Conference date: 16-17 March 2023
Location: Potsdam

The conference is part of the research project "Urban Authenticity. Creating, contesting, and visualizing the built heritage in European cities since the 1970s", which is funded by the Leibniz Association. It is a collaboration of the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF), and the Association of Museums in Brandenburg.

Convenor:
Achim Saupe (ZZF), Anja Tack (ZZF), Christoph Bernhardt (IRS), Daniel Hadwiger (IRS)

Please submit your proposed papers by December 9th, 2022.
Send your proposals (max. 300 words) and a brief biographical note (max. 150 words) to Daniel Hadwiger (daniel.hadwiger [at] leibniz.irs.de)

Travel and accommodation costs are covered.

CfP (short Version):

The conference "Authenticity in European Cities. Creating, Visualizing and Contesting Urban and Built Heritage" will focus on how buildings, urban neighborhoods, urban spaces and actors were and are perceived as “authentic”. Debates on how a city should look like and who decides which objects are worth representing it are a major opportunity to analyze “regimes of historicity” (François Hartog) as well as past and present urban societies. We will focus on the field of built heritage with its various forms of reconstruction, renovation or demolition. Another focus will be laid on the question of urbanity. What makes a city “unique”, “characteristic”, and “urban” and how have these images of urbanity changed in the past and present?

Debates on the image, identity and memory of cities have become particularly intense since the 1970s with important transformations in the economic, political, socio-cultural and ecological sphere. The 1970s in Europe are regarded as a turning point in urban development with the end of the car-oriented city, the European Architectural Heritage Year 1975 and the increasing preservation of old dwellings and towns. The political changes in Germany and Eastern Europe in 1989/90 also strongly influenced the view on a city's character. The case of Potsdam, where the conference will take place, is itself the object of several controversies about how and where the baroque or socialist epoch should be represented, and how urbanity and historicity can create a lively and attractive city.

From the perspective of the conference’s underlying research project, urban and historical authenticity are understood as a multi-layered level of meaning that is produced and communicated by various social actors dealing with the material and urban heritage and its visual representations. According to Francesca Piazzoni, the attribution of (historical) authenticity and the discourse about urban authenticities is therefore part of the production of urban space and its conceived, perceived, and lived dimensions. Objects, practices and urban spaces from different periods of time can therefore represent a city’s multiple pasts, creating multiple identities and possibilities to belong.

The contributions to the conference could address topics like:

1. Authentication and authorization processes in urban environments and heritage

2. “Politics of authenticity” in European cities

3. Perception of the demolition, re-development, reconstruction or preservation of urban spaces and buildings

4. The role of civil society and citizen groups in preserving or creating “authentic” places and spaces

5. The role of migrant groups and dynamics of otherness with regard to “authentic” or “diverse” urban spaces

6. The role of cultural practices, urban (street) art, social interactions and local traditions

7. The role of natural environments and urban green spaces with regard to the image of a city

8. Urban temporalities and “regimes of historicities”

9. Interferences between tourism, gentrification and authentication processes

10. The role of images (media, photos, pictures, maps)

You will find detailed information in the pdf:
CfP: Authenticity in European Cities. Creating, Visualizing, and Contesting Urban and Built Heritage