Towards New Summers | DEADLINE EXTENDED
INTRO
In Italy alone, dozens of abandoned holiday camps for children are scattered throughout the landscape. The size and diffusion of this heritage calls for a scientific debate on the history and future of these buildings, which are often in a state of serious decay. From Alpine valleys to coastlines, former holiday camps for children tell a long story of educational, architectural, health and social experimentation, which has influenced generations of Europeans in the last 150 years. Holiday camps were hosted in traditional or modern structures, built from long-lasting materials such as reinforced concrete or temporary camping tents. Whatever their nature, holiday camps have left both physical and intangible traces on the European landscape and society.
The purpose of this call for abstracts is to collect and discuss the current research on the history of holiday camps in Europe between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular consideration of the contemporary reuse and restoration strategies of this architectural heritage.
Authors are invited to submit an abstract in Italian or English: accepted abstracts will be discussed at an international conference in Ravenna, September 15th–16th, 2022. A selection of the best proposals will be published in 2023, in a special issue of in_bo, the scientific, open-access, and Scopus-indexed journal published by the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna.
TOPICS
The two main sessions of the conference will be:
– the architectural, educational and social history of holiday camps for children in Europe between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries;
– contemporary reuse and development strategies of this architectural heritage.
1. Towards a history of holiday camps for children
1a. The emergence of holiday camps for children, between healthcare, charity and tourism
The roots of holiday camps for children in Europe date back to the nineteenth century, as part of the sanitary and therapeutic measures against infectious respiratory diseases, such as tubercolosis. The first holiday camps merged medical studies and climatic therapies, usually promoted through charitable activities and donations. The wide variety of models produced varying results, from Giuseppe Barellai’s ospizi marini in Italy to Hermann Walter Bion’s Ferienkolonien in Switzerland. At the same time, these experiments were strongly linked to the emergence of new touristic locations in the mountains and along the seaside, which were increasingly connected by new railways under construction.
This sub-session aims at collecting contributions on the history, architecture and pedagogy of the first holiday camps of Europe. We expect contributions that address early spatial models and architectural typologies, healthcare and therapeutic goals, pedagogical methods, similarities and differences among different geographical contexts, the influence of holiday camps on the emergence of modern hospital architecture, as well as the traces of this heritage in the contemporary landscape.
1b. Holiday camps as a tool for political propaganda in totalitarian regimes
Several totalitarian regimes defined the history of twentieth-century Europe. From Fascist Italy to Francoist Spain, from the German Third Reich to socialist regimes, the education of youth was a key goal for totalitarian dictatorships. By studying holiday camps for children we may read and understand the totalitarian policies of control on free time, military and political education of youth.
A particularly well documented case is that of holiday camps for children in Fascist Italy. During the ventennio, the role of these camps went beyond original welfare scopes and acquired military and racial meanings, transforming holiday camps into a tool for nationalistic and ideological education. Holiday camps were characterized by new pedagogical models and a new architectural language, supported by a generation of architects that worked in collaboration with the regime. Beyond Italy, we may also recall the work of Nazi organizations such as Hitler-Jugend and Kraft durch Freude, and holiday camps for children in the socialist countries, coordinated by the Pioneer Organization.
This sub-session will collect the outcomes of recent research on holiday camps for children in twentieth-century European totalitarian regimes. It aims at discussing similarities and differences in regards to ideology, education and architecture, among different political and geographical contexts. We welcome proposals that shed light on original case studies and offer new points of view to interpret the totalitarian history of holiday camps and their tangible heritage. We are particularly interested in proposals that take notice of the difficult heritage embodied by the architecture of the former holiday camps, often interpreted as symbols of totalitarian views with a complex and controversial history.
1c. Holiday camps for children between democracy and welfare state
The experience of holiday camps in Europe was not limited to totalitarian regimes. Since the first experiments in the construction of welfare states until the postwar years in Western Europe, the organization of free time of youth was a key interest for democracies – from the colonie de vacances in France to the Swedish barnkoloni.
The decades after the Second World War are particularly interesting in this regard. In these years, holiday camps for children became very popular, moving away from the original sanitary or educational scopes, and merging with the phenomenon of mass tourism.
In the postwar years, Western Europe experienced different kinds of holiday camps, such as those financed by religious institutions, by governments and public bodies, by political parties or business companies. These manifold educational directions resulted in a large quantity of new buildings with different architectural languages – some experimental, some traditional. Despite the great popularity of holiday camps since 1945 and until the end of the 1970s, this particular moment in time has not been studied in depth yet, not only from a social and political point of view, but also with regards to architecture and the urban sphere.
This sub-session will collect contributions on the architectural, political and pedagogical peculiarities that characterized holiday camps for children in relation to the construction of welfare states in twentieth-century Europe. We are also interested in studies that tackle the similarities and/or differences in pedagogical methods and architectural features between holiday camps for children in democratic and totalitarian governments.
2. What happens after? The reuse of former holiday camps
A catalog of policies and guidelines towards the reuse of holiday camps and their heritage
Since the second half of the 1970s, holiday camps for children have been diminishing in number throughout Europe. The increasing individualization of free time and vacations has threatened the idea of holiday camps, which have almost completely disappeared in the last decades. However, the traces of this phenomenon are still present along the coastlines, in mountain valleys and rural areas. Hundreds of former holiday camps are scattered throughout the continent and are still awaiting acts of restoration and reuse. Apart from a few positive cases, there is a general indifference towards this architectural heritage, its history and its presence in the landscape.
In the last decade abandoned holiday camps have become the object of a nostalgic fascination among the general public, with an important role played by photographers – such as Dan Dubowitz, Lorenzo Mini and Fabio Gubellini – who contributed with photographic projects on the Italian heritage.
This session aims at gathering contributions by researchers, designers, owners and administrations on restoration and reuse projects of former holiday camps for children, in different geographical contexts and with different scopes, both public and private. The development of reuse strategies is often hindered by fragmented ownership, by the size of the buildings and by the transformation of the surrounding urban landscape. We are particularly interested in the ways in which we can merge political actions with design proposals. The aim of the session is to discuss best practices and how to implement them for the reuse of former holiday camps, as well as the measures to rebuild their connections with the surrounding landscape and communities.
INFO
Authors are invited to send an abstract with references in Italian or English (max. 4000 characters, spaces included) and a short bio (max. 350 characters, spaces included) to in_bo@unibo.it, no later than April 15th, 2022. Please indicate the session you would like to contribute to (1a, 1b, 1c, 2).
Abstracts will be anonymously reviewed by the Scientific Committee of the event. In case of acceptance and of positive feedback during the conference, authors will be asked to submit a full paper for the publication on in_bo by December 2022. More details on the publication will be given during the conference. Full papers will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
The conference will be held both in person and online, according to the development of the current Covid-19 pandemic.
DEADLINES
new deadline May 1st, 2022 | deadline for abstract submission
May 15th, 2022 | notification of abstract acceptance or refusal
July 15th, 2022 | submission of revised abstract and conference registration
September 15th–16th, 2022 | conference in Ravenna
Download this call [PDF]
