Deadline: April 1, 2022
University of Calgary/virtual
June 28-30, 2022
Call
‘The Countryside’ – a polemically generic term Rem Koolhaas has recently used to reposition debates about our cities to those of rural areas. While posited as ‘new’, it is, in reality, a well established mode of thinking. Through notions such as the peri-urban for example, geographers, sociologists, architects, urban designers and regional economists have all debated the urban-rural relationship for several decades. Under this framework we are obliged to consider the city and its architecture on its own terms, but also address the ‘rural’ in its particular context and, importantly, explore the parallels and mutual influences at play.
Issues
According to this logic, the social, cultural, planning and design issues relevant in our cities find parallels outside the city fringe. The Right to the City echoes concerns about land rights. Gentrification resembles the pressures on arable lands through urban expansion. The sustainability of our buildings and neighbourhoods is connected to debates on the sustainability of rural areas.
Calgary, the host city of this conference, is a perfect example of all of this. It has heavy industry, a thriving business economy and a growing tourist sector. However, pockets of the city contend with poverty and gentrification. Others suffer disinvestment and require regeneration. Its architecture and public spaces are a combination of the ‘spectacular’ and the mundane.
As a city, Calgary also ‘pressures’ its surrounding lands. These include the Rockies, the Banff nature reserve, and the First Nations lands of the Blackfoot, the Stoney Nakoda and the Tsuutʼina. As such, it is both a site of opportunity and development in its own right, and the cause of environmental concerns and social pressures, beyond its conceptual and geographic borders.
History
While such debates are of concern today around the world, they were also highlighted 50 years ago when the host school of this conference was founded. Back then, Archigram and Buckminster Fuller argued that architecture, technology and the ‘earth’ were interconnected. Jane Jacobs connected the built environment with social concerns. Aldo van Eyke fought for communities and participatory practices and, in 1971, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) was founded in the United States.
As it celebrates its 50th Year anniversary in 2021-22, the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary sees this conference as engaging in the interdisciplinary ethos of its origins. It seeks to debate contemporary questions of architecture, the city, society, rights and the environment globally. It argues that each of these disciplines are interrelated fields of thought and practice, and that the lessons learnt in one place and time, are useful in another.
The University of Calgary is explicitly seeking papers responding to themes in the work of the Cultures and Communities conference keynotes, Willie Ermine and Alison Page. Details below.
WILLIE ERMINE
Willie is an Assistant Professor with the First Nations University of Canada. He is from the Sturgeon Lake First Nation in the north-central part of Saskatchewan where he lives with his family. As a faculty member with the First Nations University of Canada, he lectures in the areas of Education, Humanities, Indigenous Studies and Research Methods. He has published numerous academic articles and contributed reports to the Tri-Council Panel on Research Ethics. He has presented at various national and international conferences and symposiums on topics such as education, research and in particular, the nature of Indigenous thought. Throughout his research, Professor Ermine has worked extensively with Elders. He promotes ethical practices of research involving Indigenous Peoples and is particularly interested in the conceptual development of the ‘ethical space’–a theoretical space between cultures and worldviews.
ALISON PAGE
Alison is the founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency and co founder of ZAKPAGE, a creative partnership between artists Alison Page and Nik Lachajczak, who co-create with indigenous communities in Australia and elsewhere. She teaches at the School of Design, University of Technology Sydney, and is also an Honorary Fellow at Deakin University’s School of Communication and Creative Arts. She has recently co-authored Design: Building on Country with the architect and anthropologist, Paul Memmott. Her talk will deal with participatory design and indigenous communities.
Design + Planning – how are we working in our individual fields and across disciplinary and geographical boundaries
Society + Cultures – What voice do people and cultures have in design and planning practices and how do mechanisms for participation function
Art + History – how does the history of a discipline or place influence design and planning today, and what role do creatives, critics and commentators play in the debate
Infrastructure + Sustainability– how do the infrastructures we design and build impact people, habitation, sustainability and climate
Teaching + Learning – how we address issues of design, culture and community in our teaching approaches, projects etc.