Events

Rethinking Density Workshop, October 2019

Density is central to the city and a fundamental domain of the urban 21st century. It is often positioned as vital for economic, environmental, and social success. Some forms of densification are celebrated, while others are portrayed as a problem, with all manner of consequences in and for the city. Dense urban spaces can fizzle with possibility, but may also be sites of control and alienation. They can be spaces of loose or strong sociality and community, but also of poverty, inequality, and hardship. Now is a moment to reflect on how density takes shape in cities, how we might understand it and the processes connected to it. What does contemporary density mean for how we make sense of the urban condition? How is it being governed or lived, and with what consequences for the city? This workshop looks to take stock of urban density today. The aim of this two-day workshop is to generate a searching, open and ambitious conversation about density and the city. It asks:

What is density in the city today? How might we understand and conceptualise it? Do we need new concepts and understandings of density and its relation to the urban condition?
How is density produced and governed in contemporary cities? What shapes it and with what consequences?
How is density differently perceived and experienced? Might we develop a new conception of density from the multiple ways in which it is lived in different cities?
How might we research density? How might different methods illuminate density in the city today? The workshop will involve a series of ten-minute reflections on any of these or related questions, and will ensure a good amount of time for discussion and reflection
Speakers will be asked to provide reflections based on their work rather than present papers. The event is part of a European Research Council (ERC)-funded project, DenCity, examining how high urban densities are experienced and perceived. It focuses on Asian cities – Mumbai, Tokyo, Manila, Dhaka, and Hong Kong – which not only have some of the highest densities in the world, but which buck the global trend in that their densities are rising. The project examines several density domains in the city, including markets, waste, mobility, and verticality, and aims to develop a deeper comprehension of how high density relates to everyday urban life. In doing so, it seeks to offer fresh conceptualisations of the urban condition, and how density connects to the wider processes and possibilities of the contemporary city.

Speakers

AbdouMaliq Simone, University of Sheffield
Jane M. Jacobs, Yale-NUS College
Suzi Hall, LSE
Jennifer Robinson, UCL
Steven Graham, Newcastle University
Yimin Zhao, Renmin University of China
Margot Rubin, Wits University
Roger Keil, York University