18/05/2016
The fifth consecutive Symposium of the Anatomy of Islands 2012-2016 programme will traditionally be held on the island of Vis in September 2016 with the aim of bringing together all insights gained into island topics as well as developing plans for a more streamlined interdisciplinary and cross-departmental approach to island development.
Since 2012 inhabitants of the island, researchers as well as other stakeholders in island development at the local, regional, and national level have gathered on Vis in order to discuss key challenges of island life and provide interdisciplinary solutions.
Interdependence of island areas and communities and the specificity of island development in the context of global migrations of people, capital, and ideas have been investigated through topics such as urban and rural island areas, island agriculture, tourism, demographics, archaeological and ethnological heritage etc. The influence of insularity on island life has been discussed as well as the strategies developed by the islanders to deal with various types of insularity throughout history. Isolation of the islands has proven to be an ambivalent category – on the one hand created on the mainland through tourist imaginings and promotion of the islands, and on the other hand an aggravating circumstance of islanders’ everyday life in the context of depopulation and consequently disappearance of basic infrastructure – but also a comparative advantage of life on the islands.
A strong creative and developmental potential has been noted of island architecture and landscape as crucial “evidence” of the islands’ cultural and economic history. At international workshops for students of architecture that have regularly followed the symposiums, 23 project proposals have been created for the conversion and renovation of architectural, archaeological, and landscape heritage of the island of Vis.
Numerous questions have been raised about island communities, both of the permanent as well as of the temporary residents, and their virtual co-existence. The emancipation of needs and the role of secondary residence in island areas have come up as important issues. The process of “ecological gentrification” of islands has been observed – ecologically aware settlers are moving from the mainland to the islands, attracted by alternative lifestyles as well as the development of green economy.
Debates on the decision making processes in island development and policies of inclusion of local, regional, national, and European stakeholders have exposed the necessity of creating a methodology of island development and research that would be developed as part of a distinct scientific discipline – nissology.
The cacophony of questions and island issues has in the last four years received answers full of creative and developmental potential that could be used for the drafting of a type of island manifesto. This year we are closing the first five-year cycle of the Anatomy of Islands Symposiums and Workshops. We will try to develop the final guidelines and a concept for future action through an International Centre for Island Life and Culture.
More information on how to apply can be found here (the deadline is 15 June 2016), and more info on the accomodation here. More information about the workshop that will be held from 19 - 25 September is coming soon!