Call for Papers: Architecture, Infrastructure, Landscape: Construction and Representation of the Territory in Latin America. Karlsruhe, 22-24 April 2021
The conference discusses the historical development of architecture in the overall context of systemic interactions within the built environment. The connections between architectural and territorial standards are re-read, as well as the connections between architecture and infrastructure. Given the complexity of the approach, it is advisable to use in-depth case studies that examine the factors of both the material and cultural construction of the built environment. In this sense, international comparative considerations are of fundamental importance. The geographic and cultural focus is used to this end.
The conference focuses on Latin America. Since the colonial development of Latin America at the latest, different territorial strategies have emerged there. In the beginning, the focus was on the planned establishment of open cities and settlements as nodes of a territorial system for political security as well as for scientific recording and economic development. In later phases of enlightenment and mercantilism, alternative strategies were developed in which, in addition to the urban system, architecture and the technical infrastructures developed their own significance in the construction of the territory.
In this international conference, organized by KIT in cooperation with the Carl Justi Association, we will focus to the relationship between architecture, infrastructure and landscape in Latin America since 1800. The goal is to use selected case studies to make the broadest possible range of topics visible and to link the operational, semantic and constructive interactions within the overall system in terms of an environmental history of architecture. Topics, especially interdisciplinary considerations in the border area of architecture to historical geography, engineering, history of technology and art history are welcome.
Please send an abstract (250–300 words), title, and a short biography (100–150 words) in German or English to Gudrun Schütz gudrun.schuetz@kit.edu with the subject line “Architektur, Infrastruktur, Landschaft” by 31 October 2020. Please send these materials in a single PDF document.
Presentations in German, Spanish or English have a 20-minute limit.
All speakers may request additional financial assistance for travel and accommodation, which KIT may award as appropriate.
If you have any questions regarding the content, please contact: Prof. Dr. Joaquín Medina Warmburg, KIT, Department of Building and Architectural History, Karlsruhe, j.medina-warmburg@kit.edu
For organizational questions: gudrun.schuetz@kit.edu