CFP: Politics. Too much or not enough

Toader Popescu Discussion

The journal studies in History and Theory of Architecture (sita.uauim.ro), published by the Department of Architectural History & Theory and Heritage Conservation at "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest, Romania, invites submissions for the 2018 issue

POLITICS. Too much or not enough

 

Architecture and politics make an odd pair, whose meaning changes if regarded from either end. The recent history of architecture has put time and again under scrutiny this ambiguous relationship, wavering between the autonomy of a "free play with forms" and the total dependence upon politics.

In 1933, Sigfried Giedion asked Le Corbusier whether architects should be technicians or politicians. The answer favored the withdrawal of architects from any politics. Different individual and collective answers to Giedion's question have, however, engendered influential architectural profiles throughout the rest of the twentieth century, in the "free world" as well as in the "communist camp", despite the ideological differences that significantly determined the destinies of generations of architects.

May 1968 promised to lay new grounds for almost everything in the West, including a renewed relationship of architecture with government policies. One of the issues to be addressed is the extent to which this really happened. Besides the pioneering theoretical researches of the late 1960s and the 1970s, and despite the political involvement of certain influential professional groups and media, it seems that, presently, the critical dimension of architecture is lost when confronting political or commercial forces.

Nonetheless, in recent years, the social and political responsibility of architecture has gained considerable ground through participatory architecture, social housing for the very poor, temporary, movable shelters for the refugees of natural or human catastrophes, ecological experiments, and so on. These have been either assumed by some singular architectural practices or taken over by non-governmental organizations; they have been catalyzed by the public debate and the new media, and even celebrated by established institutions of the profession such as the Pritzker Prize or the Venice Architectural Biennale.

In various forms, architects have always been responsive to politics (no matter the polity, from liberal to authoritarian), either complying and profiting, or criticizing, opposing and reacting against. Thus, we invite contributors to delve anew into the relationship of architecture and politics, throughout both its historical stances and its contemporary expressions.

For this sixth issue of sITA, we suggest some interrogative directions:

  • political history of architecture vs. an architectural history of politics;
  • architectural assistance for ideological narratives; utopias and political representations;
  • episodes of significant encounters between politics and architecture;
  • political dynamism and the intransience of architecture;
  • the architect as an active or alternative political actor;

These headings are not meant to restrict the reflective horizon of the volume, since our aim is to gauge the dimensions of the relationship that architecture maintains with politics and through this to examine the status of the profession, its contemporary transformations and possible future.

For the articles, a preliminary abstract of 200 - 250 words should be submitted by March 15, 2018. Selected contributors will be notified by e-mail on March 31. The final article should be submitted for review by June 1. Contributions will undergo a double-blind peer review procedure. Reviews of current events (conferences, recent publications, exhibitions), which are of interest for the fields of architectural history and theory are also welcome. Reviews should be submitted by July 1, 2018.

All correspondence should be addressed to sita@uauim.ro, to the attention of Dr. Arch. Radu Tudor Ponta (managing editor of the current issue).

Guidelines for authors

The contributors are kindly asked to follow the guidelines below.

Manuscripts are to be submitted in US English and should range between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including references, tables, and bibliography. Reviews should range between 1,000 and 2,000 words. The title page should include the contributors name, affiliation and e-mail address, 5-7 keywords, as well an abstract of 150-200 words. An extended summary ranging between 700 and 1,000 words (to be published in Romanian) must also be submitted. Romanian authors are kindly asked to send in the extended summary in Romanian; our staff will undertake the translation for foreign authors. Reviews should not be accompanied by abstract, summary, or keywords.

For notes (as footnotes) and bibliography (included at the end of the paper) use The Chicago Manual of Style (for details and examples, see http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html). A reference list will be included at the end of the paper.

Illustrations (.tiff or .jpg format, min. 300 dpi at printed size) must be provided separately, and their location must be indicated clearly throughout the paper. A full list of figure captions must be provided at the end of the article (including figure number, description, and source). Authors are responsible for securing the rights to reproduce and publish ail graphic material.

Only Microsoft Word compatible documents, with minimal formatting are acceptable.

Please see detailed guidelines at sita.uauim.ro