The 5th World Urbanisms Seminar focused on design responses to climate change taking place in Leuven from 28-30 June 2018, is accepting abstracts from doctoral students in the field of urbanism until 27 of May.
KU Leuven’s Master of Architecture and Human Settlements (MaHS) and the Master of Urbanism and Strategic Planning (MaUSP) will present their research on climate change in urbanized deltas, and the 2018 Landscape Urbanism studios will focus on Guayas (Ecuador), Zambezi (Mozambique) and the Yangtze (China) River Deltas.
The seminar will feature master theses, doctoral research and alumni presentations on the social and ecological challenges in Kathmandu (Nepal), Nablus (Palestine), Mumbai (India) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). Together, the studio reviews, theses and doctoral presentations will trigger a lively debate on the current state of urbanism, and evaluate the role of design investigation to underscore the diverse role of urbanism.
From the brief:
Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to humankind’s future. Bold policy and political will must be matched by the precise understanding of science and creative and out-of-the-box alternatives to its future habitation. Urbanism organizes civilization according to man-made rules and the use of space, yet it is anchored to natural world, which the environmental sciences strive to unravel.
Submissions should demonstrate innovative design research as well as ground-breaking experiences of activism in urbanism.
Abstracts (maximum 300 words) should be sent to: mahs-mausp@kuleuven.be. Notification of acceptance will be given on 10 of June 2018.