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【Symposium 23-25.06.2026】 Architecture and Ethics of Care
Release time：2026-06-18
Symposium
Architecture and Ethics of Care
Dates
June 23-25, 2026
Venue
Conference Hall,
Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.
Hosts
College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University
Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.
Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism
Committee of Architectural Criticism of the Architectural Society of China
Architecture and Ethics of Care
On the most general level, we suggest that caring be viewed as a species activity that includes everything we do to maintain, continue, and repair our world so we can live as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, our selves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web.
(Tronto & Fisher, 1990)
Taking into account the ethics of care that Joan Tronto and Berenice Fisher articulate in this passage, it is obvious that architecture and urbanism are part of the caring activities that humankind relies on to “maintain, continue, and repair our world.” Adopting “caring” as a central category of human activities and as a central value in cultural work, means that other values such as originality, authenticity, or iconicity no longer take center stage in the assessment and appreciation of architectural projects. The question would no longer be how “innovative” the work of an architect is, but rather how this work contributes to the maintenance, continuity, and reparation of our world. “Our world” here is to be understood in the broad sense: it refers to cities and territories, as well as to the ecologies that make these cities and territories inhabitable for humans (and non-humans). The intention of this symposium is to further articulate this understanding and to elaborate different ways in which architecture and urbanism are enhancing the caring maintenance of life worlds and environments.
Tuesday, June 23 (UTC+8)
Opening Session
6:00 PM Opening Speech
Xiangning Li, Tongji University, China6:15 PM Introduction of the Symposium Theme
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium6:45 PM Conversation
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
K. Michael Hays, Harvard University, USA
Special Session 1: Care in Action
9:00AM Welcome Speech
Shuoning Tang, Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., China9:15AM Remarks
K. Michael Hays, HarvardUniversity, USA9:25 AM Stealth
JiakunLiu, Jiakun Architects, China9:45AM Restructuring Construction Systems
Jingxiang Zhu, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China10:50AM Discussion
Discussants:
Xinggang Li, Atelier Li Xinggang, China
Xiangning Li, Tongji University, China
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
11:30AM Keynote Speech
Xiangning Li, Tongji University, China
12:00AM Closing of Session
Session 1: Shifting Paradigms
2:00PM Remarks
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
2:10PM Nurturing Buildings: A Renaissance Theory of Architectural Care
Berrin Terim, Clemson University,USA
2:25 PM The Architecture of Care: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present
Shooka Motamedi, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
2:40 PM Building Maintenance Regimes and the Politics of Care in Architecture
Imane Huyghebaert, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Stephanie Van De Voorde, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
David Bassens, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
2:55PM Social Reproduction in the Rubble: The Spatiality of Women’s Care as Post-Disaster Infrastructure in Samandağ, Hatay
İrem Senem Büyükkoçak, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
3:10 PM Discussion
3:50 PM Closing of SessionSession 2: Ecological Awareness as Critical Care for the Planet
4:10 PM Remarks
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
4:40 PM Territorial Maintenance: Architecture, Care, and Ecological Succession
Paul Mosley, Kent State University, USA
4:55 PM Close Encounters: Mapping Human–Nonhuman Entanglements in the Urban Landscapes of Karlsruhe
Miguel Paredes Maldonado, The University of Edinburgh, UK
5:10 PM Caring for the River, Caring for the City: Ethics of Care and the Urban Life of the Cooum
Adrian Fernandez, University of Pennsylvania, USA
5:25 PM Ask “Why?” Before! Archives and the Pedagogy of Care in Landscape Architecture
Maria João Fonseca, NOVA University, Portugal
Anna Laura Jeschke, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
5:40 PM Discussion
6:20 PM Closing of Session
Thursday, June 25 (UTC+8)
Special Session 2: Aftercare: Cultivating Architectural Narratives from the Institute Archives (Workshop-based)
9:30AM Remarks
Matthew Allen, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
9:40AM Introduction totheInstitute Archives
Ying Wang, Tongji University, China
10:00 AM Some Ideas on Activating the Design Institute Archives (TBC)
Martien de Vletter, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Canada
10:20AM Case Studies Based on the Design Institute Archives (TBC)
Ye Tan, Tongji University, China
10:40AM TJAD and Shanghai Expo 2010 (TBC)
Matthew Allen, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
11:00AM Discussion
Discussants:
Xinggang Li, Atelier Li Xinggang, China
Shuoning Tang, Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., China
Ming Yang, East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., China
Kai Wang, Tongji University
11:40AM Closing of SessionHilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
2:10 PM Contested Ecologies of Care: Urban Gardening and Governance in Holma’s Million Program Landscapes
Chero Eliassi, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
2:25 PM Clandestine Landscapes of Care: Domesticities, Plants and Women in Romania’s Socialist Regime
Iulia Statica, University of Sheffield, UK
2:40 PM Spatializing the Ethics of Care: A Roadmap for Transforming Aging Environments
Irene González-Fernández, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Belinda López-Mesa, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
2:55 PM Public Toilets and the Ethics of Care: Governing Bodily Vulnerability in the City
AB Hausel, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,Switzerland
3:10 PM Discussion
3:50 PM Closing of Session
Session 4: Reconversion and Maintenance as Strategies of Care
4:10 PM Remarks
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
4:20 PM Care against Erasure: Istanbul Biennials as an Ecology of Care for Built and Lived Heritage
Cemre Önertürk, Middle East Technical University and MELT Studio, Turkey
Zeynep Ece Şahin Korkan, Technical University of Munich, Germany
4:35 PM Designing from Relations: Toward a Relational Ontology of Care in French Urban Renewal
Iness Tkhayyare, LRA ENSA Toulouse, France
4:50 PM What Counts as Architecture? Reconversion, Care, and the Politics of Architectural Value
Livia Catao Cartaxo Loureiro, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
5:05 PM Care, Not Innovation: Reframing Architectural Value through Pedagogies of Maintenance
Mirai Morita, Adelaide University, Australia
Athanasios Lazarou, Adelaide University, Australia
Saskia Schut, Adelaide University, Australia
Christina Akele, Adelaide University, Australia
5:20 PM Discussion
6:00 PM Closing of Session
6:00 PM Concluding Remarks
Hilde Heynen, KU Leuven, Belgium
Xiangning Li, Tongji University, China
6:30PM Closing of Symposium
