Spatial Reconfigurations of Work in Cities

Two-day Seminar at the University of Portsmouth, UK, 20/21 April 2017

Funded by the Urban Studies Foundation in series entitled ‘Reconceptualising Urban Landscapes of Work’

Work is increasingly organized outside employer-employee systems, people hold multiple jobs and an increasingly mobile workforceworks in multiple places including own homes, other people’s homes, co-working spaces, warehouses, virtual spaces, public spaces and ‘third-spaces’ (Daniel and Ellis-Chadwick 2016; Pink et al., 2015; Gough, 2012; Brennan-Horley, 2010; Felstead et al., 2005).These new realities of practices and places of work emerging in cities, and the consequences for urban systems, are still patchy and poorly understood.

As the first of three seminars exploring the spatial reconfiguration of economic practice in contemporary ‘developed economy’ cities, this 2-day seminar will focus onchanging urban labour markets, commuting and work-patterns, new work technologies, new urban work sites and creativespaces. It aims to rethink existing concepts in urban research such as ‘the journey to work’, clustering, formal vs. informal work(spaces), private vs. public spaces and corporate vs. social spaces.

Key themes for the Portsmouth seminar are:

  • How have the working rhythms of cities changed and what does this mean for urban systems in terms of infrastructure, urban design and planning?
  • Whereis formal, informal and precarious work undertaken; in what urban sites, industries and places, and what spaces do these create?
  • What are the mechanisms and outcomes of activity clustering in cities? Or is ‘the cluster’ an outmoded concept?
  • What new urban workspaces/geographies are emerging around the ‘platform’ economy?
  • What are the varying material outcomes of new working practices and technologies in contemporary cities in ‘developed’ economies?
  • How useful or limited are our existing theoretical frameworks?

We are bringing together researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds for a lively mixture of paper presentations, panel sessions and informal networking. Confirmed paper speakers are: J. Hong(UBDC, University of Glasgow) on ICT andcommuting patterns of workers;B. Burchill (University of Cambridge) on the new diversity of fixed and mobile workplaces;S Armondi ((Politecnico di Milano) on new manufacturing and innovative workplaces; C Kayanan (University of Michigan) on innovation districts; M. Pallares Barbera (Autonomous University of Barcelona), and M. d’Ovidio (University of Bari) on new industrial and live-work spaces;T. Virani (Queen Mary London),S. Schmidt (IRS, Berlin), C. Lorne (University of Manchester) and J. Merkel (City University) on ‘new’ collaborative urban workspaces; A Wilkins and D Reuschke (University of Southampton) on homes as co-working spaces.Panel speakers additionally currently include Stephanie Taylor, Rachel Granger, Andy Pratt, Oliver Ibert, Brian Hracs, Donald Houston, Taylor Brydges.

The themes/discussions will be further developed at following seminars in Southampton (September 2017) and Athens (February 2018).

The seminar will run from 1030 on Thursday 20th April until 1600 on Friday 21st April. There is no fee though you will need to pay for an optional evening meal and overnight accommodation if needed. Some funding is available for student/unwaged bursaries. For further details, please contact Carol Ekinsmyth, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth (). Queries welcome.

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The event will take place at the University of Portsmouth, Portland Building, Room 0.28 - located about 5 minutes walk from Portsmouth Harbour and Portsmouth and Southsea railway stations. Local hotels at Gunwharf Quays (Holiday Inn Express) the city centre (The IBIS and Premier Inn) or Southsea (The Queens Hotel, The holiday Inn, Premier Inn) are all conveniently located.

The seminar series is funded by the Urban Studies Foundation and jointly organized by Dr Carol Ekinsmyth (University of Portsmouth), Dr Darja Reuschke (University of Southampton) and Dr Maria Tsampra and Dr Alex Afouxenidis (EKKE, Athens).