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American cities facing global changes

Les villes américaines face aux changements globaux

Las ciudades americanas frente a los cambios globales

As cidades americanes frente às mudanças globais

Interdisciplinary Journal of Papers on the Americas (RITA) nr. 13

Revue Interdisciplinaire des travaux sur les Amériques (RITA) N°13

Revista interdisciplinaria de trabajo sobre las Américas (RITA) N°13

Revista interdisciplinar de trabalhos sobre as Américas (RITA) N°13

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Published on mercredi, juillet 10, 2019

Summary

Nowadays, the assessment of environmental changes worldwide is indisputable. Interdependent processes – such as global warming, the extinction of species, soil depletion and scarce energy resources – deeply alter the living conditions in our societies, from a material and symbolic point of view. These systemic transformations go well beyond the physical environment or climate change; they can be understood thanks to the concept of “global changes” that has become a main research topic in the fields of social and environmental sciences over the past thirty years. For its thirteenth issue, RITA will dedicate its section Thema to American cities facing global changes.

Announcement

Argument

Nowadays, the assessment of environmental changes worldwide is indisputable. Interdependent processes – such as global warming, the extinction of species, soil depletion and scarce energy resources – deeply alter the living conditions in our societies, from a material and symbolic point of view. These systemic transformations go well beyond the physical environment or climate change; they can be understood thanks to the concept of “global changes” that has become a main research topic in the fields of social and environmental sciences over the past thirty years (Buttel et al., 1990; Freedman, 2014).

Today, in the Americas, more than two-thirds of the population live in cities. Therefore, the city provides a vantage point to understand the effects of global changes and the responses they generate. However, the urban phenomenon is very heterogeneous: it encompasses global megacities, midsized urban areas that participate in the states’ processes of territorialization, and small towns that lie in the heart of agricultural regions. Within the range of dynamics that develop in each of these unique but interconnected spaces, it is important to reflect on the physical environment where they unfold.

Cities are where people concentrate, and they are the centers of political, administrative, religious, cultural and economic power. Urban processes are now inseparable from the phenomena of globalization that put cities at the center of different exchange systems, like the movements of goods, capitals, people, knowledge and information. For these reasons, cities both produce and are the products of global changes; they are their crystallization point and their catalysts; they are spaces where strategies and considerations develop. To understand the implications that global changes have on American cities and the other way round, several topics of discussions can be identified as a guide for potential contributions:

  • The first area of research is called “Understanding the city”. It will encourage contributions that investigate the multiplicity of concepts used to understand global changes in urban environments, that is to say: urban ecology; urban metabolism and circular economy; sustainable, green, smart or inclusive cities; ecological transition; the anthropocene and capitalocene; resilience; etc. These very topical notions deserve to be questioned, clarified and contextualized.
  • The second area of research is called “Living the city, living in the city”. It will dwell upon the forms of housing, the uses of space (central and peripheral spaces, gentrification), the forms of mobility (public transportations, lines of communication, urban and rural contacts, logistics), work organization and supply (food and energy supply) in the context of global changes. Contributions dealing with alternative practices (urban agriculture, graffiti), the relationships between residents (in formal and informal cities) and how they perceive their changing living spaces are welcome.
  • The third area of research is called “Managing the city”. It will focus on how to manage the urban environment. From the drafting of public policies to their implementation, the means of producing urban environments in the context of global changes involve specific forms of governance that the contributions will elaborate on. Issues of formal and informal infrastructure in the city (such as sewers, electricity, water supply, public or private transportation, and waste management), but also the management of nature in the city (in particular rivers, parks, gardens and biodiversity), or the management of catastrophes (in New Orleans after Katrina, in 1985 in Mexico after the earthquake, or in February 2019 in Rio de Janeiro after the floods) are issues to be explored. Studies focusing on the new urban development policies to multiply green spaces or to promote the use of car-free modes of transportation will complete this third area of research.
  • A fourth area of research is called “Contesting the city”. It will deal with political processes that unfold in cities changing as a result of global changes. Contributions focusing on environmental inequalities, grassroots struggles, conflicts over major developments or planning processes, urban violence and the concept of justice (social, spatial, environmental, food, etc.), will be taken into consideration. The presence of risks and the development of big infrastructures create many “community conflicts” (Melé, 2012).

