Call for Papers Revista de Arquitectura N. º 49.

Call for Papers Revista de Arquitectura N. º 49.  

 

ARCHITECTURE, URBANISM, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: POISON OR MEDICINE? + FREE THEME

Should we fear the use of artificial intelligence in architecture and urbanism? What are the conditions under which the use becomes a medicine to improve the work of architects and designers, rather than a lethal poison?

In the face of today’s challenges in the worlds of architecture and urbanism—focused on three simultaneous fronts: climate change, peaceful coexistence among different cultures in shared spaces, and the increasing presence of artificial intelligence in all its forms—these professions must embrace profound changes. These changes must be tied to trans disciplinarity and inter-artistic approaches, which are absolutely necessary in our global and digital society.

Therefore, it is time to present work on the use of artificial intelligence in its various current manifestations within architecture and urbanism. For example:

FIRST: In the use of digital tools and artificial intelligence during the design process at the prefigurative level. This includes defining tools, detecting interactions between designer and computer, and describing both the positive and negative changes in the use of these tools by designers. In short, the goal is to empirically assess the outcomes of the dialogue between human brains and computers in relation to their combined capacity for innovation and creativity.

SECOND: In the parametrization of technical processes in construction or urban planning at the configurative level of now defined projects, establishing how these processes either enhance or reduce innovation in plans and projects at all cultural, environmental, and social levels.

THIRD: In the processes of formalizing databases—based on texts, existing case studies, or previous artificial intelligence research—demonstrating how these processes have led to the definition of new typologies for housing, shared living spaces, etc., fundamentally at the refigurative level. This includes defining statistical data that have either elevated or decreased innovative responses to the three previously mentioned challenges: climate change, peaceful cultural coexistence, and the exclusion of no one, regardless of social, racial, or cultural background.

FOURTH: In defining new construction materials or new planning strategies leading to patents made possible by artificial intelligence—demonstrating how these contribute to advancements in sustainability and in addressing social needs such as housing for all.

FIFTH: Finally, considering that the best spaces for peaceful coexistence and sustainable value emerge from good interaction among the three levels—prefigurative, configurative, and refigurative—based on interdisciplinary usage of both statistical and qualitative knowledge from sociology, psychology, ecology, etc., we are interested in investigations that propose methodologies to facilitate dialogue between design projects and artificial intelligence.

How can artificial intelligence contribute to better architecture and better planning, while sustaining that the knowledge of the various professionals involved is produced through the interactions between buildings, cities, and their users?

Knowledge in architecture and urban planning is not the sole privilege of designers or planners, nor do buildings and cities think for themselves. It is through the interactions between bodies and places that educational and political processes are generated, and knowledge is produced. This knowledge must be evaluated to determine whether artificial intelligence is a poison or a medicine—thus recalling the fundamental dialectic established by Plato over two and a half millennia ago in ancient Greece. Determining whether artificial intelligence is one or the other is not a metaphysical question, but a practical one: a matter of intelligent practice, which is both creative virtuosity and true knowledge.

To advance these goals, we propose expanding current architectural and urban theories—going beyond those defined solely by M. Heidegger and deepened by the work of H.G. Gadamer, P. Ricoeur, M. Bakhtin, E. Hutchins, R. Sennett, D. Seamon, B. Hillier, among many others. Numerous doctoral theses and research projects around the world are already moving in this direction, and we hope they will contribute to this 49th issue of REVISTA DE ARQUITECTURA. In doing so, we can initiate cultural, intergenerational, and historical innovations—the only ones capable of combating ignorance, war, and environmental pollution: the true poisons (not medicines) that grow stronger every day in our global and digital world.

 

PhD. Josep MuntañolaThornberg. Senior Professor, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

 

Collaborators:  Ran Shabtay. PHD Student Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

                         Margaret Krawecka. PHD Student Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

                         Regina Garcia. PHD Student Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

 

 

Invitation to publish in two sections, composed of original articles reviewed by blind peer reviewers:

RESEARCH IN ARCHITECTURAL THEORY. Body of Articles. Range of 4000-6000 words

ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT RESEARCH. Planned and/or constructed works. Range of 3000-4000 words.

 

Deadline for receipt of articles:  September 7, 2025

Guidelines for authors: https://dearquitectura.uchile.cl/index.php/RA/about/submissions