Seminars archive
Authors and copyright
The conference and discussion papers presented here were produced by the ADGD researchers. Seminar notes have been produced by the ADGD. For information on referencing and copyright please contact Guillermo Garma.
Seminar summaries
Cultural differences in Transylvania's Saxon villages - Alina Hughes
Abstract: Following the publication of the article 'Will There Be Conflict? Identity and Values Tensions in Transylvania's Saxon Villages', this seminar outlined the findings of the paper, feedback and information received in response and suggests possible ways forward for further research and fieldwork investigations, aiming to open a seminar discussion in this respect.
The context of the study are Transylvania's Saxon villages - named so due to their founders' Saxon ethnicity - acclaimed worldwide due to their impressively autonomous and charming mediaeval living patterns, captured in their built and physical environment and carefully preserved by the Saxons since the 12th and 13th Centuries.
Emigrated during the last two decades almost in their entirety, the Saxons' old villages have become threatened by dereliction and dilapidation and have been reoccupied by Romanians and Roma from elsewhere, with their different ways of life, values, cultures, identities. In this context, conservation organisations have intervened, trying to conserve the delicate fabric of the villages as they existed when belonging to the Saxons.
The paper points out the potential cultural and identity conflict between these intentions and the new villagers' efforts in and rights to appropriate their home environment. Thus the villages' architecture has become the battleground of the conflict.
Architecture and identity in Mexican spaces - Guillermo Garma (NTU)
Abstract: The seminar tried to unravel the development of architecture and identity in the latter decades of the 20th century in Mexico by studying the development of a number of public spaces in Mexico City.
At the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920, the 'new' revolutionary government made 'identity' one of its highest priorities; they looked to construct a 'national' project that matched the ideals and expectations that the revolution had produced. Between the 20s and the 70s, each government used architecture to thrust a particular aspect of the new political project, oscillating between education, health and government projects. In this period of time there was a close link between the revolutionary ideals, national identity and architecture.
However, as the 20th Century came to a close, the economical, political and architectural landscape in Mexico changed dramatically; the free market economy, the proliferation of private companies and a series of financial crisis in the mid 80's meant that the government's investment in architecture was replaced by private capital and corporations - schools and hospitals gave way to corporate buildings and financial institutions.
The seminar focuses on the development and appropriation of a number of public and private spaces in Mexico City in the last two decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. The seminar interrogates their historical baggage and looks to study the development of a new identity within the global context.
Guest speaker - Dr Judith Rugg (University for the Creative Arts)
Dr Judith Rugg is Reader in Fine Art Theory and is an artist and theorist. Her research interests include the interdisciplinary relationships of the cultural meanings of place and space; the implications of gender and feminist theory in relation to contemporary art and site; and the correspondences between spatial theory and internationalism.
Identity in the Designed Environment - A Design Research Symposium
For more information please download the symposium flyer. 
Cities and the destruction of human identity - Dr Michelle Pepin (NTU)
Abstract: The next 20 to 25 years will see unprecedented growth in the size and scale of our cities. 2007 marks the first time in history that those living within an urban context outnumber those living in rural environments; by 2030 this will reach a staggering 5 billion (or 70%) of the world's population. The world stands on the brink of cities facing societal collapse, chaos and conflict.
Architecture has always been considered to reflect its political, economic, social and cultural context, nowhere is this more evident than within the city. A call to democratise environments in line with a new global political ethos seems to favour a notion of non-identity as our cities become increasingly homogenised to meet the needs of diverse populations.
Conflict theory contends that protection of our human identity is so profound that a threat to that identity will lead to conflict. This raises concerns about the destruction of human identity within our cities and the inevitable conflict that this will perpetuate, exposing the irony of democratising environments where the very notions they strive to uphold become the greatest threats to human agency. This paper poses questions vital for design and designers in the 21st Century.
Cyberspace identity. Architecture with or without a body - Guillermo Garma (NTU)
Abstract: It's commonly accepted that architecture embodies its political, social and economic context. Today this context has been transformed by technology. Every sphere of our civilisation, including architecture, has suffered profound changes due to the inclusion of technological devises. It is for this reason that it is important to question the relationship between architecture and technology, and specifically the role of disembodied cyberspace technologies in architecture.
Many supporters of the cyberspace considered it a world of unlimited possibilities where a multitude of worlds can be developed and experienced; however, how can it be experienced if we don't have a bodily experience of such worlds. The paper will rely on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body to understand and deconstruct the real possibilities of cyberspace and by doing so, to explore the side effects of technology in the real world, for example the change of notions of space, body, identity and ultimately architecture.
Social Memory and Assimilation. The conflictive conjunction of theories of conservation and architecture - Fidel Meraz (University of Nottingham)
Abstract: There has always been insertion of new buildings in sites of architectural heritage but: how different has the attitude of this action been after the arrival of Modern Era? How is this same action considered in the postmodern conditions nowadays? Until recent times these new interventions were cases of the former activity of maintenance and adaptation of buildings. After the impulse of the Enlightenment, the inclusion of the new in the old acquired different importance because of changes in historical consciousness and its aimed objectivity. Modern conservation was originated with the purpose to protect this objectivity.
