CFP for a session on creativity at IGU 2006: Regional Responses to Global Changes: a view from the Antipodes:

3-7 July 2006
Brisbane, Australia

Co-sponsored by the Cultural and Rural Studies Groups of the Institute of
Australian Geographers

Session description:
The cultural turn in human geography has, inter alia, highlighted the complex ways in which social and cultural factors are embedded in and influence economic development. Creativity is just one of these factors. Its role in shaping the economic fortunes of cities has been famously brought to public attention by Richard Florida. Less spectacularly, perhaps, but no less importantly, creativity is increasingly recognised as playing an important part in the economic revitalisation and/or diversification of rural regions. Yet a number of crucial epistemological and ontological questions still surround ‘creativity’ as a topic of geographical research. Just what is creativity? Is it a property solely of individuals or can it also apply to collectives? What presumptions underpin policy-making on ‘creativity’? What is the nature of creativity’s spatial distribution, and what factors influence this? How, if at all, do creative works (e.g. art, literature) inform our senses and understandings of space, place and spatiality?

With these questions in mind, papers are welcome on a range of themes that discuss creativity in the context of rurality and economic development.

Please contact session organisers to express an interest, and/or email send
abstracts by February 18. Abstracts are formally due to the conference
organisers by February 24 – see www.igu2006.org.

Session organisers:

Dr Chris Gibson
Human Geography
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Wollongong
Email: cgibson[AT]uow.edu.au

and

Dr Neil Argent
Division of Geography and Planning
School of Human and Environmental Studies
University of New England
Email: nargent[AT]une.edu.au