Welcome to the international research conference on conflict and protest movements research. This confererence is organised by the Spaces in Conflict and Crisis research group in partnership with Aula Ciutat and the Observatoire de Conflits from the Quebec University in Montreal (Canada) and will be hosted by the Instituto Interuniversitario de Desarrollo Local at the University of Valencia (Spain).

Conflicts around planning issues represent an important element in urban politics. Their relevance as a vehicle of political mobilization is growing alongside their impact in terms of public opinion. This congress responds to a social claim in a context of increasing criticism on metropolitan governance and planning practices in many cities: the need for more discussion and reflection on the causes, dynamics and outcomes of locational, spatial, urban or territorial conflicts.

This conference aims at bringing together different perspectives on conflicts around urban planned developments, with a focus on the role planning practices may play both in defining/framing and in possibly solving/reframing conflicts. In particular, it will focus on crucial aspects of urban geography: the multi-scalarity of urban phenomena and policies; new approaches in conflict and protest movement research; the spatial dimension of social mobilization; the growing claim for deliberative democracy mechanisms or the limits to existent institutional structures and practices for decision-making.

Call for Papers

The conference invites contributions focusing on (although not necessarily limited to):

• Conflict research theories and methodologies: papers focusing on methodological approaches, states of the art and theoretical frameworks around the concepts of urban protest, spatial, locational or urban conflicts, neoliberal urban planning and  disenfranchisement.
•  Strategies, actors and new social movements:  papers focusing on actors, strategies and the changing nature of conflicts and participants in conflicts, from NIMBY attitudes to more general and complex protest movements, such as 15M or Occupy the Wall Street movements. In general, about the transformative potential of social mobilization.
•  Contesting urban planning and projects: the changing nature of urban planning practices and their influence on public opinion formation, including forms of protest and social mobilization in opposition to planned developments. Reflections or case studies on urban, spatial or locational conflicts.

Abstracts (in English, max 500 words) and a brief biographic note of the author(s) (English, max 200 words) should be sent to conflictsinthecity@gmail.com. Additional enrollment will be accepted limited to room capacity. PhD Students are encouraged to submit paper proposals based on their doctoral research.

Important dates

20th December at 15:00h: Deadline for abstracts submission.

20th January 2014: Publication of the list of accepted papers.

1st March 2014: Deadline for the submission of full papers

For more information, please click here.