Philosophy of the City update - April 2022

It has been a while... and some great videos came out. For example, here's a great clip about the MX3D bridge in Amsterdam:

The really, really important news is, of course, that there will be a Philosophy of the City conference: 20.–22.10.2022 Turin, Italy. You can find the CfP here and submit your abstract here. (We are still struggling with the Philosophy of the City website. Sorry!)

To be on the safe side: Let me repeat... Philosophy of the City. October 20-22, 2022. Turin, Italy.

Of course, there are also new things to read, like the wonderful special issue "Philosophy of the City" of the East Asian Journal of Philosophy (edited by Sanna Lehtinen and Tea Lobo).

Tea Lobo also was so kind to invite Sage Cammers-Goodwin and me for an interview for her vlog:

Shane Epting most likely also has a new book out. He did two last year. Hence, the writes books quicker than I do blogs ;) - Check out his publications on his super-cool new website with great pix.

Last, but not least, we will host a Datathon on May 13, 2022. The event is part of a small grant, which we received for a BRIDE legacy project from DesignLab. At the event, we would like to learn how people make sense of smart city-data. So, if you want to play with the data from our bridge and help Sage Cammers-Goodwin with the final part of her PhD project, feel free to register online.

That's all folks! I am sure that I overlooked something. Sorry!

 

Philosophy of the City Round-up

1. Philosophy of City 2019: We just published our Call for papers for the annual conference of the Philosophy of the City Research Group. You still have time to think about a cool subject for your brilliant talk. Abstracts are due in June 2019. But we expect you to come. OK?

2. Taylor Stone has defended his PhD thesis earlier this week. His pioneering doctoral thesis on Artifical Lightning is available online.

3. If you want to get an update on the BRIDE project: Kars Alfrink, who is working on the project at TUD, just posted an update on his blog.

4. Since we are talking about BRIDE: If you are around in Amsterdam on February 1, 2019, and have some time at 15:00 - we are looking for volunteers to interact with the 3D-printed IoT-enabled MX3D bridge to create our initial data set. Please, send me an email if you are interested.

5. Finally, as a reminder: the Call for the Philosophy of the City Summer Colloquium 2019 is still open and you may still join us for the Social Resilience in Diverse Societies workshop.

Philosophy of the City Round-up

Philosophy of the City Research Group

LinkedIn group

The Philosophy of the City Research Group has expanded its communication channels. We are now also running a LinkedIn group. Feel free to join us! You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook. Feel invited to inform us about new publications and events through one of our channels or by email.

Events

The Philosophy of the City Research Group will host two panels at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (New York, January 7–10, 2019). You can find the details on page 13 and 17 of the conference programme.

The Call for papers for the Summer Colloquium 2019 on Urban Aesthetics is still on. The meeting will take place from June 17 till 19, 2019, at the University of Helsinki (Finland).

Finally, you should expect the CfPs for our Annual Conference in January 2019. The Annual Conference will take place in Detroit (Oct 2019).

Recent activities

Our paper on The Scope of Earth-Observation to Improve the Consistency of the SDG Slum Indicator came out. I plan to extend the section on the ethics and politics of 'slum detection' into a full paper and presented on these aspects at the annual conference of the NordSTEVA in Oslo.

Finally, I got involved in preparing a workshop on societal resilience, which will explicitly focus on so-called vulnerable groups, which too often are only understood as "weak links" in the resilience literature. In the workshop, we will explore how these groups contribute to urban resilience.

A brief update

Having been ill for quite some time in March, I slowly start to catch up. Here's a brief update:

1. The Philosophy of the City Summer Colloquium on Technology and the City is taking shape. We have selected a total of 22 papers. The programme will published soon on www.philosophyofthecity.org. Note that there will be a limited number of places available for people not presenting. The maximum number of participants will be limited to 40.

2. Our book project ("Towards a Philosophy of Urban Technologies") is also making progress. We are currently reviewing the chapters submitted and will inform the authors by Mid-June about the outcome of the review process.

