Silk Cities Exchange Workshop,
Free one day workshop
Thursday, 29 October 2015
9.00-6.30
Silk Cities | info@silkcities.org
Website: https://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/silk-cities
Host: The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London (UCL), 34 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ
Introduction & Aim
From the second century BC to the end of the fourteenth century AD, a great trade route, the Silk Road, linked China with the Roman Empire. The Silk Road was not only a trading route for goods; but exchanged the rich cultures of China, India, Persia, Arabia, Greek and Rome. Such knowledge exchange was influential on how cities along the Road were formed and maintained. Silk Cities exist in many countries and have urban cultural heritages related to the Silk Road. With the demise of the trading role of the Silk Road however still many of its related urban historic characteristics exist in Silk Cities. In parallel, the world faces global challenges around cities and their development in general. This raises the question of how being a Silk City plays a role in those challenges and the way they are dealt with, if at all. A common past unites these cities. We would like to explore if the past is the only common thing for talking about Silk Cities or if there are some specific common urban related themes connected to that common past. For example, if there is such a case in heritage, reconstruction or environmental design. It is hoped the workshop contributes to exploring refining contemporary common themes for contemporary Silk Cities.
The aim of this event is to connect multidisciplinary researchers and practitioners working on Silk Cities in order to understand contemporary urban implications of being a Silk City in 21st Century.
The Silk Cities platform, supported by the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) and the Institute for Sustainable Urban Heritage at UCL is organising a one day cross-disciplinary workshop to connect researchers and practitioners working on Silk Cities in isolation in different regions of the world in order to make critical contributions towards contemporary Silk Road related urban issues. The event will be hosted by the DPU.
The workshop is open to a limited number of participants who are welcome to share their experiences in panel discussions. This small number of participants should help in creating a deeper and more intense level of debate. Invited delegates are distinguished researchers, consultants and specialists working on the topic internationally. In particular, the workshop welcomes researchers, practitioners and policy makers from the countries along the Silk Road to share their insights. The event is free to attend but registration is required.
Objectives
Specific objectives of this seminar are:
Explore what it means to be a Silk City in 21th Century.
Explore the complexities of Silk Cities that are related to their existing historic urban elements towards linking them to contemporary urban debates in theory and practice (e.g. heritage, reconstruction and disaster risk reduction, and environmental design) Explore implications and interconnections of the existing historic context in Silk Cities to contemporary global challenges and the way they are dealt with in theory and practice (if there is any).
Develop a network of interested people and explore potential avenues for future work.
Draft Programme
This is one-day workshop which will be organised around panel discussion sessions that explore specific issues related to the Silk Cities. Refreshments (coffee and tea) will be provided during the day. There are a number of places for lunch in or around UCL and around DPU. The programme will be finalised upon the confirmation of panellists.
The final programme will focus on interactive and lively discussions among participants. Participants are encouraged to avoid lengthy PowerPoint presentations and the time slot for each individual presentation will be 10-12 minutes.
Outreach and dissemination
Some of the seminar panel discussions and presentations will be uploaded to www.silkcities.org.
About Silk Cities platform
Silk Cities is an independent initiative in form of web-based contextual platform which connects dispersed existing knowledge and ideas about the quality of the built environment in the countries within the intersection of history (the historic Silk Road) and the geography (the Middle East and Central Asia), positioned in their regional and global context. Silk Cities is an ongoing project and will introduce initiatives and undertake researches. The Beta version of the Silk Cities website is available at www.silkcities.org. The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London (UCL), kindly supports the Silk Cities platform (https://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu/silk-cities/silk-cities-platform). UCL has been ranked in 5 top worldwide universities for its research and academic excellence 2015. The DPU conducts world-leading research and postgraduate teaching towards socially just and sustainable development in the global south. The UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage delivers sustainable solutions to real world problems concerning cultural heritage, working with external partners on ground-breaking, cross-disciplinary research and innovative teaching for future heritage leaders.
Organising committee
Farnaz Arefian, Kalliopi Fouseki
Advisory Committee
Prof. Yves Cabannes, Prof. Julio Davila, Prof. Ali Modarres
Registration
Registration for the Workshop is free but needed. Register here.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/silk-cities-exchange-workshop-tickets-18309402917
