Docomomo US invites submissions for a 2026 special edition focused on Recreation & Play – the mid-twentieth-century sites where communities gathered for leisure, movement, social life, and joy.
This edition will examine parks, plazas, skate spaces, swimming pools, playgrounds, amusement sites, and recreational landscapes built between 1949 and 1969, with particular attention to informal use, cultural practices, and histories of access, exclusion, and belonging. Contributions may address architectural, landscape, social, artistic, or cultural dimensions of recreation and play.
We welcome submissions from scholars, practitioners, preservationists, students, artists, and community members.
Submission types
- Short essays
- Site profiles
- Interviews
- Photo essays or visual narratives
Key themes
- Skateboarding and informal use of modernist spaces
- Parks, plazas, and civic leisure
- Pools, playgrounds, and youth-centered design
- Art, sculpture, and interactive landscapes
- Segregation, exclusion, and public space
- Underrecognized or newly eligible sites
Proposals are due Friday, April 17. If your article is accepted, materials are due by Monday, June 29, 2025. See below for article submission instructions.
Article Submission Instructions
Articles can take the form of new/original material; book excerpts; visual essays; articles from regional publications seeking a wider audience; articles from print-only publications that would like the article to be published digitally; modified thesis or thesis excerpts; and more.
Article proposals should be submitted via email to info@docomomo-us.org and should include:
- Article title
- Brief description summarizing article content along with a short outline of the structure of the piece
- A statement on how the subject contributes to the broader discussion of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and justice.
- 1-2 samples of images and captions that would be included in the article
- Author(s) bios
Final articles are typically 500-2,000 words and feature at least 4–6 images with captions. The author is responsible for securing any image/copyright permissions.