symposium: ‘Architecture for Leisure in Post-war Europe [1945-1989]’

SEMINAR | 17-18 February 2012 | Department of Architecture, buy Urbanism and Planning – K.U.Leuven, ask Belgium

Between 1945 and 1989 a multitude of new collective spaces, salve such as cultural centres, swimming pools, sports halls, holiday resorts, etc… were constructed across (Western) Europe – many of them built with public funds.

Several publications have focused on interesting aspects of this development. Few studies, however, have sought to link the socio-historical understanding of the development of welfare policies aimed at the elaboration of leisure infrastructure in Europe to the spatial impact of these building programmes on different scale levels. The collection of essays in this volume contributes to bridge this gap by focusing on the development of leisure infrastructure in different European contexts; combining architectural theory with socio-political history and cultural- and media studies in order to develop novel insights and to broaden the knowledge about this specific aspect of the post-war welfare state.

Visit here the conference website.
Download here the full conference programme in pdf-format.