CONFERENCE: Delos Network, Workshop 1: Delos Ideals. Birmingham, 17 March 2018
The Delos Network is a collaborative research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council that brings together an international network of scholars, architects and planners to re-interrogate the history, legacy and impact of Constantinos Doxiadis and the Delos Symposia (1963-75). Urban design solutions were sought in the classical past, for example ancient Greek cities as prototypes for future cities, as well as in new construction, communication and machine technologies. They attracted the foremost intellectuals, scientists and practitioners of the day, laying the foundations for the United Nations ‘Habitat’ agenda. The Delos Network project will be an opportunity to not only better understand the significance of the symposia but also to address how the Delos debates compare with and feed into contemporary concerns about demographic pressures and environmental sustainability, and their relation to historical precedents by architects, planners and others. It will also connect researchers and practitioners in history, architecture and planning with key stakeholders from professional architecture, architectural education, built environment policy and grassroots organisations currently exploring the intersections of design, environmental concerns and historical continuity. Full details of the project, including its events, organizers and contributors, can be accessed here.
The aim of the first workshop is to investigate the ways which the urban and environmental ideals expressed in the context of the Delos Symposia related to contemporary understandings and interpretations of history, tradition and technology. Themes to be addressed include:
– The ways in which Doxiadis and the Delos group explored, interpreted and re-deployed ancient and vernacular precedents – including building technology and urban paradigms – in their theory and practice;
– Their pioneering uptake of new technologies and state-of-the-art computing into the fields of urban analysis as a tool to help forge the holistic new planning science of Ekistics;
– The intersections and disjunctions between their technological and social interests and visions;
– Their engagement with the developed and developing worlds, including Africa and Japan, in pursuing the spread and implementation of their ideals.
The programme of Workshop 1: Delos Ideals to be held in Birmingham is available here. You can register for this event at Eventbrite, and there is no registration fee.