Welcome to the 2025 Call for Presentations

Water is the lifeblood of Rhode Island, the Ocean State. Canals and rivers connect industrial centers throughout New England to Providence and its harbor on the northern edge of Narragansett Bay. With the amount of water surrounding and traversing Providence, it is unsurprising that it was an early maritime and trade hub. By the mid 18th-century, the Blackstone River, terminating in Providence, was a critical artery for power, transportation, and technical innovation, supporting the origins of the American Industrial Revolution, with mills harnessing water power through revolving wheels. As the Blackstone was transformed into “the hardest working river ... in the United States,” the Providence area evolved into a dense 19th century industrial hub, with craftsmen and mill workers producing a wide array of goods including costume jewelry, textiles, machines, and machine parts. Mill operators saw the region’s rivers as dumps for their industrial waste, and the region turned its back on these resources During the 20th century, the Providence River was covered with concrete, hiding it from view.

As factories started to move south in the 1920s, a period of deindustrialization began, and the region’s economic base and urban fabric fell into decline. Organized crime and poverty grew, financially-able residents left Providence at alarming rates, and urban blight took hold. Due to lack of financial resources, buildings were typically abandoned rather than torn down. In the 1950s, a preservation movement began to take hold in key parts of the city, and a multi-decade transformation began.

In the later half of the 20th century, downtown Providence experienced what was locally called a Renaissance, in which the river was uncovered as a feature, parks were created, and plans put in place to revitalize the city. The region contained a wealth of industrial buildings to be preserved and the city began to actively revive the buildings and the culture. A number of new innovative plans, focused on the infrastructure and landscaping improvements, downtown redevelopment, and adaptive reuse and preservation of historic buildings, has allowed for the city to thrive once again. This conference will explore how the power of water, craft, and architecture can be harnessed in Revolution and Innovation.

Deadlines
General Presentation submissions - February 4, 2025
APT Student presentation/scholarship applications - February 4, 2025
Notification of acceptance of Presentation and APT Student Scholars will be made in May 2025

Additional Information
General Presentation Guidelines

APT Student Scholar Presentation Guidelines

Theme and Track Information

Speaker Agreement Draft

Track Information
Professionals and students are invited to propose a presentation abstract per the General and Student Abstract Submission Guidelines, respectively. Presentations should address the overarching conference theme and fit into one of the three broadly defined tracks below.

Track 1: Water: Building Strength from Vulnerability

Track 2: Craft: Traditional Craftsmanship in a Technical World

Track 3: Architecture: Fabric of Industry and Innovation