Seminar_2024-04 Megacities and Sustainable Urbanism

Zeitraum: 9. bis 12. September 2024 (Anreise am Vortag, 8. September 2024, 15:00 bis 16:30 Uhr)

Dauer: 4 Tage

Ort: (Seminar) Internationale Akademie Traunkirchen (Übernachtung) Ebensee

Sprache: Deutsch und Englisch

Zahl der Teilnehmer:innen: 20-25

Wissenschaftliche Leitung: Prof. Dr. phil. Helga Leitner (emer. Professorin der University of California Los Angeles und korrespondierendes Mitglied der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften)

Kurzbeschreibung:

As the world has become increasingly urbanized (more than half of the world’s population lives in cities), megacities (cities between 10 and 40 million residents) are increasingly common, especially outside Europe and North America. Taking as examples two cities we know well, greater Jakarta and greater Los Angeles, this workshop will examine the challenges faced by, and opportunities created by, mega-cities in a world characterized by inter-related ecological and political economic crises. Focusing on housing, livelihood possibilities and transportation, the seminar will introduce students to the emergence and characteristics of mega-cities, how these have been shaped by their geographical location in the global north and south, and how mega-cities shape and are shaped by climate change and globalization. We will then examine three dominant solutions offered by global institutions to improve the economic, environmental and social conditions in mega-cities—market-oriented global urbanism, urban sustainability and urban resilience—and interrogate their similarities and differences. Focusing on urban sustainability and resilience, we will examine how they seek to integrate ecological, social and economic questions, and how transitions to a more sustainable or resilient mega-city are imagined. Finally, we will compare and contrast such top-down policy initiatives with grassroots sustainability and resilience initiatives, asking in which ways they advance social, environmental and climate justice.

The seminar is bi-lingual; presentations will be in English, with the Q & A and discussion in English and German. Presentations by the seminar leaders will be supplemented by other scholars discussing their research on megacities in the global South – either over Zoom or in person. 

The seminar will begin on Sunday evening, September 8, 2023, with an introduction and reception. There will be lectures on Monday, student working groups on Tuesday morning with the afternoon free, presentations and working groups on Wednesday, and a report-back and wrap-up on Thursday morning.

Program:

Lectures, Presentations, Working Groups