determined conventional, professional, and institutional settings or within a broader framework.
Defining the need for reforming streets that disrupt to those that connect, this conference asks: to what extent should disciplines be engaged with street progress in terms of theory, practice and education in an era with new social networks, new political springs, new diseases, and new forms of art and culture? To what extent are streets urban arteries seeking to facilitate communication or is there a new complexity of streets, uncertainties, and questions to be addressed?
As various actors find ways to express what is going on in streets in terms of their design, use and role in cities, the discussion on streets goes beyond the domain of design and planning. Various aspects of deliberate manifestations of social needs and concerns are addressed within the broader scope of everyday life, politics, economy, technology, communication, to name few. With their ambitions and interests, these actors attempt to reform streets in a versatile global framework, using a wide range of tools based on their backgrounds (internet, writing, painting, filming, installing and so on).
Through an international and interdisciplinary exchange of scholarship, the conference provides a platform for the exchange of thoughts on adaptive approaches towards transformed city streets.