For its thirteenth issue, RITA will dedicate its section Thema to American cities facing global changes. Thus, the global dimension of transformations should not be separated from a local understanding of the phenomena. Indeed, American cities are confronted to tensions between centers and peripheries, urban and rural areas, “condominios fechados” and “villas miseria” (we can also think about the “barrios bravos” in Mexico). These tensions generate exchanges, but also social, political, cultural and artistic initiatives. The dynamics of exchanges between cities and rural areas also constitute an important element in this issue, as well as the multiple tensions that arise from urban sprawl (pressure on land and water consumption, the role of agriculture in metropolitan contexts, the development of peripheral areas, etc.). The complexity of global changes can fully be understood by analyzing these phenomena on various scales. Moreover, global changes did not appear overnight. They are the products of long-term dynamics. Thus, this issue will also welcome contributions on the historical dimension of such phenomena. Finally, since artistic practices constitute one of the main ways in which societies give meaning to their existence and representations, this issue encourages contributions dealing with the ways the literary, pictorial and cinematic productions, as well as street arts and popular songs, represent and express global changes.

For the section Thema, the contributions must respect the following criteria:

  • 35,000 characters maximum (notes included; bibliography and spaces not included)
  • The articles can be written in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish
  • There must be an abstract (about 1,000 characters) and 3-5 key words

As usual, in addition to the Thema section, RITA will include in its thirteenth issue a non-thematic section called Champ Libre, which will be divided into four sections (see http://revue-rita.com/note-aux-auteurs/nos-rubriques.html):

  • Research notes (Notes de recherche) are scientific articles that aim to present an on-going or completed research, whose topic is not related to the issue. They must include a key question, a clear and detailed methodology and be written in a scientific way (30,000 characters, notes included, bibliography and spaces not included);
  • Research Factory (Fabrique de la recherche) aims to go ‘behind the scene’ and to propose articles focusing on methodology and/or theoretical approaches (25,000 characters, notes included, bibliography and spaces not included);
  • Dissertations and Ph.D. summaries (Résumés de mémoire ou de thèse) will put forward recent research and its key achievements (25,000 characters, notes included, bibliography and spaces not included);
  • Research Reviews (Synthèses de recherche) propose reviews of recent published book focusing on American issues (12,000 characters, notes included, bibliography and spaces not included);
  • Insights on the Americas (Regards sur les Amériques) does not require the same scientific approach: in this section, the author choses the form and length of the article (essay, journalistic paper, field notes, literary analysis, etc.) Papers dealing with current events in the Americas are more than welcome (25,000 characters, notes included, bibliography and spaces not included).

Please send your proposals (full article) complying with the standards of the chosen section (see http://www.revue-rita.com/note-aux-auteurs/normes-de-presentation.html)

before Octobre 20th, 2019

to

revue.rita@gmail.com

The editorial board will pre-select authors. All applicants will be informed of the selection process in November 2019.

The Reading Committee will then evaluate the pre-selected texts: they might be accepted or refused, with or without modifications.

Issue n°13 will be published by the end of the first Semester of 2020.

We recall that all papers must be original and not currently assessed by another review.

Reading Committee

  • Nathalia Capellini, CHCSC, Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin 
  • Guillaume Duarte, IHEAL-CREDA, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 
  • Cléa Fortuné, CREW, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3 
  • Bruno Hervé-Huamani, CERMA-MONDA, EHESS 
  • Clément Petitjean, PRINTEMPS, Université Versailles-Saint-Quentin 
  • Céline Raimbert, laboratoire SPLOTT (Systèmes productifs, logistique, organisation des transports, travail) de l'IFSTTAR
  • Antonio Ramos Ramírez, LER, Université Paris 8
  • Nasser Rebaï, PRODIG, CNRS
  • Etienne Sauthier, CREDA, Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle 
  • François Weigel, Université fédérale du Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)

Date(s)

  • dimanche, octobre 20, 2019

Contact(s)

  • Comité de Rédaction Comité de Rédaction
    courriel : revue [dot] rita [at] gmail [dot] com

Reference Urls

Information source

  • Antonio Ramos Ramírez
    courriel : actiondirecte [at] sciencesconf [dot] org

To cite this announcement

« American cities facing global changes », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on mercredi, juillet 10, 2019, https://calenda-formation.labocleo.org/644639

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