Special issue: Architecture and Ethics of Care

Introduction:

On the most general level, we suggest that caring be viewed as a species activity that includes everything we do to maintain, continue, and repair our world so we can live as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, our selves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web.
(Tronto & Fisher, 1990)

Taking into account the ethics of care that Joan Tronto and Berenice Fisher articulate in this passage, it is obvious that architecture and urbanism are part of the caring activities that humankind relies on to “maintain, continue, and repair our world.” Adopting “caring” as a central category of human activities and as a central value in cultural work, means that other values such as originality, authenticity, or iconicity no longer take center stage in the assessment and appreciation of architectural projects. The question would no longer be how “innovative” the work of an architect is, but rather how this work contributes to the maintenance, continuity, and reparation of our world. “Our world” here is to be understood in the broad sense: it refers to cities and territories, as well as to the ecologies that make these cities and territories inhabitable for humans (and non-humans). The intention of this symposium is to further articulate this understanding and to elaborate different ways in which architecture and urbanism are enhancing the caring maintenance of life worlds and environments.

Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism invites explorations of these themes that take the form of research articles or review articles.

There are several subthemes that this issue aims to focus on.

1. Ecological awareness as critical care for the planet
   Referring to the exhibition and book curated by Angeliki Fitz & Elke Krasny (Fitz et al., 2019), this section brings together theoretical and historiographical papers that trace the role of ecology in recent and historical architecture. How do architectural projects deal with greenhouse gasses, with materials and their embedded CO2, and with non-humans? Do they manage to reduce energy consumption and to embrace biodiversity? And can an argument be made that the attitude of their architects is informed by an 'ethics of care'?
2. The city as a place of caring
   This subtheme calls for papers that focus on the urban scale and on housing (e.g., housing for aging populations). What kind of interventions make public spaces more welcoming for a diversity of users, while at the same time mitigating the effects of climate change? How to organize housing in such a way that caring activities are enabled rather than hindered? What about intergenerational housing, co-housing, or other innovative forms of providing homes for an aging population increasingly in need of care? And how do specific case studies relate to an 'ethics of care'?
3. Reconversions as strategies of care
   Some radical ecologists declare that the most sustainable way of building is not building at all. While this may be not a happy prospect for architects and urbanists, it is clear that the overall focus of architecture and urbanism for the near future should be on reconversions, reformations, and reuse of existing structures.  Existing buildings represent embodied energy, embodied histories, embodied technologies, and provide materials for future use (see also Bayrak & Göktaş, 2023). Intelligence in architecture today means reutilising and rebuilding rather than demolishing. We invite papers that present, discuss, and analyze relevant case studies, or that retrace the historical lineage of projects of reconversion, making explicit their connection to an 'ethics of care'
4. Careful detailing
   Care in architecture can also be realized through a careful handling of materials and details. This section focuses on specific cases where the care for materials and details is interwoven with care for users and other actors. Also, here we ask contributors to be articulate about how careful detailing and ethics of care are interconnected.

References

Bayrak, Sevince, and Oral Göktaş, eds. 2023. Ghost Stories: The Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture. Biennale Architettura, Barcelona, Spain. List Laboratorio.

Fitz, Angelika, Elke Krasny, and Architekturzentrum Wien, eds. 2019. Critical Care: Architecture and Urbanism for a Broken Planet. MIT Press.

Tronto, Joan C., and Berenice Fisher. 1990. “Toward a Feminist Theory of Caring.” In Cicles of Care: Work and Identity in Women’s Lives, edited by Emily A. Abel and Margaret K. Nelson. State University of New York Press.

Submission instructions:

We invite all those interested to submit materials to the Editorial Office at paujournal@outlook.com using as subject line:

CFP Ethics of Care AUTHOR'S SURNAME abstract (e.g., CFP Ethics of Care HEYNEN abstract)

Submissions should contain:

• Title
• Author(s)
• Affiliation of the author(s)
• Contact E-mail(s)
• Short author(s) bio(s) (maximum 100 words each)
• Six keywords
• Abstract (no longer than 500 words)
• Essential reference list (optional)
• Key images (maximum 2, optional)

The deadline for submission is February 8th, 2026. Selected authors will be notified by the Editorial Office of Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism by February 23rd, 2026.

Selected authors will be invited to present a preliminary draft of their paper (approximately 2,500 words) at an upcoming international seminar hosted by the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) of Tongji University in Shanghai (June 2026, in-person and online).

Full papers must be submitted by August 31st, 2026 following the editorial guidelines of the journal (https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/perspectives-in-architecture-and-urbanism/guide-for-authors/).

Selected manuscripts will undergo a double-blind review process and will receive additional feedback from the Guest Editor. Accepted papers will be published online in regular issues of the journal as soon as the review and editing processes are completed. Published texts will be later collected into a virtual special issue, accessible on the journal’s website.

Formatting and submission requirement

Text

• must follow the APA Manual of Style (7th edition)
• spelling should adhere to American convention
• save as Microsoft Word or RTF format

Images

• captions and credits must be included with the submission.

Guest editors

Hilde Heynen, prof. em. KU Leuven, Belgium. 

Email: hilde.heynen@kuleuven.be