2nd call for papers: Workshop on Globalisation, World Cities and History

++ 2nd call for papers and participation ++

2nd GaWC Student Workshop

GLOBALISATION, WORLD CITIES AND HISTORY

In conjunction with:

10^th GaWC Annual Lecture:

THE STUDY OF CITIES: HISTORICAL AND STRUCTURAL APPROACHES

by Professor PIET SAEY, Professor-Emeritus in Social Geography and Planning at Ghent University (Belgium), and member of the Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC).

MONDAY 14 JANUARY 2008

Hosted by the Department of Geography, Loughborough University (UK)

Loughborough University

Stuart Mason Building (SMB)

Loughborough

Leicestershire

LE11 3TU

United Kingdom

In conjunction with the 10^th GaWC Annual Lecture by Prof. Dr. Piet Saey (Ghent University, Belgium) the Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) organises its second student workshop, this year focusing on Globalisation, World Cities and History.

Recently, GaWC has extended its interests beyond contemporary globalisation, and started to investigate the external relations of cities in the past. Transnational city networks are not limited to our present-day society, but cities and towns have been connected with each other since their early origins. Related to this, one can ask whether or not globalisation and/or the “network society” are really as new as often conceived in the scientific literature. Since globalisation is often interpreted as a strengthening of the role of cities at the expense of states, attention is paid as well to the complex relation between cities and states throughout historical times.

The 2^nd GaWC Student Workshop provides an opportunity for students (PhD, Postgraduate, Undergraduate) to discuss issues on Globalisation, World Cities and History by exchanging and sharing their research ideas and work experiences in an informal and friendly environment. This will be facilitated by a number of senior researchers (e.g. Professors Piet Saey, Peter Taylor, and Michael Hoyler) and early-career researchers. Students from all disciplines of the social sciences and humanities are welcome (historians, archaeologists, geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, political scientists,…).

We would like to invite you to participate in this event and to present and discuss your research interests / projects with other students. Possible themes for papers include:

1) Globalisation in history
2) Historical city networks / urban networks
3) Cities versus states in history

4) (World) cities in the past

5) Urbanisation and history

6) Transnationalism, long-distance trade and migration between cities / towns in the past
7) Historical financial centres

Because this workshop is intended for students, there will be no registration fee for this event (including the participation at the GaWC Annual Lecture). Refreshments will be provided thanks to the generous sponsorship by the Geography Department of Loughborough University. However, travel, lunch and accommodation will have to be financed by the participants themselves. After the workshop, we intend to go for dinner in town (cost per person will be less than 10 £).

Students who would like to present a paper should send a short abstract (ca. 250 words) by Friday 30 November 2007 to Raf Verbruggen (R.Verbruggen@lboro.ac.uk).

Other participants also will have the opportunity to be actively involved in the workshop through discussion sessions (in small groups as well as a round table discussion). All participants should register by Friday 21 December 2007 by sending an e-mail with full name, position, institution, contact information (address + e-mail), research interests / thesis topic (in a couple of sentences), and whether or not attending the conference dinner (+ dietary requirements) to R.Verbruggen@lboro.ac.uk.

If you have any questions regarding the workshop, travel, accommodation,… please do not hesitate to contact us.

We hope to hear from you soon,

Julia Grosspietsch, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Loughborough University

J.K.Grosspietsch@lboro.ac.uk

Raf Verbruggen, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, Loughborough University

R.Verbruggen@lboro.ac.uk

Globalisation and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC)

Visit us at: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc

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PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME:

09.00-09.30: Registration and Tea/Coffee

09.30-09.45: Welcome by Head of Department (Prof. Dr. Ian Reid)

09.45-10.45: Presentations I

10.45-11.30: Small group discussions (themes will be attuned to the interests of the participants)

11.30-11.45: Break

11.45-12.30: “Generic concepts linking social science and history: Braudel, Wallerstein, GaWC”: Seminar by Prof Dr. Peter Taylor (Loughborough University), director of GaWC

12.30-13.30: Lunch

13.30-14.45: Presentations II

15.00-16.15: GaWC Annual Lecture: “The study of cities: historical and structural approaches, by Prof. Dr. Piet Saey (Ghent University, Belgium)

16.30-17.30: Roundtable discussion and reflections from the workshop

17.30-18.00: Post-workshop drinks

18.30 - …: Conference dinner

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WORKSHOP VENUE, TRAVEL, AND ACCOMMODATION:

Loughborough University is easy to reach:

To have a look at (downloadable) maps of Loughborough University Campus and the surrounding area please refer to www.lboro.ac.uk/about/map/ or read on for some further travel tips:

Workshop venue:

The 2^nd GaWC Student Workshop will take place in the Stuart Mason Building (Reference Number on Campus Map: 48, SMB) towards the south end of the campus’ Central Park.

