CfP: 26th UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

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Event Details

Conference: 28-30th June, 2022

20 Aug 2022: Full Paper Submissions (where applicable) | 15 October 2022: Feedback for publication | 30 November 2022: Full Paper re-submission | March 2023: Publication

Nb. Early submission allows delegates needing to arrange travel the time needed to do so.

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‘The Countryside’ – a polemically generic term Rem Koolhaas has recently used to reposition debates about our cities to those of rural areas. While posited as ‘new’, it is, in reality, a well established mode of thinking. Through notions such as the peri-urban for example, geographers, sociologists, architects, urban designers and regional economists have all debated the urban-rural relationship for several decades. Under this framework we are obliged to consider the city and its architecture on its own terms, but also address the ‘rural’ in its particular context and, importantly, explore the parallels and mutual influences at play.

Issues

According to this logic, the social, cultural, planning and design issues relevant in our cities find parallels outside the city fringe. The Right to the City echoes concerns about land rights. Gentrification resembles the pressures on arable lands through urban expansion. The sustainability of our buildings and neighbourhoods is connected to debates on the sustainability of rural areas.

Calgary, the host city of this conference, is a perfect example of all of this. It has heavy industry, a thriving business economy and a growing tourist sector. However, pockets of the city contend with poverty and gentrification. Others suffer disinvestment and require regeneration. Its architecture and public spaces are a combination of the ‘spectacular’ and the mundane.

As a city, Calgary also ‘pressures’ its surrounding lands. These include the Rockies, the Banff nature reserve, and the First Nations lands of the Blackfoot, the Stoney Nakoda and the Tsuutʼina. As such, it is both a site of opportunity and development in its own right, and the cause of environmental concerns and social pressures, beyond its conceptual and geographic borders.

History

While such debates are of concern today around the world, they were also highlighted 50 years ago when the host school of this conference was founded. Back then, Archigram and Buckminster Fuller argued that architecture, technology and the ‘earth’ were interconnected. Jane Jacobs connected the built environment with social concerns. Aldo van Eyke fought for communities and participatory practices and, in 1971, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) was founded in the United States.

As it celebrates its 50th Year anniversary in 2021-22, the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary sees this conference as engaging in the interdisciplinary ethos of its origins. It seeks to debate contemporary questions of architecture, the city, society, rights and the environment globally. It argues that each of these disciplines are interrelated fields of thought and practice, and that the lessons learnt in one place and time, are useful in another.

Themes + Disciplines

Design + Planning – how are we working in our individual fields and across disciplinary and geographical boundaries

Society + Cultures – What voice do people and cultures have in design and planning practices and how do mechanisms for participation function

Art + History – how does the history of a discipline or place influence design and planning today, and what role do creatives, critics and commentators play in the debate

Infrastructure + Sustainability– how do the infrastructures we design and build impact people, habitation, sustainability and climate

Teaching + Learning – how we address issues of design, culture and community in our teaching approaches, projects etc.

When

Date: 01 Dec 2021 (All Day)

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Location

Calgary/Online

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