Urbicide: The Killing of Cities? An international and interdisciplinary academic workshop, 24 2!th "o#ember 2$$!

%ponsored by the &olitics %tate %pace research gro'p, (epartment of )eography, Uni#ersity of ('rham, U*K* and &+C: The &eace and Conflict %t'dies &rogram, Colgate Uni#ersity, U*%*A ,ocation: )-C, .est /'ilding, (epartment of )eography, Uni#ersity of ('rham, ('rham, UK* -ationale As the world has entered a decade within which the ma0ority of the world1s pop'lation will li#e in 'rban areas, the 1right to the city1 for the world1s 2*! billion 'rbanites has ne#er been a more contested political, social and geopolitical iss'e* As well as the more familiar debates abo't migration, m'ltic'lt'ralism, and ine3'ality, the 'nprecedented scale of global 'rbani4ation is also directing intellect'al attention in the h'manities and social sciences to foc's on the role of cities as dominant sites of destr'ction, #iolence, ins'rgency and terrorism in the contemporary world* Three con#erging areas of research can be identified here* 5irst, in both the )lobal "orth and )lobal %o'th, researchers analy4ing cities are starting to consider deliberate attempts at the annihilation of cities as mi6ed physical, social and c'lt'ral spaces* 7ncreasing recognition is being gi#en to the eras're of 'rban places, whether thro'gh massi#e capitalist spec'lation, the destr'cti#e processes of planned 'rban restr'ct'ring 8associated partic'larly with the 1megapro0ects1 associated with neoliberal regimes of 'rban de#elopment9, state backed warfare or terrorist #iolence* %econd, the central symbolic role of 'rban sites as physical targets of terrorist, co'nter terror and state terror campaigns is also gaining increasing recognition within critical international politics research* %'ch work is being moti#ated by the widespread reali4ation that 1asymmetric1, ins'rgent, and network based political #iolence can not be 'nderstood thro'gh traditional nation state based paradigms* 7n addition, in the post Cold .ar, western militaries are caref'lly transforming their doctrine, e3'ipment and techno scientific orientation so that the control and destr'ction of 'rban ins'rgencies in tightly b'ilt 'rban en#ironments so called :ilitary ;perations in Urban terrain 8:;UT9 becomes their de facto f'nction* 5inally, the emergence of cities as targets of ethno nationalist #iolence 8as in the <==$s /alkan .ars9 or as targets of ;rientalist #iolence 8as in the case of Chechnya, 7ra3 and the ;cc'pied Territories9 is the s'b0ect of a growing body of work in politics, sociology, anthropology and geography* ;ne central concept is emerging which offers potential to tie together all three of these areas of work: 1'rbicide1 or the deliberate attempt to deny, or kill, the city* .hilst the term is

gaining widening co#erage in all three of the abo#e research strands, there has, as yet, been no attempt to organi4e a cross c'tting and m'lti scaled workshop to bring together the di#erse research comm'nities who are becoming increasingly interested in both the political and policy #iolence targeting cities* The ('rham 'rbicide workshop will do 0'st this* Using the interdisciplinary orientation of ('rham )eography1s &olitics %tate %pace gro'p, the workshop will seek to specify the potential and limits of this emerging inter disciplinary concept, emphasi4ing the similar logic that operates across the scale of local, national and global* 7t will de#elop and p'blish a gro'nd breaking interdisciplinary dialog'e between key researchers in geography, international politics, planning, sociology, architect're, anthropology, history, and law, who are de#eloping research into the role of cities as sites of both planning related and political #iolence* And it will attempt to de#elop a c'tting edge research agenda into the nat're of 'rbicide that can be p'rs'ed f'rther by both the cross disciplinary and cross national research networks that will be established at the workshop* The organi4ers wo'ld be partic'larly interested in papers that address the following: "eoliberal cities, 'rban planning, and annihilations of place .ar as 'rbicide in the 2$th cent'ry &lace annihilation and colonial power Urbicide as war on collecti#e and architect'ral memory &op'lar and media c'lt'res and representations of 'rban annihilation Urbicide, terrorism and the 1war on terror1 :ilitary shifts towards 1:ilitary ;perations on Urban Terrain1 :ilitary technoscience and the city The relations between 'rbicide and other forms of political #iolence The reconstr'ction and resilience of cities ;rgani4ation of the .orkshop The emphasis of the 2 day workshop will be on enco'raging inter disciplinary interaction* To keep the e#ent to a small si4e, all the 2! 2$ or so participants will be re3'ired to make abstract and paper s'bmissions* %peakers will ha#e <! min'tes to present their central ideas> papers will be s'bmitted in ad#ance of the e#ent and will be posted on a web site for participants to read before the e#ent* &ractical details regarding the #en'e, programme, costs, timetable, accommodation and transport will be sent to e#eryone who has a paper accepted to the e#ent* The charge for the e#ent will be nominal* /eca'se the b'dget for the e#ent is #ery limited, participants will be e6pected to make their own transport and accommodation arrangements 'sing f'll information pro#ided by the organi4ers* %'bmission of Abstracts &lease email abstracts of 2$$ words to all three of the 2 organi4ers by 2$ A&-7, 2$$!: (a#id*Campbell?d***

s*d*n*graham?d*** dmonk?m*** &'blications The best papers from the e#ent will be p'blished in a ma0or edited book and, possibly, a 0o'rnal special iss'e (aniel /ertrand :onk )eorge T* and :yra .* Cooley Chair of &eace and Conflict %t'dies (irector, &eace and Conflict %t'dies &rogram @& C;"A Colgate Uni#ersity Bamilton, "C