Conference: Space and Flows: Third International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies, Detroit, 11-12 October 2012

Wayne State University in Detroit looks towards urban organisation of all kinds at the Third International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies in October of this year. Targeting the specific (but fairly broad) theme of "Transforming Cities and Communities in Contemporary Times", the conference explores two central issues: firstly, what are the new and emerging spaces of production, consumption, and human living (as human created products) as communities, regions, and societies organize and re-organize in current times? How are they being constructed and how are they functioning?; and secondly, what are the new flows of people, goods, services, information, and ideas in current times? How are they being constructed and how are they functioning?

Spaces and Flows slates itself as a quadruple-entity: an international conference, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, a book series, and an online knowledge community. The conference networks with all its partner media, allowing participants the opportunity to publish in their associated journal, Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies and/or contribute to the electronic book series The Spaces and Flows. It finally encourages participants to join virtual discussions via Facebook or Twitter. Handy updates and news snippets are also posted at the Spaces & Flows blog. 

The conference is currently seeking proposals for presentations, workshops, colloquiums or "virtual sessions". The deadline for this round of papers is 22 March; but future deadlines will be announced after the current deadline is reached.

"In a process-oriented world of flows and movement, we posit, the global north and global south now simultaneously converge and diverse in a dialectic that shapes and transforms cities, suburbs, and rural areas. This conference addresses the mapping of, the nature of, and the forces that propel these processural changes."