Barcelona
Urban Futures - Cultural Pasts:

Sustainable Cities, Cultures & Crafts
Event Date: July 15-17, 2024
Abstract Date: December 10, 2023
Barcelona
AMPS, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

Call

Every region of the world has its particular cultural, social and artistic heritage. In urban centres this is at its most pronounced. The city, as we see it today, results from a history of planning initiatives, artistic visions, social forces and engineering projects. In thinking about its future, we are obliged to build on its past and its present: its varied buildings and urban plans, its artistic heritage and craft traditions, its design vernaculars and regional practices, its neighborhood bonds and community ties, its economic conditions and social norms, and more. The city then, is a living question: past, present and future.

When thinking about the future of specific cities we are also obliged to think more broadly – to understand the local and the global context in we live: the transnational forces of globalization, the universal concern for sustainability, and the worldwide trends of consumerist cultures etc. In this regard too, the city is a complex entity – a question of specific responses to global issues. The host city of this event, Barcelona, and by extension the whole region of Catalonia, is a  perfect example of this and offers examples of the themes this conference will examine.

In addressing the questions and issues typical of the Catalonia region, this conference opens debates relevant to cities the world over. Across the Mediterranean issues of sustainable futures are paramount. In Europe more widely, the gentrification of traditional neighborhoods is endemic. In North America and Australasia the respect for Indigenous cultures and crafts is urgently needed. In Africa and Asia, how to sustainably design for growth in existing contexts is a pressing problem. In Latin America and the Middle-East, development that avoids the homogenizing forces of globalization is vital. In these contexts this conference argues that these interchangeable global issues are key to our pasts, but also to our sustainable futures.

In response to this call, we welcome perspectives on these themes from various discipline areas. We seek a wide range of knowledge and insights, whether developed in isolation, or in cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Examples of particular research areas of interest to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya include:

Community Design & User Autonomy – Challenges & Paradoxes | Material Circularity – Climate Change, & Reuse | Governing the Ecosystem Commons – Governance & Spatial Planning

Other questions of interest to the overall conference include:

Cultural Heritage – Policy, People & Place | Cultural Pasts – The Tangible, Intangible & the Digital

Image: Moritz

Disciplines

  • Urban Studies
  • Human Geography
  • Sociology
  • Cultural Studies
  • Planning
  • Architecture
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Architectural History
  • Urban Design
  • Interior Design
  • Art History
  • Sustainability
  • Resilience
  • Humanities
  • Social Sciences
  • Heritage Studies
  • Transport
  • City Infrastructure
  • Participatory Design

Key Dates

Abstracts (Round One)
10 December 2023
Feedback
30 December 2023
Abstracts (Round Two)
25 April 2024
Conference
15-17 July 2024
Full Paper Submissions
01 September 2024
Publications
20 March 2025

Themes

Community Design & User Autonomy
Challenges and paradoxes in participatory planning and design
Material Circularity
Climate change, decarbonisation, reuse, retrofitting, material culture and more.
Governing the Ecosystem Commons
Governance, ecosystem commons, spatial planning, city futures
Urban Futures & Community Pasts
Politics, People & Place
Cultural Pasts and Urban Histories
Gentrification, Heritage & Cities

Formats

In-person: Live in the host city

Zoom: We welcome live presentations via Zoom. 

Pre-recorded:  Pre-recorded presentations or films will be available permanently on the AMPS Academic YouTube channel.

Written papers: In all cases, delegates can present full written papers for inclusion in all associated conference publications.

In-person: (15-20 mins)
Zoom: (15-20 mins)
Pre-recorded video: (15-20 mins)
Written papers: (3000 words)

 

Publications

The publishers that AMPS works with include UCL Press, Routledge Taylor & Francis, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Vernon Press, Libri Publishing and Intellect Books.

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Conference outputs include the AMPS Proceedings Series, ISSN 2398-9467; Special Issue Publications of the academic journal Architecture_MPS ISSN 2020-9006; Books from this event will be developed by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, with short films available on the AMPS Academic YouTube Channel.

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Written papers are optional.  If submitted they should be 3,000 word length. Formatting instructions to follow after the conference. All papers are double- blind peer reviewed for the AMPS Conference Proceedings Series. Subject to review, selected authors will be invited to develop longer versions as articles in the academic journal Architecture_MPS or in specially produced conference books.

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Submissions & Registration:

Registration Delegate Fee: $415 USD  |  Audience Fee: $205 USD                                                                                          Queries: team@amps-research.com                                                                                                                                                 

 

Click the button below to submit your abstract. For revised abstracts use resubmit.