JUNIUS (Junior Network for International Urban Studies)

JUNIUS (Junior Network for International Urban Studies) is an informal network aiming to contribute to the ongoing urban studies on particularly European contexts. The main objective of the network is to enable PhD candidates as well as junior researchers who are interested in urban issues to get into or keep in touch with other colleagues who are also working on similar domains. In addition to facilitating such an interaction between young scholars, JUNIUS has the objective of enabling the mutual exchange of knowledge, experiences, ideas and observations among its members in order to contribute to their ongoing research. Moreover, JUNIUS envisages to organise scientific activities and to encourage collaborative research and publications with the objective of supporting junior researchers in having a better access to and visibility in the scientific community.

For further information visit the JUNIUS website: http://www.eurajunius.org/

Founding members of JUNIUS, July 2005

10th Anniversary EURA Conference 'The Vital City'
Junior Prize Award

As part of this conference and in co-operation with JUNIUS, in Autumn 2006, EURA announced a competition for junior research scholars working on urban issues.

The competition was open for students, ph.d. candidates or persons who obtained a ph.d. degree not earlier than in 2006 and who were under 35 years old on 1st March 2007.

Interested scholars sent their research papers and the EURA jury, nominated by the EURA Board, has after considerable deliberation, agreed that the award should go to:

Dr Elsa Vivant from the Urban Research Centre - Department of Geography, London School of Economics

Elsa Vivant presented the winning paper during the EURA conference in Glasgow (September 2007). An abstract of the winning paper is below:

The off artistic venues’ trigger effects in urban regeneration project

Off artistic spaces are flourishing in cityscapes, such as artistic squats, techno travellers party places, underground circus…. If some people could considered them as dangerous and marginal, off venues could catch a wider audience than outskirts and freaks. In a context of creativity’s rising (or even diktat), a large urban neobohemia is supposed to be deeply interested into all kind of creativity and artistic expression. Moreover, we argue that these off venues could be used as tools in city’s cultural policies.

To understand this interest, it is necessary to review changes in French cities’ involvement in cultural policies for the last thirty years. Actually, policies’ goals are moving from residents-oriented cultural services supplying toward new comers and visitors needs’ matching. This shift implies a change in policies’ patterns too. The city, as a built environment and a social fabric as well, is becoming the cultural policies’ playground. Especially, cultural policies are now embedded into cities development strategies, as we are showing in the first part of this article. Then, we will explain further what we consider as off culture and how is it related to mainstream culture. We will put into relief the current shift that is occurring in planners and authorities attitude toward these off spaces. The example on the regeneration project of La Chapelle Stalingrad area in Paris will illustrate it. Moreover, it is the opportunity to discuss more controversial issues. For whose sake are culture-led regeneration projects planned? Is there any alternative to culture in planning policies?

For further details: Dr Elsa Vivant Email: Elsa.vivant@univ-paris8.fr

Professor Robin Hambleton and Elsa Vivant at the Glasgow conference

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