This conference addresses the varying and differentiated relationships between migrants and cities, which are differently positioned within the crisis-ridden processes of contemporary neoliberal globalization. The conference focuses on the impacts of the crisis on urban-based cultural industries as they are shaped by the restructuring of national and local economies, politics, and cultures.

The focus is on cities because they have emerged as significant actors and sites of struggle in the unfolding of the crisis, their fate(s) being shaped by the crisis, even as they respond to larger national, regional, and global forces. In this context contentious politics and social movements are emerging from cities. Migrants are a crucial part of all of these processes, but their roles remain largely unexamined. One of the objectives of this conference is to reflect on the effects of the crisis, particularly on culture-led urban development, on its discourses and policies, and — even more specifically — on their impact on European capitals of culture. Though the research being conducted in different European capitals (Vienna, Berlin, Budapest) and European Capitals of Culture (Linz, Essen, Pécs and Marseille) under the auspices of the WWTF project “Cityscalers” will contribute to the discussion, this conference will not be confined to these cities. It is important to explore the varied processes of urban renewal and focus on cities of different scalar positioning and geographical location in order to analyze the dynamics unleashed by the crises in terms of spatial and social displacements and the role of migrants in these processes. The conference will address questions of diversity (including, but not limited to, cultural diversity), as well as social and spatial displacements (including processes of gentrification) that mark contemporary urban life in a variety of cities.

PARTICIPANTS: Franco Bianchini (Department of Geography and Environment, LSE London), Judit Bodnár (Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University, Budapest), Claire Bullen (Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures, University of Manchester), Nina Glick Schiller (Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures, University of Manchester), Irena Guidikova (Head of Cultural Policy, Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue Division, Council of Europe), Alan Harding (Institute of Political and Economic Governance, University of Liverpool), Florian Huber (Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien), Daniele Karasz (Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien), Winnie Lem (Trent University, Ontario), Margit Mayer (Fachbereich politische Wissenschaften, FU Berlin), Felix Ringel (Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien),Alexandra Sindrestean, (Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Universität Wien), Ida Susser (Graduate Center, City University New York), Melinda Szabo (Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University, Budapest), Riza Baris Ülker (Center for Metropolitan Studies, TU Berlin)

CONVENER: Ayşe Çağlar (Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna)

A cooperation with the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna.

Supported by the Vienna Science and Technology Fund WWTF.