Spaces of architecture/architects of space

Apologies for cross-posting





Second Call for Papers - RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2008





Spaces of architecture/architects of space



Session organisers: James Faulconbridge (Lancaster University) and Rob
Imrie (Kings College London)





The contemporary work of architects and allied design and property
development industries and their impacts on cities and urban landscapes
has increasingly interested Geographers. Economic geographers have
become fascinated by the firms involved in the production of
architecture whilst urban, social and cultural geographers continue to
be intrigued by the material affects of architectural forms and the
spaces they create. Yet studies often tend to focus upon the outcomes of
the design process - the buildings and spaces that result from the work
of 'space designers'. This session seeks to take one step back and
examine the agents of production - the architects, designers, and allied
professionals - and the influences upon their work. So as to better
unpick the ways architectural spaces emerge, the session will explore
the influences on space designers that affect how they conceptualise and
understand the process of producing buildings and other spaces. In doing
this the session aims to bring the work of architects but also other
types of space designer (e.g. interior designers, planners, structural
engineers, etc) into focus so as to help reveal the way individual and
community experiences of buildings, the city and other spaces are
influenced by the work of these professional groups. Possible topics for
papers might include (but are not limited to):

* The work of architects within small or large firms and the
social, cultural, economic and political regulation of designs;

* City planners and the influences on their decision-making
process;

* Interior designers and their understandings of space;

* Examination of the way the designer's conceptualisation of
space and the public appropriation of space coincide and differ;

* Explorations of how the discourses associated with symbolic
and iconic architecture, urban regeneration and entrepreneurialism
influence space designers;

* The role of education in socialising and conditioning the work
of space designers.



Expressions of interest should be sent to James Faulconbridge
(j.faulconbridge@lancaster.ac.uk) by February 11th 2008. Please include
an abstract on the pro-forma available from the RGS website
(http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+
Conference/Submit+an+abstract.htm
Conference/Submit+an+abstract.htm> )