Métromilieux

(alter)Rurality as a relational gap between inhabiting scales

SYMPOSIUM

The University of Belgrade –  Faculty of Architecture
ARENA, Architectural Research European Network Association, alterRurality network.

Key-words
(alter)Rurality, post-urban, human habitat, resilience, innovation, architecture, territorial planning, human geography, economy, cognitive psychology, digital arts and media.

Full information:
https://alterruralityarena2019belgrade.wordpress.com

PDF Booklet:
metromilieux_print_as_booklet.pdf

We are here emphasizing the aspect of economic reasoning on the fringe of two distant scales of inhabited environment – connected to the urban in the sense of a metropolitan inscription in global economy and local with the connotation of ambiental rooting. The metropolis, etymologically a mother-city, is one of problematic contemporary connotations: of size, of polarity, of exemplarity, single unit of global financial economic and political power. The metropolis of today tends to substitute itself to the welfare-state in an unprecedented neo-liberal growth race. It has annexed, absorbed rural space, nature, and the entire biosphere as its economic, political and socio-cultural sub-system. Rural space has become a resource landscape for urban use within metropolitan/global economical growth purposes: a space providing production of consumables and energy, housing, leisure and holiday resort, depository of pollution, waste and rejections (Guillot/Versteegh).

Rather than opposing two scales (in their geographic meaning of qualities) of inhabited environments in a binary lock-in inevitably returning to this predominant figure of rural resource landscape, we introduce the notion of metromilieu, let us say metro-environment in English. The stronger French term metromilieu, by is pleonastic character, emphasizes its etymological meaning of a motherly, uterine space or environment. It opposes the predatory polarity of the metropole competing for global productive power and suggests a smoother continuity of connectedness – always umbilically related to earth as a complex finite motherly state of precarious nature sustained by collaboration and surrounded by care. A metromilieu is an environment that houses scales of locally rooted, bottom-up phenomena of resilience, giving them meaning within a new global economic construct – searching global compatibility without giving away to global neoliberal growth economy.

Through the notion of Metromilieu or Metroenvironment we want to invest the current relational gap between inhabiting scales while giving it a globally compatible and holistically constructed identity. Within a school of architecture, this means that the ancient paradigm of the house on a site, of the city in a landscape needs to be deconstructed, that a new paradigm needs to be constructed from a holistic, that is a broad interdisciplinary field.

Four sub-themes will be developed by guest key-note workshop and/or round table leaders:

• Assembling Rurality in the Metro-Milieu (Professor Michael Woods, Human Geography)
• Architecture, Design and Cognition (Professor Vasilije Gvozdenović, Cognitive psychology)
• Alter-digital – presence and the role of digital art in rural environment (Professor Nataša Teofilović, Digital and hybrid art)
• Commons and care (to be announced, economics)

Event research concept: results through reversed interdisciplinary praxis

This event seeks to invent new forms of collaboration connecting research, teaching and practice, locally and internationally, engaging 2nd and 3rd cycle studies. Whereas in architecture the contributions of “other” disciplines are often viewed as peri-disciplinary services, we will explore a reversed interdisciplinary approach where the “other” discipline takes a central position.

• new or reversed interdisciplinarity: work as architects under leadership of a different discipline, from a different disciplinary angle, along specific sub-themes;
• working on a rooted site in multi-scale specific (alter)rural settings;
• key-note conferences, workshops, round tables, exhibition, walks, debates;
• a publication is intended to follow.

Venue

• The University of Belgrade –  Faculty of Architecture
• Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 73/II Belgrade, Serbia

Organizing committee

• Anđelka Bnin-Bninski
• Ksenija Pantović
• Ana Raković

Key-note guests

• Pieter Versteegh
  Architecture and rural planning
• Michael Woods   
  Human geography (sub-theme 1)
• Vasilije Gvozdenović
  Cognitive psychology (sub-theme 2)
• Nataša Teofilović
  Digital and hybrid art (sub-theme 3)
• to be announced
  Economics (sub-theme 4)

Scientific committee

• Vladan Đokić, University of Belgrade
• Pieter Versteegh, ARENA / Psyché, Fribourg
• Chris Younès, GERPHAU, ESA Paris, ARENA
• Zoran Lazović, University of Belgrade
• Ana Nikezić, University of Belgrade
• Sophia Meeres, UCD Dublin, ARENA
• Dominic Stevens, DIT Dublin, ARENA
• Ben Stringer, Westminster University, ARENA
• Michael Woods, Aberystwyth University
• Nataša Teofilović, Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University,  Belgrade
• Vasilije Gvozdenović, University of Belgrade
• Đorđe Stojanović, University of Belgrade
• Anđelka Bnin-Bninski, University of Belgrade, GERPHAU, ARENA

Abstract submission

The call for participants is open to students, researchers and practitioners of any discipline feeling related to the theme of the event. Participation proposals (abstracts) should state a research intention or subject and should explicitly develop how/why they respond to the main theme and one of the sub-themes.

• Submissions should comply to the following:
• abstract maximum 3’000 characters;
• mention of the chosen sub-theme, name of the author, short bio-note (max 800 characters) institution or organisation, contact information;
• up to 3 images are welcome (300 Dpi Jpeg);
• Word format, Arial 10, flush left,
• deadline for submission: March 29th, 2019.
• submission: a.cirovic@arh.bg.ac.rs

Organisers reserve the right to alter sub-themes or sub-theme distribution of if needed for logistic reasons.

Calendar

• submission of proposals: March 29th, 2019
• notification of acceptance : April 12th, 2019
• event registration (early birds): April 17th, 2019
• event registration closure: May 3rd, 2019

participation fee

• 30€ early-bird, national
• 150€ early-bird, international
• 50€ full registration, national
• 200€ full registration, international

payment information available on the event website