Architectural Training and Research in the Foreign Aid-Funded Knowledge Economy 1950s-1980s

Online

Three-day online symposium from the KTH School of Architecture Stockholm
8–10 September 2021

From the 1950s to the late 1980s, the politics and economies of foreign aid — instigated by both the ‘capitalist West’ as well as the ‘communist East’ — gave rise to a whole infrastructure destined to assist the progress of ‘developing countries’ on their ‘path to development’. The various North-South exchanges that took place in the name of ‘development’ have left a deep imprint on the geopolitical landscape of postcolonial Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Largely instituted through bilateral relations between individual states, these ‘aid’ initiatives involved not only financial and material resources but also various forms of knowledge and expertise; as such, the modalities of this global, foreign aid-funded infrastructure boosted the creation and reinforcement of all sorts of institutional actors to efficiently exchange knowledge — largely through training courses, educational programs and/or research projects. In the light of widespread rural migration and intensive, rapid urbanization processes, expertise on the built environment was a particularly salient form of knowledge to the aims of foreign aid. Hence, architecture, urbanism and planning were no strangers to an emerging foreign aid-funded knowledge economy — a context in which the production and circulation of knowledge were intimately tied to the political-economic value attributed to them by foreign aid diplomacy.

For more information, see the program schedule and website.

Share this post

News from the field

Who is the ‘architect’ and what do they do?

PhD Scholarship Opportunity: Who is the ‘architect’ and what do they do?  London Metropolitan University invites applications for a Vice Chancellor’s Postgraduate (PGR) Scholarship in the School of Art, Architecture and Design for a project titled: Who is the...

A House in Istanbul by Architect Bruno Taut

Exhibition: “Ein Haus in Istanbul vom Architekten Bruno Taut” (A House in Istanbul by Architect Bruno Taut) Location: Teehaus (Tea House) Große Wallanlagen, Holstenwall 30, Hamburg, Germany. The Tea House  can be reached barrier-free via the Holstenwall entrance...

Post-doctoral Research and Teaching Position

University of Bern, Institute of Art History Chair of the History of Architecture and Preservation Post-doctoral research and teaching position (80–100%, non tenure-track) available at the Institute of Art History, University of Bern, starting 1 September 2023 (or as...