Call for papers

Similar to the issue 9-10 “The Architect’s Office (18^th‑21^st century)”, which examined work conditions that were often overlooked, this thematic issue proposes to question the place of uses and users in the processes of design, implementation, development and evaluation of design projects. Although exceptional cases are not excluded, the aim is to understand the construction of architecture and the city through the analysis of ordinary and, if possible, unknown fields of experimentation. With this call for papers, we encourage the consideration of this research subject over the long term, inviting contributions from the various academic fields that analyze architecture, the city and the landscape. From a transdisciplinary perspective, the aim is to cross historical and sociological approaches by drawing on new sources and historicizing the question of use. Thus, the notion of user and its accompanying vocabulary, which were very much alive in the 1970s, should be questioned, along with an examination of its historical roots and contemporary developments. Authors should focus their proposals on one or more of the three proposed areas of reflection. Contributions may be varied in nature — monographic studies, comparative studies, theoretical reflections — in order to transcend current historical or critical approaches by analyzing the place of uses in the processes of design, theorization, as well as appropriation of architectural and urban spaces.

Uses and Users in the Production of the Built Environment

This theme explores the ways in which those involved in the production of the built environment incorporate uses into the design of architecture, the city and the landscape. A wide spectrum of possible approaches exists, from situations where designers synthesize uses into a drawing, sometimes summarizing them as functions, or when they advocate participation, co-design or even co-production. Between these two positions, the aim is to identify possible intermediate stances. First of all, who is the user? Are they abstract data, an institutional stakeholder, a single individual, or an anonymous person at the design stage? Depending on the case and the different types of programs in question, the user's weight in the project process is inevitably influenced. Thus, how do sponsors and designers relate to the user? How do users themselves structure their involvement? How do they express their wishes when they are clients of the designer? What methods do designers employ to involve the user in the project process? What ad hoc devices are imagined? How do they define the potential uses of the work? How is the quantitative dimension, measuring needs, linked to a more qualitative dimension, taking into account the plurality or even the indeterminacy and evolution of future uses?

Uses and Users in Theory and Critique

Moreover, how can an evaluation of use be integrated into critical judgment that goes beyond purely aesthetic or functional perceptions? Editorial policies, exhibitions or books that value uses or, more broadly, that rely on the social dimension of architecture could be addressed here. In line with previous issues of the CRAUP that addressed the question of representation, place will be given to the analysis of narrative strategies and figurative forms that are employed within these perspectives of theorization or mediatization (drawing, photography, audiovisual and digital techniques, etc.). Finally, how does architectural theory rely on other fields of knowledge to grasp this question? The link established by the architect Aldo Van Eyck between structuralist trends and anthropology is well known. The evolution of other multidisciplinary perspectives over time would be welcome here.

Perceptions, practices, and deviations

Here, we expect contributions that are at the intersection of architecture and the humanities, able to give an account of the "inhabitant's voice" and/or the tactics deployed by users to transform their living environment. The objective is to go beyond purely academic receptions by questioning the experiences of those who are not necessarily familiar with the knowledge and techniques of spatial design, but who also produce knowledge and construct organizations on the scale of housing, public space or the city through their life experiences. Here we think of the practices of each inhabitant, but also those of resident-user associations or collectives that have multiplied in recent years, in search of increased participation in the responsible management of the built environment. What knowledge and lessons can be drawn from these experiences?

Today, all living spaces are undergoing profound transformations as a result of the digital revolution and in response to the health and climate crises. The representations and practices of users have inevitably been altered. How do residents integrate these issues and organize themselves to participate in the efficient and sustainable management of the built environment? In this context, do they develop new skills and take on new responsibilities?

Procedure for the Transmission of Draft Articles

Proposals for completes articles should be sent by e-mail before 9 June 2023 to the Craup’ editorial office: craup.secretariat@gmail.com
For more information, contact Aude Clavel on 06 10 55 11 36 or by email

The journal expects completed articles, not proposals, abstracts or any other form of presentation.

The articles must not exceed 50 000 characters, including spaces.

Languages accepted: French, English.

Articles must be accompanied by:

− 1 biobibliographical record between 5 to 10 lines (name and first name of the author (s), professional status and / or titles, possible institutional link, research themes, latest publications, e-mail address).
− 2 abstracts in French and English.
− 5 key words in French and English.
− The title of the article must also be translated into French or English depending on the language of the paper.

Instructions to Authors

1 / General rules

Italic: words in foreign languages in relation to the language used, therefore op. cit., Ibid., cf., a priori, a posteriori, etc.

No use of bold (with the exception of titles) nor capitals (with the exception of the beginning of proper names, institutions, capitals for titles in English, etc.).

