Call for Papers: Leisurescapes: Architectures and Landscapes of Tourism in the Global Sun Belt 1945-1980
In conjunction with an ongoing Cyprus-based research project, scholars and researchers in architecture, histories of architecture, urbanism and landscape, and social, cultural and environmental studies, are invited to contribute to the collaborative Leisurescapes Project. The project took off in 2018 with an international workshop in Nicosia and a second workshop, which intends to bring potential contributors together, is planned for Spring/Summer 2021. The projected final product is an edited scholarly volume that will feature architectural, urban and landscape histories of tourism and leisure analyzed in the broader context of Cold War geopolitics, de-colonization, theories of modernization and development and the reconfiguration of economic geographies in the postwar world.
In accordance with this goal of collective knowledge production, the project coordinators are currently working on the format of the projected 2021 workshop, as well as developing digital means of information sharing, archiving research and compiling a bibliography. At the Mesarch Lab of UCY, an “Informal Archive” of images, videos, case studies, news items and relevant published essays that can form a basis for discussion among contributing authors is under construction.
The project aims to research, document and theorize how leisure tourism became the centerpiece of postwar economies and national development programs of many countries, cutting across the ideological divides of the bi-polar Cold War world and appealing to the newly independent nations of de-colonized regions many of which joined the Non-Aligned Movement. The project coordinators are looking for histories that engage with new theories and critical debates to unpack how specific national development agendas, discourses of design professions and multiple trans-national encounters have shaped the landscapes, physical spaces and spatial politics of tourism, ultimately, shaping multiple understandings and situated experiences of leisure.
Interested authors can submit their titles and abstracts of proposed papers (up to 500 words) by email to leisurescapes@ucy.ac.cy and pyla@ucy.ac.cy. These should be accompanied by a 2-page CV and a selected bibliography. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 1 March 2020.
The full call for papers is available here.