SENSES IN ARCHITECTURE, URBAN LANDSCAPING AND DESIGN

KATOWICE 24TH – 26TH SEPTEMBER 2020

This year’s edition of the conference is set in the context of Environmental Behavior studies. We would like to focus our discussion on the issue of perception of both lower and higher levels. The former is connected with the evolutionary processing of sensory stimuli drawn by the human body from the environment, while the latter involves, among other things, grouping the acquired information, giving it meaning, cognitive contextualisation, and rationalising, as well as conscious experience, epistemic activity or motivation to act. Knowledge in this area seems to be essential today for designers in all industries that affect the design, adaptation and modernisation of the environment/surroundings towards their accessibility and user-friendliness. The problems of the modernisation of cultural heritage sites as part of the behavioural environment in the time of peace and conflict are related to the outlined context.

During the meeting, we propose to focus our discussions
on the following thematic blocks and problems:

BLOCK 1

CULTURAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF PERCEPTION


  • Cultural sensory models.
  • Senses in cultural spaces.
  • Spatial cultural practices.
  • Cultural basis of human perception and experience.
  • Anthropological contexts of space implementation.
  • Cultural differences/disparities and familiarity in perception of space.
  • Architects, planners, designers, engineers: from a homo economicus to human-centered design.
  • Space: functionalism, post-functionalism and new processes.
  • Somato-sensory representations of urban space/in space.
  • Emerging topics in cultural sciences.

BLOCK 2

BEHAVIOURAL AND SOMATIC CONTEXTS


  • Current Gestalt theory in the light of neurological and cultural research.
  • Man as a responsive being.
  • Bodily/somatic models in architecture – traditional and modern.
  • Somatic and motoric relations between man, space and objects.
  • Physiological and psychological factors in the design, implementation and use of the built environment.
  • Affordances and spaces: action, interaction, search, exploration.
  • Passive spaces.
  • A fenomenological “body-in-space” as epistemological tool. Designing in the face of bodily dysfunctions and in the light of an aging society.
  • Emerging topics in behavioural and somatic contexts.

BLOCK 3

NEURO-AESTHETICS, ERGONOMICS, NEW DESIGN


  • Neuro-aesthetic contexts of shaping the composition/scale/proportion of the building and landscape.
  • The Cognitive City: cognitive spaces and cognitive urban culture
  • Neuro-aesthetics of interiors and exteriors
  • Affective contexts in architecture, urban design and urban planning. Problem of iconicity.
  • Architecture and the problem of neurogenesis.
  • Physical and cognitive ergonomics.
  • Spaces and buildings for health, science, education and recreation.
  • Neuroscience and Design Intelligence: concepts in architecture and urban planning.
  • Emerging topics in neurocognitive and cognitive contexts.

BLOCK 4

TECHNOLOGIES AND PERCEPTION

 

  • Multi-sensory spatial perception.
  • Technologies for analysing space and enhancing perception.
  • Perceptual habits and adaptations.
  • Responsive technologies – smart, wearable, other.
  • Forensic architecture.
  • Integration of bodily and technological design and interaction.
  • Post-humanism for design.
  • Emerging topics in perception technologies.

BLOCK 5

DESIGN FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE

  

  • Restoration and indigenous knowledge.
  • Heritage as ecologies and ecosystems.
  • Heritage adaptation in the light of public knowledge.
  • Future of urban heritage in urban environment.
  • Cultural heritage in sensory representations and perception.
  • Heritage and adaptive re-use: diffusion problems.
  • Environmental design as experimental design.
  • Emerging topics in design for cultural heritage.

With these and similar issues addressed by the conference in question, it is going to include as one of its highlights a debate featuring world-class specialists, both practitioners of architecture and urban design, as well as researchers studying the problem of sensory perception and multi-sensory technologies. Also, the involvement of institutions that are architecture and landscape end-users will provide us with an opportunity to exchange various viewpoints and perspectives. It is our goal to make the debate a resounding event, not limited to the participation of conference attendees, but available to a much broader public.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR CONFERENCE SPEAKERS:

15th August 2020: submission of abstracts of speeches (registration form on the conference website)
2nd September 2020: decision on acceptance/rejection
20th September 2020: distribution of organisational details

 

IMPORTANT DATES FOR PARTICIPANTS INTERESTED IN THE PUBLICATION OF THE ARTICLE:

15th December 2020: submission of the full texts for review
31st January 2021: reviewer’s response (positive or negative, suggestions for amendments)
28th February 2021: submission of the final version of the article for printing

 

 

 The participation is free of charge.