10th Architectural Research Symposium in Finland 2018, Global North – Global Challenges and Local Responses in Contemporary Architecture (ATUT 2018)

The theme of the symposium aims to cover a variety of contemporary discussions in architectural research, from architectural design at all scales to the context of urban planning and development. Abstracts and papers are invited in the following thematic areas (but not restricted only to these):

1. The Individual and Universal Humanity. What is architectural knowledge today and who has the power to decide what is important in architectural design? Is there a common ground for discussing architectural values? Is there room for individual artistic endeavours? How can we approach authenticity and originality in architectural production or architectural experience? Is there still something that can be called the universal language of architecture? How does the increasingly uniform architectural education and the borderless exchange of architectural ideas affect architectural values or our understanding of architecture?
2. The Architect in the Global Market. The resulting theoretical debate has focused, for example, on new cosmopolitan tribalism that breaks away from pre-defined modes of working as an architect, the alternative ways of using the built environment or perceiving architecture as a service business rather than an art. Why are female architects and ethnic minorities almost absent in architectural historiography or performance reward systems? How are the power-structures and definitions of knowledge in architectural production, starchitecture and architectural branding or the new roles of the architect developing in the global market?  What are the professional challenges of globalisation with regard to, for example, global commissions, international architecture media, global trade of materials and technology, and the free movement of capital and labour?
3. Regionalism Revisited. How can local traditions, practices, modes of working, or other place-specific cultures enrich the art of architecture in the age of globalisation? What can we learn from non-standard ways of making architecture or the forgotten heroes, locally important architects, buildings and other architectural side-stories that are omitted from our current architectural discourse?
4. Residing in urban environments. The transformation of our cities is driven by a variety of social, economic, environmental and cultural trends that challenge our understanding about housing and ways of living in neighbourhoods and residential environments of different densities. While the lack of affordable housing is widely discussed, cities also seek to create diverse and lively neighbourhoods attracting different types of residents, whose housing preferences may or may not have similarities. What does the future hold for us in a given environment?  The topics under this theme could vary among the following:  Housing and demographic trends; Lifestyles and ways of living, including multi-local working and living; Affordability; Accessibility and design for all; Sharing domestic/ home-related spaces; Housing preferences; Flexible housing concepts etc. 
5. Challenges and changing ideas focusing cultural heritage. How does “The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018” reflect on the field? Today, we can read more and more often that buildings and areas of cultural-historical significance are demolished or disfigured in order to achieve other objectives, valuable in themselves: energy efficiency, accessibility, urban densification, or changing work culture. In particular, the buildings and areas built between the 1960s and the 1980s are today threatened. How can we evaluate different kinds of sustainability, such as environmental, economic, social, and cultural sustainability? What kind of strategies and policies are needed to reconcile these different values? Does this require us to re-evaluate the principles of building restoration?
6. Places and identities: Living in a world of change. Globalization, migration and multiculturalism as unavoidable features of contemporary reality and future are challenging the traditional national and local identities of places and people. Since total aesthetic or cultural control in a world of blurred boundaries is no longer an option, we need to reconsider our attitudes and ideologies towards diversity. For example, what will Finnish architecture look like in the future – or is there “Finnish” architecture any longer?
7. Nordic Urban: What is special of being “Nordic” in contemporary urban planning? Are we now facing death or life of the Nordic town and well-fare state as a result of certain political decisions? How can the local solutions respond the global challenges in planning theory and practice?  Today the rise of statistical and geo-referenced data and related surveys has provided planners with an abundance of information which is frequently relied upon as a basis for planning decisions. This development has, however, narrowed our view on knowledge. The hegemony of evidence-based knowledge is problematic, as planning is largely coping with yet unknown futures. The role of planners goes beyond making predictions and forecasts but lies in actively shaping and creating better futures. How can planners find creative and innovative ways and use their experiential tacit knowledge of tackling challenges associated with uncertainty while reflecting critically on the knowledge and assumptions planning decisions are based on?  How can techniques such as visioning, scenario writing, storytelling as well as new interactive digital tools be increasingly used to describe and decide between different future development paths?
8. Sustainable materials and methods. Growing environmental issues force to favour materials which are renewable or have low environmental impact. What is the role of architectural design, novel technologies and potential of nanomaterials when shaping visions for new environmentally friendly solutions?  How these materials can be implemented and how do they suit the ambience and spatial experience of living environments? How can design research, such as material studies or material explorations, facilitate adoption of novel applications? How to introduce “closed loop” thinking or circular economy to material chains and design practices in architecture?
9. Emergent Urban Natures: Environmental, societal, technological and economic challenges are resetting the agenda for the use, management and conceptualization of nature in cities. Green-blue infrastructures, Ecosystem Services, Nature Based Solutions, Sustainable Urban metabolisms, etc. offer new ways of working with socio-ecological systems and sustainable urban planning. Conventional and unidirectional ways of design, planning and governance are questioned. We invite authors to reflect on how these emergent urban natures are influencing their work and/or research in this turning point.