CURB 'Post-Crash City' Seminar

News | Posted on Monday 25 November 2013

The Centre for Urban Research (CURB) are holding another seminar in their 'Post-Crash City' series entitled 'Environments and Ecologies'. The seminar will take place on the 13th of December. The keynote speakers are Mike Childs from Friends of the Earth and Professor Stefan Bouzarovski from the University of Manchester

CURB Seminar Ecologies and Environments
CURB Seminar Ecologies and Environments

The argument that environmental issues are deprioritised by policymakers and the public during times of economic decline has once again emerged.  There is evidence to support these claims, some argue that urban green spaces are being neglected as a result of budget cuts, equally, others highlight challenges to urban regeneration, with funding sources more limited and projects harder to negotiate, especially with less desirable spaces such as polluted brownfield sites.

Ironically some argue that environmental problems may have actually lessened during the recession, for example, Castellanos and Boersma (2012) attribute a 20 per cent drop in NO2 levels in 2010 in Europe at least in part to the global recession.  However, despite the cuts, in the UK some environmental agendas clearly remain in place and are becoming a more standard part of policy rhetoric, especially those relating to low carbon initiatives. 

It is also becoming increasingly more unusual to find low carbon strategies that do not take into consideration (at least on the surface) broader social concerns such as poverty and social inclusion.     

These issues raise a number of questions: how are urban environments changing as a result of this altering terrain?  Are new networks forming in order to continue environmental or social goals that were previously supported through the public purse?   Are social and environmental goals being balanced differently since the recession?

The event costs £30 per person including dinner (free for York postgraduates with £20 dinner extra) and registration is required.