2 / Body of the text

The text must be entered in the Word software, using Times New Roman, size 12, line spacing 1.5, without any special formatting, except titles, headings, captions and paragraph breaks.

Bibligraphic references mentioned throughout the text should appear “à la française”, i.e. in a note, with the full reference, and not in brackets in the body of the text.

3 / Quotations

Quotations of less than 3 lines will be inserted into the text and placed between quotation marks.
Quotes of more than 3 lines will be indented to the left and right, size 10, without quotation marks.

4 / References

The bibliographical references will be grouped according to author’s name alphabetical order at the end of the article in a section titled “Bibliography”, according to the following model:

For a book: First name Last name, Title, City of publishing, Publishing house (Collection), year of publication, page, [online] url, accessed on date, [online] url, accessed on date.
For a collective work: First name Last Name and First name Last name of dir./coord./eds./etc., Title, City of publishing, Publishing house, year of publication, page, or First name Last name et al., Title, City of publishing, Publishing house, year of publication, page, [online] url, accessed on date.
For a chapter of a collective work: First name, Last name, (dir./coord./eds./etc.), Title, City of publishing, Publishing house, year of publication, page, [online] url, accessed on date.
For a journal article: First Name Last Name, “Article Title”, Journal Title, Vol./N °, Date, City of publishing, Publishing house, year of Publication, page, [online] url, accessed on date.

5 / Illustrations, charts and tables

The author must verify that the images / figures of which he is not the author are free of rights. Otherwise, he must apply to the owner of the image / figure before submitting it to the magazine.

The photographs accompanying the text should be scanned in high definition (300 dpi, 15 cm minimum) in Jpg or Tiff formats.

Text files will be distinct from graphic files.

Illustrations, charts and tables must be legendary in a specific way: The title of the illustrations should be placed above the illustration. The legend and credits (source, copyright, etc.) must be placed under the illustration on two separate lines.

Editorial Line

Placed in the fields of architectural, urban and landscape research, the Cahiers de la recherche architecturale initially developed from the 1970s in research labs of the French schools of architecture, before becoming the Cahiers de la recherche architecturale et urbaine in 1999. The journal initiates in 2018 a new formula online, Les Cahiers: Journal for the Study of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape, targeted towards the research communities concerned by intentional transformations of space, whatever the scales. The journal aims at meeting current interests and issues in these fields, seeking to renew them and to open new directions of research. Three main research issues are more directly questioned. One specifically concerns theoretical aspects, in order to develop exchanges and discussions between theories of design, planning, architecture and landscape. Another issue refers to the materiality of the city, the technical know-how involved in spatial transformation, but also the material dimension of of transfer and mobilization phenomena, often analyzed in other journals from a-spatial angles. Lastly, the third issue questions the project and its design, which holds a special place in the sciences and the practice of space (performative roles of projects, theories of practice). These three poles call for interdisciplinary works, dedicated to trace in-depth explanations of the transformations of the built environment at the Anthropocene Era. The expected scientific production refers to common criteria of peer reviewing processes. It could pay a particular attention to the issues of pictures and visual production in a field where images can serve as discourse.

Les Cahiers: Journal for the Study of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape online issue two or three time a year a thematic folder dedicated to a specific and problematized theme, and which consists of around ten articles in French and English. A call for papers is broadcasted for each thematic heading. Proposals may be in French or English. The evaluation is peer-rewiewed.

The online magazine has also 2 headings to accommodate miscellaneous articles, and outside thematic folders. Proposals may be in French or English. The texts are evaluated and peer-rewiewed.

Perspectives on Contemporary Research

Academic articles that present current and unpublished research, unpublished articles and essays on subjects related to the emergence of new themes and accounts of scholarly methodologies and practices development, reports of doctoral and post-doctoral theses, book reviews.

Research Materials

The republication of texts, the translation of articles previously unpublished in French, documents such as logbooks, diaries and personal journals that shed light on the activities of researchers in their contemporary contexts, interviews with scholars and practitioners involved in ongoing research.

Editorial Board

Chief Editor:
FRÉDÉRIC POUSIN

CELINE BARRERE
MANUEL BELLO MARCANO
FRANCK BESANÇON
GAUTHIER BOLLE
GAIA CARAMELLINO
ENRICO CHAPEL
BENJAMIN CHAVARDES
AUDREY COURBEBAISSE
MAXIME DECOMMER
ANAT FALBEL
YANKEL FIJALKOW
RALPH GHOCHE
XAVIER GUILLOT
CAROLINEMANIAQUE
ROBERTA MORELLI
JUILETTE POMMIER
PAOLA SAVOLDI
CORINNE TIRY-ONO
ANDREA URLBERGER

Editorial Assistant
AUDE CLAVEL