Hutchison announces international conference on urbanization

Sociology Prof. Ray Hutchison of Urban and Regional Studies has announced the call for papers for a conference on “Everyday Life in the 21st Century City” to be held July 17-20, 2015 in Florence, Italy. Hutchison is coordinating the conference, which recalls the July 2000 “Everyday Life in the Segmented City” conference in Florence that attracted some 80 participants from more than a dozen countries. This year’s event will address rapidly increasing diversity and urbanization — by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will reside in metropolitan areas — and look at issues related to huge rural-to-urban migration taking place in countries including India and China. The call for papers is organized into five topic areas (The Right to the City, Urban Nightlife, Suburbanization and New Communities, Neoliberal Urban Policy and its Discontents, and Well-being in the 21st Century City). The complete call for papers can be viewed at the website and there also is a Facebook page where you can “like” the conference.