From H-Material Culture:
The Cultures of the Suburbs International Research Network is holding its 2nd Symposium, Out of Control Suburbs? Comparing Representations of Order, Disorder and Sprawl, June 27-28, 2013 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York:
Following the success of our 2011 Inaugural Symposium, our second meeting
seeks to discuss the nature and representation of suburbs, suburban life
and sprawl whether local, regional or global. Where are the margins of
suburbia and do they represent order, disorder or nostalgia? How is sprawl
defined – as organic social process or negative cultural impact? And how is
it experienced by diverse communities and individuals? What are the
aesthetics of order and sprawl? How do representations of suburban sprawl
and disorder converge or diverge between the Global South and North – and
within the Global North?
Questions that the symposium aims to address include: how are order and
disorder understood and represented in relation to suburban zoning,
planning and placemaking; greenbelt spaces, public parks and private
gardens? How do poverty, physical deterioration and crime change the ways
that particular communities are envisaged, and for whom are these places
policed and controlled? In what ways would a “Right to the Suburb” differ
from a “Right to the City”? How does the disorderly mobility of
suburbanites – pedestrians, commuters and migrants – give rise to new
visions for managing their movements at various scales? In what ways do the
artistic, social, civic, sporting and religious aspects of a community
shift and change according to the sprawling sites and changing
infrastructures around them? And how do children and their elders reflect
on the order or disorder of their suburbs?
For more information please consult the conference website: http://suburbs.exeter.ac.uk