RC21 Call for Papers
XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology, Gothenburg, Sweden, July 11-17,  
2010.
The call for papers is listed at ISA web page (
http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2010/rc/rc21.htm 
  ). It is also listed at 
https://www.msu.edu/user/fujitak/SessionsGothenburg2010.pdf
Your paper abstract including paper title, short description (within  
200 words), and  name, affiliation, country and email address as paper  
author(s) should be sent to session organizers as well as conference  
coordinators: Fernando Diaz Orueta Fernando.diaz@??? and Kuniko  
Fujita fujitak@??? by October 31, 2009.
Participants are limited to only one paper presentation within RC21  
program. Any individual may participate in two sessions. Session  
organizers can present their papers only outside their own sessions.
RC21 travel grants for Gothenburg will be announced in January 2010.
Contentious Cities: Diversity, Injustice and the Building of a Fair  
Urban Environment
Luca Pattaroni (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, SWITZERLAND) luca.pattaroni@???
Tommaso Vitale (Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, ITALY)
tommaso.vitale@???
Globalizing cities are confronted with increasing flows of people  
(migrations), information and goods, leading to growing complexity and  
heterogeneity (rhythms, convictions, lifestyles, cultures, feelings,  
interests). This heterogeneity clashes with opposing trends of  
homogenisation related, for example, to the circulation of  
architectural models, the extension of neo-liberal policies and  
gentrifying processes. As a result, contemporary cities are places of  
territorial and social conflicts playing a central role in their  
development. Those conflicts are processes where various scales,  
actors, objects and discourses interact and clash resulting in  
reproduction or transformation of urban order. Thus, behind urban  
conflicts lies the more fundamental question of how differences are  
integrated or excluded, that is how a (more or less) common world is  
built out of diversity or else how inequalities arise and are  
experienced leading to feelings of injustice and exclusion. The study  
of urban conflicts is at the crossroad of many major debates of  
contemporary (urban) sociology, such as the one concerning the  
transformation of social movements and public policies, the evolution  
of inequalities, emerging feelings of injustice and exclusion, the  
links between distributive justice and recognition. In this  
perspective, this session welcomes innovative and dynamic approaches  
to urban conflicts. Studies mixing different data collection methods  
to grasp contentious dynamic in a comparative/historical way are  
particularly encouraged.
Dead line: October 31, 2009
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Tommaso Vitale
Dipartimento di Sociologia e della Ricerca Sociale
Università di Milano Bicocca
via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, 8
20126 Milano
tel: ++39.02 6448 7477
skype: tomvita
New book:
www.carocci.it/politichepossibili
New issue of the Scientific Journal "Partecipazione e conflitto":
http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/sommario.asp?IDRivista=152
