Organised by the
University of Cagliari in collaboration with the Cosmobilities Network
Venue: University of
Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy)
Dates: 5-7 July 2012.
Background
Mobilities is a
distinct strand of theory and research in social science, an evolving approach
that synthesises in an original way existing and new writings on the combined
movements of people, objects and information. The mobilities turn addresses
conceptual and methodological challenges posed by old and new transformations
in transport and communication systems and their implications for contemporary
lives and natures.
Over the last decade
the mobilities turn has generated enthusiasm across different fields and
informed studies in a wide range of topics and problematics, from tourism,
migration, transport, urban planning and mobile communication to logistics,
climate change, consumption and inequality. In the Anglophone world interest is
particularly evident in sociology and human geography. One among many anecdotal
examples is Tim Cresswell’s article ‘Towards a politics of mobility’ which
currently figures as the most downloaded paper in the last twelve months in Environment and Planning D: Space and Society.
While research has, up
to date, tended to focus on the daily micromobilities of people and objects,
attention is also being directed towards histories of mobility, the mobility of
ideas, large scale circulation systems, building materials and resource
consumption and circulation. As an
approach with moving boundaries, mobilities research is also developing
methodologies and methods that respond to both conceptual innovations and the
empirical realities of a world on the move. Innovations in ‘mobile methods’ are
openning up promising prospects and still unfulfilled possibilities some of
which are related to the way new ICTs routinely generate, collect and
disseminate data. The mobilities turn, like most social science, still has to
come to terms with these trends and create synergies with streams of research
that are successfully exploiting these opportunities. At the moment, major
advances in network theory, one of the backbones of complexity theory, are
coming not so much from the physical sciences but from research on the social,
drawing on vast amounts of data generated by intelligent networked
infrastructures and mobile telephony.
Aim
This conference,
funded by the University of Cagliari and organized in collaboration with the
Cosmobilities Network, aims at discussing new directions in mobilities
research, showcasing the state of the art in the field, and providing a unique
opportunity to create lasting links among researchers, especially in the north
and the south of Europe.
The language of this
event will be English but the range of papers presented will be a reflection of
the diversity of concerns, approaches and methodologies informing mobilities
research in Europe and beyond.
Young and experienced
researchers are invited to submit abstracts for paper presentations. High
quality abstracts on any aspect of mobilities are welcomed although submissions
addressing the following themes are particularly encouraged:
histories of mobilities
cultures of mobilities
histories of mobilities
cultures of mobilities
mobilities outside the north Atlantic rim
the spaces and politics of mobility (and immobility) in the
Mediterranean city
forms of mobility other than car, train and aeroplane
research conducted in collaboration with artists and public and private
actors outside academia illustrating the way
new knowledge collectives are formed around the use of new ICTs
transnational research involving different institutional settings
Deadline for abstract submissions
Dealine: April 25, 2012
more calls for papers:
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