Collective Memory: Exploring Social & Spatial Possibility, Participation or Exclusion

Urban Edge Workshop: Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths, University of London Collective Memory: Exploring Social & Spatial Possibility, Participation or Exclusion Organised and lead by David Kendall Saturday 27th February 2010 Proposed architectural and environmental changes in and around Heathrow airport could suggest that London’s status as a Global City is forcing the spatial growth of West London. This plan leaves open questions as to how the social dynamics of neighbourhoods which are inserted in or around the proposed airport extension could expand or contract. The concept of ‘collective or public memory’ could provide an entry point to explore the urban sociology of these locations and map social possibility, participation or exclusions. This one-day interdisciplinary workshop invites participants from a wide range of disciplines -architecture, anthropology, community activism, design, environmentalism, geography, journalism, law, photography, politics, urban regeneration and planning, social research and visual arts. Participants will visit proposed sites and explore how suburban-urban landscapes act as fixed or fluid social spaces. Where macro spatial concepts of globalization: land usage, legal procedures, speculative economic development and surveillance. Fuse with everyday social practices and micro political spaces of ‘memory’, historical conservation, community and environmental activism. Creating new spatial ideas and collaborations could offer opportunities for continued partnership-research and open up new social debates about community cohesion, participation and the potential extension of city-spaces. The outcome of the workshop will be a series of written propositions and visual materials (maps and photographs) that explore the urban sociology of the site. There will be an attendance fee for the workshop, please contact Anh Tu, Centre for Urban and Community Research at [email protected] or telephone +44(0)207 919 7390 to secure a place. For Additional information, please contact David Kendall at [email protected] http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cucr/