Finally, the Philosophy of the City Conference in Bogota is also on the agenda. We are currently spreading the call and hope to receive a great number of wonderful proposals by June 1, 2018. Again, the Philosophy of the City website is the place to go and have a look at the Call.

CfP Philosophy of the City Summer Colloquium 2018

1st Philosophy of the City Summer Colloquium
Technology & the City
June 11-13, 2018, University of Twente

Call for papers

In addition to our annual conference, the Philosophy of the City Research Group hosts one Summer Colloquium per year. The first Colloquium will be held at the University of Twente (NL).

The aim of the Summer Colloquia is to bring together scholars within a specific domain of Philosophy of the City. The first Colloquium will explore the intersection and interplay between Philosophy of the City and Philosophy of Technology.

While the city and its parts are designed, built, maintained, governed, and destroyed with the means of technology, surprisingly little work has been undertaken on the interplay of technologies and the City or the more broadly metaphysical question of ‘Technology and the City.’ Some prominent philosophers of the past, like Lewis Mumford, had a striking dystopian view on the impact of Technology on the City. By contrast, the contemporary vision of the “smart city” sets forth the promise to address important societal challenges (e.g., climate adaptation and fighting global warming) with the help of sensors, big data analytics, and ‘city dashboards.’ Our Philosophy of the City Summer Colloquium aims to develop a more nuanced and holistic perspective on the role of technology in city life.

To ensure an intense and in-depth discussion, we will accept a maximum of 20 papers. In addition, we will accept a maximum of 10 posters from PhD candidates and Master-level students. PhD candidates are also invited to submit a paper.

Draft papers will be circulated one month ahead of the Colloquium. Each paper will be presented and discussed in a 60 minute-time slot (30 minutes for presentation, 10 minutes for a formal response, and 20 minutes of discussions). Each participant will be asked to comment on one paper. A limited number of papers will be presented in parallel sessions.

PhD candidates and Master-level students will have 3 minutes to pitch their posters in a dedicated session before the poster presentation.

Potential topics include

• The place of technology in the city
• Technology and the urban / rural divide
• Social justice, technology, and the City
• Living with disaster: Anticipation and resilience
• The aesthetics of urban technologies
• Race, Technology, and the City
• Urban cyberspaces
• “Kill all techies!” High-Tech Companies and Gentrification
• The role of Philosophy of the City in Engineering Education

Confirmed keynote speakers

Ekim Tan (Play the City, Amsterdam)

Philip Brey (University of Twente)

Peter-Paul Verbeek (University of Twente)

Timeline

February 15, 2018	Submission of abstracts (350 words, prepared for blind review)
March 15, 2018	Notification of authors, opening of registration
April 15, 2018	Closing of registration
May 15, 2018	Circulation of draft papers among participants

Submission of abstract

Send submissions (prepared for anonymous review) and questions to:

Dr. Michael Nagenborg, m.h.nagenborg@utwente.nl

All abstracts will be reviewed by at least one member of the executive committee and one member of the programme committee.

Venue

The Symposium will take place at the Conference Hotel Drienerburght (http://www.drienerburght.nl). Rooms have been reserved for the participants and can be booked directly through the hotel’s website, once the registration has been opened.

The University of Twente (https://www.utwente.nl/en/) is located in the east of the Netherlands between the cities of Enschede and Hengelo. The most convenient international airport is Schiphol (close to Amsterdam). There is a direct train from Schiphol to Enschede Central Station every hour. The trip takes about two hours.

Conference fee

Master students: 30 EUR
PhD candidates: 80 EUR
Regular conference fee: 130 EUR

The conference fee includes lunch and catering. Opportunities for joint dinners will be provided, but dinner will not be included in the conference fee.

Executive Committee

Shane Epting (President), Ronald Sundstrom (Vice-President), Michael Nagenborg (Secretary), and Jules Simon (Treasurer)

Programme Committee

To be established

Contact

Dr. Michael Nagenborg, m.h.nagenborg@utwente.nl

Call as Download

You can download the Call as PDF here.