Conferences, etc

Eco-Cities in Pan-Asia

17-18 June 2011 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

Proposals are invited for papers to be presented at the 5th International Conference hosted by the International Eco-Cities Initiative in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Westminster. The conference will bring together academics, planners and policy experts with the aim of analyzing and comparing a variety of eco-city developments in China, India, Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries. The focus will be on discussing diverse eco-city initiatives within their specific local and national contexts, as well as comparing relevant governance and innovation perspectives across national and cultural boundaries.

We welcome papers discussing: individual eco-city case studies; cross-national comparative analyses; and/or theoretical perspectives relating to eco-city innovation in various Asian contexts. The participation of early career researchers and practitioners is particularly welcome and will be supported through a competitive travel bursary scheme.

Deadline for submitting abstracts (250 words): 14 January 2010. Please send the abstracts to: d.tomozeiu@westminster.ac.uk For more details please visit: www.westminster.ac.uk/ecocities (see ‘International Conferences’ link)

FLOW

– a conference in two parts

Two linked conferences – FLOW 1 and FLOW 2 – will address issues of the relationships between interiors and landscape. FLOW 1 will take a historical perspective covering the period from the late nineteenth century to the present day. It will be hosted by the Modern Interiors Research Centre (MIRC) in collaboration with the Landscape Interface Studio, Kingston University, in London 12-13 May 2011. FLOW 2 takes a critical approach to contemporary environments, and will develop themes and issues that emerge at FLOW 1 in London. This conference will take place at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, in February 2012.

The FLOW conferences invite scholarship that focuses on the relationships between interiors and landscape. This recognises that the ‘transitional spaces’ of the home – conservatories, balconies, picture windows – have offered, and continue to offer, new configurations for mediating the exterior and interior as intermediate zones of occupation and performance. Equally the continuous, undefined urban condition of super-modern public spaces – international airports, shopping malls and post industrial parks – render problematic the relatively simple concepts of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, ‘private’ and ‘public’ and ‘domestic’ and ‘non-domestic’. The ‘fluidity’ of landscape space and time is similarly informing critical discussion about design, change, occupation and conservation in the outside environment.

For more information about abstracts email to mirc@kingston.ac.uk The deadline for abstracts is 3 January 2011.

Subtropical Urbanism – beyond climate change

9-13 March 2011, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The 3rd biennial Subtropical Cities conference is hosted by the Queensland University of Technology Centre for Subtropical Design and the Florida Atlantic University College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs.

The conference will address the following cross-cutting and interdisciplinary themes. Adaptation to climate change, mitigation of its effects, and planning for massive change due to inundation and increasing storm activity in coastal communities demands a multi-disciplinary approach to design. Where are the vulnerabilities, and what are the effects? For more information see www.subtropicalcities2011.com, www.fau.edu/bcdc/ or email John Cotter at john@americanmeetings.com