Tunis Intangible Heritage, Cities and Communities – The 4th Silk Cities International Conference

Cultural practices, rituals, and traditional knowledge are intertwined with human existence. From yearly celebration of new years to those cultural expressions engaged with daily life such as music, religious practices, and food they are an inherently part of communities and individual lives, often considered as a natural extension of their ‘being’. Amid rapid urban changes and increased global mobility, immigration or forced displacement, communities and individuals are central to preserving heritage. 

This peer-reviewed conference aims to bring together global knowledge on conceptualising intangible heritage as an urban phenomenon. Traditions and cultural expressions do not happen in isolation, instead they are conditioned by both socio-cultural and urban spatiality. Therefore, this Fourth International Silk Cities Conference will foster international dialogues between multiple disciplines related to urban studies, art and humanities, social science as well as disaster management, heritage and migration studies. It will be open to scholars, practitioners, international organisations, and policy makers.

The Conference will explore dynamics of intangible heritage interactions with space, day to day life, and the built environment. It seeks to bring together global knowledge rooted in local diversity on relations between intangible heritage as integral parts of urban culture and spatiality of cities. The concept of intangible heritage is underexplored, yet inherently intertwined with urban life. The aim is to unpack links between space, community, time and heritages in cities in normal as well as disrupted circumstances to gain a better understanding of  this multifaceted concept. Even in cities facing disasters, an emerging notion is the value of intangible heritage in recovering from natural incidents, wars, and revolutions.
The Conference seeks to offer new perspectives and strategies towards a better understanding of urban intangible heritage and to push the traditional theoretical and practical boundaries by applying a holistic approach towards integrating potentials of intangible heritage to inform urban policies and practices as well as the arts and humanities. Ultimately intangible heritage is envisaged as tools for sustainable development and resilience.

Intangible heritage is not bound by current divisive geographic borders; instead, heritage tends to spread across vast territories and unites communities. The suggested reference points aim to assist the understanding of intangible heritages as uniting elements between local, regional and global communities. As for previous conferences, the programme includes academic sessions and social activities with opportunities for deeper informal discussions. A high-profile peer-reviewed academic publication will be produced in partnership with Springer after the conference.

Conference themes
This interdisciplinary conference will bring together scientific fields such as urban studies, art and culture, heritages, history and mapping, literature, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, geography, tourism, politics, economics, geopolitics together. 

Proposals for papers and non-paper 15 minutes presentations are invited under the following themes:

• Cultural expressions of diverse communities
• Dimensions of urban experience
• Urban economy, temporal activities and everyday life
• Intangible heritage, disaster management and and resilience to disasters and disruptions
• Urban governance, policies, instruments, and practices
• Social mobilisation, future memories, and right to the city
• Sustainable tourism, heritage, and local identity
• Partnerships, cooperations, and participatory practices

For more information visit : Intangible Heritage, Cities and Communities