Loughborough University can be easily reached by ROAD, by RAIL or by AIR:

By ROAD: Loughborough is just off the M1 (Junction 23). Leave the M1 at Junction 23, and follow the A512 that takes you directly to the campus.

To get to the Student Workshop venue, Stuart Mason Building (Reference Number on Campus Map: 48, SMB), it is best to use the East Entrance and report to the gatehouse to ask for car park space.

By RAIL: Loughborough is part of the Midland Mainline route network. London St. Pancras can be reached in 90 min, Birmingham New Street in 80 min, Bristol in just over 3 hours, Edinburgh in 5 hours, Leeds in 2h 30 min, Manchester in 2h 30 min, and Nottingham in 20 min.

Check timetables and ticket fares at www.thetrainline.co.uk, or www.midlandmainline.com.

From 14 November 2007 Eurostar-train services (www.eurostar.com) will be launched from London St. Pancras to mainland Europe. Brussels and Paris can then be reached in 2h and 2h 30 min respectively (might be an alternative to flying, especially because of the good connection between London St. Pancras and Loughborough).

Some tips for students not familiar with English trains and fares:

- Book as far as possible in advance and you can get really cheap deals.

- Trains from and to London can be very expensive when you are travelling in peak times.

- Book a return ticket, they are usually much cheaper than two single journeys.

- If you are booking special offer tickets (e.g. from and to London), you can only get the best deals when you are travelling on off-peak trains. You also need to book two single journeys, special deals are not for return journeys.

- There are no special student prices (to get a student price you would need to purchase a student rail card, but that does not pay off if you only use it for one journey).

- Loughborough station has a short platform, hence it might be possible that you cannot alight from your coach and need to move to a different coach. It is best to ask the ticket inspector from which coaches you can alight at Loughborough.

- Keep your ticket until you have left the train station, you will have to use it to leave the train station through electronic barriers.

If you want to get the cheapest fares you need to play around a bit on the booking-website.

From Loughborough train station there is a bus (Kinchbus, Number 7, www.kinchbus.co.uk/7kinchbus.html) that takes you directly to the campus, during term time the bus leaves every 10 min. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to arrive on campus.

To get to the Workshop venue (Stuart Mason Building, reference Number on Campus Map: 48, SMB) you should alight at the 2^nd bus stop on campus, at the Haslegrave Building, Ref. No.: 61, N).

By AIR: Loughborough is about 8 miles from East Midlands airport (www.eastmidlandsairport.com).

Low cost airlines flying to EMA are:

- BMI Baby (www.bmibaby.com)

- Easyjet (www.easyjet.com)

- Ryanair (www.ryanair.com)

From the airport, there is a bus to Loughborough (www.kinchbus.co.uk/airline.html) every 30 minutes (ca. £ 2). It takes ca. 25 minutes to arrive at Loughborough town centre or train station from where you could again take Kinchbus No. 7, or walk to the campus from town centre (ca. 20-25 min).

By taxi, it takes ca. 15 minutes to go from the airport to the university (approx. £ 15-20).

From Birmingham International Airport (www.bhx.co.uk) to Loughborough, travel time is 100 min by train (www.thetrainline.co.uk) and 2h 30 min - 3h by coach (www.nationalexpress.com).

Accommodation in Loughborough:

For details about hotels, guesthouses and B&B’s in Loughborough please refer to:

http://accommodation.lboro.ac.uk/visit/hotels.php

www.bedandbreakfast-directory.co.uk/results.asp?town=Loughborough&county=Leicestershire&country=England

www.bedandbreakfasts.co.uk/propertysearch.asp?townCity=Loughborough

www.touristnetuk.com/EM/LEICESTERSHIRE/accommodation/ac-serviced/loughborough.htm

Raf Verbruggen
PhD-Candidate
Department of Geography
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 3TU
United Kingdom
E-mail: R.Verbruggen@lboro.ac.uk