International Conference / Balkan Patterns in Architecture

At a stage of deep and very rapid changes in society it is important to understand the effects they can have on the built environment that surrounds us. Academy is giving a renewed interest to community participation and the use of ICTs to understand the challenges cities are facing in the next future, and terms like IoT, Smart Cities, commons or participation are today widely present in any discussion related with urban contexts. Bits and bytes have to look anyway for an agreement with atoms, in this case the established city. The Balkan region is, no more than other regions, facing identity challenges and dynamic transformations, so the Balkan Architectural Biennale offers the opportunity to focus on the reality of the region, where the ongoing European integration process and the transition from a centralized model to one based on free market rules are specific topics worth to be considered in relation with the new models proposed and imposed by technology development. Cities change with radical or smooth transitions after any event, so we want to focus on the specificities, if any could be found, of the region, and the potential for its development.

Despite the risk of raising fragmented and parallel urban environments if social issues are not properly addressed, it is possible to intuit how cities do have a social resilience which will re-balance any threat. Recognizing the importance of digital and physical flows in the configuration of the contemporary city is a first step to a broader approach on the evolution of urban systems and ecosystems.

This special session aims to look at specific patterns existing in the region, good practices developed here or elsewhere and that could be implemented in the Balkans. It aims a wide range focus and interdisciplinary approach, under the broad umbrella of the question about what actions and urban governance policies are required for developing and strengthening a resilient urban environment, some of the possible but not exclusive themes to address in this session are the following:

  • Do new models of urban governance improve living in urban environments?
  • Do community empowerment facilitate urban experiences and justice?
  • What scenarios can we envision for the city of the future? Will ICT and the circular economy transform the way we live it?
  • Which urban infrastructures are built with citizens in mind, and which ones contribute to more social and spatial segregation?

Refernces1

Expression of interest including a 300 words abstract or structured papers (see call) and resumed CV can be sent to the special session convenor: Guido Cimadomo, ETS Arquitectura, Universidad de Málaga: cimadomo[at]uma.es. More detailed info about the International Conferencehere.2

  • 1. Cimadomo, G., (2017). Information technologies: Threats and opportunities for contemporary urban transformations, ACE: architecture, city and environment [en línea], 11: 33, 265-278.

    Cimadomo, G., (2017). Information technologies: Threats and opportunities for contemporary urban transformations, ACE: architecture, city and environment [en línea], 11: 33, 265-278.

    Finn, D. (2014). Introduction to the special issue on DIY urbanism. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 7(4), 331–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2014.959154

    Geiger, J. (Ed.). (2015). Entr’acte. Performing publics, pervasive media, and architecture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Doi: 10.1057//9781137414182

  • 2. http://balkanarchitecturalbiennale.rs/bab/submissions