Debates: Cities in Development

The Interdisciplinary Debates on Development and Cultures take place every other year. In 2013-2014 the KU Leuven Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa (IARA) will organise this interfaculty course with the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning (ASRO). The focus will again be on Cities in Development: Spaces, Conflicts and Agency.

Renowned speakers such as Michael Herzfeld, Erik Swyngedouw, Teresa Caldeira, Ash Amin, Alejandro Echeverri, Morten Nielsen, Brian Mc Grath, AbdouMaliq Simone and Richard Plunz will join us in the fall to discuss issues of gentrification, city integration, speculation, public spaces and nature in the city.

The objective of the debates is to offer both CADES-students and other participants critical and interdisciplinary reflections on essential and pressing problems concerning development and North-South relations. They also aim to foster in-depth scientific debates and the consideration of social answers to the urgent problems in question. Indeed, the call for inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural and culture-sensitive approaches is being heeded worldwide, especially in international organisations and NGOs. This course offers students a comprehensive base and possibly compensates for a lack of field experience.

The debates series consists of five evening debates, on Tuesdays from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm, and five research seminars on Wednesday mornings from 11 am to 1 pm.

The evening debates are organised in Auditorium STUK, Naamsestraat 96, 3000 Leuven and open to a large audience of students and other interested people. The Wednesday morning seminars are for advanced master and PhD students only

In each session, two guest lecturers will share their alternative readings of specific urban spaces or issues. A debate, moderated by a thematic expert, will follow these presentations.

Debates with a focus on Latin-America:

Check the complete program on www.cades.be/debates