Luca Bertolini (Urban Planning, CUS, UvA), Danielle van den Heuvel (History, ACUH, UvA) , Gamze Saygi (History, ACUH, UvA), and James Symonds (Archaeology, AHM, UvA)
This conference brings together scholars from different disciplines as well as policymakers, artists and other Amsterdam-based stakeholders to tackle questions of in- and exclusivity in the city, by looking at the street as quintessential site of contestation and emancipation, where the contrasting dynamics of ‘enclosing’ and ‘commoning’ most overtly collide. We aim for the conference to be an encounter between hitherto separate enquiries into the past, present and future of city streets as social spaces, and between academic enquiries and practical experiences. We aim to provide inspiration and spin-offs for future collaborations in which the UvA (CUS, ACUH, AHM) plays a central role. The conference will focus on academic exchanges, and on exchanges between academia and society. We will mix more standard presentations of academic research with more free-flowing sessions in which academics and stakeholders discuss current and future challenges related to access to and control over the city street. Next to in-house sessions the aim to include outside activities in urban public space.