Presentation

Boundaries is a quarterly international magazine on contemporary architecture, with texts in English and Italian. The first issue, July - September 2011, is centred on the Contemporary Architecture in Africa, the second, October - December 2011, on the Architectures for Emergencies and the third, January - March 2012, on the Architectures of Peace.
The aim of the project in Boundaries is to offer a panoramic and critical view of the architectures that today face, in many different ways, the challenges of modernity, and of sustainability intended as a balance between problems of cultural, environmental, economic and social nature.
 
For more information, see : http://www.boundaries.it

The Outer City

The fourth issue of Boundaries will focus on « The Outer City ».

In the last decades cities have grown faster, higher and bigger, with a physical and qualitative changing, from the “city” to the whole territory, of value systems and ways of life. The urban sprawl of the 20th century, with such concepts as “conurbation” (P. Geddes),  “megalopolis” (J. Gottman), “extensive urbanization” (A. Léveillé), “diffuse city” (B. Secchi), or the “hypercity” (A. Corboz), blur the difference between centre and periphery, almost putting the suburb as an out-of-date way of seeing the urban phenomena.

From metropolis, to global cities to exopolis, urban areas have grown outer the city’s boundaries creating different forms, social conditions, kinds of street life. From “outer” city, to slums, favelas, and bidonvilles, urban phenomena take many shapes. The “outer” city – often unplanned – is where live today most of the world’s urban population.

Which is today, and which should be tomorrow, the role of the “outer” city ? How do architects and planners refer to those urban areas outside the “historical urban landscape” ? How urban planning should relate to these spaces ? How do shanty towns, favelas and bidonvilles structures grow and work, and how do they interrelate to historical urban areas ? Are they something that has to be re-developed, re-shaped, or must we learn something from them ?

Modalities

Papers have to focus on 21st century-related topics; all kinds of approaches (case studies, methodological, etc.) are welcomed.
 
All submission of abstracts should be sent by email to redazione@boundaries.it (up to 15 Mb) before March 5, 2012. 

Contributors are invited to submit a title, an abstract (from 400 to 500 words, and three images), and a short biography stating their affiliation and professional interests (maximum 100 words). Official language for paper presentation is English. The style, grammar and phrasing should be edited by a person with an excellent command of English and a good understanding of architectural terminology. The papers will be selected by the editorial board and subjected to evaluation with the blind peer review system. The authors will receive an answer before March 9, 2012.

All articles must be illustrated (at least ten images, drawings, sketches, renders or other). Articles length is between 400 and 700 words, notes and bibliography included. Contributions must be original and should not have been previously published, even in part.

Articles should be sent to the editorial board, in their definitive form and with illustrations (free from reproduction rights), before March 21, 2012.

Editorial Board

• Alexandra Georgescu Paquin (Canada) 
• Clarisse Lauras (Francia)
• Rossana Nicolò (Italia)
• Hind Oualid El Alaoui (Marocco)
• Julie Roland (Francia)
• Luca Sampò (Italia)