CFP_International PhD Seminar

EXTENDED DEADLINE: April 17th, 2019

Call for participants 

International PhD Seminar

Invention of Carouge, Fifty Years after: crossing history, theory and urban ethnography

Geneva, 21-23 May 2019

The Phd Seminar Invention of Carouge, Fifty Years after is organized on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the book by Swiss historian of art, architecture and urbanism André Corboz that was published in 1968. Focused on the study of the new town of Carouge (planned and built by the Savoyard state in the 18th century near Geneva and later incorporated as a borough of the latter), Invention of Carouge, was an ambitious attempt to combine a historical case study, urban analysis and planning theory. The topic of the book also represented a vector of cultural exchange between Turin and Switzerland in the following years, most notably on the occasion of the exhibition on Carouge organized by Turin’s State Archives in the mid-1980s. The course aims at revisiting the 1968 book, assessing its legacy and discussing whether the analytical instruments deployed by Corboz remain valid, or what may since have changed in our understanding of the mutual links between urban history, design analysis and ethnography. It will include common fieldwork to test various tools and perspectives related to the study of Carouge.

The seminar will be held in English and French. It will take place in Geneva at the Fondation Braillard Architectes (lectures) and in Carouge (collective fieldwork). The seminar is organised in partnership by CDH-EPFL, Lab-U EPFL, Politecnico di Torino-DASP, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Fondation Braillard Architectes and the EPFL Center HABITAT, in the frame of Swissuniversities program. 
The 3 days of workshop-seminar include 2 key note lectures; 3 half days of fieldwork in Carouge, supervised by the responsible of the course and 1 half day of feedback on each participant’s production. The course requires a good understanding of French in order to conduct collective fieldwork in Carouge and to relate to Corboz’ text of Invention de Carouge (1968). 

For more information see the attached Call for participants (PDF) and the presentation of the seminar in the Course Book of EDAR Doctoral Programme (https://www.epfl.ch/education/phd/programs/). 

Application deadline: April 1st, 2019