1. Spaces of Intellectual Networks

Papers in this session of the conference will examine theoretical and historical perspectives on intellectual networks. The focus is on (but not limited to) the early twentieth century when European intellectuals such as Paul Otlet, Edmond Picard, Emile Vinck, René Worms, Patrick Geddes, Wilhelm Ostwald, Otto Neurath and Le Corbusier not only participated in, but also founded and developed different (trans)national networks. How are we to capture the dimensions and interconnections of the networks in which figures such as these were involved? And how do other intellectual and cultural networks centered in different nations function in terms of cooperation or competition? How can we map or describe the space of these networks which was often physically operationalized by the creation of institutions and associations, scholarly journals or bibliographical services, conferences, lecture series, and (world) exhibitions, but which also had an informal, interpersonal dimension? What was the impact of geographical scale on the development of these networks (local, national, transnational, international)? How were they influenced by changing technologies of communication (rail networks, the telephone, the telegraph, postal services, periodical publications, news bulletin, etc.)? How did individuals position themselves within these networks? Papers may utilize new conceptual tools to help us understand the modern physical and organizational spaces of intellectual networks, and authors are encouraged to include more recent theories of network analysis and social transformation stimulated by the virtual and online technologies of information.

 
2. Space of Knowledge and Memory

Papers in this session of the conference will examine spatial analogies related to the architecture of accumulation (archives, warehouses, etc.), the document as a space of knowledge (books, objects, images, documents, statistical data, etc.) and the space of memory (libraries, museums, databases, records, etc.). The museum can be considered as an atlas or an encyclopedia. The space of the library is organized in part by systems for the classification and arrangement of documents. The space of the book is like that of a library where knowledge, texts and images are differentially situated and interrelated physically by conceptual structures (indexes, lists of figures, tables of contents, footnotes, bibliographies, and so on). The architecture of databases is made comprehensible by means of diagrams. Architecture can be used in all of these cases both as a means of and a metaphor for storing and making information accessible. As a means, architecture expresses the function of an archive: the structuring, putting and holding of things in place and providing routes of access to and between them. But buildings and towns are also metaphors for information space, as reflected in, for example, Castells's concept of the informational city, information highways, and modern notions as information architecture or website architecture. Moreover, architecture, the city, information, and even philosophical texts and psychological theories have been represented in spatial terms by maps, guides, diagrams, classification and index systems, etc. How do requirements for the storage, management and accessibility of knowledge produce their own spaces? How are these spaces represented? What has been the impact of the development of artificial memory sciences and computer technology on the art and discipline of architecture itself?

 
3. Space of Action and Decision Making

The third session addresses the space of action, speed and decision making in the city. In order to govern the city or to make decisions on urban processes, procedures or mechanisms that guide these decision processes are needed. Not only are these processes themselves subjected to permanent managerial controls, but so are the different data networks on which they are based, such as those for water, electricity, telephony, traffic, meteorology, sewage, roads, land ownership, police, etc. To develop these networks with high precision, to legitimate choices in town planning practice or to develop effective urban planning policy, information and data must be gathered from different places, practices, institutions and disciplines. The descriptive tradition of the survey in the history of town planning for example, illustrates the importance of accumulating documented evidence. Its aim is not only to amass extensive knowledge about the city, but to synthesize and organize it in a goal-oriented way in order to be able to take action. The speed of information processing becomes a strategic dimension of decision making. Government bodies and administrative institutions look for ever more rapid and effective monitoring tools and expert systems. The papers in this session will deal with such questions as: How do these systems influence the organizational, legislative, bureaucratic and political structures responsible for city planning? How is this space of action and decision making supported, organized and represented?