Conservation theory is determined, among others, by the concept of memory. This paper tries: to explore the concept of memory; to establish whether memory as it is actually conceived continues to be significant for conservation; and how theory needs to be revised to be consistent with this evolution. The speed of history at the present time implies changes in the creation of collective memory and its architectural expression that consequently merits new considerations.
Communities and Public Spaces: Contradictions of Identity - Neil Stacey and Rob Harland
Abstract: The ideas of New Urbanism currently dominate Western planning and architecture. At the core of New Urbanism lie the ideas of Kevin Lynch, or more particularly Gordon Cullen's picturesque explorations and explanations of serial vision that followed Lynch's lead. Consequently New Urbanism is subject to the criticism that it focuses on physical form to the neglect of social form. Yet much of the rhetoric of New Urbanism, particularly evident in design guidance and advice published by governments and agencies, speaks of the construction of communities and neighbourhoods. This rhetoric implicitly links the ideas of serial vision and legibility, explored by Lynch in The Image of the City, with issues of communal/shared identity.
Whilst identity is something Lynch proposed as one of the three components of the mental image individuals create as part of the process of making legible their environment, it does not follow that urban design theory that embodies Lynch's ideals better support the development of shared identity. Within this context, this paper explores the legibility of the built environment, and its variable dependency on what Lynch referred to as 'urban objects'. It records and reflects upon the first phase of ongoing consultancy and research for the sustainable transport charity Sustrans entitled “New approaches to visual communication for walking and cycling infrastructure in the UK: information, persuasion and decoration”, a project that begins an exploration of the role graphic design plays in extending notions of legibility, and identity representation through mediated forms of visual communication.
Identity, Well-being and Design - Hugh Miller
Abstract: This presentation reviews a range of theories on the development and promotion of wellbeing, in order to explain how designed objects can support positive ways of living and people's sense of a valued self in a harmonious world. We propose that designed objects and systems can promote wellbeing in a wide variety of ways. It is not necessarily the case that the most pleasant and easy-to-use products are the most supportive of wellbeing. People may find challenge and difficulty, and a balance between positive and negative, more beneficial in the long run.
We suggest that by drawing on theories and research from areas like psychology, sociology, health studies, and anthropology it should be possible to devise wellbeing-promoting design heuristics. Wellbeing can be supported by encouraging and enabling effective action, prediction and control, satisfying social interaction, and mindfulness, physical involvement and enjoyment.
One component of well-being is the opportunity to establish and maintain an appropriate identity. The presentation reviews how various theoretical perspectives in psychology can guide designers in supporting (or at least not impeding) individuals' 'identity work'.
Research on wellbeing suggests that it results from what people themselves actively do and decide, rather than what is supplied for them. Perhaps an important way of designing for wellbeing is to design the (metaphorical) space that enables people to 'do wellbeing' for themselves.
Cosmopolitanism - Professor Eleonore Kofman (Nottingham Trent University)
Summary: In contemporary thinking the idea of cosmopolitanism has been brought to the forefront of the debates about cultural multiplicity and migration. Professor Kofman explores the role of the unseen side of cosmopolitanism.
Seminar delivered as part of the ADGD 2004 seminar series NTU June 2004.
Conceptual Art: Between theory and practice in Architecture - Dr Jane Rendell (University College London)
Summary: The seminar presents some alternative strategies to negotiate the problematic relationship between theory and practice in architectural design. The seminar was based on the paper 'Conceptual Art: Between Theory and Practice in Architecture' which consists of extracts from the forthcoming article 'From Art to Architecture'.
Seminar delivered as part of the ADGD 2004 seminar series NTU June 2004.
Gender, generation, ethnicity and identity: decoding the layout and material culture of peoples' homes - Dr Julienne Hanson (University College London)
Summary: The seminar presents the findings of a research project funded by the EPSRC's "Extending Quality Life (EQUAL) in the Built Environment" initiative. Its objectives were to point out the difficulties of designing appropriate homes for older people.
Seminar delivered as part of the ADGD 2004 seminar series NTU May 2004.
Globalising Technologies - Professor John Tomlinson (Nottingham Trent University)
Summary: The seminar looks at the cultural impact of new globalising technologies inside and outside architecture. The presentation stressed the importance of globalising technologies in modern society and their effects on the notions of place and mobility.
Seminar delivered as part of the ADGD 2004 seminar series NTU April 2004.
Transculturation: rewriting architectural histories - Dr Felipe Hernandez (University of Liverpool)
Summary: The seminar defines the idea of transculturation and it maps its importance in architecture and in the contemporary cultural debate. It touched the idea of transculturation as a subversive term in opposition to Acculturation, transculturation as a way to reveal hidden aspects of reality, history, architecture and identity and transculturation's potential in architecture.
Seminar delivered as part of the ADGD 2004 seminar series NTU March 2004.
