States of Mind and the City: Place and Wellbeing Symposium

Call for Papers

15-17 October 2014, Istanbul

Scope

The "States of Mind and the City: Place and Wellbeing"  Symposium is intended as a multidisciplinary platform to bring together perspectives on the meanings, challenges, and potential in geographically interpreting wellbeing in urban settings. The event will explore the city as a geopolitical site of emotional wellbeing and mental health by drawing on Istanbul’s past, present, formal, confined, improvised, informal, fictional and lived therapeutic landscapes. Some examples of these places include hospitals, mental institutions, parks, green/grey lots, trails, seafronts, gardens, coffeehouses, neighbourhood markets, spice and herb shops, barbershops, springs, spas and public baths, art venues, cemeteries, mosques, churches and other holy places. Some other examples might be assessments of walkability, soundscapes or the city skyline. In these examples the site-specific aspect is less fixed, more dynamic, and the healing aspect might be related to visceral experiences of movement, rhythm and angle/vista.

Further information: www.cool-istanbul.net