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The Place Alliance is joining forces with Civic Voice and the Urban Design Group to explore how we can deliver high standards of design quality in new housing development in economically disadvantaged areas or in areas where poor design has been the norm in the recent past. Can you help us to identify stories of success by nominating new housing developments that raise the bar for design quality?

The challenge

Research published in 2019 by the Place Alliance and examining the external built environment revealed a stark divide between the quality of housing development in different parts of the country as determined by relative affluence. The analysis showed that poorly designed schemes are almost ten times more likely to be built in the least affluent areas than in affluent areas.

However, this is not always the case. The same study also revealed that it is possible to deliver well-designed schemes in disadvantaged areas while poor quality projects are sometimes built within affluent localities. A common story seems to be that communities whose local planning authorities are unwilling to accept substandard developments and instead push housebuilders for better design quality are typically those that benefit from better designed housing.

Unfortunately, follow-up research pointed to a particular reluctance amongst some local planning authorities to pursue better design outcomes, and that these tend to be concentrated in certain parts of the country where expectations are lower and less scrupulous housebuilders are allowed to ‘get away with it’.

To break this cycle, we need to identify stories of success that can inspire others to push for better and to understand how this is done. As Government policy says, “The creation of high quality, beautiful and sustainable buildings and places is fundamental … and helps make development acceptable to communities”.

What are we looking for?

To start this process, we are seeking examples of major housing developments where, in your view, design quality in the external built environment has been achieved. In other words, in how a development looks, how it functions, how it fits into its surroundings, the amenities it offers residents, and so on.

We are interested in schemes from all regions of England and particularly projects located in economically disadvantaged areas or in localities where poor quality new housing development has dominated in recent decades. Projects should be at least 50 homes and either currently under development or completed in the last ten years.

If you would like to nominate a project, then please fill out our online form below: this should take no more than two to three minutes to complete.

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Our three-day conference, 3^rd – 5^th July 2023, will allow the opportunity to network with other researchers, and receive advice on publishing in peer-reviewed journals as well as key things to avoid journal rejection, whilst hearing from Keynote Speakers on the future of architectural research.

Submission Deadline 1st February 2023

Attendees will also have the opportunity to publish their works in archiDOCT, our journal published twice a year through Scholastica HQ.

There will be an online book of proceedings.

The first three best papers submitted will be published in ArchiDOCT and will constitute good practice examples of the three archiDOCT journals following the conference. The next fifteen best papers will be published in the three ArchiDOCT volumes following the conference, after undergoing a second reviewing process, if necessary. Please follow Guidelines for Authors

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CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

The Stone & Wall Paintings committee is pleased to introduce a series of talks: A closer look at conservation materials.

The series has a dual aim: to create a space for presentation and discussion between companies and conservators; and to provide a platform to present research on conservation materials. The presentations are aimed at practicing conservators, aiming at gaining more insight into materials used in conservation.

This is a call to parties interested in presenting research (old and new) on materials used for the conservation of built heritage, stone, and wall painting. It is aimed at organisations that develop and produce materials for conservation, and at researchers advancing the knowledge of materials used in conservation.  

We are especially interested in:

• sustainable products and technologies;
• products based on scientific research;
• products specially developed for conserving building materials, architectural decorations, stone, and wall painting, and
• advances in the knowledge of materials currently used in the conservation community.

The general objectives of these talks are to:

• create a professional exchange between companies and the conservation community,
• generate a constructive space for conservators to ask questions and comment on new products or products they have not used, and
• demonstrate how science and research are a fundamental part of heritage conservation.

If you are interested in making a presentation, please submit an abstract by 23^rd December 2022 at: swpconference@gmail.com.

N.B. The committee and Icon are not recommending or endorsing the use of specific materials, the series aims to create a space for presentation and critical discussion.

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Guest Editors: Flora Samuel (U of Reading) & Kelly J. Watson (Hatch Urban Solutions)

Deadline for Abstracts: 1 NOVEMBER 2022

The UN Sustainable Development Goals define many values and actions for environmental, social, economic and climatic issues. Social value can be a driver to radically change built environment practices and outcomes. However, the questions surrounding the social value of the built environment – definitions, inclusion processes, delivery, evaluation and benefits – remain unclear and require further development by governments, industry, researchers and civil society. This special issue explores social value in relation to both placemaking (urban design, architecture and real estate) and construction (procurement and labour) processes.

The emergence of the social value agenda has real potential for the promotion of justice, equality and social cohesion in our built environment. Social value is often defined in different ways by sector, industry and context. A useful working definition is “the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the relevant area” (PSSVA, 2012).

This working definition demonstrates an interrelationship with triple bottom line sustainability, as well as the importance of prioritising impact within a defined spatial area, which could be local, regional, national or wider. Other definitions emphasise the importance of stakeholders and beneficiaries recognising and placing a value on the changes they experience in their lives (Social Value UK, n.d.; Pearce, 2003; Johnston, 1992), as well as the quantification and measurement of positive impacts.

Read more here.

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Conference in Zurich, September 2023

A conference collaboratively organized by the Professorship for Construction Heritage and Preservation, ETH Zurich (Prof. Dr. Silke Langenberg) and the Professorship for Heritage Conservation and Architectural History, Bauhaus University Weimar (Prof. Dr. Hans-Rudolf Meier).

The recent conference Heritage Postmodernism. Preservation of an “Unfinished” Epoch in Weimar has not only facilitated the discussion on the preservation of the architectural heritage of postmodern architecture but also initiated a debate on High-Tech Architecture – a movement that emerged around the same time with postmodernism, demonstrating the need for further exploration of this topic. This conference will provide a platform for an in-depth discussion on the forthcoming theoretical and practical challenges associated with the preservation of the buildings of this movement.

