Papers I've Read
Like (2)Developed – Developing: Dialogical Integration in International Conferences
Developed – Developing: Dialogical Integration in International Conferences
I recently came across a question posed by Dr. Ashraf Salama in his website. Dr Salama asks, “Conference Attendance: Do the Developing have Something to Offer the Developed?”[1]
The question is interesting because it may not be possible or prudent to try and answer it without first understanding the conditions imposed by the notion of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’. Can an answer be attempted without questioning this dichotomy? And as Dr Salama rightly points out, if there is more than ‘something’ already offered by poorer countries, what has prevented an even larger contribution and due acknowledgement? Dr Salama illustrates the question by providing some examples. He notes a low level of attendance to international conferences on the part of developing countries. He also notices that when people from poorer countries attend, there is an “implicit assumption that they go to learn”, rather than to share their knowledge or, why not, even teach. Dr Salama however claims that there may indeed be a lot of learning coming from the ‘developing’ world but that it is not appropriately acknowledged. For example, he claims that much is learnt from the developing world in matters of conservation, ecological design practices, historical analysis and education.
Resetting agendas a conference in a climate of change
Resetting agendas a conference in a climate of change
Published in 'Architectural Research Quarterly,' 12 , pp 209-212
Reflections on the Oxford Conference 2008
As its title suggests, ‘The Oxford Conference 2008: 50 Years on – Resetting the Agenda for Architectural Education’ aimed to influence architectural education. Five decades ago, in 1958, fifty delegates representing British members of the profession, industry and teaching institutions attended the first and only other Oxford Conference on Architectural Education organised by the RIBA. Several visitors from abroad and from Commonwealth countries also attended. The 1958 conference articulated the demand to shift architectural education from polytechnics or art schools to universities, and fifty years later the notion that we live in a ‘climate of change’ permeated Oxford Conference 2008 (Oxford 2008). With delegates from forty-two countries representing every continent there was a manifest change in the composition of the delegates, and on the face of it this would suggest that a more diverse attendance made a difference in the spectrum of issues coming to the forefront: but did it?