11th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice Sustainable “Glocal” Space and Social Life

June 16 - 19, 2023

Zanzibar University | Zanzibar, Tanzania

Theresa J Kaijage & Rita Minga

Title:

Projects pertaining to Cities and Identities as well as Challenges to Diversity and Inclusion: The social work perspective on Environmental Development in Tanzania

Abstract:

Environment may mean livelihood and lifestyle while development could mean people exercising their right to utilize the environment to better the life of all everyone. Issues of Diversity, Equity, Inclusiveness, and Belongingness are part and parcel of the identity of all. There may be similarities in our ethnic, kinship, and indigenous affiliations, but diversity exists even in those identities; and we equitably attempt sharing available resources materially, emotionally, and spiritually, in indigenous communities. Everyone feels included in the web of connectedness that tie one kin to another. There is belongingness at family, village, and community levels.

The social work ethical values of Social Justice, Dignity and Worth a Person, and the Importance of Human Relationships are guaranteed in indigenous communities. Equitable distribution of wealth and power may be challenging, but social justice at households and clan levels exist; so, does Informed Consent and Confidentiality. Information from kinfolks is shared. Representational democracy is assumed in indigenous governance.

The power structures that govern development projects on Global, Local Space and Social Life today, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belongingness, hardly originate at local level, or include representation of indigenous authorities. Bottom-up decision-making give in to down-stream management and top-down project planning and implementation. Attempts towards mitigation strategies in project implementation are underway. Anticipation of unintended consequences when designing development programs in Sub-Saharan African may prevent blessings in extractive mineral resources from being a curse. Tanzania, especially Zanzibar, is minimizing risk when planning for the Blue Economy in ways to be examined.

Vaishnavi Malu

School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India

Title:

Imagining Street as an Urban Continuum in Conjunction with The Metro Corridor at the Grade Level

Abstract:

Urban transformation as a result of urbanization and internationalization has changed our cities and its public spaces. The public spaces of 21st century are fragmented, inaccessible, or privately owned as a result of changes in their function and spatial structure. The increasing mobility of contemporary society has challenged the notion of public place. The inhabitants must now travel to specific destinations to find space for public life. In a time when the so-called public space in cities such as parks, gardens, plazas, waterfronts, malls, etc. are transforming into a privatized pseudo-public realm, one of the most universal public spaces, ‘streets’ is yet overlooked.

“Streets and their sidewalks, the main public spaces of a city, are its most vital organs.”-Jane Jacobs.

Throughout the centuries, street has evolved in terms of its role and design. It was designed for pedestrians and tailored to their needs such as marketplace, town meetings, and military parades. The improvements in technology and social organization resulted in streets being main thoroughfare for vehicles and with shared mobility systems like the metro being introduced, attention to infrastructure development has sidelined the pedestrians who are no longer the main users. This change in transportation has affected the essence of street as public space.

In Indian cities, vehicular circulation has become the primary focus for street design and public transportation systems have failed because ridership was lower than anticipated, due to poor lastmile connectivity. Cities have been affected by congestion and segregation as a result of reducing streets to transit networks, which has reduced spaces for public life.

The intent is to understand the role of streets as public spaces with the advancement in mobility networks and the missing social life along sanitized streets of the city. The thesis will argue how the street as a public space can be developed at street level while the metro intervenes smoothly in our mobility network to provide a healthy user experience and rethink street as a play to stay.

Keywords: Mobility, Streets, Public Life, Continuum

June 16 - 19, 2023

Zanzibar University | Zanzibar, Tanzania

University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, China

Title:

A Glimpse of African Traditional Time Philosophy

– A Study of Non-fiction “The Crocodiles of Yamoussoukro”

Abstract:

Naipaul’s journal to Côte d’Ivoire, in The Crocodile of Yamoussoukro, focuses on African unique philosophy of time and the values of life derived from it. African treat “ at present” as the most important time dimension for existence, embodying their intelligent use of time, and this shows a unique landscape for African national identity, and constitutes an inexhaustible source of vitality in contemporary Africa. Africans’ dialectical approach to the certainty and uncertainty of the time dimension of “future” prompts them to emphasize on the happiness of the time dimension of “at present” and build up a complete spiritual world, live in harmony with nature and others. This non-fiction expresses Naipaul’s concern for the “special knowledge and spirit” of contemporary Africa, objectively reflecting his critical attitude towards modern Western civilization and his awareness of the reconstruction of postcolonial discourse systems.

Yanyu Cui*1, Xiaoming Zhu*2, Jiheng Hu*3

*1 PhD students, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China;

*2Professor, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China;

*3Dongying Banboo Dragonfly Intelligent Tech. CO.,LTD , Shandong Province, China

Title:

Historic Landscape Characters of rural area in The Yellow River Estuary Area Based on Historical Images and Oral History Research (From 1960 to 2018)

Abstract:

Landscape is the carrier of local historical information. Changes in factors such as climate, topography, resources and population have shaped the changes and layers of urban and rural historical landscapes.

