Participants: Joseph Abram (School of Architecture, Nancy, France), Gabi Dolff-Bonekaemper (TU Berlin, Germany), Elain Harwood (English Heritage, UK), Marieke Kuipers (TU Delft, Netherlands), Paola di Biagi (University of Trieste, Italy), Alessandra Cerroti (University of Rome, Italy), Giovanni Caudo (University of Rome, Italy), Piet Eckert (E2A, Switzerland) and Tanja Conley (Serbia); Italian Institute in Belgrade
Conference RE_defining Post-WWII Housing gathered leading scholars from European universities and heritage institutes to present their answers to the acute question of valorization and further treatment of the rapidly dilapidating post-WWII housing conglomerations. Regardless of the boundary between the East and the West during the Age of Cold War, the huge-scale housing projects appeared all over Europe in the second half of the twentieth century. Until now, the criteria for evaluation and possible reconstruction of those vast built areas have been vaguely considered by the professionals, including architectural historians, preservationists, and urban planners, and practicing architects. This conference provided a unique opportunity for sharing different attitudes about the poorly discussed subject of the values of the post-WWII housing. In addition to lectures participants had a chance to contribute to the discussion, joined thematic walk around the housing projects of New Belgrade, and share their opinion in the concluding roundtable titled "What Should We Do With New Belgrade?"