SYNCHRONICITY

Double Fake - Imitations at Berlin Potsdamer Platz

2012-02-08T17:31:00.000+01:00

At times of the Berlinale film festival,one heads out to Berlin Potsdamer Platz quite frequently. I recently took acouple of pictures of the remains of the potemkin village in the heart ofBerlin's inner city.

The building and its fake twin. 2012. (Image by SYNCHRONICITY)

Fake building. 2012. (Image by SYNCHRONICITY)

(Image by SYNCHRONICITY)

The Potsdamer Platz and its adjacent Leipziger Platz, gotrebuilt as the new (old) downtown city center according to local urbanplanners. In order to not be too dependent on investment the city decided tobuild fake buildings instead: Huge scaffoldings dressed in banners withfacade printing anticipate what once will be. The last remaining giant is thescaffolding separating Leipziger Platz from Potsdamer Platz. Together with itstwin (an actual building) they articulate a symmetric gate seen from the oneside, and enclose the octagon of Leipziger Platz from the other side. The areagot completely destroyed during the bombings of WW II; after the Wende, Leipziger Platz got restored inplan. However many of the new buildings are reminiscent of the 1920s era. Therefore,with its huge buildings and high-rises, this part of the New Berlin imitatesNorth American downtowns such as New York or Chicago. Like in other parts of the city, current urban planning tries to imitate the image of the GoldenTwenties when Berlin was the flourishing, densely populated capital of WeimarRepublic. Only 1920sBerlin never looked like 1920s New York. Arguably the contemporary PotsdamerPlatz has an aura of a double fake: buildings that are not buildings, and new buildingsthat pretend to be old. These are conspicuous symptoms of both, the citystruggling with its past and the image the contemporary metropolis aspires tocreate.

Leipziger Platz scaffolding 2010 (Image source)

Leipziger Platz / Potsdamer Platz 1902 (Image source)

Leipziger Platz 1921 (Image source)

Leipziger Platz 2011 with two fake buildings (Image source)

1920s inspired architecture at Potsdamer Platz (Ritz Carlton) Image source

Scaffolding on Google Maps

Anagram Urbanism - Re-shuffling the City

2012-02-02T16:41:00.000+01:00

When skimming through my notebook today, Igot reminded of a lecture by German artists Köbberling/Kaltwasserback in November at the University of the Arts Berlin. The artists werepresenting a series of projects and urban interventions in public space under the subject ofconsidering the city as anagram. Their site-specific interventions use locallysourced materials that are transformed into object-like architecturalconstructions. Characteristically, the appearance of those constructionsis imperfect and unfinished. After the destruction of the installations,objects and houses, the materials the artists have been using, disintegrate inthe materiality of the city again. Conceptually, they understand their work asa snapshot of recycling and reshuffling a city's materials and thereforeemploying the concept of an anagram. I would argue further to not onlyunderstand their way of reshuffling materials as being analogous to theanagram, but also the fact that many of their constructions are executed in acollective effort to integrate local inhabitants in the process of building:'Beyond creating art and design objects and architecture, we initiate action'.Hence, through a participatory approach and the way in which a city's materialsget recycled and reshuffled the whole process might be termed as AnagramUrbanism: Reshuffling and recycling the built and human fabric of the city.Thinking this further, such a conceptualisation of an urbanistic approachpresupposes that the ingredients for urban change are already inscribed in thecity itself; the actions that need to be taken are excavating this pre-existingpotentials lying within the urban human and nonhuman networks and initiatingand orchestrating a process of reshuffling. The Anagram Urbanism approach wouldthen be in close dialogue with Saskia Sassen's work on OpenSource Urbanism which has been recently presented here on this blog. Discoveringthe pre-existing potentials or utilising the existing recources inscribed in the city, Anagram Urbanism then is comparable to Sassen'sunderstanding of the city as incomplete and the potential of the city to 'talkback'. And to go further, would that mean that the approach of an Anagram Urbanism wouldmake our cities more resilient, environmentally and also socially? I am not able to give the answers yet but I believe that this conceptual framework is definitively helpful to think about the present and also future state of the city and, furthermore also bears the potential of being incorporated into urban planning strategies.
To finish this thought, here are some images ofKöbberling/Kaltwassers work, that, in case you have not recognised yet, is alsofeatured as the new header image on top of the blog.

Jellyfish Theatre London 2010 (image source)


Hausbau Gropiusstadt Berlin 2004 (image source)

Hausbau Gropiusstadt Berlin 2004 (image source)

Container ‘Mall’ – An Example of Urban Informality in Odessa

2012-01-27T15:22:00.002+01:00

all images taken from the amazing series by Ukrainian photographer Kirill Golovchenko

The 7KM Marketis probably Europe’s most extraordinary market, partly with the air of abazaar, partly post-soviet retail eldorado, it mainly consists out of shippingcontainers. Its atmosphere has nothing in common with the recently openedshipping container pop-up shopping mallin East London - but probably has been inspirational thereof.

Odessa’s huge container market is locatedoutside the city right along the main road which leads to the airport. Its nameindicates its location: seven kilometres out of the city. The market covers an enormousarea of 700,000 m2 and therefore is significantly tops the world’s largest shoppingmall, the GoldenResources Mall in Beijing with its 560,000 m2 or retail area and coversalmost twice the area as North America’s largest mall the West Edmonton Mallin Canada. Founded in 1989, the market claims to be the largest market inEurope. There are about 16,000 trades and it is also the region’s biggestemployer with 1,200 people mainly working as guards or janitors. In 2004, dailysales were as high as $20 million by an estimated number of 150,000 customersper day.

7KM Market outside Odessa (via GoogleMaps)

The shops, or market stalls at the 7KMmarket consist mainly of shipping containers stacked on two levels and arrangedin street like layout. For orientation purposes many of these streets arecolour codes and named accordingly. On the ground floor the products are sold,and the upper levels serve as storage spaces. People describe the market as aplace of social interaction and home-like sociability - a place where peoplewould meet and hang out.

The market is known far beyond the citylimits of Odessa for its cheap products of any kind (from clothing tofurniture, electrical goods, jewellery, cosmetics, etc., etc.). Approximately60% of all Ukrainians (or 28 millions) buy their clothes on the 7KM market. Evencustomers from Russia or Moldavia and Romania come to the market, many travellingfrom as far away as 500 km. They usually arrive early morning by busses ortrains and leave the market by midday. The bought goods are usually sold againin their home countries. Goodslike guns or drugs, are rumoured to got sold during the night before the marketofficially opens around 4 a.m.

all images taken from the amazing series by Ukrainian photographer Kirill Golovchenko

Apart from the trade with illegal goods,the market floats in a half official grey area of informal economies. Localsoften refer to the market as a ‘state within a state’, a place with its ownrules, laws and regulations. The local newspaper described the market to have‘become a sinecure for the rich and a trade haven for the poor’. It is known asa place where almost any trader avoids taxes, duties and licences. To become atrader you either need to have access to the network of the market or a decentamount of capital, or both. In the late 1990’s containers could been bought for$1,000, in 2007 the prices shot up to $240,000. One model is that the owners ofthe containers franchise out to employers who then hire sellers on a day-to-daybasis to retail the owner’s products. The sellers’ profit is reduced to aminimum. The other, more risky model is that retailers rent the containers andset up their own trading business. The owners need to make certain payments tothe market authority, whether these are taxes or rent is unclear. The authorityclaims that the market’s owner pay $11 million per year in local taxes. But forincome taxes custom duties and other taxes on goods the authority is notresponsible. This is the responsibility of each trader. The tax authorities arenot able to enter the realm of the market ‘state’, and therefore also theprices at the market can be kept that low. During the time Julia Timoshenko wasin power, she constantly threatened the market to shut down due to violation oftax regulation. Rumours circulating within the local media claim that the laterpresident. Yushchenko is said to visit the market every two months and pockets$ 20 million each time. No one knows what exactly the money is actually for,but most obviously this is some sort of protection money and the market isstill working on.

The enormous profitability for the tradersand owners, but also for the customers who buy cheap products, obviously verymuch relies on the informality of the market system. Over the years the markethas reached a status of operating as a complex economical ecology that isdifficult to break up. The fate of the market depends very much on the economyof the Ukraine who is often been characterised as a shadow economy. Once theUkrainian economy will develop normally the necessity of the market willshrink. Moreover and recently, the market and its informal economy have notbeen able to completely withdraw from the global market developments. With theworld economic crisis also the economical success of the market shrank,resulting in many containers locked down, empty or even removed.

The main figures and fact have been takenout of the research by VeraSkvirskaja and Caroline Humphrey from highly interesting research group other markets and Steven Lee Myersarticle in the NYT.

Open Source Urbanism – Hacking The City

2012-01-19T17:57:00.000+01:00

There exist various different notions ofOpen Source Urbanism and in recent years various – sometimes cruciallydifferent - approaches to conceptualise phenomena in the contemporarymetropolis have been developed under this terminology. Saskia Sassen’s talk on Talkingback to your Intelligent City at the BMWLab last summer was recently putonline and has been inspiring this post.

I first came across the term of Open SourceUrbanism through following the work of UrbanCatalyst, a Berlin-based research and consultant group. In their article inthe architecture magazine Arch+ dating back to the year 2007 entitled ‘OpenSource Urbanismus: vom Inselurbanism zur Urbanität der Zwischenräume’ they explored the principle ofopen-source analogous to the development of computer software. Targetingalterations in urban policy, Urban Catalyst’s planning concept proposes toencompass a multiplicity of actors with diverse backgrounds to participate inthe planning process. Open Sourceis therefore used as the metaphor for manifold ideas that should get involvedin working towards a more socially sustainable approach in urban governance andplanning. Also the concept of considering the urban landscape as a“palmipsest”, where new layers do not obscure all traces of their predecessorswould maintain a particular sense of place, that is often lacking incontemporary planning. According to Urban Catalyst it is veryimportant to allow for modifications and ameliorations during this process.This may also result in altering the initial planning goal. The issue ofparticipation and taping the resources inherent to the urban human fabric byfar is not a new concept, although urban policy makers have been advertisingthis approach extensively the last decade. Urban Catalyst further suggest tohack the city through modes of meanwhile uses and use the existinginfrastructures as sources for urban change. In fact, I would argue that thisdefinition of Open Source Urbanism dates back to the Situationist city ofUnitary Urbanism, where urban dynamics would no longer be driven by bureaucracyand capitalism but by participation. Adaptability and the flux, favouringprocess over goal, as well as participation are ideals that are vital for thisway of urbanism. Nevertheless the concept is not new, these topics are stillhighly topical in contemporary urban discourses.

'Fassadenrepublik' by raumlabor berlin as part of the project Zwischenpalastnutzung by Urban Catalyst (image source)

The connection of Open Source Urbanism and the Situationsts havealso been explored by more technologicallydriven approaches, that I will not go deeper into herein. What willprobably be the most influential debate on this terminology would be SaskiaSassen’s. She understands Open Source Urbanism as a type in which the city‘talks back’. The city can also be understood as an assemblage of myriadinterventions and little changes from the ground up (urban protests like theStuttgart). The power lies not so much in each single one of thoseinterventions, but more in the assemblage of those. Together they add meaningto the incompleteness of the city and the city talks back in a dynamic manner.And this very incompleteness, according to Sassen, is the power of the city,something which cannot be achieved by planning the technological intelligentcity like Songdoor Masdar. With herunderstanding of Urban Source Urbanism Sassen combines the understanding ofUrban Catalysts approach that what should be strengthened is that the city isconstituted by the existing materials and the existing human fabric with thetechnological approach towards urban Source. She understands the city not onlyas consisting of hardware – like the Intelligent City – but also as thesoftware of people’s practices. Intelligent cities are closed systems who willbecome obsolete sooner.

Sassen draws on the example of New York’s Riverside Park, whichdeveloped from a no-go area to being a park for all those who wanted to use it,partly because dog-owners started to walk their dogs in large numbers. Dogkeeping was a reaction of feeling insecure in the neighbourhood. And the citytalked back: get a dog, of course you need to walk your dog, many others do,and therefore your recover the territory of the park. Similarly the increasingamount of farmers’ markets is also an example where the city talks back. It hasnot been a top-down decision. It’s a result of various conditions, butprimarily the desire of city resident to have access to fresh produce. Whatbecomes apparent here is that a thousand individual decisions enabled thepossibility for creating a viable farmers’ market.

Riverside Park dog run (source)

Sassen sees in Open Source ‘a DNA that resonates strongly with howpeople make the city theirs or urbanize what might be an individual initiative(…) Recovering the incompleteness of cities means recovering a space where thework of open sourcing the urban can thrive’.

Urban Gardening in St Petersburg, Russia

2012-01-10T15:20:00.000+01:00

Environmental activism in post-sovietRussia used to be the country’s most dynamic and effective forms of socialactivism. In contemporary Russia, however, activists face severe obstacles inpromoting green issues. The SaintPetersburg Urban Gardening Club, founded as early as 1993, is stillstruggling with the authorities’ acknowledgments of its important work.

St Petersburg rooftop.Image source.

Philipp Brugner from the Austrian radio broadcasting dérive – Radio für Stadtforschung produced an interesting comment on the urban farming initiative in the second largest city in Russia: Urban gardening in St Petersburg often is afight for survival. With 5 million inhabitants plus approximately anothermillion illegal inhabitants, St Petersburg is the northernmost megacity of theplanet. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, St Petersburg has been a boom townfor jobseekers mainly due to its numerous construction projects. Nowadays thecity is facing huge problems as a direct consequence to its boom. The citygovernment is focusing on its own prestige with building projects like the Othka Center instead oftackling its socials problems: half of the population is living below povertylevel, 6000 people are homeless and 1600 children are living on the streets ofthe tsar city. Furthermore the city is facing enormous ecological problems,where air pollution and insufficient garbage disposal are only the mostapparent.

This is the setting the Urban GardeningClub (UGC) has to face. The history of urban gardening in St Petersburg datesback to the late 19^th century when rural aristocrats moved to thecity maintaining their rural lifestyle. During the time of the Soviet Uniononly retired and disabled persons were allowed to fulfil agriculturaloccupation for their own use. Gradually the rules had been relaxed and at leastat the urban fringes gardens for personal use could have been maintained, adevelopment known as the Russian dachafarming. After the collapse of the USSR, cultivating land has been a directresult of the following years of crisis. Many could have only survived throughproducing their own food.

Raised-bed gardening for horticultural therapy. St. Petersburg's Prostheses Center during the summer of 1996. Source.

Rooftop garden on top of a school in 1996. Source.

The UGC’s first project suggested using theroofs of buildings as croplands for socially deprived groups, due to the trickyclimate obviously a very challenging endeavour. The big advantage was that theroof grown fruits and vegetables were less polluted with heavy metals thancrops from the ground. Further projects involved cultivating the roofs of cityprison with involvements of the inmates, or cooperating with primary schools and the St Petersburg Prostheses Centre.

Alla Sokol at one of the UGC's rooftop gardens against the backtrop ot the St Petersburg cityscape. Source.

Although the city government has recognizedthe value of the initiatives of the club, Alla Sokol, founder of the UGC,points out that the government frequently obstructs new rooftop gardenprojects, since it is very difficult to obtain the licence for using therooftop as farmland. Especially in Russia, rooftop gardening has a hugepotential, as many people in larger cities live in buildings with huge sturdyrooftops constructed to bear the heaviest snow load. But many apartment blocks stillbelong to the government. Moreover, in blocks with only homeowners, usually thestaircases and the roofs stay the property of the government. Therefore it isvital for the success of the movement that the government is highly involved.

Furthermore the controls of the produce andcomposting plants of the institute of hygiene hinder the proliferation of themovement. Often they attest polluted crops although, as Sokol explains, thetests the UGC has commissioned, attest that the vegetables from the roof gardensare much less polluted than those that are grown on the ground. Within these controls, Sokol senses justanother administrative barrier.

