The second OIKONET conference on the topic Global Dwelling will focus on regeneration strategies as mechanisms that are applied to improve the existing living conditions in urban areas around the world. Nowadays, various local and global factors cause the appearance of disadvantaged communities and declining urban areas worldwide. Instead of offering universal solutions, contemporary integrated interventions are intended to tackle specific problems by encompassing social, economic and urban dimensions. By building on existing local forces – involving all stakeholders and the local community in the process of finding solutions–, urban areas can unleash their endogenous regeneration potential. Even though being deeply influenced by local conditions, this process acquires a global dimension when certain mechanisms and policies – such as planned gentrification and social mix – are reproduced at multiple locations and cultures.


The conference will discuss the implications of such integrated approaches based on the design and implementation of strategies for the regeneration of communities – at a social, economic and environmental level. We invite researchers, lecturers, design studio instructors, policy makers, practitioners and community leaders, involved in the research, design and implementation of housing regeneration strategies, to submit original papers addressing the following issues:


  What are the consequences – for architecture and urban planning education – of designing regeneration strategies instead of designing housing developments?

•  How are the visions and goals in a community renewal process, collectively defined?

•  Which urban regeneration strategies are needed to achieve a sustainable urban development (at the cultural, economic, social and environmental level)?

•  Are there any alternatives to gentrification as driver of urban regeneration?

•  How current learning and teaching practices in architecture and urban planning should change to support community development?

•  Which methods and techniques are needed to unleash the endogenous regeneration potentials of communities?

•  How can community participation be integrated alongside professional expertise to define the objectives of an urban renewal process?

•  How can the global and local dimensions involved in a regeneration process become intertwined?


We welcome critical presentations of case studies addressing regeneration practices all over the world. We particularly encourage the submission of works that explore methodologies for creating links between community-based research and innovative learning practices which bring together professionals and non-professionals in the process of renewing the urban habitat.


Call for papers

We invite the submission of abstracts (maximum 2 pages) that will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee members. Up to 12 abstracts will be selected to present a paper that will be published in the proceedings and presented at the conference.


Poster session

Abstracts that are not accepted will have the opportunity to be presented in the poster session. We specially encourage PhD students and researchers to present a poster about their in-progress work. A template will be provided upon request to prepare an A0 poster.


Deadlines

Please be aware of the following deadlines:


•   ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: 15 April 2015

•   NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: 30 April 2015

•   PAPER SUBMISSION: 15 June 2015

•   DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: 4 September 2015

•   POSTER SUBMISSION: 15 July 2015


For more information please visit the conference blog or contact us at info@oikonet.org

Keynote speakers
Becky Tunstall is the Joseph Rowntree Professor of Housing Policy and Director of the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. The Centre carries out a wide range of projects on current housing issues for government departments, housing associations, third sector organisations and academic research councils. Becky's current major studies include Co-Motion, a study of the built environment, mobility and wellbeing for older people, a study of the interaction between housing circumstances and poverty over time, a project on barriers to employment for women housing association tenants in London, and an investigation of the long-term impact of housing quality on health in Scotland. She teaches on social enterprise and on global urban social policy. For many years she was the course leader for the MSC/Dip Housing at the London School of Economics, where she was a member of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion. She has also worked at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. She has studied politics, urban design and fine art.
Aseem Inam Ph.D. is Director of TRULAB: Laboratory for Designing Urban Transformation and Associate Professor of Urbanism at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. He is also Fellow at the Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Affiliate of the Civitas Atheneum Laboratory at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is the author of two books, “Designing Urban Transformation” and “Planning for the Unplanned: Recovering from Crises in Megacities”, as well as of several journal articles and book chapters, including in the recent book “Companion to Urban Design”. He has also practiced as an architect, urban designer and planner in Brazil, Canada, France, Greece, Haiti, India and the United States. His teaching, research and practice have received awards from the American Planning Association, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the SOM Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

OIKONET GLOBAL DWELLING CONFERENCES SERIES
The first OIKONET conference was organized by La Salle School of Architecture in September 2014, and the final one will take place at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK, in 2016.

PROGRAM
The conference program runs in a single session, morning and afternoon, on Friday September 25, 2015. The conference opens at 9:00 am and ends at 6:30 pm.

A poster session will be open at the Faculty of Architecture Slovak University of Technology, on Thursday 25, at 6 pm.

VENUE
The conference will take place at the Faculty of Architecture Slovak University of Technology Namestie Slobody 19812 45 Bratislava, Slovakia.

REGISTRATION
The registration fee for participants will be 100 Euros (50 Euros for students). Refreshments, lunch and a printed copy of the proceedings are included.