As Tom Carter and Betsy Cromley emphasize in their Invitation to Vernacular Architecture, the foundational introductory text for our field, field-work is central to the work of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. At the 2021 VAF Virtual Conference, we convened a group of VAF members for a plenary session called 'Fieldwork Futures' that considered how our work in the field is evolving as intellectual, social, and technological conditions change around us. This panel led to a wide-ranging discussion among all those assembled about what the future of vernacular fieldwork might look like.1 After that session, we asked our panelists to follow up with a round of written commentary for this issue of Buildings Landscapes, and we are delighted with the result. These articles allow the panelists room to expand on points they made during the session and to issue new challenges to our field in the twenty-first century. All of these authors ask about the meaning and relevance of vernacular fieldwork in the contemporary world and offer suggestions about how our field should carry out its mission to explore the ordinary built environment.
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