The fourth edition of the Symposium on Urban Design History and Theory (SUDHT) now welcomes papers in the selected sessions listed below. These sessions propose diverse approaches to the 2027 theme “Beyond Repair,” which addresses urban design’s relationship with damaged places and people, and the positive uses, but also abuses, of narratives of repair, while
The purpose of SUDHT is to create a forum for those whose scholarship relates to urban design to present and discuss their research, engage in fruitful conversation and debate, and form a community based on shared interests, asking what histories and theories can tell us about urban design’s promises in the face of planetary crises.
At SUDHT conferences, we invite contributions that address all geographic settings and time periods. As urban design is inherently interdisciplinary, scholars are welcome from various fields, including (among others) urban design, architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, heritage studies, geography, environmental studies, history, art history, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, design studies, and digital studies.
SUDHT defines urban design broadly, to refer to the spatial and morphological qualities of cities, towns, suburbs, rural areas and other human settlements. These spatial characteristics can be intentionally designed or have evolved from other forces, yielding specific urban morphologies.
We anticipate all sessions will have four to five papers and run for two hours.
Abstracts for papers must be submitted online by 11:59 pm GMT, on Friday, 18th December 2026 through the call’s website.
Call for Papers
Session organizers must complete the Abstract Submission Form, for which a link has been provided at the bottom of the call’s website, with the following:
- A paper title not longer than 65 characters, including spaces and punctuation
- An uploaded abstract of the paper (300-word maximum) in PDF or Word format.
- Contact information, including affiliation and email address for author(s).
- Current resumé (300 words)
Abstracts for papers must be submitted online by 11:59 pm GMT, on Friday, 18th December 2026 using the link on the call’s website.
Submission Guidelines:
- Confirmed 2027 Session Chairs are not eligible to submit to the Call for Papers
- Abstracts and titles must follow the Chicago Manual of Style.
- Only one abstract per conference by an author or co-author may be submitted.
- A maximum of three (3) authors per abstract will be accepted.
The nature of the abstract is to define the subject of the proposed paper and the argument it will present. Papers should be original work, and reflect well documented research. Papers should not have been previously published or presented in large conferences. Only the Session Chair(s) and Conference hosts will have sight of the abstracts. Session Chairs will be able to recommend revisions to the abstract to align it with the session themes and guidelines.
Please Note: This is an in-person conference, and speakers and Session Chairs are expected to fund their own travel and expenses to Sheffield.
More details on the call and sessions: https://sudht.org/call-for-papers/
More details on the symposium: https://sudht.org