EduCity Conference

**  call for papers DEADLINE EXTENDED to 15 November!**

The neighbourhood as a learning environment

Berlin, 25-26 January 2024, Amerikagedenk Bibliothek.

The Edu-City conference looks at the neighbourhood dimension and the potential of neighbourhoods as spaces for social engagement. Neighbourhoods are complex social ecosystems entrenching multiple relations of human life among individuals and with places, institutions and infrastructures. Neighbourhoods are active subjects determining life conditions and growth opportunities of their inhabitants. The neighbourhood dimension affects the way we perceive ourselves, interact with others, learn, communicate, and position ourselves within local society. An essential factor influencing how we grow and integrate within a community, living in a neighbourhood can also result in disadvantage, exclusion or segregation for vulnerable subjects.

The EduCity conference calls for ideas and tools to exploit the neighbourhood as an active site for mutual learning, innovation and capacity building. The conference has a multidisciplinary and inclusive ambition and is open to researchers, practitioners, educators, civil servants and engaged citizens active in processes of social inclusion and community empowerment in urban contexts. We aim specifically at hybrid professional figures enhancing and facilitating processes of social engagement, co-creation and management of commons. The overall objective is to connect and provide tools to organisations and individuals who share an interest in the potential of neighbourhoods as learning spaces. We are looking for presentations in the fields of urban education, urbanism, social work, participatory practice, art and design.

The conference is the final event of the EduCity Erasmus+ project. It will be held in the wonderful public library of Berlin Kreuzberg (Amerikagedenk Bibliothek) and will include practical explorations and field activities. The conference has practice-oriented approach, favouring presentations of concrete experiences and tools rather than purely theoretical papers. We encourage non-strictly academic formats, including video, poetry performance etc. with a preference for interactive presentations.

Proposals are received at info@tesserae.eu with an abstract of 400 words max, list of keywords, and short CV.

Deadline November 15,  2023