III International Congress on Colonial and Post-colonial Landscapes: Architecture, Colonialism and Labour
11-13 February 2026
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (to be confirmed)​
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After questioning Architecture, Cities and Infrastructure (2019) and Architecture, Colonialism and War (2023), the third edition of the Colonial and Post-colonial Landscapes Congress (2026) will intersect the topics of Architecture, Colonialism and Labour.
Although a common topic in colonial historiography, the influence of large-scale labor on the creation of built environments—including the design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure, buildings and landscapes—has not been fully explored in the context of colonial architecture. The topic has significant implications not only for the description of past societies, but especially for the comprehension and support of present-day communities with colonial pasts and their relationship to the production of space. Connecting architecture and labor in these contexts offers a promising avenue for addressing some of the challenges encountered by postcolonial societies. These include the relationship with "Western" construction technologies and materials, scarcity of traditional building systems and their undervalued insights on climate adaptation and sustainable solutions, and persistent racial and gender inequalities in public works labor environments.
This congress welcomes contributions from diverse geographical, disciplinary, and chronological backgrounds to promote a wide and tough-provoking debate, crossing the history of colonial architecture, labour and social history and construction technology.


The conference is part of the ongoing research project “ArchLabour Architecture, Colonialism and Labour. The role and legacy of mass labour in the design, planning and construction of Public Works in former African territories under Portuguese colonial rule,” coordinated by Ana Vaz Milheiro, funded by the European Research Council (ERC, grant 1101096606), and based in Dinâmia’CET-Iscte, Lisbon.