The Britain and the United States have established historic geographical information systems(HGIS) of their own. England formed Historic Landscape Characterisation(HLC) research method based on historic maps. Historic maps overlap in GIS is used as a basic method of historic landscape characters. However, Chinese historic maps of rural areas are mostly drawn by non-scientific methods, and the geographical information of micro-scale space is lacking. What technical means can be used in ordinary areas to describe changes in the landscape? Lexical systems with local characteristics and quantitative methods at fine spatial scales are the keys to solving this problem. In this study, a rural area in the Yellow River estuary was used as a sample to practice this technical method.

The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation. Historically, the Estuary Area was a reclamation area during the Anti-Japanese War, an irrigation area for diverting the Yellow River, an oilfield mining area, and a biodiversity conservation area of global significance.

Based on landscape character theory and methodology, this study uses the rural space of between 1960s and 2018 as a research sample, combining historic maps, historical satellite imagery, airborne LiDAR scans and oral history methods to create GIS maps of historic character types and construct a method for identifying and quantifying historic landscape characters at the microscopic scale.

The research results are based on a database of landscape character types and support the visualisation and analysis of character types over time. The results can be used to study the patterns of change in areas under natural and habitat pressures, and can also be used for valuable assessment by decision makers in the area, and can be linked to webGIS to support public participation in decision-making.

Keywords: The Yellow River Estuary, Historic Landscape Character, Historical maps and images, Oral history research, GIS

1st Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice

June 1, 2010 Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

2nd Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice

April 1, 2011 SUNY College at Oneonta, Oneonta, New York, USA

3rd Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice Quality City: The Challenges of Developing Smaller Cities

June 4-7, 2012 Cixi, Zhejiang, China

4th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice City Development, Preservation, and Hospitality

June 13-15, 2013

Tongli Town, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

5th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice City Development in Its Natural and Built Environment

June 16-18, 2014

Athinais, Athens, Greece

6th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice Projects in Cities and Identities

June 6-11, 2015

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

University of Macau, Macau

7th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice Life Course & The City

June 15-17, 2016

Sanya University & Sanya Vanke Forest Breeze Resort, Sanya, Hainan, China

While 4C5M Studio’s 7th conference accepts papers on any topic that relates to urban space and social life, this year’s theme focuses on life course and aging in the context of built environment in both urban and rural settings. World Health Organzation (WHO) has been advocating for global age-friendly cities since 2007. This conference welcomes papers to examine how cities in both developing and developed world fair in this unprecedented challenge. We encourage multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to study life course and aging since aging does not start at 60 or 65. Life Course & the City aims at investigating the strong relationship between the quality of life for all ages and the quality of the city.

Why Hainan Island? As always, our conference chooses a venue/ city that suits the theme best. Sanya is a beautiful city in Hainan Island. It is famous for its tropical climate and natural environment with spectacular sandy beaches. The island attracts international tourists and entertains “snow geese” in colder areas of China who spend the winter in this Hawaii like island. An exploratory tour of the city and facilities related to older population will be included in the conference.

8th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice Transforming Urbanity: People and Cities on the Move

June 9 - June 12, 2017

Kuala Lumpur and Penang (George Town Heritage, UNESCO), Malaysia

This conference seeks to illuminate and explore research and expressions of human mobility especially as related to cultural and social aspects.Papers pertaining to human mobility, refugee assistance, heritage formation and preservation (i.e., of both new and existing residents), social cohesion, borderlands issues, historical transformation and maintenance of social space, new community formation and other topics on transnational mobility(ies) would find a welcome audience at this conference. Papers need not follow a particular methodological orthodoxy and may focus on one or more regions of the world.

9th Urban Space and Social Life: Theory and Practice Development and Heritage: Present, Past, and Future

June 7 - June 10, 2018

Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

This conference builds on previous conferences on urban space and social life and seeks to explore contested issues that link development to (tangible and intangible) heritage. New construction and developments in and between rural and urban regions affect the preservation and creation of heritage. Issues of gentrification, infrastructure improvement, population growth, (im)migration, shifting geopolitical-economic order such as Brexit, Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) and so on create both contestation or conflict and social cohesion. As change and continuity in the built environment and natural heritage remain vibrant foci of research in the social sciences and humanities in terms of multiand interdisciplinary engagement, this conference brings together scholars and practitioners to explore these relationships and connections as part of human development.

June 14-17, 2019

Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

Building on previous conferences on Urban Space and Social Life, this conference seeks to explore a timely and a critical issue of our time: the rising trend of exclusion and a retreat from diversity within many countries. Given the rising levels of tension and sometimes violence within and among communities, cities, and nations due to recent political, economic, and social divisiveness around the world (anti-globalization, Trumpism, trade wars, Brexit, US-Canada-Mexico

Trade Agreement, climate change etc), our 10th conference brings together scholars and practitioners from all disciplines to provide scrutinize and analyze pressing issues related to inclusion and exclusion.