An ATLAS of Follies. Ah, the folly of youth!

Abstract

The ATLAS presented in this section is the result of a call for students’ projects based on the topic FOLLIES in the public realm as objects and places of delight and pleasure and, therefore, of fun and happiness. Follies were to be thought of as urban devices that would trigger the social and cultural transformation of cities, as mechanisms for positive social change, and as attractive structures to promote encounters between people and between people and places. The UoU workshops are a place where the concepts of cultural values, public space and public place are explored through architectural interventions. Reflections on these workshops were encouraged for this section of the journal that focusses on the education of future architects, the internationalisation of teaching architecture, European universities, architectural education and finally, on architecture and sociocultural responsibilities. This topic has been explored at the University of Évora for a couple of years and it therefore informed the semester two Workshop #3b of the University of Universities (UoU) project.