Call for Papers: For this issue of Future Anterior , we welcome papers that examine historical or contemporary
retrofitting practices and theories in relation to climate crises and energy challenges. Although
“‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” served as a catchy public education tool for American environmental
activists and American practitioners in the 1990s, adaptation of the built environment to the
climate has deeper, broader roots than recent efforts to reduce new construction, reuse existing
building stock, and/or recycle building materials. Retrofit, a theory of preservation practiced
globally in accordance with diverse disciplines, politics, cultures and resources, is a crucial
aspect of the world’s low carbon past and future.
The diversity of retrofit practices across time and space warrants decolonizing the concept of
“theory” and democratizing consideration of its formation. We invite authors to thought
leadership, by illuminating the ideas and projects of underrepresented practitioners or by
exploring how and why certain works of design and development have become sites of
disciplinary adoration and/or discursive attention. Together, these case studies of retrofit will
shed light on the archive of preservation that motivates and mobilizes individuals, institutions
and industries to invest, both financially and culturally, in smart growth and degrowth.
Only papers submitted to Future.Anterior.Journal@gmail.com by the
deadline– 06/01/20– in the formatting described below will be reviewed for publication.