The first workshop of the Delos Network will take place at the University of Birmingham on March 17, 2018. 

The Delos Network is a collaborative research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council that brings together an international network of scholars, architects and planners to re-interrogate the history, legacy and impact of Constantinos Doxiadis and the Delos Symposia (1963-75). Urban design solutions were sought in the classical past, for example ancient Greek cities as prototypes for future cities, as well as in new construction, communication and machine technologies. They attracted the foremost intellectuals, scientists and practitioners of the day, laying the foundations for the United Nations ‘Habitat’ agenda. The Delos Network project will be an opportunity to not only better understand the significance of the symposia but also to address how the Delos debates compare with and feed into contemporary concerns about demographic pressures and environmental sustainability, and their relation to historical precedents by architects, planners and others. It will also connect researchers and practitioners in history, architecture and planning with key stakeholders from professional architecture, architectural education, built environment policy and grassroots organisations currently exploring the intersections of design, environmental concerns and historical continuity. Full details of the project, including its events, organizers and contributors, can be found at the website of the Delos Network project.

The aim of the first workshop is to investigate the ways which the urban and environmental ideals expressed in the context of the Delos Symposia related to contemporary understandings and interpretations of history, tradition and technology. Themes to be addressed include:
– The ways in which Doxiadis and the Delos group explored, interpreted and re-deployed ancient and vernacular precedents – including building technology and urban paradigms – in their theory and practice;
– Their pioneering uptake of new technologies and state-of-the-art computing into the fields of urban analysis as a tool to help forge the holistic new planning science of Ekistics;
– The intersections and disjunctions between their technological and social interests and visions;
– Their engagement with the developed and developing worlds, including Africa and Japan, in pursuing the spread and implementation of their ideals.

PROGRAM

9-9:20
Registration

9:20-9:30
Welcome and introduction

9:30-10:25
Dimitris Philippidis, Emeritus Professor of Urban Planning, Department of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
The past as a stage set by C. A. Doxiadis

10:25 – 11:20
Mantha Zarmakoupi, Birmingham Fellow and Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology, School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
History as a backdrop: The appropriation of the classical past in the Delos Symposia

11:20 – 11:40
Coffee break

11:40 – 12:35
Kostas Tsiambaos, Assistant Professor in History and Theory of Architecture, Department of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Some rhetorical aspects of the Declarations of Delos

12:35 – 13:30
Alexandros-Andreas Kyrtsis, Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Theory and Sociology, School of Economics and Political Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
The Sociology of Ekistics and the spatial and technological dimensions of post-WWII Modernity: A note on the Delos deliberations

13:30 – 14:30
Lunch

14:30 – 15:25
Ellen Shoshkes, Adjunct Professor, Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University (PSU), Portland OR, USA.
The Delians and Japan/Metabolism

15:25 – 16:20
Mark Wasiuta, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Co-Director of the Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture program, Columbia University, GSAPP, New York, USA.
Doxiadis’ Computer Drive

16:20 – 16:40
Coffee

16:40 – 17:35
Petros Phokaides, Ph.D Candidate, Department of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Rural development and infrastructures in Africa: Doxiadis Associates’ visions for a postcolonial world

17:35 – 18:30
Panayiota Pyla, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Global schemes of Ekistics related to tourism and development

18:30 – 19:00
Discussion

Register for this event at Eventbrite (no fee) and see here for more information.

The organizers
Mantha Zarmakoupi, Birmingham Fellow and Lecturer in Classical Archaeology, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology, School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.

Simon Richards, Lecturer in Architectural Context, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, University of Loughborough, Loughborough, UK.