After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

• integrate acquired organizational skills of the conference into their own future event organization,
• apply public relations strategies as a prerequisite skill in planning and design practice (offices), in NGOs as well as in academia and science,
• communicate and engage with an international conference audience,
• summarize the content of scientific presentations,
• discuss critically major approaches to the topic of care in urban studies,
• apply Situational Analysis Maps as a method independently in their own learning and research practice,
• create and design a complex map in team work to document the multidisciplinary discourses of the conference.

This course is linked to the International Urban Studies Conference *C*ities, *A*ction, *R*esearch and *E*ducation, 20 – 22 November 2019, organized by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space at TU Wien and the Centre for the Future of Places at KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm.

The International Urban Studies Conference *C*ities, *A*ction, *R*esearch and *E*ducation is structured in three themes, where international urban scholars will present their research in relation to the conference topic ensuing discussion and debate. With the focus on action, research and education, the conference will explore mutually formative relations between cities and care and aims at discussing ambivalences inherent to care in regard to achieved progresses and ongoing struggles as well as to reflect on the power of caring practices in shaping solidary urban futures. The conference will pursue a more systematic integration of a plurality of empirical, methodological, theoretical and ethical approaches to care in urban studies, and invites different disciplinary perspectives, including social sciences, humanities and the spatial arts.

During the course we will focus on two aspects of the international conference and on learning and independently applying the method of Situational Analysis. The first focus lies on how an interdisciplinary conference is prepared and realized as conference organization. For this, students will engage in the conference organization (e.g. preparation, registration and catering, guidance of conference participants, by supporting the management, or similar). The second focus lies on the documentation of the conference’s content. Students will attend the scientific presentations and key note lectures during the conference to identify major discourses on the topic of care. After the conference each student brings in his/her knowledge gained at the conference and structures it with the help of the Situational Analysis method by Adele Clarke in a brief summary. Finally, we will illustrate the specific disciplinary perspectives related to the topic of care in a collective mapping session on a large-scale map.

Find more information on the conference here: http://skuor.tuwien.ac.at

As organizing a successful conference is a team effort we look forward to motivated students joining our team. The courses mainly address bachelor and master students from the fields of spatial planning, architecture, urban studies, urban design, geography, sociology, social design, landscape architecture, cultural studies. The course language is English. We support students’ active participation in debates and interactive teaching formats, and encourage you to bring in and develop your own ideas and critical perspectives. We seek to create an international level of debate and exchange and welcome students from all countries and cultures. Just contact us (info@skuor.tuwien.ac.at) 

Please register via TISS for this course. Further course registration will be carried out directly at the kick-off meeting on 2 October 2019, 9:00 in Augasse 2-6, 2nd floor, Seminar room 3/4.

The evaluation of the course will be based upon the following activities:

(1) Students will be requested to take part in the conference organization (e.g. preparation, registration and catering, guidance of conference participants, by supporting the management, or similar), thus getting involved in very different steps of conference organization as an important format for spatial planning, architecture and urban studies (40%).

(2) The summary of major approaches to the topic of care and the critical discussion of disciplinary approaches maps will be evaluated on the basis of a brief conference report (30%).

(3) The application of the Situational Analysis method will be evaluated through brought-in material and the active participation in the collective mapping process (30%). 

The completion of all three segments of the assessment is required for a successful completion of the course.

Please register via TISS for this course. Further course registration will be carried out directly at the kick-off meeting on 2 October 2019, 09:00 in Augasse 2-6, 2nd floor, Seminar room 3/4.