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CO-SPONSORED EVENTS HELD AT THE HUMANITIES CENTER
Techniques of the City: Grids, Infrastructure and the Materiality of Urban Life
Friday March 02, 2012 | 10:00 AM -03:30 PM | Stanford Humanities Center
To share space and amenities with strangers is a defining feature of urban life. But public space is not merely a question of social practice. Its form and dynamics are fundamentally shaped by technical interventions by planners, engineers and security officials that shape roads, suburban train lines, building density, layout of parks and commercial areas and much more. The physicality and design of cities are akin to huge machines that channel and give specific form to urban life. The character of a city, its ‘vibe’, its symbolic sites, its historicity and its rhythms have material and tangible form. This accumulated materiality is a form of living memory, physical shapes, grids and invisible systems that embody the city’s past but also structures its future as powerfully, or even more powerfully, than any political institution or social force. While the study of architecture, planning and urban design has been an integral part of urban studies in many parts of the world for a long time, these themes have only recently emerged as objects of systematic study in South Asia. This seminar has a double purpose: firstly to bring together scholars who work on historical and contemporary aspects of urban design and planning in various parts of South Asia. Secondly, to make an effort to bring crucial insights from Science and Technology Studies to bear on the urban experience in South Asia. Considering the long history of urban planning in the region – from colonial statecraft to the contemporary attempts to address urban problems through purely technical solutions, designed to bypass popular politics in the city, there is very rich potential for a creative dialogue between this body of theory and South Asian realities. Symposium Speakers: Tarini Bedi, South Asian Studies, University of Chicago (taxis in Mumbai) Maura Finkelstein, Department of Anthropology, Stanford (chawls and tenements in Mumbai) Zephyr Frank, History, Stanford University, (spatial history in Rio de Janeiro) Asher Ghertner, Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics (Aesthetics, governance, New Delhi) Thomas Blom Hansen, Department of Anthropology, Stanford (engineering townships and domestic life in South Africa) Annie Harper, Department of Anthropology, Trinity College (urban planning in Islamabad) Matthew Hull, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan (bureaucracy and land deals in Islamabad and Delhi) Vyjayanthi Rao, Department of Anthropology, The New School of Social Research, New York Ravi Sundaram, SARAI, New Delhi (electronic commons, piracy, Delhi) Arafaat Valiani Department of Sociology, Williams College (Karachi, commerce, malls) http://southasia.stanford.edu/calendar/techniques_of_the_city_grids_infrastructure_and_the_materiality_of https://zm01.pobox.stanford.edu/service/home/~/March%201-2%20poster.pdf?auth=co&loc=en_US&id=14693&part=2.2&view=html
Techniques of the City: Grids, Infrastructure and the Materiality of Urban Life
Friday March 02, 2012 | 10:00 AM -03:30 PM | Stanford Humanities Center
To share space and amenities with strangers is a defining feature of urban life. But public space is not merely a question of social practice. Its form and dynamics are fundamentally shaped by technical interventions by planners, engineers and security officials that shape roads, suburban train lines, building density, layout of parks and commercial areas and much more. The physicality and design of cities are akin to huge machines that channel and give specific form to urban life. The character of a city, its ‘vibe’, its symbolic sites, its historicity and its rhythms have material and tangible form. This accumulated materiality is a form of living memory, physical shapes, grids and invisible systems that embody the city’s past but also structures its future as powerfully, or even more powerfully, than any political institution or social force. While the study of architecture, planning and urban design has been an integral part of urban studies in many parts of the world for a long time, these themes have only recently emerged as objects of systematic study in South Asia. This seminar has a double purpose: firstly to bring together scholars who work on historical and contemporary aspects of urban design and planning in various parts of South Asia. Secondly, to make an effort to bring crucial insights from Science and Technology Studies to bear on the urban experience in South Asia. Considering the long history of urban planning in the region – from colonial statecraft to the contemporary attempts to address urban problems through purely technical solutions, designed to bypass popular politics in the city, there is very rich potential for a creative dialogue between this body of theory and South Asian realities. Symposium Speakers: Tarini Bedi, South Asian Studies, University of Chicago (taxis in Mumbai) Maura Finkelstein, Department of Anthropology, Stanford (chawls and tenements in Mumbai) Zephyr Frank, History, Stanford University, (spatial history in Rio de Janeiro) Asher Ghertner, Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics (Aesthetics, governance, New Delhi) Thomas Blom Hansen, Department of Anthropology, Stanford (engineering townships and domestic life in South Africa) Annie Harper, Department of Anthropology, Trinity College (urban planning in Islamabad) Matthew Hull, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan (bureaucracy and land deals in Islamabad and Delhi) Vyjayanthi Rao, Department of Anthropology, The New School of Social Research, New York Ravi Sundaram, SARAI, New Delhi (electronic commons, piracy, Delhi) Arafaat Valiani Department of Sociology, Williams College (Karachi, commerce, malls) http://southasia.stanford.edu/calendar/techniques_of_the_city_grids_infrastructure_and_the_materiality_of https://zm01.pobox.stanford.edu/service/home/~/March%201-2%20poster.pdf?auth=co&loc=en_US&id=14693&part=2.2&view=html
All events take place at Stanford University, unless otherwise noted.
The Calendar of Events lists events sponsored and co-sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center. For a more comprehensive listing of university-wide events, see the Stanford Event Calendar.
The Calendar of Events lists events sponsored and co-sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center. For a more comprehensive listing of university-wide events, see the Stanford Event Calendar.