ANNOUNCEMENTS
SAJ 17/2 (2025): Call For Papers
SUSTAINABLE USER-ORIENTED HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY
Guest Editors: Vladimir Lojanica & Michiel Smits
Papers due: 15th August 2025
Offline version of Call for Papers can be found in following pdf.
The growing challenges of aging demographics in Europe, combined with the global call for sustainable development, have brought the question of elderly housing to the forefront of architectural, urban, and educational research and design. Decisions made today can significantly influence ecological, social, and economic sustainability in the future. This special issue of the Serbian Architecture Journal (SAJ) focuses on how user-centered design, systems thinking, and agile development can be effectively applied to create innovative housing solutions that meet the evolving needs of aging populations. Sustainable housing for the elderly ensures safety, dignity, community connection, and adaptability in the face of environmental and social change.
The issue is developed in collaboration with the Erasmus+ project sUser – Introducing User-driven design and agile development skills in the case of sustainable service housing for elderly, which introduces a multidisciplinary approach to the development of new educational methods and tools that support sustainable housing design. The project brings together higher education institutions from Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Serbia, and aims to foster new models of collaboration between educators, researchers, and design professionals. This special issue gathers contributions from members of the sUser research network and other experts working at the intersection of architecture, design, urban planning, and education. The contributing articles will address the challenges, innovations, and pedagogical strategies involved in sustainable housing design for the elderly.
Topics:
– User-centered approaches and agile methodologies in housing design
– Sustainable technologies and adaptable living environments
– Community-based models of care and housing
– Participatory design and co-creation with the elderly
– Educational tools and interdisciplinary teaching practices
– Case studies and research methodologies
More information about the sUser project is available at: https://suserproject.org/
In addition to invited contributors from the sUser network, we warmly welcome submissions from external authors working on related research. Though primarily focusing on the topics with the background in architecture, urbanism, and urban planning planning, the SAJ also welcomes interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research and submissions from various academic disciplines. To submit a paper, kindly go to our Author Guidelines page and follow the instructions provided. Alternatively, if you are familiar with SAJ publication process, you can submit your paper directly by clicking the button below. If you do not feel comfortable using the Assistant publishing platform, you can submit your paper by emailing the Editorial office directly at saj@arh.bg.ac.rs.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial office at saj@arh.bg.ac.rs.
SAJ 17/3 (2025): Call For Papers
SPASCAPES
Guest Editors: Aleksandra Milovanović, Mladen Pešić & Stefan Janković
Papers due: 15th September 2025
Offline version of Call for Papers will soon be available.
Spa settlements represent a unique mixture of natural therapeutic resources, architectural heritage, and layered urban morphologies. Historically shaped by health tourism, medical practices, and the symbolic relationship between nature and the built environment, these settlements have evolved as complex spatial and cultural territories. In contemporary planning and design discourses, spa settlements re-emerge as critical sites for exploring sustainable urban development, health-oriented spatial practices, and heritage protection strategies.
This Special Issue of the Serbian Architectural Journal invites contributions that engage with spa settlements through the lenses of architecture, urban studies, landscape studies, and heritage conservation. The aim is to bring forward spatially grounded research that rethinks the role of spascapes in the face of current societal, environmental, and health-related challenges.
We welcome original papers that critically address topics such as:
– Urban morphology and spatial patterns of spa settlements
– Architecture of health, treatment, and hospitality facilities
– Cultural and natural heritage: values, preservation, and reactivation
– Therapeutic landscapes and environmental integration
– Spatial planning, regulatory frameworks, and governance in spa contexts
– Adaptive reuse of abandoned spa facilities
– Digital tools and methods for the analysis and interpretation of spa settlements
– Comparative and transdisciplinary studies of spa urbanism across regions
Academic, analytical, and case-based contributions are welcome, particularly those that foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between the spatial, social, and ecological dimensions of spa settlements. This Special Issue is part of the research initiative SPATTERN (https://spattern.org/), supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, and aims to foster a broader academic dialogue on the spatial, cultural, and developmental dimensions of spa settlements.
To submit a paper, kindly go to our Author Guidelines page and follow the instructions provided. Alternatively, if you are familiar with SAJ publication process, you can submit your paper directly by clicking the button below. If you do not feel comfortable using the Assistant publishing platform, you can submit your paper by emailing the Editorial office directly at saj@arh.bg.ac.rs.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial office at saj@arh.bg.ac.rs.