Fri 31^st

The Irish Scottish Forum for Spatial Planning have announced the dates of their next event “Sustaining Small Island Communities”, this will include a week of activities in Scotland and Ireland and a conference in The Council Chamber, Queen’s University Belfast on the 31^st May 2013.

For more details contact Michael Murray

Tues 21^st

5.00pm, Senate Room, Lanyon Bldg, QUB

You are encouraged to look at the PNUK Manifesto for Planning before this event. There is no charge for this event, but to book a place please register in advance here or phone Elaine at Community Places 028 90239444.

For more information of the seminar, please contact Geraint Ellis

Tues 21^st

This seminar will drawing on case studies gathered as part of a campaign for a more democratic planning system in Scotland, to  examine how the tension between participation and efficiency is playing out. It will highlight how the “costs of delay” discourse has become a powerful means of sidelining those who express opposition to development, legitimising the use of a range of techniques to silence dissenting voices and show that “delay” is not the only cost associated with contemporary planning processes; the human price being paid by members of the public who seek environmental justice through an often unyielding system represents a hidden toll on the legitimacy of planning and democracy. The seminar will discuss a new focus in theory and practice on ordinary citizens’ experiences of planning, reflecting on how they illuminate key questions about what should be considered just, and how a more democratic planning ethos can be shaped.

Andy Inch is a lecturer in the Dept of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research interests focus on the politics of planning reform, particularly their impacts on planning cultures, professionalism and the lives of ‘ordinary’ citizens.

1.00pm, DKB.03.005, David Keir Building, Stranmillis Rd

For more information of the seminar, please contact Geraint Ellis

The 45th Conference on the theme Transformative Geographies: Critcal Reflections on Environment, Sustainability and Governmentality, will take place from 16th-18th May in NUI Galway.

Keynote speakers

Prof David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) & Prof Douglas Sherman, Professor and Chair of the Geography Department, at the University of Alabama

for more details please click here

Thurs 18^th

Professor William J V Neill (Department of Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen) and Dr Michael Murray (Institute of Spatial and Environmental Planning, Queen's University Belfast) launched their edited book (with Dr Berna Grist, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin) entitled "Relaunching Titanic: memory and Marketing in the New Belfast" (Routledge), at the European Academy of the Urban Environment (EA.UE)in Berlin. The book explores how Titanic heritage has been mobilised in the 'post conflict' context of Belfast, the city that built the world's most famous ship.

Pictured (from left to right) Dr Güenter Schlusche, Planning and Building Coordinator, The Berlin Wall Memorial, Professor William J V Neill, Professor Dr Hanns-Uve Schwedler, Director of the EA.UE and  Dr Michael Murray.

The work is part of an ongoing collaboration under the auspices of the Irish Scottish Forum for Spatial Planning.

For further information contact Michael Murray

Dr Philip Boland (PI) in association with Dr Brendan Murtagh (CI) and Professor Peter Shirlow (CI, School of Law) have been successful in securing research funding of £197,819 for ‘From Plantation to Peace: Derry/Londonderry as the UK's first City of Culture’ project. Full funding has been received from the Leverhulme Trust. This is a 3 year inter-disciplinary project that links environmental planning, politics and cultural studies.

The study aims to determine how events such as the City of Culture will in practice help to overcome seemingly intractable cultural differences. This project sets out to unpack, investigate and problematise the City of Culture concept and how it intends to create a more peaceful, equal, respectful and shared city. The key research question concerns the extent to which culture becomes a transformative vehicle for peace-making and conflict resolution in Derry/Londonderry.

For more details contact Dr Boland or Dr Murtagh