RGS-IBG UGRG
Urban Geography Research Group
Annual Report for 2008/09
UGRG Committee September 2008 – September 2009
Chair: Prof Jon May (Queen Mary, University of London)
Secretary: Emma Street (King’s College, London)
Treasurer: Dr Jenny Middleton (Cardiff University)
Website Editor: Tim Heinemann (Queen Mary, University of London)
Communications Editor: Dr Rebecca Edwards (Cardiff University)
Book Review Editor:Dr Jill Fenton (Queen Mary, University of London)
Event Coordinators:Dr Richard Smith (Swansea University) and Dr Margo Huxley (University of Sheffield)
Award and Prize Coordinators:Dr Gesa Helms (Glasgow University) until xxMatt Collins (University of Sheffield), Nina Gribat (Sheffield Hallam University)
The committee during 2008/09
At the 2008AGM, Emma Street was elected as secretary, and Matt Collins and Nina Gribat (check?)joined as PG representatives. Mags Adams stood down from the committee after the 2008 AGM, and Gesa Helms left the committee in xxxx. All of the committee would like to thank Gesa and Mags for their involvement with the Research Group.
Activities during 2008/09
Sponsored sessions at the RGS-IBG 2009
For the 2009 Annual Conference, UGRG sponsored8(4 full sessions, 1 half session, 1 double session and 2 x1.5 sessions) sessions as follows:
‘Sensewalking’ (jointly sponsored by UGRG and SCGRG), Mags Adams (University of Salford); Kye Askins (Northumbria University)
‘Negotiating professional identities in urban development and governance’, Ellie Jupp and Andy Inch (Oxford Brookes University)
‘Young People's Im/Mobile Geographies: Negotiating Urban Spaces’ (jointly sponsored by UGRG and CYFWG)Tracey Skelton (National University of Singapore) and Kate Gough (University of Copenhagen)
‘Comparative Urbanism’ (jointly sponsored by UGRG and DARG), Colin McFarlane (Durham University) and Jennifer Robinson (Open University)
‘Retail and the City’ (jointly sponsored by UGRG and EGRG), Ian R. Cook, and Georgios Tzimas, (University of Manchester )
‘The Potential of the Urban’, Matthew Collins, University of Sheffield
‘Impacts of transnational migration for cities in the Global South’ (jointly sponsored by UGRG and DARG)Tanja Bastia and Jorge Ginieniewicz (University of Manchester)
‘Hospitality and regeneration’ (jointly sponsored by UGRG and GLTRG), Dr Peter Lugosi (Bournemouth University)
The research group also hosted two conference guests for the duration of the conference:
Undergraduate Dissertation Prize
We received 17 nominations for consideration for the 2008 Award as follows:
1. Urban politics in the World Heritage City of Bath
2. Getting a bit of the other: Whiteness and gentrification on Brick Lane
3. (Re)mapping marginality: black gay men's exclusions in Post-Katrina New Orleans
4. Power and the built environment: Ideology, regulation and subversion in Manchester's Exchange Square
5. 'I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall!' Working together on Local Urban Development Projects: Case Study Victoria Ward
6. Accessibility: The Urban Lifeworld of Wheelchair Users
7. Gates, Crime and Community: The effects of gating in Bow, East London
8. An investigation into the relative importance of press readership as a determinant of voting patterns in Bristol
9. The sustainable city: an architect’s point of view
10. Urban renaissance or gentrification? A critical analysis of urban change in Holbeck, Leeds
11. Polish migrants as social actors in Hatfield, Hertfordshire: Social space, transnationalism and discourse
12. A study of the concept of the global city within contemporary film
13. Are single invisible homeless women becoming more visibly homeless in response to policies?
14. Grounding neoliberal globalization: spaces of political contestation in the City of London
15. Deciphering the 'open citadel': discourses of modernity in the planning of a Scottish new town
16. The impact of post-remediation stigma on residential property value
17. Place-making, identity and the construction of community in Nottingham Park Estate
The Awards handed out after discussion at the Committee meeting on October 17th 2008 were as follows:
Joint winners:
Michael Stewart Kordas, ‘Deciphering the 'open citadel': discourses of modernity in the planning of a Scottish new town’
James Trafford, ‘(Re)mapping marginality: black gay men's exclusions in Post-Katrina New Orleans’
Highly commended:
Claire McGlynn, ‘Are single invisible homeless women becoming more visibly homeless in response to policies?’
Leonard Ehrenfried, ‘Getting a bit of the other: Whiteness and gentrification on Brick Lane’
Amy Brooksbank, ‘Urban politics in the World Heritage Site of Bath’
20 nominations were received for the 2009 Dissertation Awards. A decision on the winner and highly commended awards will be made at the UGRG Autumn 2009 Committee meeting.
UGRG conferences and event sponsorship
The committee’s main field of activities centres on the annual UGRG conferences, and, relatedly, an attempt to invite further good quality events in the field of urban geography with a call for conference proposals to be sponsored by the Research Group twice a year.
UGRG Conference MultipliCITIES, 6-7 November 2008, Queen Mary, University of London
Building on two earlier conferences - Paradigmatic Cities? and Approaching the City–the 2008 conference aimed to examine the multiplicities of 'the urban'. Rather than the unitary object implied by the terms 'the urban' or 'the city', multiple urbanisms are currently being called forth by research that, for instance: challenges conventional representations and hierarchies of cities; 'parochialises' cities of 'the North'; develops research into 'ordinary cities'; uncovers/explores diverse ways of inhabiting urban space; re-examines urban histories; or employs inventive methods of investigating urban experiences.
The event was a great success with keynotes including; Mustafa Dikeç, Engin Isin, David Pinder and a joint presentation by Gillian Rose, Monica Degen and Begum Baras.
Forthcoming UGRG conference, GLOBAL CITIES NOW,5-6 November 2009 Centre for Urban Theory, Swansea University, Wales
This year’s UGRG annual conference aims to provide a forum for researchers working on, and contributing to debates about, the broad theme of globalization and the city. We are seeking contributions from across the range of research on cities in globalization in order to reflect critical discussions, and bring together the wide variety of work being undertaken – from, for example, the impact of the credit crisis on financial centres, to critical questioning of the concept of ‘the global city’.
Over two days, the conference will take the form of keynote presentations, shorter papers, and include a poster session by postgraduate students.
Website, communications and book reviews
The UGRG underwent substantial redesign and updating throughout 2008-2009.Past dissertation award winners are now listed on the site, and PDFs of winning dissertations are available for download. One of the website’s key features is the extensive book review section.
A total of 26 book reviews are now posted on the UGRG website for the years 2007-2009. Books are received from a wide range of publishers and reviews are written by postgraduates from the UK and further afield - one or two from the Czech Republic.
Future Plans
All ongoing activities (conferences, RGS-IBG sessions, book reviews, awards/prizes) are active and we are looking forward to further suggestions regarding activities for the next year.
Emma Street (UGRG Secretary) 30.07.09
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