Events

When: Monday, May 11, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
Where: Novotel Vilnius Centre, Gedimino 16

The city is increasingly seen by a range of actors as the best node for social renewal through increased democratic involvement, citizen-driven social and welfare innovation, and grassroots projects for revitalizing the connections between communities and spaces. As a result, the contemporary city emerges as the crucible of an effervescent mix of projects for social transformation.

In this EHU Public Conversation, EHU Lecturer Dr. Benjamin Cope and Minsk-based urban activist and EHU alumnus Andrei Karpeka will discuss new ways in which critical urbanists seek to understand these transformations and mobilize urban resources in response to contemporary social challenges. Vilnius, Warsaw, and Minsk will serve as case studies that illustrate these tendencies in the context of post-socialist urban transformation.

Benjamin Cope, PhD (Oxford University) is a lecturer at the European Humanities University, Vilnius, where he is director of the Laboratory of Critical Urbanism and teaches courses on Critical Urbanism, Localized Cultural Industries, Critical Cartographies, and Gender and Space. He lives in Warsaw where he works in the education department at Zacheta National Gallery of Art and is a member of the cultural association “Stowarzyszenie My.” He is co-editor of P-S Landshafty: Optiky gorodskogo issledovania (Vilnius: E.H.U. International Press, 2008) and is currently editing a volume presenting the results of a winter school held in Vilnius in 2014 on mapping post-socialist spaces in Vilnius. He also plays clarinet with the Belarusian group Nagual.

Andrei Karpeka is a researcher and graduate of EHU’s MA program in Critical Urban Studies. He co-edits Urban Tactics almanac and is co-founder of Minsk Urban Platform—a cross-disciplinary platform that connects citizens, architects, and researchers to address pressing urban issues. In cooperation with Laimikis.lt (Lithuania), he is currently involved in “Co-Urbanism”—a research and education project for cooperation between various urban activist groups.

The EHU Public Conversation is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Vilius.Alesius @ ehu.lt by May 8.

Please feel free to forward the attached invitation to anyone who might be interested.

Program:

Noon–12:30 p.m.  Light lunch
12:30–1:30 p.m.   Public Conversation with Dr. Benjamin Cope & Andrei Karpeka