ABSENCE

In 2026, the annual SAHANZ conference will be held in conjunction with the bi-annual Australasian Urban History Planning History conference.

SAHANZ-AUHPH 2026 will be hosted by the University of Melbourne, on the theme of Absence.

Our cities and landscapes are pockmarked by evidence of absence. Architectural, landscape and planning practices and their histories are similarly marked: by the unbuilt and unrealised, by the demolished, by the invisible and by the hidden. Gaps between buildings and unfinished estates are parallels to the spaces we have carved out of nature in order to build. Moreover, the void – the negative space enclosed by an architectural, theoretical, chronological, historiographical or geographical frame – is often as telling as the surrounding structure.

Three updates re. the SAHANZ-AUHPH 2026, “Absence,” being hosted by the University of Melbourne from 7 to 9 December. First, in conjunction with registration, tickets for the conference dinner are now available. They are selling fast, so buy yours now to ensure you don’t miss out. They won’t be available on the night. Second, various tours are being arranged for Sunday 6 December, with details to be on the website soon. And third, the convenors have reintroduced the step of requiring authors to submit revised papers before the conference (with a deadline 12 October), which will help to ensure the proceedings can be published in a timely manner. For more information, see the conference website.

https://bookings.events.unimelb.edu.au/event/absence2026

Please contact  if you have any questions about conference registration.