Apologies for cross-posting.
Second Call for Papers
Association of American Geographers
Los Angeles  9 – 13 April 

“Socialist and post-Socialist Urbanisms: Critical Reflections; Comparative 
Perspectives”
Douglas Young, York University  Toronto
Lisa Drummond, York University  Toronto

Urban life in the 21st century has been shaped in quite significant ways 
by the thoughts, practices, ideologies and social organization of the 20th 
century. We seek papers that focus on the urban legacies of 20th century 
socialism and explore their impact on urban policy, spatial form and 
everyday life in the 21st.  With the neoliberal model of city-building 
appearing to be in crisis mode and new approaches to urban issues urgently 
needed, we consider the possibility that a critical reassessment of the 
legacies of socialist models could provide valuable lessons for urban 
policy makers and citizens alike.  
        Actually existing socialism has taken many forms ranging from 
social democracy to repressive state socialism. The common thread of 
the ‘social’ that runs through them all is a commitment to the modernist 
idea of universal progress, a desire to create a socially de-
differentiated society, and a heightened degree of state intervention in 
processes of city-building and urban governance.  We seek papers that 
explore urban areas representing some of those variations of socialisms as 
well as variations in their fates.  These could be cities that are 
socialist today, cities in countries that are transitioning to market 
socialism, post-socialist cities, and cities in neo-liberalizing former 
social democracies.  
        We particularly welcome papers that will contribute to the 
development of comparative perspectives (for example, Asia and Europe) if 
not within individual papers then from the sum of papers on the panel as a 
whole. 
        Papers could explore a wide range of topics including urban 
planning, housing, social policy, community development, local politics, 
economic restructuring and political ecology.
        
        
Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Douglas Young 
(dog...@yorku.ca) and Lisa Drummond (drummond @yorku.ca) by 8 October.  

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