Owen Hatherley is a writer, based in London, who writes primarily on architecture, politics and culture. His 2011 book Uncommon charts the ways in which post-industrial Sheffield, its modernist buildings and flawed urbanism infuses many of Pulp’s finest songs. Sensoria, the UK’s festival of music, film and digital, have been working with Dr Matthew Cheeseman, School of English, to develop a Sheffield Music Map www.uncommonpeople.co.uk Owen will curate a Pulp trail on the app version of the map, to be launched at the This is Arts Enterprise event on 5 June.

A documentary theatre performance researched and devised by Level 2 Theatre and Performance students at the University of Sheffield. It celebrates Sheffield history with a special tribute to the Women of Steel. The show is also intended as a fundraiser for the Women of Steel statue.

This is Our City showcases the work of some of the many filmmakers working in Sheffield to document our city. Films will include vivid stories of lives from Broomhall, an account of growing up in Parson Cross and discovering art, and other films which explore the lives and places of Sheffield. The evening will also include an opportunity to see ‘In the Tracks of Memory’ – a film which paints a vivid picture of the city, from the Edwardian period, through the 50s and 60s to the present, with the story centring on the city’s trams.

The event includes a talk by the writer and commentator Lynsey Hanley. Lynsey was born and raised just outside Birmingham on what was then the largest council estate in Europe. Her book Estates: An Intimate History is a vivid mixture of memoir and social history and tells the story of estates in Britain through her own experience. It challenges stereotypes, and asks why homes that were built to improve people’s lives have ended up, in many cases, doing the opposite.

The Ola Nordmann Goes West project at the University of Sheffield explores the use of virtual world technology to depict the migration patterns in the European settlement of the American continent. Focusing on the large number of urban migrants around the turn of the 20th century lured by the opportunities offered by growing American cities, this talk will show how virtual worlds provide an alternative historical narrative of their experiences.

Readings of Rimbaud’s Iluminations in French and English by Dr Helen Abbott, Dr Maxime Goergen and final-year French students with a discussion chaired by Dr Amanda Crawley Jackson. These prose poems directly explore the idea of the City. Rimbaud imagines the city as a vibrant, intercultural space and by performing his work in Sheffield today, we can engage with our own city through the perspective of a pivotal, visionary ‘city’ poet.

Sheffield Chamber Orchestra, along with tenor, David Webb, perform Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations. Les Illuminations is a set of nine songs for voice and string orchestra based on the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, composed after a visit to London. Dr Helen Abbott, Department of French, University of Sheffield will give a short pre-concert talk to accompany the evening.

Also includes Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and is part of the A Boy Was Born festival, celebrating the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten. More details about the rest of the festival at www.aboywasborn.co.uk

Underground is a tale of love, treachery, jealousy and murder set in 1920s London. It is a London tinged with magical realism and genuine romance, a city of parks, shops, pubs and lodging houses and, of course, the tube. At the 150th anniversary of London’s subterranean railway, Anthony Asquith’s film reveals only subtle changes in the 80 years since it was made. The tube network provides a thrilling setting to this showcase of the light and dark sides of city life. Professor Tom Ryall, author of Anthony Asquith (2011) will introduce the film.

Once a shining testament to American capitalism, Detroit is now a shell of its former self. Combining historical footage and interviews with the city’s residents, Detroit Wild City explores the rise and fall of a city once the most industrialized in the United States. This meditative, French-made documentary vividly depicts the deserted urban prairie of Detroit and the modern pioneers who are rediscovering it. Dr Amanda Crawley Jackson will introduce the film, in the context of Post-traumatic Landscapes.

To complement the showing of Detroit Wild City, this symposium discusses the role of art in portraying cities, their destruction and reconstruction. Bringing together artists and academics it aims to address some of the ethical considerations in using destroyed and decayed cities as art and whether there is a moral aspect to this work which can be subsumed by the quest for artistic merit.

Dr Tristram Hunt is MP for Stoke-on-Trent, a city with a rich and proud history: birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and hub for the finest ceramics industry in the world. As part of In the City, Dr Hunt will talk about Stoke’s role in the past, its present state and his aspirations for its future; and about how priorities for regeneration are being realised by developments in the city.

Come and see what the Faculty of Arts and Humanities means by Arts Enterprise and public engagement: projects which combine the academic expertise of University staff with external partners in the city and beyond. There will be performances, talks and an exhibition of the exciting things that our academics are involved in, working outside the University to use research in meaningful ways. The Faculty throws open its doors and invites all to partake in a fun, interactive and informative evening.

• Date: From 4 June - 14 August
• Opening times:

Monday to Thursday from 9am to 7pm
Friday 10am to 7pm
Saturday 12pm until 6pm (excluding holidays)

• Venue: Western Bank Exhibition Space
• Tickets: Free, no need to book