In the post-war period from 1945 to 1975 the design and construction of New Towns, satellite towns and other settlement schemes were instrumental to the realisation of the welfare state policies of the ‘Nordic Model’. At present, the futures of the Nordic welfare states are debated in the political context of New Public Management, migration and environmental crisis. However, there has not yet been a sustained effort to systematically explore and compare the traits of welfare state architecture beyond the post-war period in a way that is relevant for understanding the current context.

The workshop series Nordic Models of Architecture and Welfare calls for a reassessment of the instrumental roles of architecture and planning in Nordic welfare policies. The series is anchored in the inter-Scandinavian research network for architecture and welfare and aim to publish an anthology based on contributions in the workshops, as well as to form the basis for new research projects and grant applications. For the first workshop, ‘Welfare and the Recent Past’, we welcome abstracts that address the following themes in a study of architecture and planning in at least one of the Nordic countries:

- Architecture and welfare after 1975: After the post-war period the political, economic and social context for architecture and planning changed. We welcome abstracts that discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges this poses for research on second-generation welfare architecture.

- The myth of the Nordic: The Nordic Model tends to be discussed in idealising terms that disregard differences in historical developments between the countries. We are interested in studies of international perspectives on the Nordic, and the translations of both modernist architecture and welfare state policies into different Nordic contexts.

- Changing institutions and architectures: Abstracts can address historical and current developments of either architecture of formal welfare institutions, or institutions understood as established practice or discourses that reshape welfare systems and -spaces.

- Heritage and the recent past: Nordic post-war welfare state architecture and landscapes are increasingly being reassessed, restored or adapted to the current political, economic and social context. We welcome abstracts that reflect on the relationships between welfare, heritage and re-assessment of architecture and landscapes in this process.

- Culture and critique: We welcome abstracts on changes in the relationship between cultural practices and welfare state architecture and planning after the post-war years. This could involve studies of counter culture, youth culture, and generational differences in culture and spatial practice.