New Urban Challenges – New Generations Call for Publications 2021

New Generations may be a European platform that investigates the changes within the architectural profession ever since the depression of 2008 by analysing a number of the foremost innovative emerging practices at the ecu level, providing a replacement space for the exchange of data and confrontation, theory, and production. The project was conceived by Itinerant Office in 2012.

New Generations has pioneered a completely unique architecture festival format involving architects, designers, makers, thinkers, and citizens. Since 2012, 8 international festivals are held in Rome, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Warsaw, and Madrid. The platform is consistently growing, and currently includes quite 500 practices from around 25 countries within the European territory, participating in our cultural agenda through video-interviews, satellite research projects, exhibitions, publications and other public events.

“New Urban Challenges” is that the three-year edition (2020 – 2021 – 2022) of the New Generations festival that takes place in Rome, Italy. These three editions of the festival aim to explore the relation between the urban environment and 6 intertwined themes, two per annum . The project has been awarded by the general public tender “Estate Romana 2020 – 2021 – 2022” and is a component of Romarama, a cultural programme promoted by Roma Capitale.

Anticipatory Editorial Practices
The three-year edition of the festival is predicated on the concept of ‘Anticipatory Editorial Practices’. Many emerging architects develop their discourses through the realisation of theoretical texts, articles, publications, anticipating future scenarios, trends, and innovative ideas, often during the first stages of their careers in an experimental fashion; embryonic productions that have the potential to be translated into concrete projects, guidelines and concepts , allowing a critical positioning that prepares them to face a mess of urban challenges within the years to return . Through this open involve publications, the festival revolves around this idea with the intention of discovering early theoretical reflection by emerging architects that have great potential to influence the approaching generations of architects.

Open involve Publications: Exhibition and public event
New Generations is trying to find publications developed by emerging practices and architectural publishing projects. the decision is hospitable books, magazines, zines, digital projects, papers, critical articles, and other sorts of editorial production since 2016, associated with one among these two year’s topics: (City and) Technology — (City and) Image. the decision will close on Sunday – March 21st – 24:00 GMT+1.

The open call aims to pick editorial projects which will be featured in either of the 2 following formats:

(A) Festival 2021
The 2021 festival will feature the participation of around 20 international guests during a hybrid format with both public and virtual activities over the course of three days (June – July 2021). Selected participants will become involved within the various activities of the festival programme like the Speakers Corner, Brainstorming Workshop and therefore the Pecha Kucha Presentations. Those selected as participants within the festival also will be ready to participate within the travelling exhibition.

(B) Exhibition 2021
Selected editorial projects from the decision are going to be exhibited within a travelling installation. The installation is conceived as a mobile device divided into six pieces, where each bit represents a special theme. Over the three festival editions, the six pieces of the installation will collect new publications, proposing a kind of traveling library with a variety of relevant books related with each of the six themes proposed during the triennial edition of the Festival. The installation are going to be opened to the general public at the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome (May 2021) and consequently travel through variety of prestigious locations across Europe over the three years of the festival.

Selected submissions for both categories are going to be displayed on newgenerationsweb.com.

Themes
This year the Festival will specialise in the subsequent themes: (City and) Technology — (City and) Image.

(City and) Technology
While technology has always been a central a part of human innovation, only recently have automation and hi-tech devices become such an integral a part of our day-to-day lives. As we bridge the gap between our bodies and these devices, technology begins to visibly mutate the way during which we inhabit our domestic spaces. The rapid development of technology also paves way for speculation about the various possible futures that we are building in our contemporary cities and our collective imaginaries. How will the longer term of technological innovation affect our cities and therefore the way during which architecture isn’t only conceived, but also produced and executed?
Keywords: technology, AI , automation, devices, bodies, domesticity, isolation, loneliness

(City and) Image
From Ledoux’s Architecture Parlante to Lynch’s Image of the town , urban theorists have always speculated on the city’s identity and therefore the factors that influence the mental images we ascribe to our cities. However, within the heart of the knowledge age where social media has become saturated with a panorama of methods to speak architecture and concrete space, how can we use research and experimental methods as a tool to reimagine the identity of our cities? Although social media spaces have fetishised the “architectural collage” and “pastel” aesthetic, perhaps its open and expansive nature can allow architecture to reconnect with a wider public. How can we rethink architectural representation in an increasingly virtual world where simulated environments are getting more common everyday?
Keywords: communication, image, identity, representation, aesthetic, social media,

Key Info
– Selected publications are going to be exhibited at the aforementioned installation.
– Shipment of publications to Rome shall be assumed by the chosen applicant (the concerned author, publisher, etc.)
– 8-10 selected speakers are going to be invited to hitch the general public event, which can happen between end of June and beginning of July 2021 (date to be confirmed).
– Travel and accommodation expenses are going to be covered by New Generations.
– Selected event participants will plan to submitting a written article associated with their intervention of 1500-2000 words. The article are going to be edited and reviewed after the Festival and can be compiled during a single publication at the culmination of the three years of the festival (2020-2022).
– Selected participants are going to be contacted by New Generations before April 30th.

Download the information related to this competition here.

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