Continuing a tradition of thematic sessions

In 2018, we hosted the 6th International Congress on Construction History in Brussels. At that occasion, we introduced the concept of thematic sessions, which subsequently became an important part of the ICCH programme: focused sessions curated by experts in the field that bring together researchers around shared questions, methods and emerging research topics.

Since then, we have continued to contribute to this tradition by organising thematic sessions at successive ICCH conferences: at 7ICCH — “Construction cultures of the recent past. Building materials and building techniques 1950–2000”, organised by Stephanie Van de Voorde and Ine Wouters — at 8ICCH — “Deconstruction, salvage, and reuse in Construction History. Unveiling collective narratives and new perspectives”, organised by Stephanie Van de Voorde, Ine Wouters, Philippe Bernardi and Maxime L’Héritier — and now at 9ICCH.These sessions have addressed topics closely connected to ongoing research at VUB Architectural Engineering: construction history, building materials, deconstruction, salvage, reuse, circularity, labour, and the changing relations between building culture and society.

For the 9th International Congress on Construction History, which will take place in Torino from 28 June to 2 July 2027, we organise the thematic session “Construction as Flow: Materials, Energy, Labour and Capital in the Making of the Built Environment in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” The session is organised by Stephanie Van de Voorde, Adam Przywara (University of Basel), Lara Reyniers and Ine Wouters.

Construction as Flow

Construction is one of the most resource-intensive activities in society. Buildings and infrastructures are not only designed and built; they are produced through the mobilisation of materials, energy, labour, expertise, capital, regulation, logistics and value systems. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, these flows intensified and changed profoundly through industrialisation, expanding markets, new energy regimes, changing labour relations and increasingly complex technical and financial frameworks.

This thematic session proposes flow as a central lens for construction history. It invites researchers to look beyond the completed building and to examine construction as a dynamic process in which materials, energy, labour and capital are coordinated, negotiated and assembled. Buildings and infrastructures are approached as temporary condensations of wider circulations: of raw materials and manufactured products, of embodied and mechanical energy, of labour and expertise, and of investment, credit and value.

The session welcomes contributions that examine how such flows were set in motion, sustained, redirected or interrupted. Papers may focus on material supply chains, construction sites, labour systems, energy regimes, financial structures, regulatory frameworks, maintenance, reuse, waste, or changing systems of valuation. We are especially interested in contributions that show how these different dimensions interacted: how capital reorganised labour, how energy regimes altered material economies, how new material circuits transformed practices of maintenance and reuse, or how local construction practices were embedded in wider industrial, environmental and political economies.

Relevance

The session responds to a growing interest in the material, environmental, social and economic dimensions of construction. Recent scholarship in architectural, environmental and construction history has shown the value of moving beyond the building as a static object and studying instead the wider processes, resources and systems that make building possible. By focusing on flows, this session aims to bring these perspectives into closer dialogue with construction history.

This approach is particularly relevant at a moment when sustainability, circularity, resource scarcity and the environmental impact of construction are central societal concerns. Historical research can help us understand how materials, energy, labour and capital have circulated, accumulated, been transformed or discarded over time. It can also reveal how construction practices were shaped by changing regimes of value, labour organisation, technological development, regulation and political economy.

By foregrounding the conditions, mechanisms and effects of construction flows, the session seeks to expand the methodological and thematic scope of construction history. It encourages contributions that connect detailed empirical research — archival study, site investigation, quantitative data, oral histories or material analysis — to broader questions of industrialisation, labour regimes, environmental transformation, urban metabolism and systems of value.

In doing so, the session also aims to strengthen dialogue between construction history and adjacent fields such as environmental history, labour history, architectural history, material culture studies and circular economy research.

More information  and practical details

If you're interested in contributing to the session, please submit an abstract through the official ICCH9 submission platform. Abstracts must be written in English and may not exceed 400 words. When submitting, you need to indicate the most appropriate Thematic Session — in this case, TS10: Construction as Flow.

The deadline for abstract submission is 28 June 2026, midnight CET. Abstracts will be reviewed by at least two members of the ICCH9 Scientific Committee, and decisions will be announced by 20 August 2026. Full papers are due by 30 October 2026 and will undergo a further review process. Accepted papers will be published in an edited open-access proceedings volume, available digitally at the congress. Please note that only papers presented in person at the conference will be included in the proceedings.

More information about the congress, the call for abstracts and the full Book of Sessions is available through the official ICCH9 website.

Linked to ongoing research at VUB Architectural Engineering

The session builds on a broader research trajectory at VUB Architectural Engineering on construction history, building materials, circularity, labour, and reuse. It connects in particular to projects and initiatives such as

• “Flows in the Construction Sector. Urban-Environmental Histories of Labour, Materials, and Money”,
• “Re-building Brussels (1695-2025). The construction sector as an engine for social inclusion and circularity”,
• “Building Brussels. Brussels city builders and the production of space, 1794 – 2016”, 
• “Reviving the circular building industry. Looking into construction, demolition and reuse from the past to the future”,
• “Construction History, Above and Beyond. What History can do for Construction History”,
• “READ.ADAPT.REUSE”/”International symposium on Embodied Culture”,
• “From demolition towards preservation. A paradigm shift for building in Brussels ”,
• “Reuse of Laminated Timber. Integrating Historical Production Context and Ultrasonic Evaluation”,
• “Fragments in Transition. Rethinking Cultural Value Between Heritage and Circular Construction”,
• and other ongoing research on the socio-material history of building.

Contact

• Stephanie Van de Voorde - VUB Architectural Engineering Stephanie.Van.de.Voorde()vub.be
• Adam Przywara - University of Basel Adam.Przywara()unibas.ch
• Lara Reyniers - VUB Architectural Engineering Lara.Reyniers()vub.be
• Ine Wouters - VUB Architectural Engineering Ine.Wouters()vub.be