This document discusses the changing nature of cities and consumerism. It notes that production has increasingly moved away from local areas to other continents, separating people from the physical products they use. Historic markets in cities are being torn down and replaced by large commercial centers that lack social interaction. However, some examples of abandoned buildings being reused or residents reclaiming unused space show potential approaches to more empowering urban design and an "open city" where people feel ownership over their environment.
The paper tries to evaluate today’s architecture as part of a ‘star system’ where originality is the main purpose of the architectural object. Upon this it is tried to create a theory based in the loss of part of the individuality of the architect in order to achieve a greater result based upon the coherence of a whole built system: a city, a village, a street, etc. The recognition of a place’s Signs is part of that process, not with the intent of copying the surrounding reality, but to interpret its main features. The resulting depurative process will obliterate those Signs that already have lost their meaning and do not contribute to the recognition of a site’s architecture, to an appreciation that evolves from the large scale observation of the landscape to the detail in architecture. Coherence is therefore the main purpose of the process, whether it’s applied to a historical context, a popular urban settlement or a contemporary neighbourhood.
It is an assignment on urban design basic factors, whereas a designer should keep in mind in urban designing.
Here I tried to describe factors by pointing as anyone could find a basic concept on urban design. Hope it'll be helpful.
Launch conference presentation of Dr. Pietro Elisei, coordinator of the YPLAN project, on why co-designing public space is essential for the present and future wellbeing of the citizens - young and old alike.
This short essay is connected to the IKT (IKT - International association of curators of contemporary art) lecture presented in Siena in June 2001, titled "Anatomy of the Swiss Army Knife". This lecture addresses the do's and don't of art in the public realm, and the highly specific tools one needs to cope with the benevolent (or malevolent, for that matter) properties of the public realm in all its intricacies.
The paper tries to evaluate today’s architecture as part of a ‘star system’ where originality is the main purpose of the architectural object. Upon this it is tried to create a theory based in the loss of part of the individuality of the architect in order to achieve a greater result based upon the coherence of a whole built system: a city, a village, a street, etc. The recognition of a place’s Signs is part of that process, not with the intent of copying the surrounding reality, but to interpret its main features. The resulting depurative process will obliterate those Signs that already have lost their meaning and do not contribute to the recognition of a site’s architecture, to an appreciation that evolves from the large scale observation of the landscape to the detail in architecture. Coherence is therefore the main purpose of the process, whether it’s applied to a historical context, a popular urban settlement or a contemporary neighbourhood.
It is an assignment on urban design basic factors, whereas a designer should keep in mind in urban designing.
Here I tried to describe factors by pointing as anyone could find a basic concept on urban design. Hope it'll be helpful.
Launch conference presentation of Dr. Pietro Elisei, coordinator of the YPLAN project, on why co-designing public space is essential for the present and future wellbeing of the citizens - young and old alike.
This short essay is connected to the IKT (IKT - International association of curators of contemporary art) lecture presented in Siena in June 2001, titled "Anatomy of the Swiss Army Knife". This lecture addresses the do's and don't of art in the public realm, and the highly specific tools one needs to cope with the benevolent (or malevolent, for that matter) properties of the public realm in all its intricacies.
re:Kreators is a European platform for city makers and public developers. Key partners are Holzmarkt Berlin, KÉK Budapest, ZOHO Rotterdam, Make a Point Bucharest, Shuffle London, Darwin Bordeaux, PB34 Copenhagen and Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam. This brochure describes the new type of civic lead urban development of these re:Kreators.
1. We believe in a way of living in the city that is interesting, affordable and just. We create thoughtful places with care. We create values: money, social, welfare and artistic.
2. We generate diverse ownership - mentally, emotionally and legally; diverse groups feel at home in and feel ownership over our places.
3. We Create places that lift everyone’s spirits, and drive people beyond what they would normally come across. Our places are open, inclusive and brilliant.
4. We Look for true change. We are not interested in just pop-up, get people’s hopes up and leave. We use the existing energy, build on existing quality, structures and re:kreate by smooth transition.
5. We take a step beyond bottom-up or top-down: we build partnerships between these worlds.
https://citiesintransition.eu/transition/rekreators
A short overview of the practical tools and research methods, developed by the Laboratory for Urban Games and Research while working with Vilnius public spaces and neighbourhoods since 2009.
Trumpa apžvalga dizaino paremtų tyrimo metodų ir vietokūros sprendinių, skirtų viešosioms erdvėms ir kaimynijoms, kurias miesto žaidimų ir tyrimų laboratorija Laimikis.lt plėtojo nuo 2009 m. dirbdama Vilniaus erdvėse.
Prologue to "Better Cities, Better Life" book that is going to be published in the following months.
The Prologue Chapter is called "Urban Innovation: A Decalogue to Explore a City" (Igor Calzada)
1. #269 SIGNIFICANT DETAILS >>>>>>> OPEN CITY
# OPEN CITY
As with all tangible things, the products we use every day - as well as the environment we inhabit -
are often offered to us in a narrow window that prevents us from seing them as part of a bigger
picture. Yet, however beautiful and suggestive the poetic image of the invisible hand of the free
market system may be, in practice one of its tangible effects is out alienation from our holistic
environment.
Sustainable development may now be a motto, but in modern society the creation of most consumer
products has migrated not only from our localities to places away from our cities, but often even
farther, to other continents. As a result, the complexity of production -- the complexity of our lives
-- seems to have separated us from a simple organic relationship to the physicality of the products
we use -- and in general from the visible matter -- as an essential part of the environment we live in.
