The aim of the conference is to critically explore the role of urban art and urban design in shaping the public sphere.  The topic of this conference – urban polarization and urban polarities, is aimed to extend the discussion on the aesthetic experience of the city and the role of various forms of urban creativity – street art, fine arts, architecture and greenery in the processes of urban regeneration and redefinition of city spaces. We would like to look upon the realized and ongoing projects of urban revitalisation and renewal to ask what changes have thought us, what lessons can be taken from the successful and unsuccessful undertakings. Lodz with its specific historical, social and economic characteristics and its present endeavours at revitalisation and redevelopment presents itself as an interesting scene for such observations.  While discussing the question of urban polarization we would like to reflect on visual, spatial and social polarities that projects of urban renewal might challenge, as well as aesthetic and historical polarities ingrained in urban fabric and everyday life of a city.

TOPICS

• general mechanism of urban divide: aesthetic, spatial, social, economic
• urban policies and city planning – social revitalisation and urban renewal
• diverse urban functions and conflicts of values
• successful / failed scenarios for revitalisation and public art
• bottom-up / top-down activities in creating the city
• permanent structures / temporary structures, actions & events
• neglected spaces / overinvested spaces