The City and the State of Exception State of Emergency - Berlin

[i]Ausnahmezustand and the Urban Condition[/i] June 4 – 6, 2009 Berlin, Center for Metropolitan Studies (CMS) Exceptional times call for exceptional measures. Following this logic, debates about states of emergency and states of exception have gained high political, public, and academic currency in recent times. Even though urban areas are often the central sites of such Ausnahmezustände – due to their population density, infrastructural significance as well as cultural, economic, and political centrality – thus far not enough attention has been paid to the specific urban dimensions of such forms of crisis. The aim of this conference is to examine how specific manifestations of states of exception and states of emergency have shaped urban conditions and imaginaries and how they, in turn, have led to the reevaluation of urban practice, the structuration of urban space, and, more generally, mechanisms of power and state control. What causes urban states of exception and how do they expose the inherent tensions between order and chaos, freedom and security, continuity and change, inclusion and exclusion, and sobriety and excess? To what extent is the concept of Ausnahmezustand even useful and where lie its limitations? We will discuss these questions through a range of historical and contemporary case studies that look at concrete instances of violent uprisings, natural disasters, or political turmoil in order to explain how states of emergency and exception have affected urban governance and planning as well as the social practices and cultural imaginaries in and of cities across five continents. The conference provides an interdisciplinary forum for young and established scholars from numerous disciplines including geography, history, philosophy and political science, sociology, achitecture, and urban planning. Visit the official site: http://www.metropolitanstudies.de