Housing of the Present, Housing of the Future: Architecture, Society, Technology and the Changing Conditions of Dwelling

Housing of the Present, Housing of the Future: Architecture, Society, Technology and the Changing Conditions of Dwelling

It has been almost a century since CIAM’s Athens Charter laid a roadmap for housing development that we largely follow to this day. At the scale of an urban apartment block, architects still operate in the paradigms invented in the 20th century, even if we have revised a few. At the same time, the reality of climate change, growing pollutant awareness, aging population, labor shortages, new technologies, and generally changing social structures are all breaking the validity of normative in residential architecture. Now is the time to assess how we build, live in cities and in our buildings, and how the future of urban living should evolve. The old theories of what makes good residential architecture no longer stand.

Kharkiv School of Architecture organizes this conference to investigate the current state of housing, to voice doubts and ask questions, to open a discussion, and to keep it open. We invite bold experiments in technological, structural, and tectonic research; studies of new spatial organizations that reflect social change and the many contemporary crises; new research perspectives in housing history and theory; and perspectives housing research often leaves behind, such as the problems of residential architecture outside the urban.

We will gather in Lviv, a city that has been a hub for innovation during the russian war on Ukraine. Lviv is a palimpsest of many architectural visions, from pre-modern tenements to Soviet apartment blocks to post-Soviet gated communities. Yet despite this variety, the influx of internally displaced persons has put mounting pressure on housing in this vibrant Western Ukrainian city. Luckily, Lviv’s location in the Ukrainian rear allows for experiments in housing to be realized in real time, rather than postponed until the end of the war.

We invite papers to address several dimensions of change shaping housing of the future: 

• New relationships between housing and place, including the heating climate, rising water and drought, wartime threats, and local social challenges that may differ from one place to another, making housing models portable, but only with a caveat. 
• New methodological approaches to the history and present of housing, particularly to the role of residents in the making and changing housing over time. 
• Tectonic and construction technology – from artificial intelligence to new materials, this track is to discuss how technological innovation may change the ways we approach residential design. 
• New social conditions and structures – new forms of co-housing and individual housing, new social strata and housing them in cities and beyond. 
• Labor dynamics in housing construction – prefabrication, aging workforce, sweat equity, change over time programmed into housing design. 
• Rural housing and modern crises, including rural population aging, depopulation, climate change, governmental programs to support rural repopulation and historic preservation around the world,  
• Student research presentations–a panel for students to present their most cutting-edge research on housing in a fast-paced, 5-minute format, followed by a discussion. 

Submit: Please submit a title, an abstract (300 words), short CV (2-page, including prior conferences and published papers) and the track where you would like to present your paper. Please indicate if you use AI in your research work. 

We invite student-researchers to submit their proposals to the student session.To submit please follow the general submission instructions and indicate Student Research Track as your track selection. 

Conference will be held in English. 

Submit your proposal to [email protected] by the end of October 31, 2026. Please indicate “Housing of the Present, Housing of the Future conference abstract” in the subject line of the email. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by November 20, 2026. 

Dates: April 9-11, 2027
Format: in person and open to public
Location: Lviv, Ukraine, Kharkiv School of Architecture
Travel and accommodations: Kharkiv School will provide accommodation in Lviv (accommodations will include shelters, in case of air alerts).  

Participants cover their own travel to Lviv.