Inaugural Issue Launched | Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism
Release time：2024-06-20
Perspectives in Architecture and UrbanismXiangning Li, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji UniversityShuoning Tang, Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.K. Michael Hays, Graduate School of Design, Harvard UniversityFrederick Steiner, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of PennsylvaniaLin Huiyin, House Beautiful, and Women’s Place in Architectural Culture in the United States in the 1920sKathleen James-Chakraborty, UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy, University College DublinPerspectives in Computational Design: A Brief Assessment of Today's Socio-Technical Context, Promises, and ChallengesMario Carpo, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College LondonArchitectural History Today: Where do We Stand? Where do We Go?Hilde Heynen, Department of Architecture, University of LeuvenPerspectives in Architecture and Urbanism
Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism is a quarterly, blind peer-reviewed scholarly journal that presents ongoing research on architecture and the city from a broad array of viewpoints—historical, theoretical, social, cultural, environmental, and technological—through multiple interpretive paradigms and by acknowledging alternative and indigenous narratives.Contemporary scholarship in architecture and urbanism is in a state of transformation. It is almost impossible to clearly trace its boundaries and define the objects of its investigation. Research directions and modes of knowledge are increasingly entangled with different disciplines and broader societal issues. Discontinued themes and methodologies of the past reemerge in the present within new eclectic intellectual frameworks. Breakthroughs in technology, both actual and virtual, seem to question the very processes of design and construction. The globalization of ideas and practices, on the one hand, and increasing regional differences in patterns of development, on the other, give rise to new trends, if not altogether new fields of scholarly engagement. Unique geographical experiences in architecture and urbanism, and cross-influences among distinct communities, identities, and traditions, constantly redefine the contexts of the production and interpretation of the built environment.Within this broad and multi-dimensional landscape, the goal of the journal is not to take a univocal position but rather to keep a finger on the pulse. It aims to lead from the present without reducing or taming its complexity, and to highlight connections, contradictions, and parallels across disciplines and cultural geographies. Its purpose is to create a new space for dialogue on the challenges of our time—such as environmental sustainability, increasing urbanization, regional and global identities, and the accelerating impact of technology—and in doing so, to reach beyond any singular narrative of modernity.Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism is published online and open access. Articles will be made available as soon as the selection, review, and editing processes are completed. Only later, at regular intervals, will they be collected in issues and volumes. This format allows for a swift transfer from fieldwork to dissemination, from the current state of the discipline to the readers. No article processing fee is asked of the authors, thus encouraging the publication not only of research by established academics, but also—and most importantly—of innovative work by younger scholars.The first volume of Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism will serve as a preliminary survey of the current trends in research. Early issues will be non-thematic and will attempt to include the broadest possible range of content, from history to theory, from the cultures of technology to urbanism. Starting with the second volume, special issues will be introduced, either guest-edited or resulting from calls for papers. The contents of the calls will be drawn from questions raised in previous articles, thus establishing a feedback loop between the work of the authors and the editorial line of the journal. The editors will also arrange the articles in themed “virtual segments,” highlighting overlaps in the topics and methodologies of research papers published at different moments in time.The columns “Opinions and Criticism” and “Multimedia” will be progressively introduced, starting with the following issues. Interview series, reviews, and critical readings of the archives of contemporary practitioners are already being drafted to span multiple installments, providing a parallel narrative to the contents of the peer-reviewed articles. Editorials will result from meetings and discussions with members of the advisory board. They will serve either as critical responses to what has already been published or to sketch new lines of investigation. In this way, editorials will help us calibrate the course and scope of the journal, so we suggest readers and potential authors keep up with them to understand the direction we will take in the future.This inaugural issue of Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism presents the work of five internationally renowned authors. Two of them—the “review articles”—assess the state of a specific domain of scholarship. Mario Carpo focuses on the context, promises, and challenges of computational design in architecture. Writing as a critic and historian, he addresses technology not as a self-contained phenomenon, but as part of a broader societal and cultural spectrum. In doing so, he provides a framework to understand both the potentials and current shortcomings of the digital turn in the disciplines of the built environment. Hilde Heynen delivers a fine-tuned snapshot of historical scholarship in architecture. Drawing from English-speaking publications and from research shared through international platforms such as SAH and EAHN, she outlines current evolutions, methodologies, and questions in the production of history. The image that emerges is of a discipline that is not singular or stable, but rather kaleidoscopic and thoroughly open-ended.The review articles are accompanied by three research papers. K. Michael Hays revisits the connection between architecture and poststructuralism, demonstrating how it can provide an engaging account of the work of practitioners across different times and geographies. Within his novel intellectual framework—the theory of “inscriptions”—Lacanian concepts find embodiment both in the late avant-garde of Peter Eisenman and in Atelier Deshaus’s architecture. Frederick Steiner addresses the challenges of contemporary urbanization and sustainability by encouraging readers to understand cities at a different scale: that of metropolitan megaregions. This model, which is establishing itself as one of the predominant urban forms in the industrialized world, is exemplified by five ecologically grounded projects from North and South America. Kathleen James-Chakraborty presents an alternative history of early twentieth-century architecture in the US, whose protagonists are middle-class and wealthy women, and whose media are widely circulated shelter magazines. In doing so, she sheds light on the influence these publications might have had on a key figure of Chinese modern architecture, Lin Huyin, whose accomplishments are now being celebrated in the US a century after her studies at the University of Pennsylvania.In closing, we wish to thank all those who have been involved in the journal thus far, from the authors to the members of the advisory board and the editors. Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism is hosted by Tongji University and is run by its College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) and Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., an institution that has also generously provided us with financial support, making it possible for the journal to begin its survey of contemporary scholarship on architecture and the city.College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaTongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China Scan the QR code for all articles online在线阅读请扫描二维码https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/perspectives-in-architecture-and-urbanism/vol/1/issue/1
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