The Red House for Culture and Debate has the pleasure of inviting you to:

Crisis of joint life? The city between the new capital and the new forms of civil activity
public debate

Participants: Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes (House of Europe, Paris and Transeuropeennes), Pierre Barge (President of AEDH) and Rastko Mocnik (University of Ljubljana)

Moderators: Dimitur Vacev (New Bulgarian University), Antony Todorov (New Bulgarian University) and Boyan Manchev (Internationeal College of philosophy, Paris; New Bulgarian University).

More Information on the event
Is there any specific character of the European city? How does it show? Can we talk about the big European city as a specific model of joint existence? A provocative question: is Sofia a European city from this perspective? The radical transformation of the big Bulgarian cities in the last decade undoubtedly affects the spaces of our life together. What if the countless problems of the big cities nowadays are symptom of the shared life crisis?
The participants in the debate will explore the chances of new forms of civil activity in favor of the public welfare in civil life, as well as the perspectives of the civil activity in Bulgarian context in view of a future European policy for big cities.
The big contemporary city is not simply an economic, commercial, financial, enormous centre for services, communication and consummation; it is neither a mechanical whole of separate from one another private spaces, bound by private individuals and groups. The big city is, above all, space of the life together – shared space, in which the private individual gets in touch with the general, the private interest gets in contact with the general, public interest, the private property and commonwealth – with the public property and welfare. The city, therefore, is the space where the civil activity happens as the only chance for joint existence in
the modern world.
The civil space is a space filled with social dynamics, exchange, silent agreements or over -agreements, but also with tensions, confrontations, even brutal clashes. The contours of the city space are not only the physical outlines of the city. They outline the shared civil activity (or are outlined by the shared inactivity).
The city is an area of intensity, in which the forms of living together are updated. The questions set in the discussion are – is there a specific character of the European city (in respect of the Asian or American metropolises, for example)? How does this specific character show? Can we talk about the big European city as a specific model of joint existence? A provocative question: is Sofia a European city from this perspective?
The big Bulgarian cities and Sofia, in the first place, are the playground of the radical transformation of the joint existence in the last twenty years. These cities underwent major political, economic, social, cultural changes and convulsions; at the same time their physical space is in a process of permanent architectural, infrastructural and functional transformation. This transformation undoubtedly affects not only the public space of the city, but also the space of the joint life. What if the countless problems of the cities nowadays are symptom of the shared life crisis – and also a city crisis, the city being the place of the joint life? Or is it rather about a crisis of a certain model of civil co-existence, connected with the socio-cultural dimensions of the uncontrollable expansion of the city? A provocative question: are the inhabitants of the big Bulgarian cities today citizens? What is the vision for joint life of the elected governors of the big Bulgarian cities?
In recent years, together with the exhaustion and the general fatigue from (a certain model of) political life, on the front line of the public scene have come out new forms of organizing the citizens, as well as new models of supporting common interests – an emblematic example of this trend are the new ecological movements, but also the movements, involved with the support of the public good in city environment.
This three-day series of debates, seminars and lections entitled “Crisis of joint life” aims at putting forward a critical and practically oriented reflection on the opportunities for new forms of civil activity in the broader context of critical analysis of the economic, political and socio-cultural transformation of the Bulgarian cities, as well as to think over the perspectives of civil activity in Bulgarian context in view of a future European policy for big cities.

The dates and places of the next events, planned in the Programme:
- International Conference “Crisis of joint life?”, Sofia, April 3-5, New Bulgarian University;
- International Conference ”Crisis of joint life?”, Sofia, April 4 (Friday), New Bulgarian University;
- Seminar “Legal dimensions of citizenship – national and European contexts”, Sofia, April 4 (Friday), 3.30 p.m., New Bulgarian University;
- An all-University Seminar “The science – understood and made”, Sofia, April 4 (Friday), 6.00 p.m., New Bulgarian University;
- Seminar “City environment and citizenship” April 5 (Saturday), 10.00 a.m., New Bulgarian University.

This event is within the “European assembly of the big metropolises” Programme, organized by House of Europe (Paris), New Bulgarian University, Foundation for humanitarian and social sciences (Sofia), European association for protection of human rights (AEDH) and Genshagen Foundation (Berlin), University of Liubliana. The programme “European assembly of the big metropolises”, coordinated by the House of Europe (Paris) with the participation of NBU, European association for protection of human rights (AEDH), Foundation for humanitarian and social sciences (Sofia), Genshagen Foundation (Berlin), University of Liubliana with the support of the Paris city council and the Ile de France county, aims at organizing series of public meetings and debates in big European cities, which have to prepare the European Assembly of big cities, whose purpose is to formulate principles and messages, affecting a future all-European policy for big cities: policy that should have effects for the development of the big Bulgarian cities and Sofia, in the first place.

April 3 (Thursday) 2008, 7.00 p.m.
Pesha Nikolova hall
Tickets: 2/1 BGN

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