Submission deadline: October 31, 2022
Notifications for accepted presentations will be sent in the following two months.

More information available on the flyer:

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We are inviting proposals for papers discussing architectural sculpture in Britain from 1850 to 1914. These will be presented to a joint Victorian Society and Public Statues and Sculpture Association conference at the Art Workers’ Guild in London on Saturday 17 September 2022. The conference will be followed by guided walks around selected Victorian and Edwardian buildings in London on Sunday 18 September.

Abstracts and a brief c.v. of approximately 150 words each should be submitted to Joanna Barnes and Holly Trusted (co-chairs PSSA) atoffice@pssauk.org ASAP. 

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Prague – Heritages

2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Heritage. It established culture as a concept to be safeguarded. That event came three decades after the World Heritage Convention. Through that, UNESCO had set up its World Heritage List of protect sites and buildings. The intervening years have seen multiple shifts in how we define heritage – as both material objects and social traditions. Today more than ever before, the distinction is blurred. The streets on which we live, the edifices we design and the monuments we protect are all connected to the lifestyles, traditions and social groupings we celebrate and safeguard.

What we mean by heritage today then, is an open and diverse question. Our buildings and environments, our cities and neighborhoods, our memorials and our artworks, our cultures and communities are all component parts of what we understand as ‘preservable’ history. The dynamics at play are however complex. Conserving architectural heritage can conflict with development models. Community traditions are threatened by globalization. Monuments are often focal points for cultural contestation. Archeological sites are valued in themselves and simultaneously erased by both the forces of conflict and ‘progress’.

However, the past and the present also overlap and mutually support. Placemaking sees built and cultural heritage as key to urban practice. Contextualization is central to planning laws. Museums are sites for communities and display. Heritage organsiations preserve buildings and educate the public. Galleries present historical art while debating meanings in contemporary terms.

Reflecting this scenario, this conference seeks papers on heritage from various standpoints: art and architecture historians concerned with preservation; architects and urban planners engaged with placemaking; cultural theorists and social historians documenting objects, places, people and events. Artists working with community and place. It welcomes case studies that are specific and place-based. It embraces theoretical frameworks that function globally. It is interested in variegated methods of research and analysis.

Although the event is international in its reach, it is also interested in the specifics of the Czech Republic. It stems from the Prague based project Then, Now and Always and uses its themes of museums and communities as a key strand. Other strands and themes are listed below and aim to bring in contributions from multiple fields.

Abstracts due: 10 July 2022

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Abstracts – 1 July 2022

Event – 1-3 December 2022

More information

One century ago the City Symphony was at the cutting edge of visual representation. It was the site of some of the most challenging concepts and ideas the art world had ever seen. Its ruptures in spatiotemporal representation were seen as natural extensions of the avant-garde: cubist painting in the mode of Braque, the architectural visions of Vladimir Tatlin, the spatio-sculptural works of Aleksandr Rodchenko, the photography of Moholy-Nagy and later Florence Henri, to name but a few.

The intervening 100 years have seen periodic reengagements with spatial reframing in these media. They have also witnessed the emergence of new modes of representation in the worlds of art, design, heritage, cultural studies and the social sciences more broadly. Today, artists, architects, painters, sculptors and designers can work seamlessly across a plethora of fields: video, digital photography, 3D printing, parametric architecture, algorithmic animation, projection mapping, photogrammetry, virtual reality, and more.

If we look specifically at spatial design, virtual reality is increasingly seen as ‘everyday’ for architects and urban designers. For artists, ‘the digital’ is now a typical mode of operation. If we consider film, algorithmic video editing, motion capture and image digitalization are now all ‘run of the mill’ technologies. In museology, the experiential interactive installation accompanies static exhibitions. Indeed, the moving image, both analogue and digital, is now a standard area of historical study in itself – the city symphony included.

Taking the City Symphony, and its historic moment in time as a starting point, this conference seeks to explore of the past, present and future of how we visualise people, places, cities and life. It welcomes insights into the history of painting from a spatiotemporal standpoint; the influence and evolution of the photographic representation of place; the role of sculpture in exploring and integrating space. It invites filmmakers exploring city representation, architects, urban planners and designers engaged in the visualisation of buildings, cities…. and more.

Its welcomes contributions from across disciplines and its strands will be formed around contributions. Several themes are set in advance, including the areas of research interest to the partner institutions:

Queen’s University Belfast – Lived Space, Past and Present | Cape Peninsula University of Technology – Representing Space, Place, and Liminality | National University of Singapore – The Screen as Surface, Site and Space

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David Sutter is a postgraduate student at the University of the West of England, Bristol, studying MSc Building Surveying. He is currently writing a dissertation which is focusing on repair projects for Listed Places of Worship also recorded on the Historic England Heritage At Risk register. The research aspect of the dissertation involves conducting online phenomenological interviews with heritage property professionals that have experience working on such projects.   

He is looking for 6 to 8 potential participants for interviews. Ideally these individuals will have about 10 years’ experience working within the heritage property sector, along with a relevant professional institution membership. The crucial aspect is that the participants must have experience working on at least one repair project for a Listed Places of Worship recorded on the Heritage At Risk register.

If you would like to help David with his research then please email david.rutter@live.uwe.ac.uk

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Abstract deadline : 30 June, 2022 (Round One) | 5 October, 2022 (Round 2)

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