Cities

Living in cities still defend a position on the frontline of a continuous modern revolution; a centre of tourism and information and communication technologies. The city continued to be the physical coating of desire. The city has always held a fascination both as a landscape and for its unplanned encounters between people. New innovations in our time include the architecture and the idioms of global culture that are developed in conflict with those national and local cultural hegemonies that also make claims on the city. The global economy’s centres of glass and concrete convey sweeping changes in the city’s appearance. The modern city has changed and industrial premises stand empty. The dwindling labour market makes its mark on the city. Life is condensed in new forms, places are given new meaning and the old is dismantled. The European city is born and dies at the same time.

Several joint seminars, conferences and field works in London and Sweden have been very successful and well received: with a focus on cities, cultural change, and sustainability. The construction of the joint seminars has been made by Gösta Arvastson together with prof Tim Butler, King’s College (earlier at University of East London), prof Jo Foord, Metropolitan University and prof Margaret O’Brien, University of East Anglia, earlier at North London University. The co-work has been supported via funding from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT).