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Post-Pandemic World Symposium

Symposium, December 9th – 12th, 2021

Reimagining Public Spaces and Built Environments
in the Post-pandemic World

Convenors
Paul Messinger, University of Alberta
Kishwar Habib, University of Alberta and Reimagine Architects
Vivian Manasc, Reimagine Architects
Eleni Stroulia, AI4Society – University of Alberta


Interested on participate as an audience?
(presenters are automatically registered)

Interested in knowing more about topics and presenters?
(download the Book of Abstracts in PDF)

Check the full program here
(click in the button below)

As the COVID-19 pandemic crisis hits, a shift of paradigm now demands for reshaping our (in)tangible spatial layouts from micro to macro level, apart from the ‘new normal’ of social distancing guidelines and public health measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. We have seen, the movement of the people, as well as social contact, have been reduced considerably by transformation and/or imposing restrictions on the use of public spaces often with law-enforced stay-at-home order. As this crisis in global health and restricted social interaction poses challenges, many places are leveraging communication technologies to be connected virtually online. Meanwhile, as we depended vastly on technology, the need to connect to the outdoors and accessibility to the neighborhood park became evident/vital for our mental health and well-being. Parks, urban voids-green spaces seem to be the safest places to venture while maintaining social distance. In many parts of the world, we also have seen balconies, terraces become a place for refuge to connect with the public and outdoor urban environment. To enhance the quality of public space, cities around the globe initiated tactical urbanism and/or temporality- by modifying, closing, widening streets for the pedestrians, bike lanes to provide more room for the sanity of the common ground.

From planning to design, as observed the challenge arises more on-demand inclination towards resilient planning and suggests a need for re-evaluating spatial settings for the emergent need of the new practice. As we are in the second year of the pandemic, the call for the conference ‘Reimagining Public Spaces and Built Environments in the Post-pandemic World’ seeks submissions that address the post-pandemic challenges in the public space and built environment as a means to reimagining a novel urban paradigm for socio-spatial conceptions of designing equitable and healthy communities.

The primary objective of this conference is to analysis the ongoing (post) pandemic crisis, spatial settings, and everyday users’ experience, and lessons learned for designing, building, and managing public space and the built environment. The second overarching objective is to contribute to the discourse of public space and built environment in generating knowledge that responds to emerging questions about post-pandemic future considerations, policies, and practices.

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Download the full call here

Questions? please contact Kishwar Habib at: kishwar1@ualberta.ca

We invite authors across the world and from a wide range of disciplines, to submit research articles that may include, but are not restricted / limited to the following topics

1. Public Space and Urban Built Environment

2. Tactical Urbanism and Temporality

3. Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence

4. Designing Built Environments and Hybrid Remote Space

5. (In)formal Public Space

6. Engaging Community and Participation

7. Connection with Nature for Mental Health and Wellness

8. Future of Post Pandemic Public Space and Disaster Preparedness

Please upload ONE Word document by December 1st, 2021. Be sure to include:

  • Paper title
  • Name of author/s, abstract (250 words)
  • 5 keywords
  • Body of the text (3500 words)
  • References
  • Short bio (100 words maximum)

Timeline

September 20, 2021 Abstracts due
September 30, 2021 Full papers invited  
December 1, 2021 Submission of full papers by the authors – Submit here
December 9 – 12, 2021 Symposium Presentation

December 15, 2021 Sent for Reviewers Comments
June, 2022 Revision of Paper Submission for Edited Book
December, 2022 Publication of the Edited book

Keynote Speakers

Kim Dovey

Professor
University of Melbourne
Australia

Sasha Tsenkova

Professor
University of Calgary
Canada

 Vivian Manasc

Principal
Reimagine Architects
Canada

Ashraf Salama

Professor
University of Strathclyde
Scotland

Organizers

Paul Messinger

Professor

University of Alberta

Canada

Kishwar Habib

Post Doctoral Fellow

University of Alberta and Reimagine Architects

Canada

Eleni Stroulia

Professor – AI4Society

University of Alberta

Canada

Scientific Committee Around the Globe

Prof. Han Verschure
Professor, em. Urban Design, Urbanism, Landscape and Planning, University of Leuven, Belgium

Prof. Adnan Morshed, PhD
School of Architecture and Planning, The Catholic University of America, USA

Prof. Dr. Lawrence Esho
Head, Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Technical University of Kenya, Kenya

Dr. Utpal Sharma
Director, Institute of Architecture, Nirma University, India

Dr. Els De Vos
Associate Professor, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Dr. Loris Servillo
Associate Professor, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Dr. Iftheker Ahmed
Associate Professor, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia 

Dr. Nurur Rahman Khan
Professor, The Bangladesh University

Dr. Yehya Serag
Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Facility of Engineering Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Ar. Vedran Skopac
Principal, Reimagine Architects, Canada

Dr. Omid Ardakanian
Assistant Professor at Department of Computing Science
University of Alberta, Canada 

Dr. Joud Khasawneh
Head, Al Hussein Technical University (HTU), Jordan

Dr. Monica Rivera
Researcher, Centro De Competencias Del Agua, Ecuador

Dr. Cynthia Susilo
Strategic Advisor, United Nations of Human Settlement Program, Indonesia

Ar. Tania Ali Soomro
Lecturer, Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan

Dr. Tanzil Shafique
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, The University of Sheffield, UK

Dr. Kumar Biswajit Debnath
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh UK

Dr. Rashed Bhuyan
Research Fellow, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Dr. Joonwoo Kim
Assistant Professor, Daegu University, South Korea

Dr. Shuva Chowdhury
Southern Institute of Technology, Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand

Dr. Muntazar Monsur
Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Texas Tech University, USA

Prof. Jennifer McArthur
Associate Professor, Department of Architectural Science, ARC 309, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

Ashik Vaskor Mannan
Associate Professor, American International University Bangladesh 

Urmee Chowdhury
Research Fellow, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology

Arjang Nikbakht
Researcher, Alberta School of Business

Sarah N Shuchi
Researcher, School of Architecture & Built Environment, Deakin University

Program at a glance

This virtual symposium is sponsored and supported by the University of Alberta, Alberta School of Business,
Reimagine Architects, Mitacs Elevate, and AI4Society, Canada.