Date/Time: 14th -16th July 2021

Venue: Online

The aim of this virtual conference is to encourage cross- and inter-disciplinary analysis of urban issues related to violence and inequality, specifically through a consideration of the everyday, creative responses to such topics in the cities that comprise the Latin American and Iberian regions. 

View the Conference Programme

On a global scale, urbanisation is increasing rapidly and estimates suggest that two-thirds of the population will be living in cities by 2050 (LSE). Such a trend has led to the rise of megacities, now classified as encompassing over 10 million inhabitants, and six of the 47 global megacities are Latin American. Indeed, Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world as roughly 70% of its inhabitants live in cities. However, it is the diversity of urban experiences, practices and governance that frames the link between Latin American and Iberian cities, as the trajectories of postcolonialism have led to important points of convergence and divergence. Moreover, beyond the impressive statistics of global urban growth, urbanization has led to a diverse array of challenges, opportunities and creative practices that shape, and respond to, the everyday realities of urban life in these regions. By focusing on the local in these different spaces, the conference will shed light on the lived experiences of a number of key themes, amongst them violence, informalisation, inequality and modernity. 

In particular, we insist upon the productive encounters between disciplinary approaches, bringing together ethnography, art, planning, politics and anthropology and recognising the relationships between the material landscape, social dynamics and symbolic representations of diverse cities. Accordingly, the conference will explore the perspectives of diverse sectors of the state and civil society, including artists, social movements and grassroots organisations. The conference programme will cover topics ranging from: artistic representations of, and interventions in, cities to the political tactics of collective action, changes in patterns of urbanization and urban demographics to the daily experiences of citizens. Contributions will be provided from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and from scholars at different stages of their career. 

The keynote address will be given by DJLU, a street artist, photographer and academic based in Bogotá. Described as the Banksy of Colombia, his work brings together the local and the global, referencing socio-political events around the world alongside issues specific to Latin America. Moreover, his academic interest in photography and architecture complements his approach to street art, and he draws on them to explore the dynamics of contemporary urban societies, creating elaborate stencils from photos that he has taken of the urban characters who inhabit and shape public space. Bogotá is a city notable not only for the presence of graffiti but also because of the unusually progressive law that recognises the rights of graffiti artists and commits to supporting the development of this artistic expression through free spaces, local development funds and large-scale commissions. Thus, DJLU is in an ideal position to speak about both the socio-political dynamics of urban society and the cultural responses that negotiate them. In providing the keynote address, he will talk about his experience and perception of graffiti and street art and the importance of accessible, artistic opportunities for various urban social groups.

‌For further information in the meantime please contact: 

Alba Griffin (alba.griffin@newcastle.ac.uk)
Alex Young (alexandra.young@newcastle.ac.uk)
Laura Pinzon (l.pinzon-cardona2@newcastle.ac.uk)
Katie Salmon (k.salmon2@newcastle.ac.uk)

This conference has been kindly supported by Newcastle University's Institute for Creative Arts Practice, School of Modern Languages, Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies along with ILAS and SLAS.