Research school for Media Studies (RMeS)
  • News
    • RMeS News
      • Read all about RMeS Events
    • Media Studies News
      • Read the latest Media Studies News
  • Educationabout our classes
    • About our classes
      • Education for PhD candidates
      • Education for RMa students
      • Education Archive
  • Researcha network of experts
    • A network of experts
      • Academic Integrity
      • Grants
      • PhD Researchers
      • PhD Alumni
  • Curriculumevent calendar
    • PhD
      • Curriculum PhD candidates
    • RMa
      • Curriculum RMa students
    • Protected Pages
      • For course and masterclass participants
  • About RMeSread all about rmes
    • Read all about RMeS
      • Enrolment with RMeS
      • Mission Statement
      • PhD Council
      • Annual Report RMeS
    • Members
      • RMeS Membership
      • Staff Members
      • PhD members
  • Contactget in touch
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Link to X Link to X Link to X
  • Link to LinkedIn Link to LinkedIn Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Instagram Link to Instagram Link to Instagram

[urban interfaces] seminar 2021-2022: “The Magic City”

February 16, 2022/in Education Archive /by Chantal

THE MAGIC CITY: Of technorationality and spiritual futures – [urban interfaces] Graduate seminar 2021-2022

Dates: 5 April, 26 April and 10 May
Time and Venue: see below
Credits: 3 ECTS (for RMa Students and PhD Candidates only, MA students are welcome to participate, but are not eligible for credits). The seminar series is open to (R)Ma students and PhD candidates
Organized by: http://urbaninterfaces.sites.uu.nl. Prof. dr Nanna Verhoeff, Dr Michiel de Lange and Dr. Sigrid Merx
More information: urbaninterfaces[at]uu.nl
Registration will open February 21, 2022

Modern and technical solutions to complex social problems have long configured urban imaginaries. Planners, designers, and policymakers have embraced the notion of the “smart city” to reshape urban life into a gentrified wonderland for the rich. More often than not, supposedly ‘smart’ technologies are presented as simple solutions to wicked problems, making them disappear as if by magic. But as smart cities developed, a growing number of theorists, activists, and curators have embraced more speculative and imaginative notions of magic, in order to open up a deliberately unreal what-if space for collective fantasizing about urban futures. Magical thinking in this sense, then, can provide a healthy antidote to Modernist hopes and projections of being able to govern cities by means of (quantified) rational managerialism.

This seminar brings together scholars, artists, and designers who have productively explored these “magical” modes of thinking in their work. In embracing the dreamlike, the mystical, and the irrational as central concepts, the Magic City seminar series inspires us to think about urban life and culture along trajectories that move away from – or reimagine – quantifiable and commodified technological solutions. Practices of healing and cosmic consciousness are rather approached as alternative ways of knowing that could offer new ways of relating to the planet in distress, and of strengthening urban life as an inclusive, diverse, and imaginative community.

URL
The seminar is organized by the [urban interfaces] research group at Utrecht University.
Seminar website: https://urbaninterfaces.sites.uu.nl/seminars/the-magic-city-urban-interfaces-graduate-seminar-2021-2022/
On this website we will post the updated program and seminar syllabus.

Where/when
1) 5 april 2022 15:00 – 17:00
2) 26 april 2022 15:00 – 17:00
3) 10 mei 2022 14:00 – 17:00 + drinks

Venue: MCW Lab, Kromme Nieuwegracht 20 (theater space downstairs), Utrecht.

ECTS
Research Master students can acquire 3 ECTS for the seminar, if they write an illustrated blogpost of about 1000 words for each seminar session (3 in total). The best blogposts are selected for publication on the [urban interfaces] website urbaninterfaces.net.

Upcoming RMeS Events

  • No events

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

By subscribing to our newsletter you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Share this page

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on X
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn

Participating Universities

Explore the complete list of Participating Universities involved with the Netherlands Research School for Media Studies.

RMeS Mission

The Netherlands Research School for Media Studies (RMeS) is a national network of academic experts in media research.

RMeS Podcast

In this podcast series the RMeS PhD council interviews media doctors that either work in or outside academia.

Join RMeS at Discord

The RMeS PhD Council invites RMa, PhD students, and postdocs in Media Studies to join the RMeS Grad Students Discord!

© 2025 - Research School for Media Studies (RMeS)
Website door Nikolai NL Design Studio
  • Link to X Link to X Link to X
  • Link to LinkedIn Link to LinkedIn Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Instagram Link to Instagram Link to Instagram
  • Privacy
  • Contact
Link to: RMeS RMa Course | Disinformation and Media: Cultures, Infrastructures, and Regulation Link to: RMeS RMa Course | Disinformation and Media: Cultures, Infrastructures, and Regulation RMeS RMa Course | Disinformation and Media: Cultures, Infrastructures, and ...Link to: Recipient of the RMeS PhD Workshop Grant: Anouk Mols (EUR) Link to: Recipient of the RMeS PhD Workshop Grant: Anouk Mols (EUR) Recipient of the RMeS PhD Workshop Grant: Anouk Mols (EUR)
Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top