Throughout Europe, current urban challenges are posed by large-scale ensembles of modernity as a result of post-WWII development on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The urb/doconf 2019 is the third in a series of a doctoral / postdoctoral conference, to be organised on a biannual basis, which will provide a comparative overview of current doctoral research into the physical - built and natural - environment within post-socialist cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and post-soviet Asia.

Those invited include doctoral researchers – doctoral students, candidates or post-doctoral researchers (maximum five years after obtaining the doctorate degree) - specializing in architecture, urban design, urban planning or landscape architecture. The BME Department of Urban Planning and Design wishes to promote cooperation among doctoral institutions, building up a network for future generations of scholars through their specific fields of research related to post-socialist urban heritage.

Main Conference Topics

The doctoral conference series is dedicated to post-WWII (after 1945) urban heritage of post-socialist cities focusing on the main research topics of the department. In order to compare different perspectives, we welcome papers examining the physical environment under the following sessions:

1. mass housing neighbourhood

2. urban space for reuse 

3. waterside urban fabric and landscape transformation

Considering the three main conference topics/sessions, we are interested in different research methodologies: theoretical frameworks, comparative studies, morphological case studies, historic approach, research by design methodology, etc.  

We seek contributions that (i) test the post-war heritage positions in the changing ideological context after the fall of the Iron Curtain, (ii) investigate the mutual impact of the spatial turn and the critique of functionalism on urbanity, or (iii) examine the role of post-socialist legacy in the formation of new identities.

In addition to theoretical questions, we wish to find pragmatic approaches when responding to the new challenges of sustainability and determining what kind of protection tool-kit is capable of addressing large-scale ensembles problems. Our aim is to discover special similarities and dissimilarities within the physical environment of post-socialist cities, discuss a wide range of options (from preservation to sustainable renewal processes) and create a network of doctoral researchers.

• Please send an extended abstract (400-500 words) and a brief academic biography (70-100 words).
• Please use the template on the website: https://goo.gl/pBZQ34
• Send your abstract to: [email protected]