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[1] Measure Every Wandering Planet’s Course. Residential Systems in Early Modern Europe (1400–1750)

From: Pieter Martens <pieter.martenskuleuven.be>
Date: Sep 19, 2017

At the crossroads of architectural history, court studies and urban studies, this session will address the interaction between the different residences of the early modern élite in Europe from the waning of the middle ages until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, exploring them as parts of an integrated system or network on different geographic scales. The noble way of life was essentially nomadic, mirroring the constant migration of the reigning princely court in early modern Europe, dictated not only by political necessity (including especially war) but also by pleasure (e.g. war’s mirror image, the hunt). Complex itineraries thus linked the often extremely scattered noble possessions with the centers of gravity of court life in a single ‘planetary’ system. While the ‘nomadic‘, and seasonal, character of the noble way of life has been generally recognized, there has been no attempt as yet to do the same for the elites at a lower level than that of the reigning prince, let alone for the urban patriciate and merchant class. The latter nevertheless also migrated between townhouse (with or without commercial infrastructure), suburban property, and rural domain, serving as economic and socio-cultural investment (especially if tied to a noble title). Interaction between different social levels have not been looked at from a spatial perspective, leaving open pressing questions on the architectural plane. Papers will explore particular conjunctions of residences beyond the classic opposition of town/country (to which in the early modern era is added the “villa”, suburban or pseudo-rural but not fortified and with urban formal characteristics), thus revisiting and revising standard typologies within a broader framework. Case-studies might address questions such as the interplay between the patron’s itinerary and the development of particular residence types, explore architectural exchanges between particular patrons or social groups in this perspective, or review the whole spatial footprint of a patron in its entirety. They will pay particular attention to the role(s) each residence might fulfil within the strategy of self-representation of the patron in relation to his/her rank and position, and to the evolution of that role in response to changing aspirations.
Please submit your 300 word abstract by 30 September 2017 to the session convenors:
Krista De Jonge (KU Leuven)
krista.dejongekuleuven.be
Birgitte Bøggild Johannsen (National Museum of Denmark)
birgitte.b.johannsennatmus.dk
Konrad Ottenheym (Utrecht University)
k.a.ottenheymuu.nl

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[2] United Nations in the Non-Western World: Norms and Forms of ‘Development’

From: Samia Henni <archsamiahenni.com>
Date: Sep 19, 2017

Chaired by Tom Avermaete, Delft University of Technology (T.L.P.Avermaetetudelft.nl) and Samia Henni, Princeton University (archsamiahenni.com)

Immediately after its establishment in October 1945, the United Nations (UN) founded the World Bank Group in order to invest in non-Western countries, boost their economic growth, and channel their modernization projects. With the gradual collapse of European colonial empires—which stimulated the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement—new states joined the UN and large-scale ‘development’ programmes were launched. Under the header of technical ‘assistance,’ ‘cooperation,’ or ‘aid,’ these programmes seem to have favoured Western urban planning policies and politics. Yet, in what exactly consisted these programmes and how did they operate? To what extent did these ‘development’ programmes affect the politico- economic sovereignty of non-Western countries? And how were Western values mediated, but also challenged and remoulded by the so-called ‘receivers’ of ‘development’ in the non-Western world?
This session aims to address these questions, and to explore the relationship between UN’s financial investments, political significances, and planning measures in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia during the Cold War. The objective is to investigate the role of UN’s planning and financial bodies in the making of Western post-war international architectural and planning networks and organizations, on the one hand; and to scrutinize the roots of ‘development’ strategies and their impacts on the consolidation of newly independent states, on the other hand. Considering the 2016 decision of the World Bank to eliminate the term ‘developing’ from its official vocabulary, the session also intends to question the purpose of the UN taxonomies.
We seek papers that critically deconstruct the involvement of architects and planners in specific UN endeavours in non-Western countries, including international seminars, conferences, competitions, housing policies, infrastructure designs, and rural and urban planning. Of special interest are papers that disclose how particular projects or built environments had obeyed or disobeyed to UN ‘development’ directives and expose the multifaceted impacts of such programmes at national, transnational and international levels. We welcome papers that demonstrate a method for analysing architecture and planning projects in historically, politically, economically and geographically specific processes of UN ‘development’ programmes.
Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words by 30 September 2017 to T.L.P.Avermaetetudelft.nl and archsamiahenni.com. Please include your name, affiliation, title of paper or position, a C.V. of no more than five pages, home and work addresses, an e-mail address and a telephone number.