In cities, even historic covered markets buildings are teared down. An emblematic example being,
in the epicenter of Paris, the former Halles and their iconic Baltard's iron structures, famed pulsating
heart of the city documented by Atget photographs and Zola's novel, and so on. One among other,
culturally significant places dismantled or displaced far away from the cities centers... Many similar
markets accross the world's metropolises (London, New York, cities of Eastern Europe...) are indeed
threatened by development schemes. Often in order to be replaced by commercial centers, such as,
precisely, the «forum des Halles» shoved underground in the very place of the market, but which
does not live up to the expectations conveyed by the word «forum», in terms of sociability.
As a further step, one of the answers to our new habits is even to replace traditional shops by
vending machines, with all the added values in terms of 24h 7 days/7 accessibility, but quite
obviously at the cost of a complete loss of any social interaction...
2. Some retail projects though, far from the usual and not sustainable supermarket model, have made
use of existing abandoned plants, respecting those testimonies to the industrial history of the city.
However, how interesting they may be, those enterprises are still based on the economical and
societal model of consumer's society...
Some of the pressing questions we are currently faced with then include: "How can we expect
people to understand these complexities and be actively involved in them, feel ownership and take
responsibility? And does the synthesis of our complexity and alienation find a direct mirror in how
we feel about our cities?” [1]
We could not multiply examples, and certainly did not choose the most appealing photographs to
illustrate them, but some expressing current issues. Namely, snapshots, or significant details,
bearing witness to the ability of sometimes simple ideas to change the face of the city and our daily
urban experiences...
3. Quite obviously, one of the answers resides in architecture.
This black (in contrast to the red-brick and white painted adjacent townhouses) single-family but
intergenerational house, with some activity/office space at the basement level, is made of simple
forms and built for a per square meter price significantly lower than average, in spite of a
conception that integrates sustainability (choice of the materials and construction process, and
maintenance and energetic issues for years to come.. ).
The issues surrounding such an isolated architectural object are of course far from those of a
collective housing operation.
A good example of response to community concerns is this larger scale real estate development
project, initially implying the erection of up to 6 stories buildings detached from the streetline, in an
environment of family houses of 2 stories at most. Those plans prompted argued criticisms by the
inhabitants in the vicinity, the project was later amended to create as many units, with the same
maximum height, but in a much more contextual fashion. And the promoters eventually admitted
that in the redesigning process, some new terraces could be created toward the roofs of the existing
houses in compensation for the higher density, and that following the pattern of the streets gave
complexity and cachet to the otherwise unspectacular buildings.
This is an isolated intervention, that certainly respectfully rejuvenates the neighbourghood, but then
what about the connection beetween areas, and the enhancement of a pleasant and smooth
pedestrian mobility in the «legible city» ? Some of the possible approaches to address these
questions include a variety of interesting initiatives where design irrigates the city. We do not think
here of such concepts "capitals of design" or of venturous and bold design gestures, but of micro
scale interventions, when for example the form of the passageway is reinvented in order to gently
insert new streams into an existing row of houses. The newly created one, modest in proportion to
the neighbouring buildings, is relevant by its usability, the pertinence of its signaletics mixed with
an artistic intervention, and moreover, reveals itself at night. Here the implications of the "24 hours
city" are adressed by clever lighting design. (double illustration on the following page)
4. Transforming former plants (or docks warehouses, etc...) into lofts/apartments is nothing new, and
widely branded successful developments have changed entire areas of cities, making them some of
the most attractive and much coveted, thus not quite affordable anymore.... There is another way for
inhabitants to litteraly reclaim parts of the city: sometimes, such as in this beleaguered areas,
abandoned plants are first «assaulted» by groups of illicit occupiers, and through a negociation
process, it eventually happens that they are able to settle legally in a portion of the building, start its
renovation, whereas vast parts of the building remain available for potential activity development.
Such examples are harbingers of new trends towards more empowerment of the inhabitants.
Eventually, the "open design" movement promotes a shift from the traditional passive consumer to
an active owner, who is involved in the process of creation, production and adaptation. A design
process which is open, where the end product is the result of an iterative process, similar to the
software releases in the development of open source software. When we decide to transfer this open
design approach to the urban context, can we really become the creators of the open source city ?
5. Active artistic participation is certainly not limited to the «creative class» depicted by Richard
Florida in his 2002 book. Some citizens are engaged in an approach whose aim is to connect people
to social issues through artistic expression. Those enterprises include interventions such as painting
and drawing on walls, i.e. the creation of so called public murals and the transformation of dustbins.
An interesting example of this idea of creating visible matter in the city as art, in fact of tinkering
and creating and making our cities our own is that of the «social creatives». This concept finds
expression in projects originated by Faris Basharahil, the founder and Director of, precisely, Social
Creatives, a non-profit social enterprise which promotes community art [2]. He calls this kind of
work “legal vandalism for a good cause.”
And at this end of our urban wandering, we will borrow our last words to the aforementioned
representative of this movement: "We do legal vandalism. A picture speaks a thousand words. A
motion is a thousand pictures. An emotion to a thousand motion. What we do is not just to paint but
to spread emotions to one another. We hope to make society more colourful both visually and
emotionally”. We make us this statement, as one of the many entries to adressing the challenges of
the open city...
NOTES # EXTERNAL LINKS:
[1] http://watershed.co.uk/opencity/think-pieces/think-piece-2
[2] http://www.thecity2.org/stories/community-created-street-art
(the quoted example of community created art does not refer to the photographs we took and only serves as a
reference, regarding the global project i.e the active artistic & community approach)