+++ Apologies for Cross-Postings +++ Dear colleagues:
we would like to invite you to our International Conference "Constructing Resilience", which will take place on January 17-18, 2013 in Berlin. Under the impressions of uncontrollable natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy, socio-technical misjudgements as unveiled in the nuclear disaster in Fukushima or the controversial negotiations about the sources and consequences of climate change, societal debates increasingly have turned from valuing indeterminacy as an opportunity to perceiving uncertainty as a threat. The world, it seems, lives in a permanent state of emergency. Somewhere between resignation and the belief to control risks, a "new language of preparedness" (Ash Amin) is emerging, and vulnerability and resilience have become keywords in this new language. The aim of this conference is to stimulate cross-disciplinary dialogue among leading experts representing sociology, political science, geography, planning studies and regional economics about the notions, conceptual scope and limitations of resilience. A particular emphasis will be put on the socio-technical, political and discursive construction work that underlies calculations of vulnerability and strategies of enhancing resilience. The conference is co-organized by the HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU) and the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS), and supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Highlights: + Guru Banavar, IBM New York: IBM's Smarter City Program + Ash Amin, Cambridge: Surviving the Turbulent Future + Susan Christopherson, Cornell: Learning and Adaptation as Key Processes in Adaptation + Jon Coaffee, Birmingham: Spatial Planning and the Shock-Proof City + Bruce Goldstein, Boulder: Resilience through Collaborative Storytelling + David Stark, Columbia: Futures of Resilience Research For further details about the program and for registration, please visit our website: http://www.resilience-berlin.de/ We hope to see you at our conference! Best wishes, Gernot Grabher on behalf of the co-organizers: Oliver Ibert, Gabriela Christmann and Heiderose Kilper | Gernot Grabher | | Dean | MSc Urban Planning | | Professor | Urban and Regional Economic Studies | | HafenCity University Hamburg | | University for the Built Environment and Metropolitan Development | | Winterhuder Weg 31 | 22085 Hamburg | +49 40 42827 4561 |
