Neoliberal Agenda – the Event

Ideal Spaces presented a two day symposium in cooperation with Allan Siegel on September 6 + 7 at the Ideal Spaces Foundation venue/Karlsruhe on the topic of the neoliberal agenda. In what was a thought provoking and highly informational program, speakers from around the world presented in person, online, and via podcasts different perspectives on the neoliberal agenda. In presenting the neoliberal agenda, the speakers outlined the neoliberal concept on the basis that neoliberalism is a mindset that focuses itself on socioeconomic and political factors. These factors influence and affect everyone’s life, this is not solely an economic question, but a topic that infiltrates every aspect of life.

The presenters included: Juan Pablo Rodriguez/Catholic University Silva Henriquez/Chile (successful housing project in a neoliberal context), Loveneet Thakur/Punjab High Court Chandigarh/India (Le Corbusier’s ideal city vs. new urban development), John M. Roberts/Brunel University/UK (neoliberalization of urban space), Mike Berry/RMIT University/Australia (dynamics of housing in a neoliberal context), Benda Hofmeyr/University of Pretoria/South Africa (creative work class and neoliberal city transformation), Judit Bodnar/Central European University Vienna/Austria (transformations of public space in neoliberal economy), Molly Slavin/Clark Atlanta University Georgia/USA (cathartic crime in neoliberal cities), George Monbiot/The Guardian/UK (mindsets and dynamics of the neoliberal agenda), Wendy Brown/University of Berkeley/USA (neoliberalism undermining democracy), Dieter Plehwe/Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin/Germany (origins and genesis of the neoliberal agenda), Michael Janoschka/KIT/Germany (housing resisting neoliberal conditions), Aysegul Can/Istanbul Medeniyet University/Turkey (destruction of historic city quarters).

The symposium will be posted soon on our Ideal Spaces website, at https://www.idealspaces.org/projects/, together with the flowcharts made by our team member Emöke Bada, visualizing the different topics dealt with.