DATES AND VENUE

Following the success of LONDONICITY 2011, we are pleased to announce that 'LONDONICITY 2012: The Second Annual London Studies Conference' will be held from Friday 22 June until Sunday 24 June 2012 at the Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1.

LONDON: CITY OF TRANSFORMATIONS?

Against the backdrop of Olympic and Diamond Jubilee Year we seek to explore, celebrate and critique the manifold dimensions of this great world city via presentations and dialogues on a wide range of urban and metropolitan themes. Our main theme for 2012 is 'London: City of Transformations?', but a wide range of research on relevant London themes will be welcomed.

FURTHER POTENTIAL THEMES

We welcome proposals on the main conference theme and in any of the following or related areas.

archaeology / architecture / the arts / the boroughs / business / cinema / communications / conservation / cultures and subcultures / democracy / demography / devolution / digital city / diversity / domestic life / ecology / economy / education / entertainment / fashion / food / geography
globalisation / governance / health and welfare / heritage / housing / law and disorder / leisure / literature local history / media / metropolitan identities / migration / monarchy / multiculturalism / music / politics popular culture / port city / the press / radio / religion / the river / science / sexuality / sport / the street / the suburbs / television / theatre / tourism / transport / urban planning and design / urban pleasures / wealth and poverty / work and unemployment

COMPANION CONFERENCES

Organised by Academic Conferences London Ltd, and supported by a distinguished Academic Advisory Board, LONDONICITY 2012 runs in parallel with 'FILM AND MEDIA 2012: The Second London Film and Media Conference', and our new event, 'UNDERSTANDING BRITAIN 2012: The First Annual British Studies Conference'. A single registration admits to all events. You may register as a Speaker or as a Delegate. For registration details, please see our websites.

OUR CONFERENCE CONSTITUENCY

This pioneering annual conference, launched in 2011, is likely to be of considerable interest and value to established scholars, early career Faculty, young researchers, and to anyone with a commitment to learning about London in a dynamic and friendly academic context.

2011: INTERNATIONAL APPRECIATIONS

At our launch events in 2011, the joint Conference Programme for LONDONICITY 2011 and FILM AND MEDIA 2011 involved over 230 presentations from some 40 nations. For international appreciations of LONDONICITY 2011 and FILM AND MEDIA 2011, please see our website.

PAPERS, PANELS, PUBLICATIONS

We invite Papers of 20 minutes’ duration, as well as Panels of three Papers. Please submit your Proposal (strictly 180-200 words per Paper) for Peer Review only via the online form on the conference website at www.thelondonconference.com. We work on a rolling basis with a 7-10 day turnaround.

Final date for submissions: 31 March 2012. Deadline for discounted ‘Early Bird’ registration (obligatory for intending Speakers): 30 April 2012.Final Papers are eligible for consideration for publication in our E-Book Reader.

PERSPECTIVES ON LONDONICITY

The great world city of London which is the focus of our conference is the product of some two thousand years of growth and development, setback and renewal. The short passage to and from the North Sea along the River Thames made London one of the major European ports from Roman times onwards. Its maritime significance was eventually consolidated by the opening of its vast dock system in the heyday of the great imperial metropolis from 1800 on. Following further enormous change in the later 20th Century, London Docklands now serve a very different post-industrial function as the financial district moves eastwards and the population and its way of life transforms.

Profoundly historic and yet also ultramodern, London is a city of many different facets, logical and contradictory by turns. It is the seat of both the British monarchy and the home of parliamentary democracy, the two co-existing in what some regard as a typically ingenious British compromise. It is a city dominated by the financial and political industries, and yet these have been profoundly called into question in the new age of austerity and of political reform. And if London led the world in pioneering one of the great public transportation systems, this is now struggling to cope with the demands of the ever larger population - now numbering over seven million - as its members inhabit a city marked by a cultural diversity born of long-term international migration.

London is marked by the many traditions of great wealth, and yet, in part, still blighted by the scars of poverty and deprivation. A city ravaged, within living memory, by the horrors of world war, its urban landscape has been endlessly transfigured in sometimes spectacular, sometimes merely startling fashion within a few short decades. London thus reflects many of the glories of urbanisation and yet is also marked by many of its inevitable contradictions, from the great beauties of its artistic and architectural heritage to the dramatic challenges it now faces - alongside other world cities - to reduce its excessive carbon footprint, its pollution, and its criminality.

These striking transformations provide the context for our conference as we seek to analyse, critique and celebrate London's proud identity and heritage.

Fr further information, please see our conference websites at

LONDONICITY 2012
www.thelondonconference.com
FILM AND MEDIA 2012
www.thelondonfilmandmediaconference.com
UNDERSTANDING BRITAIN 2012
www.understandingbritain.com