Call for Abstracts OASE 114 - Optimism or Bust?⁠

This edition of OASE wants to take a closer and more critical look at optimism in architecture and urbanism. Contributions can be contemplative, build an argument around a specific angle, or deal with projects and plans, with oeuvres, both contemporary and historical. They must, however, address one or more of the following themes:

- Marks of Optimism. Optimism is related to a utopian body of thought that architecture has extensively developed and analysed earlier. Yet optimism seems to occupy an alternative substantive and strategic position. Perhaps this position has something to do with a different, more direct relationship with reality. What marks the kind of optimism that accompanies architectural production and urban development? Can optimism be linked to social agendas or evolutions? Is it essentially about an intention, or about an effect?

- Manifestations of Optimism. Is optimism a visible trait of design practices or buildings, or does it only exist on paper or in the minds of designers? If you were to trace the process by which a design is created, are there specific places or moments in which optimism thrives most (on the drawing board, in the social context in which the project is created, or in the mind)? Are there aesthetic characteristics (forms, colours, materials) or building programmes that express or feed optimism in architecture?

- Mechanisms of Optimism. Optimism in architecture and urban design is often less spontaneous than it seems and is driven or provoked by specific mechanisms. How does optimism as a pacesetter in architecture and urbanism work? Does it lose its value if it is used deliberately? How can optimism be kept in check and under what circumstances does it go off the rails?

Please submit your abstract (in Dutch or English) of 500 words at the most via info@oasejournal.nl, together with your name, email address, professional affiliation and a short bio (150 words at the most) by 27 February 2022.