Conference Theme: Asian Cities
– Legacies of Modernity
The 7th mAAN Conference will be held in New Delhi, India, from
23rd to 25th February 2009. The mAAN-7 conference will be located
at the famous India International Centre and in close proximity
to the early-20th century heart of New Delhi, one of the most endangered
urban heritages of the modern world.
The fate of “‘Lutyens’ New Delhi” –
as it is widely known, in memory of the garden city’s chief
architect and author of its final plan, Edwin Lutyens – is
symptomatic of the beleaguered future of other such modern cities,
where the heritage precinct circumscribes a prized parcel of land,
preserving the image of the modern city, but at odds with the density
and social character of the contemporary.
The fascinating aspect of the modern city and its tenuous existence
within the contemporary metropolis is that it not only represents
the spatial imagination and technology of the recent past, but is
also a receptacle for polarities of privacy and publicity, of native
and foreign, of order and chaos and status and hierarchy, that are
now being replaced by the simulacra of post-industrial society.
Space is no longer a binding or a divisive force; it is instead
a common ground where the common interest of consumerism can be
played out. Landscape is no longer a binding of spatial relationships;
it is now the ornament worn by the enclaves of wealth. What binds
the whole is infrastructure, the single parameter for judging whether
the modern should be relegated to the urban trash heap or allowed
to exist as a symbol of luxury or economy.
mAAN invites presentations about the myriad ways in which the
modern city contributes to the formation of a modern identity. It
shall inquire whether, by revitalizing the modern, the city is itself
reinvented. And it will promote the idea that concerted action is
needed – in the form of documentation, discourse and intervention
– in order to conserve the vital socio-cultural and economic
resource represented by the modern Asian city.
Call for Papers
The organizers of the conference invite abstracts for papers on
the following themes:
1. The knowing modern cities of Asia
2. Regulating the modern architectural precinct
3. Participatory processes in revitalization
4. The educational imperative: training for conservation
Abstracts should be 500 words, with the name of the principal and
subsidiary authors clearly indicated. Keywords should be indicated
at the end of abstracts.
Abstracts should
be E-mailed to the mAAN7 Secretariat (maan7newdelhi@gmail.com)
latest by 3rd November 2008. Authors of the short-listed
abstracts shall be required to submit their complete papers latest
by 2nd January 2009.
SESSION 1
The ‘knowing’ modern cities of Asia
A large number of Asian cities carry evidences of continuous historical
evolution, from ancient civilizations to the contemporary urban
agglomeration. Each of these cities, from Istanbul and Cairo to
Delhi to Beijing and Tokyo, has an ever-changing urban matrix in
which the historical cores and precincts are inextricably embedded.
To know the contemporary Asian city is to appreciate the accretive
character of urban growth as well as the durability of the city
itself, which seems to have the capacity to absorb endlessly. However,
heritage in general is under threat in these cities. Because the
heritage building or precinct is usually an awkward artifact —
resistant to the logic of modern planning and management yet compelling
in its social and aesthetic unity — it has become the bane
of the urban developer, more convenient to be discarded than to
be assimilated. It is as if each building knows something, is a
teller of history, and could either be welcomed or be treated as
a threat, telling stories that contemporary society does not want
to hear.
The session will combine presentations that explore the urban
knowledge embedded in modern heritage, and the process by which
the conservation and revitalization process can be a enlightening
process, informing and assuring the present-day society of its past,
uncovering a knowledge that is too valuable to be lost. Papers could
engage with the theoretical, practical and documentary aspects of
the subject, presenting ways of seeing the Asian city that have
been overlooked and potentials in heritage conservation that have
not been tapped.
SESSION 2
Regulating the modern architectural precinct
The modern architectural precinct presents a peculiar set of problems
for the heritage conservationist and the city administrator. Unlike
ancient heritage, which has a morphological character and scale
that is radically different from the plan and intent of the contemporary
metropolis, the modern precinct represents a stage in the evolution
of the metropolis itself. Preserving and revitalizing the modern
precinct is thus a task that requires the administrator to be also
a historian, and the developer to be also a curator. Drafting a
set of regulations for a modern precinct is like creating a code
for preserving a specific practice of urban living, not merely the
edifice that represents a distant past.
mAAN invites papers and presentations on the subject of legislation
and administration for the specific purpose of revitalizing modern
heritage precincts. We invite a discussion of examples from Asian
and non-Asian countries, where the existence of built heritage from
the 19th and 20th centuries has attracted the attention of planners,
administrators and conserving communities. The session shall focus
on the premise that good governance lies at the core of a policy
regime that is directed towards preserving a character that is unique
and irreplaceable, thereby preventing – legally and institutionally
– the assault of modern heritage by conspicuous consumption
of urban space.
SESSION 3
Participatory processes in revitalization
A significant aspect of the revitalization of modern heritage
is the growing need for local participation and collaboration amongst
the public and various stakeholders, as well as the active involvement
of the government. Unlike the preservation of archeological sites,
modern heritage is usually a lived-in built environment that commands
a high price, because of its usually privileged location within
the metropolis, and also houses a category of persons – say,
the industrial worker, or the welfare state officer – that
is becoming outmoded and redundant in the new economy. Modern heritage
precincts, many of them residential or mixed-use planned neighborhoods,
are sites of conflict and potential resolution, thus becoming the
locations for cooperative rebuilding of the city.
mAAN seeks presentations of successful participatory processes
leading to the preservation and revitalization of modern heritage
precincts. Papers could explore a variety of approaches to encourage
participation, analyze existing models of the conservation process,
and document examples of successful community-based revitalization.
SESSION 4
The educational imperative: training for conservation
It is a widely perceived that the process and final outcomes
of the revitalization of modern heritage requires the professionals
and other stakeholders to have particular skills; intellectual,
social and communicational. Further, these skills are different
for different Asian societies, depending on the relationships between
practitioners and government, and between society and professionals.
mAAN would like to explore the diversity as well as the commonality
between the scenarios in different countries, in order to arrive
at a shared understanding of the steps that need to be taken; generally,
at a pan-Asian level, and particularly, for specific countries,
to ensure that the field of heritage revitalization is adequately
served by professionals with the appropriate skills, knowledge and
sensibility.
Papers would typically address the challenges of education and
training for the field of modern heritage revitalization, either
discussing and comparing different pedagogical and professional
approaches, or sharing case studies that illustrate emerging dimensions
of the phenomenon. Papers could also discuss the variety of techniques
now available for the task of revitalization, and the ways in which
knowledge-processing, mapping and similar technologies are able
to assist the field of heritage conservation.
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