Call for Papers: Narrating the City (in_bo Vol. 11, N. 15)
Update: deadline extended to October 6th!
Download this Call for Paper (PDF)
abstractI will summarize the standard understanding of the city […] as one of moment and process. ‘Process’ because urbanization has been understood as a transformation over space and time: of population, of urbanism as a way of life and its corresponding form of settlement space […]. ‘Moment’ because, in the standard understanding, cities are the still frames comprising the urbanization process: Stop the process at any point in time, and the discrete spaces you observe are the extent of urbanization. (Wachsmuth, 2014)
Coming from a knowledge which stands outside architecture and planning, the term narrative is used here to express intentions which design, anticipate, lay in dynamics and disciplines for urban space. This spontaneous (or provoked) literature shift makes the term forgetting its philosophical origin (it was a central term in F. Lyotard's theories) but not its more intimate structure. Keeping the native relationship between communication and its medium, the narratives are experienced by different tools: from city planning and regulation to spontaneous collective operations.
Thus, from this semantic shift, the main research questions arise: what are the relations between narratives and design project in the future of cities? Do narratives exist before the cities and their models, or are they just a consequence of cities’ modifications?
Narratives fully interact with urban practices, anticipating new models through the reading of the urban complexity, introducing new debates and leading decision-making processes through the formulation of new theories. As an instrument that operates on/with urban practices, the narratives fulfil various roles: on the one hand, they are methods for understanding the ongoing transformations in the city; on the other hand, they are maieutic methods that work as a social and cultural incubator activating transformative phenomena in the city while developing new models for it. Furthermore, they can constitute either a limit for new orientations, or unexpected leaps towards the future.
in_bo Vol. 11, no. 15 will focus on the relation between the city and its narratives, investigating the potential of the former as an instrument that operates supporting urban practices. With this call, in_bo seeks interdisciplinary contributions to be published either in the form of texts or in the form of images. All the selected contributions will be subjected to double blind peer review.
PremisesNarratives as instrument to interpret and rewrite the city1.
The 20th century emphasized the role of the urban narratives, as several authors participated in a flourishing debate in the fields of architecture, sociology and philosophy. The state of art is a widespread scenario, which has reached during the 70s its highest development. European philosophers and thinkers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (Wittgenstein 1967), Henri Lefebvre (Lefebvre 1970), Jean Francois Lyotard (Lyotard, 1979) addressed the narratives as the key tool for observing, analysing and interpreting urban phenomena.
2.
Recently, the debate come back and has spread in the American literature. An essay of David Wachsmuth (Wachsmuth, 2014) described the ideologies of some of the key/core urban design theories: the dichotomy of city and countryside, the autonomy of the city system, the city as an ideal epitome, towards the inclusion of capitalism as a further narrative capable of triggering urban transformations.
3.
In the contemporary European debate, the Dutch magazine OASE comes back to the topic. In the editorial of no. 98 (2017), the instrument of narrative is understood as a support for the design discipline, such as in some inadequate planning tools. Considering urban redevelopment practices, the narrative, as a tool, is useful when the designers have to gather and merge various aspects of the urban landscape, from social to both political and economic aspects.
On the other hand, the narratives are unavoidable. Their multiplication also absorbs the contradiction of their opposite interpretations and the multiplication of cultures, today so fragmented that they coincide with the individuals.
ThemesThe events of the contemporaneity and their effects on urban space lead us to question the relations between narratives and project tools. Still little explored in the academic debate, these relations are experiencing in European cities moments of argument and critical analysis, testifying a displacement between urban planning and coding tools that instruct them, and therefore the narratives to which they refer. What is the relationship between narratives, metamorphoses and urban practices?
a. Narratives as a designing and planning toolNowadays, the contemporary events and their influences on the urban space invite us (researchers, designers) to wonder about the relations between narratives and project.
Therefore, what is the relationship between narratives and urban practices? Is the relationship between narratives and urban design still theoretically sustainable and practically verifiable/achievable in the design of the contemporary city? Or does the cessation of designed city plans suggest the implicit awareness of a crisis between urbanism and narratives (to which alternatives or models cannot be built)?
Can narratives still dialogue with urban practices? What are the examples that disown/confirm this fracture? Has the concept of city become rhetoric and crystallised?
As theoretical opposites, on one hand there is a form of design — reiteration of the same narrative — towards an iconic and crystallised project. On the other hand, there is the conscious rejection of any form of narrative, towards a subversive and revolutionary project. Or, as non-belonging to the previous two, there is a free form of design, which is barely categorizable in one of the previous classes.
Besides theoretical contributions, the present Call for Papers is also looking for case studies that exemplify the above mentioned theoretical models. What are the projects, plans, or cities that embrace these models?
b. Intersections between narratives and urban phenomena: origin or outcome?What are the relations between the current narratives and the contemporary phenomena of the city? The question acquires particular complexity considering its relation with the concept of contemporary dwelling. Do the narratives influence the urban phenomena? Or, on the contrary, do the urban phenomena influence the interpretation and integration of new narratives? Is the tendency to change more substantial in the urban phenomena, or in the narratives? When the narratives are collectively rooted and present as a myth, how do they influence political planning choices?
Besides theoretical contributions, the present Call for Papers is also looking for case studies that exemplify significant strategies designed to assure a long term success of the planning actions, as much as to guarantee social support from the community.
What to send, how and whenEssay – Authors are invited to submit an abstract (3000-4000 characters, spaces included), in Italian or in English, stating which questions they want to address in their contributions. The abstract has to follow the Journal guidelines.
Images – It is also possible to submit images in the form of drawings, photographs or pictures. Images have to address one of the three themes by means of a brief abstract/description (max 1000 characters, spaces included). All the received images will be printed on paper and subjected to a blind peer review process (signature on the images will be put after their acceptance).
All the authors must send their documents before September 20th October 6th, 2019, to the email address in_bo@unibo.it. The contribution must include a short CV, with name, surname and a presentation text (BIO) of no more than 350 characters (including spaces) and the affiliation. Curators will communicate the acceptance of each contribution.
In case of acceptance of the abstract, the essay must be uploaded, following the online procedure, on the in_bo platform https://in_bo.unibo.it/. The essay could be in Italian or English (with abstract both in Italian and English), and with a length between 20,000 and 60,000 characters, spaces included. Both abstract and paper will be subjected to double blind peer review.
in_boin_bo is a peer-reviewed academic Journal that focuses on the fields of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban and Rural Planning. Its issues investigate the contemporary world through an interdisciplinary approach, favouring an inquisitive attitude — questions rather than answers, processes rather than products, critiques rather than comments.
- Editor in chief
- Luigi Bartolomei. Università di Bologna
- Editorial Board
- Michele F. Barale. Politecnico di Torino
- Jacopo Benedetti. Università Roma 3
- Andrea Conti. SLU, Uppsala
- Francesca Cremasco. Architetto PhD
- Marianna Gaetani. Politecnico di Torino
- Sofia Nannini. Politecnico di Torino
- Stefano Politi. Università di Bologna
- Alessandro Tognon. Università di Bologna
- Matteo Vianello. Università IUAV di Venezia
