Call for Abstracts

Modernism Revisited: Typology – Topography – Strategy

ETOM Milestone Conference 2026

Modernism Revisited 2026, held within the official programme of ECOC Trenčín 2026, invites scholars, architects, planners, educators, researchers, and policymakers to reflect on how modernist architecture, landscape, and planning visions can be reinterpreted and reactivated in the twenty-first century. The conference seeks an interdisciplinary dialogue across time and scale—linking architectural form with territorial context, and historical experience with contemporary and future scenarios. This conference is organised by the Jaromír Krejcar Society and the ETOM NEB Lab partnered with DOCOMOMO Slovakia.

Modernism—both as a historical movement and as an continuous architectural, technological, and cultural layer—continues to shape how we build, inhabit, and imagine the world. Emerging from diverse political, climatic, and cultural contexts—from liberal democracies to state-planned economies—it generated a wide spectrum of approaches to architecture, urbanism, and collective life. Today, these multiple legacies face new realities: ecological transitions, demographic shifts, and the transformation of once-public infrastructures and institutions.

Contributions are invited under three thematic lenses:

1. Typology — Repurposed

Typology explores modernism through the lens of architectural form and organization. It revisits the models, concepts, and systems that once structured collective life and asks how they can be understood and reimagined across different cultural, climatic, and political settings, through shared and personal experiences. Typology is approached not only as a technical or historical notion, but as a conceptual framework that connects design thinking with broader questions of social organization and transformation.

Possible topics include:

• Architectural and spatial typologies of modernism — social infrastructure, recreation, culture, health.
  

• Typology as a conceptual or methodological approach in design and planning
  

• Reinterpretations and transformations of collective living and standardized forms
  

• Typologies as "organizational models of life," linking architecture to social and political structures
  

• (Dis)Continuity, hybridisation and mutation of typological thinking across regions and periods
  

2. Topography — Remodeled

Topography considers modernism within its landscape, climatic, social, environmental and territorial settings. It focuses on the modernist environments and its revolution within the ecological systems, infrastructures, and communities. This theme invites perspectives on how modernist architecture and planning transformed, and continues to interact with, the physical and social geographies that surround them—in different scales and contexts.

Possible topics include:

• Modernist landscapes, regions, and territorial structures
  

• Environmental and social ecologies of modernist sites
  

• Stakeholders, communities, and the dynamics of intervention
  

• Changing visibility, accessibility, and representation of modernist environments
  

• Interactions between built form, infrastructure, and natural systems
  

3. Strategy — Reinvented

Strategy explores how modernist legacies can be re-engaged through contemporary design practice, education, research, and policy-making. This theme invites forward-looking and interdisciplinary approaches that respond to today's ecological, technological, and social transformations. Strategy also welcomes historical and contemporary examples from practice and pedagogy that translate modernist principles into contemporary conditions of experimentation, collaboration, and care.

Possible topics include:

• Adaptive reuse, revitalization, and transformation of modernist heritage
  

• Ecological and socio-economic frameworks for sustainable modernization
  

• Innovative methodologies in design, planning, and heritage management
  

• Governance, policy, and collaborative approaches to complex environments
  

• Education and practice as agents of transformation
  

• Speculative and critical scenarios for future forms of living, dwelling, and production
  

Cross-cutting Questions

• What does modernism mean today? Is it still a living concept or a historical notion? Which legacies and interpretations of modernism remain relevant?

• How can modernism be reinterpreted and reactivated for contemporary and future challenges?

• How should we transform the methods of modern investigation in the face of current challenges?
  

• What new trajectories—architectural, speculative, experimental, ecological, social, ethical and political—can its legacies open?
  

• How do historical typologies engage with diverse climates and societal needs today?
  

• Which transformations, whether successful or contested, provide insight for future practice?
  

Submission Guidelines

• Abstract length: maximum 300 words

• Abstracts must be written in English.

• Use clear, formal academic language.

• Avoid citations unless absolutely necessary; if included, they must follow ISO 690 citation standards.

• Do not include images, tables, or footnotes.

• Provide 3–6 keywords following the abstract.

• Submit the abstract as a PDF file (embedded fonts required).

• File name format: Surname_FirstName_Abstract.pdf

• The abstract is subject to double-blind review; therefore:

• Do not include author names, affiliations, or identifying references within the text.

• Author information will be collected separately within the submission system including affiliation, short bio (100 words)
  

• Submission deadline: 28.2.2026
  

• Notification of acceptance: 31.3.2026
  

• Conference dates and venue: 21.10. - 23.10. 2026, ODA Trenčín
  

• Submit to: modernism.revisited2026@gmail.com / submission form coming soon

• After receiving the notification of acceptance, the author/authors will be asked to provide the 1st version of the final paper. The submitted final manuscripts must not exceed 3000 words, including abstract, main text, citations, and footnotes. Figures, tables, captions, and appendices are excluded from the word count, unless otherwise noted.
  

Deadline Schedule

• 30 November 2025 — Open Call
  

• 28 February 2026 — Call for Abstracts deadline
  

• 30 April 2026 — 1st version of the final Paper submission deadline
  

• 15 June 2026 — 2nd final version of the paper submission deadline
  

• 21–23 October 2026 — Conference, ODA Trenčín

Formats

We welcome:

• Scholarly papers
  

• Practice-based presentations
  

• Case studies (successful or unsuccessful transformations)
  

• Comparative or cross-regional analyses
  

• Theoretical or conceptual reflections
  

• Proposals for exhibitions, screenings, or alternative formats
  

About the Conference

Modernism Revisited 2026 is organized as part of the European Capital of Culture programme taking place in Trenčín, Slovakia. The event is initiated by the Jaromír Krejcar Society in collaboration with ETOM NEB Lab and Docomomo Slovakia.

Bringing together diverse international perspectives, the conference aims to reassess the relevance of modernism today. By linking typology, topography, and strategy—as interconnected readings of architecture, landscape, and interdisciplinary practice—it explores how modernist ideals, infrastructures, and environments evolved under differing political systems and climatic conditions, and how they can inform the urgent challenges of our time.

We look forward to your contributions and to a shared exploration of how modernism may be repurposed, remodeled, and reinvented.

Costs: There is no conference participation fee. Travel, accommodation, and meal costs are the responsibility of each participant.

The Modernism Revisited Conference is an activity of the project Moderna 2.0, which is a part of the Trenčín 2026 project. The Trenčín 2026 project is financially supported by the City of Trenčín, the Trenčín Self-Governing Region and the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. The partner is the European Union.

3

days

45

speakers

500+

participants