36th Annual Meeting of Urban Affairs Association

Posted by on December 2, 2005

36th Annual Meeting of the Urban Affairs Association
April 19-22, 2006
Montreal, Qu?bec, Canada

“Neighborhoods and Urban Transformation: the New Global Context”

Centre Sheraton Hotel 1201 Ren?-L?vesque Boulevard West Montr?al, Qu?bec

Call For Participation:
In 1950, approximately one-third of the world’s population lived in cities. By the year 2000, the proportion had increased to one-half. Most importantly, it is projected that by 2050, that nearly two-thirds or 6 billion people will occupy urban places (UN-Habitat, 2005). And where do the majority of these humans live? In neighborhoods. As such neighborhoods are, as Jane Jacobs argued, the building blocks of urban life. But much has changed about urban neighborhoods during the past fifty years. Major processes of globalization, disinvestment, decentralization, redevelopment, and cultural differentiation have combined to create a challenging environment in which neighborhoods exist. Governments (local, regional and national) across the globe are attempting to confront these challenges with strategies that run the gamut from targeted employment and redevelopment, to growth management and immigration policies. Non-governmental organizations also are active in seeking solutions to the service and opportunity needs that exist in urban neighborhoods.

Research on neighborhoods has changed as well. Globalization has renewed social inquiry into how neighborhoods are affected by immigration, social movements, corporate investment and disinvestment, and declines in social capital. Moreover, analyses of neighborhood dynamics have been enhanced through innovation in a variety of important methodologies, among them ethnographic techniques, Geographic Information Systems, and social indicators of local conditions. These changes signal an increased importance and opportunity for the examination of urban neighborhoods.

It is time to revisit what neighborhoods mean in the context of the urban place, and how they will help shape the future of cities on a global scale. Montr?al is a particularly appropriate environment for examining urban neighborhoods, as well as an intriguing example of metropolitan development and governance. To read more, visit: http://www.udel.edu/uaa/