Call for Submissions – Conference Session: Advocating Urban

The NZILA Conference 2017: Small Urban invites contributions that can speak to the the networks of the small urban in cities, towns, and villages, offering a refreshing sensibility for a challenging future. Its academic program will be organized in the format of plenary sessions composed of international keynotes and local panels.

The conference program chairs invite paper, panel, and roundtable proposals for submission to the session entitled Advocating Urban: Empowering the Small, chaired by Lukas Pauer (Vertical Geopolitics Lab):

The promise of the smart city allows to address the complexity of the urban through informed, integrated planning. However, in its managerial focus on risk aversion, creativity is subordinated to the rational. The promise of the smart suppresses experimentation, controls design. And yet design is praised for its ability to facilitate change-making impact within local communities. Small boutique design practices and big interdisciplinary practices both contribute to environmental and social change. But how can critical design practice influence decisions within politico-economic systems? What strategies enable designers to conceptually frame their work while also understanding how to implement and interface with policy-making public institutions?

The section welcomes both individual paper proposals as well as panel and roundtable proposals. For further information on the section and its convener, as well as general information on the conference, please visit the conference website. Please contact the section chair for any question regarding the section.