Call for Papers: Architecture and Democracy, PhD Workshop. Rotterdam, 25 April 2019
The Jaap Bakema Study Centre organizes an International PhD Workshop together with the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the Delft University of Technology. The subject of the workshop will be ‘Architecture and Democracy’, which is also the focus of the newly launched PhD-programme of the Jaap Bakema Study Centre.
The organizers seek proposals that critically investigate and illuminate how architecture and urban planning have played a role in representing, embodying and enabling democracy. What has been the role of architecture and planning in the redistribution of power, wealth and knowledge? How did the design of the built environment interact with the larger governance systems of the previous century, particularly during the twentieth century and the built-up and later demise and subsequent revision of the welfare state?
The workshop aims to explore how the involvement of architecture and planning in the project of democracy called for architectural experiment and disciplinary transgression while attempting to accommodate the masses and their everyday needs. The workshop aims to probe the production of the period as planned and built, and to explore the archives to question institutional memory, by contextualization, comparative analysis, as well as critical confrontation. Ultimately, the paper needs to formulate a contemporary perspective on this period and the issue of architecture and democracy — how can this now historical period inform our current practices, architecturally, culturally, or even politically?
PhD-students are invited to send a fully-written proposal for a 20-minute paper presentation, including visual materials. The proposal should be based on the student’s dissertation research, but it should not be a summary of the dissertation work, but an elaboration of one of the chapters or research subjects. It should be accompanied with an abstract (300 words max) which explains the relation to the dissertation. In addition, a draft table of contents of the dissertation (one page) is required, and a letter by the supervisor, which states the current status of the PhD-research work.
Four students will be selected to present their work at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam to an audience of international peers. The selection is made by a reading committee consisting of representatives of the Jaap Bakema Study Centre, Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft.
Contact and submission address: Janno Martens, coordinator of the Jaap Bakema Study Centre: j.martens@hetnieuweinstituut.nl
Deadline of submission: Monday 18 February 2019
Date of the workshop: Thursday 25 April 2019