The Theme of 15th Urban Research Plaza Forum 2017:
“Urban Resilience: Voicing ‘Others’ through Art and Culture”
Cities and urban areas in various part of the world, including in Asia and Japan and Indonesia in particular, are currently facing critical and continuous problems such as population pressure, climate change, social polarization and segregation, high unemployment, unbalanced composition of the population, endemic violence, and chronic food and clean water shortage. These problems have marginalized further powerless group in society and created stresses to all groups of societies that weaken the fabric of a city on a daily or cyclical basis to an extent that cities are no longer livable places. Among those powerless groups in urban areas are those sexually defined as ‘others’, which means among other people with disabilities, elderly people and LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transsexual).
Recently, the idea of urban resilience has a pivotal role in urban growth and planning. Yet, the concept of urban resilience is often applied only to the city as a whole, and put societal problems including the marginalization of ‘others’. Therefore, efforts are needed to include ‘others’ and strategies to give voice for them as part of the idea and practice of urban resilience.
Putting this into consideration, the 15th Urban Research Plaza Forum 2017 takes the following theme: “Urban Resilience: Voicing ‘Others’ through Art and Culture”. The forum invites urban researchers, activities and academia to discuss the role and participation of local government, communities, universities and other related stake holders, who use arts – modern and traditional – and cultural institutions, music, and social capitals in giving voice for ‘others’.
By taking this theme as a focus, the forum seeks to examine the way ‘others’ and its supporters using art and culture to negotiate their socio-cultural position in their respective societies. The forum also discusses the effectiveness of arts and culture as media for voicing the interests of ‘others’ as part of urban resilience. It is believed that arts and culture provide wider access for different agents, institutions and communities to be involved in solving such increasingly complex and sensitive urban issues in Japan as well as Indonesia.
15th Urban Research Plaza Academic Forum
Date : February 22, 2017
Venue : Multimedia Room, Rectorate Building (3rd Floor, North Wing), Universitas Gadjah Mada Yogyakarta
Time : 08.30am – 03.00pm
Speakers :
1. Mr. Sohei Yamada. (Osaka City University)
2. Mr. Atsushi Fujita. (Osaka City University)
3. Ms. Yu Ishikawa. (Osaka City University)
4. Dr. Farabih Fakih. (History Dept., UGM)
5. Rahmawan Jatmiko, M.A. (English Dept., UGM)
6. P. Gogor Bangsa, M.Sn. (Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta)
7. Dr. Kurniawan Adi Saputra (Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta)
