Call for Papers | International Conference | Spaces of Welfare

International Conference

SPACES OF WELFARE

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK), Copenhagen / Virtual

6 – 7 May 2021

Abstract submission deadline: 1 September 2020

Call for papers

 Reforms of social welfare provisions since the 1970s entail simultaneously a dismantling, diminishing and dissolution of various types of welfare spaces and a development, expansion and concentration of others. The social, political, economic and cultural consequences of this restructuring of social welfare provisions have been subject to substantial research and public debate. However, other than limited investigations in urban geography and a field of research dealing with the relations between architecture (mainly housing) and welfare at large, the spatial aspects and implications of these restructuring processes have received limited scholarly attention.

The purpose of this interdisciplinary conference is to discuss the spatial dynamics and implications of the transformations of social welfare provisions since the 1970s through the perspectives of anthropology and architecture/urbanism. This is intended to contribute to an understanding of social welfare provisions hitherto described largely from the perspectives of sociology, political science, economy and law, where debate has tended to gravitate predominantly toward abstract or economic terms. The agencies and perceived qualities of social welfare provisions are closely related to their spatial conditions: the organisation, function and representation of architectural and urban entities and the experience and negotiation of these spaces. When social welfare provisions are spatially consolidated, suddenlyrestructured in new ways or decentralized, these changes in architectural/urban disposition fundamentally impact routines of daily life.

The conference invites academics from the fields of anthropology, art history, architecture, urbanism etc. to explore the role of spatial change in people’s everyday life and what implications this has for architecture and planning. The aim is to discuss and develop theoretical framings of the key spatial conditions of the transformations of welfare spaces, both in order to apply findings to further research in the field, in architectural/urban and anthropological education, in the public debate, and in the formation of policy. We furthermore wish to discuss visualisation methods, capable of communicating complex and latent spatial conditions of social welfare provisions in a concrete and accessible manner. This focus can supplement the understanding of the functions and performances of welfare spaces as they are framed in sociology, the history of welfare and in the political and economic sciences.

The conference is organised by the research project Spaces of Danish Welfare at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK), funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

We will give preference to abstracts focusing on the following themes:

·      Architectural/urban transformations of welfare spaces

·      Everyday life and the transformations of welfare spaces

·      People’s perception of the transformations of welfare spaces

Paper presentations are possible either in-person at the conference venue in Copenhagen or virtually via Zoom. The conference will be live streamed to delegates who are not participating in-person.

A range of selected, revised and extended papers will be included in a peer reviewed publication edited and published by the research project Spaces of Danish Welfare.

Please send us your abstract of max. 300 words for a 20-minute presentation and a short CV by 1 September 2020 to sdw@kadk.dk. Please indicate whether you intend to participate in-person or virtually. Applicants will be notified of the organisers’ decision by 15 October 2020. Deadline for full papers: 1 March 2021.

A conference registration fee of approx. € 100 applies to all delegates (in-person and virtual). The fee does not include expenses for participation in the conference dinner (optional).