Announcement of the Second International Conference on Built Heritage Studies (BHS 2019)

1.      Introduction to the theme and Subthemes

This conference is the second special academic summit with a focus on the study of built heritage. It follows the 2017 international forum “Built Heritage: A Cultural Motivator for Urban and Rural Development,” which was jointly sponsored by Tongji University and the Architectural Society of China. We welcome scholars from various disciplines, architects, and urban planners from China and overseas to discuss and share their experiences, ideas, and ways of practice with respect to the following areas.

1.1  Theme: Built Heritage Conservation in Rural Vitalization

Since ancient times, the terms “urban” and “rural” have constituted both opposite and complementary categories. However, with the rapid development of industrialization and globalization, the dual urban–rural structure in China has gradually disintegrated. The tide of urbanization has impacted the basic foundation of traditional culture, i.e., typical rural settlements and their cultural landscapes: it has caused the historical and geographic characteristics of those landscapes to rapidly degenerate or even disappear.

This kind of phenomenon is a global one, affecting different countries and regions around the world. Those countries and regions have to provide specific responses to address the various challenges; in the case of China, it takes the form of a national strategy for rural vitalization. Through appropriate measures, there are expectations in China that the changes can be controlled and that the country can follow an ecological track of economic and social development, thereby enabling adaptive conservation and revitalization of the rural built heritage.

1.2  Subthemes:

Subtheme I: Conservation of Rural Settlement Heritage and Cultural Landscapes

Cultural landscapes are the cultural properties that represent the combined work of nature and human beings, which always reflect the environmental character of traditional rural settlements. This sub-theme focuses on both preserving such settlements and the cultural landscapes they are located in as a whole.

Subtheme II: Preservation and Revitalization of Rural Built Heritage

Preservation is the basis and premise of revitalization: the latter is the guarantee and ultimate purpose of the former. This sub-theme attempts to deal with the relationship between preservation and revitalization; it aims to explore suitable ways for the survival of the rural built heritage.

Subtheme III: Inheritance of Traditional Rural Building Crafts and Techniques

Traditional building crafts are the technological foundation of the rural built heritage. This sub-theme aims to systematically categorize and study the building crafts and techniques of the rural built heritage. The purpose is to facilitate the inheritance of traditional construction technologies in built heritage conservation and to incorporate traditional building knowledge and wisdom when engaging in rural reconstruction.

2.     Conference Organization

2.1  Sponsors

-        College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University

-        Academic Committee of Urban and Rural Built Heritage, Architectural Society of China (ASC)

2.2  Supporters

-        Architectural Society of China

-        Tongji University

-        World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region (Shanghai) under the auspices of UNESCO (WHITRAP, Shanghai)

2.3   Organizing Team

-        Editorial Office of Heritage Architecture journal

-        Editorial Office of Built Heritage journal

3.      Dates and Schedule

Date: April 19–22, 2019

4.      Venue

College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, China.

Keynote lectures will be delivered in the main hall. Paper presentations and discussions will take place in other lecture halls.

5.     Forum Language

The languages of the Conference are Chinese and English. Authors can submit and present their work in any of the two languages. Accordingly, paper presentations and discussions will be held in Chinese or English. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided for the Keynote lectures and discussions taking place in the main hall.

6.      Registration

Conference participants should register online on the official website (www.icobhs.com) and complete the Personal Information Form to create an account on the website. The website will be launched on September 10, 2018.

7.      Abstract Submissions

Submissions should include titles in both English and Chinese, an abstract not exceeding 300 English words or 500 Chinese characters, and three to eight keywords. Submissions should also indicate the subtheme the paper addresses. Authors’ information should be submitted separately and include names, positions, affiliations, and e-mail address. In the case of multiple authors, only the corresponding author is required to complete the abstract submission process.

The abstract should be uploaded to the official website by October 9, 2018. The results of the review will be sent to the corresponding author before October 31, 2018.

8.     Submission of Papers

The deadline for the submission of completed papers is February 14, 2019.

Papers should be uploaded onto the official website as both a Word file and a PDF. The paper format should comply with the template provided on the official website.

The results of the review with referee comments and an editorial determination will be made before March 22, 2019.

9.     Publication

The organizers will select and publish the conference proceedings during the conference. Outstanding papers will be published in the journals Architecture Heritage (in Chinese, CN10-1071/TU，ISSN2095-7289) or Built Heritage (in English, CN31-2123/G0，ISSN2096-3041) after undergoing a peer-review process. The conference proceedings will be applied for collection by dissertation databases, such as CPCI.

10.  Registration Fee

The registration fee for the conference is 1,000 yuan. Students can receive a 40% discount in the registration fee. Payment can be made by bank transfer or cash. The remittance accounts will be published on the official website.

All participants who pay the registration fee before April 1, 2019 will receive a 20% discount. Payment certificates should be uploaded to the Member Center on the official website.

11.   Contact

for Chinese:

Zhu Yiyuan        +86 021-6598 2383     

E-mail: zhuyy@icobhs.com

for English:

Huang Feiran     +86 021-6598 2193

E-mail: huang@icobhs.com

College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University

Academic Committee of Urban and Rural Built Heritage, Architectural Society of China

August 21, 2018