16 – 17 March, 2023
Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam

The conference "Authenticity in European Cities. Creating, Visualizing and Contesting Urban and Built Heritage" will focus on how buildings, urban neighborhoods, urban spaces and actors were and
are perceived as “authentic”. Debates on how a city should look like and who decides which objects are worth representing it are a major opportunity to analyze “regimes of historicity” (François Hartog)
as well as past and present urban societies. We will focus on the field of built heritage with its various forms of reconstruction, renovation or demolition. Another focus will be laid on the question of
urbanity. What makes a city “unique”, “characteristic”, and “urban” and how have these images of urbanity changed in the past and present?

The conference is part of the research project "Urban Authenticity. Creating, contesting, and visualizing the built heritage in European cities since the 1970s", which is funded by the Leibniz
Association. It is a collaboration of the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ), the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East
Central Europe, the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam, and the Association of Museums in Brandenburg.

We invite contributions presenting case studies on European cities as well as comparative approaches. Papers from the fields of contemporary history, urban history, heritage conservation, (critical) heritage studies, cultural studies, sociology, art or architectural history are of special interest. Travel and accommodation costs are covered.

Please send your proposals (max. 300 words) and a brief biographical note (max. 150 words) to Daniel Hadwiger (daniel.hadwiger(at)leibniz.irs.de) by December 9th, 2022. Applicants will be
notified of acceptance by December 16, 2022.

Download the full Call for Papers here.