Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Europäische Ethnologie

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Institut für Europäische Ethnologie | Termine | Augmented Cities – Where did the night go?

Augmented Cities – Where did the night go?

Night spaces: migration, culture and integration in Europe (NITE)
  • Wann 21.04.2020 09:00 bis 23.04.2020 18:00
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Berlin conference, Augmented Cities – Where did the night go?

 

21-23 April 2021

Night spaces: migration, culture and integration in Europe (NITE)

Dear Colleagues

 
New technologies and business models are increasingly blurring the boundaries between daytime and nighttime. Digital technology is transforming the city and with it the urban public space, which also means a transformation of the night. Our question is: Where did the night go? Cities are getting brighter and brighter thanks to computerized LED lighting systems. IT services are often outsourced across the globe leading to a re-territorialization of temporalities and global inequalities of work and time. The Internet and smartphone apps enable work activities to be outsourced to urban spaces at night. This is particularly evident in the example of the many platform workers, who are often migrants, often mobile day and night, controlled by smartphone apps that shape nocturnal urban space. The growing ubiquity of platform-based services, be it in the field of food delivery (Lieferando), housing (Airbnb), mobility (car sharing and escooter companies) or so-called crowdwork, have long been a part of everyday life in cities like Berlin.

This is the second conference linked to a three-year transdisciplinary European research project "Night spaces: migration, culture and integration in Europe (NITE)", funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area program, exploring nocturnal public spaces in eight European cities (Aarhus, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cork, Galway, Lisbon, London, Rotterdam). 

After last year's kick-off in the United Kingdom, Humboldt-Universität invites you in April 2021 to the international online conference "Augmented Cities - Where did the night go?" with a focus on technology, work and the transformation of the urban night in digital times. 

The keynote address on the first day of the conference will be given by Professor Saskia Sassen from Columbia University, one of the most influential sociologists of our time. Sassen, who coined the term "global city", will talk about urban technologies. Other conference highlights include a talk by chronourbanist Professor Dietrich Henckel about the selectivity of the 24/7 concept followed by panels with transdisciplinary perspectives on the digitalization of labour, nightlife, migration, increasing light pollution in the so-called smart cities and the augmentation of sleep. In the evenings, there will be the opportunity to attend the roundtable discussion on 'Designing diverse cities at night' or the digital field research photo exhibition of the German NITE project, which focuses on nighttime gig work in Berlin.

 
Participation is free of charge, if you are interested, please send an email with the subject 'Registration' to:  augmented-cities.2021@hu-berlin.de
 

Please find attached the detailed conference program and the press release (in German and English).

Further information: nightspaces.org
Contact: laura-solmaz.litschel@hu-berlin.de