The Classical Urban Plan: Monumentality, Continuity and Change
Brussels
September 30 2011
Call for papers: European Architectural History Network (EAHN) Conference
Brussels: 31 May-3 June, 2012
Conference Session:
The Classical Urban Plan: Monumentality, Continuity and Change
Greek and Roman monuments have been disappearing from the collective psyche for millennia; as soon as a new Roman emperor assumed power, for example, the architectural landscape was reshaped and adapted to suit the new rule. More recently, the rapid acceleration in the loss of collective memory through the obliteration of monuments has made clear that ancient architecture as we have come to know it, is moving away from the physical realm, to the imaginary psyche. One aspect of it, however, remains: the urban grid. Even where ancient architecture has been decimated to make room for new urban and at times, rural spaces, substantial portions of an earlier ancient grid can be retraced and the wider plan can, to varying extents, be recovered. This session will shed light on these ‘lost’ urban and rural plans.
We know that individual monuments as well as monumental architectural ensembles can today be harnessed in the service of memory scripting, just as it was – as Paul Zanker so brilliantly showed – in Roman Republican times. Can the same approach be extended to the planning grid? Does meaning change as the plan is altered? Does memory change? Can an ancient plan reflect a new cultural, political or social order?
Whether intentional or not, each Classical plan has the capacity embody specific messages linked to such notions as ‘heritage’ and ‘identity’. While this is arguably most significant when considering the formal orthogonal grid, the weight that this infrastructure can bear in terms of cultural meaning has been underappreciated by current scholia. As such, this session invites papers focussing on Greek and Roman grid traces – both literal and figurative. Proposals are particularly welcome which consider ways through which the collective memory of cities and smaller settlements is altered, if at all, with the introduction of newly constructed monuments within an ancient plan. Participants might also address the reciprocity between the institutional and architectural order of cities; or explore how an entire city can be monumentalised by virtue of ‘inheriting’ a Classical plan. Overall, this session will inform theoretical frameworks, thereby broadening as well as reassessing the existing discourse on ancient urban plans.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent directly to both the session chairs (details below) no later than September 30, 2011. Abstracts are to be headed with the applicant’s name, professional affiliation [graduate students in brackets], and title of paper. Submit with the abstract, a short curriculum vitae, home and work addresses, email addresses, telephone and fax numbers.
Session co-chairs:
Dr. Daniel Millette
School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
University of British Columbia
E: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
T: 001-604-642-2436
and
Dr. Samantha Martin-McAuliffe
School of Architecture
University College Dublin
Richview, Clonskeagh, Dublin 14
Republic of Ireland
E: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
F: +353.1.283.7778
T: +353.1.716.2757
Further information can be found at:
http://eahn2012.org/