Although low income, reduction ofpurchasing power, and high prices force people into subsistence agriculture inSt Petersburg, urban farming has not proliferated over the city yet. Many stillprefer the long way to the countryside, to cultivate their dacha.

Russian dacha. Source.

Article and interview with Alla Sokol via dérive – Radio für Stadtforschung, an Austrianradio broadcasting.

Happy Holidays with a Bunch of Urban Readings

2011-12-25T11:06:00.003+01:00

The architecture typology of the year 2011 is the tent, via Urban Affect

SYNCHRONICITY is also going on holidays. Meanwhile, here are a couple of suggested reads/links:

Allison Arieff writes on pop-up urbanism. City of Sound elucidates what cites and neuroscience can learn from each other. Peter Frase imagines four futures of capitalism after OWS, whereas Al Gore and David Blood imagine a sustainable capitalism. Also check out this interview with Thomas Balsley as the person who has designed more POPS (Privately Owned Public Spaces) than anyone else in New York City. Hito Steyerl on art as occupation. The economist explains the strange but extremely valuable science of how pedestrians behave. And finally, in this archive designers list their 3 favourite buildings.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, and see you back in the new year! And check out my twitter page for more regular comments.

International Public Space Library

2011-12-16T20:09:00.000+01:00

Image source

IPSL book (source)

The International Public Space Library’s (IPSL) ambition is to offerbooks for free in public spaces all around the world. Soft-launched inSeptember 2010, under the light of the recent occupy movement the experimenthas gained new topicality. Unlikea traditional library, the IPSL has no physical building or location. Each oneof the books, anonymously donated, contains an IPAL label and are left inpublic spaces, free to pick up. Readers are encouraged to return the book afterreading to the library by placing it at another space.

Anyone can donate a book to the IPSLcollection. Just download a PDF copy of the IPSL ex libris here or download the imagebelow, print and affix it inside the front cover of the books you want to shareand spread them (but make sure they don’t get wet). With more publicity this project potentially is able to build up the greatest library of the planet and fromulates a challenging growing spatial configuration of a library consisting of connections and movements of books. "Libraries are not made; theygrow." (Augustine Birrell(1850-1933), Chief Secretary of Ireland)

During the just started 7-day growingexhibition on Strategiesfor Public Occupation by the Storefrontfor Art and Architecture, the IPSL will launch a temporary ‘pop-up’ branch.This temporary library will offer a selection of books to help stimulate theongoing public discussion of economics, politics, society and culture that maybe reflective of the Occupy Wall Street movement and other social movementsthat have been or are currently powered by the free exchange of ideas,particularly through the sharing of books. At Liberty Plaza (Zuccotti Park) theoccupiers established The People’s Librarywith a collection of more thatn 5500 books, unfortunately most of them got missingafter the police raid to clear the park in November.

China's Rapid Urbanization

2011-12-14T17:10:00.000+01:00

China's urbanization made visible from atop in this impressing video assembled with data from Google Earth. (link via polis)

Theory & Event - Supplement on OWS

2011-12-08T10:23:00.000+01:00

Image Source

The Journal Theory & Event Volume 14 Number 4 published a supplement on Occupy Wall Street that is openly available for three month. Contributions are amongst others Slavoj Žižek on Actual Politics and the journal's co-editor Jodi Dean on Claiming Division, Naming a Wrong.

Walter Benjamin - One Way Street

2011-12-08T09:46:00.001+01:00

John Hughes' film One Way Street: Fragments for Walter Benjamin (1993) provides a clear and accessible introduction to some of the central ideas in Benjamin's writings. Moreover, Hughes tries to translate some of Benjamin's ideas also visually through fragmentation using sub-frames, graphic overlaps and abrupt colour shifts. Definitely worth watching.

The City 2.0 - TED Prize Winner 2012

2011-12-08T08:20:00.000+01:00

For the first time the TED prize winner is not an individual but an Idea: The City 2.0. Unveilling what the city 2.0 might be the announcement on TED reads like a manifesto:

The City 2.0 is the city of the future… a future in which more than ten billion people on planet Earth must somehow live sustainably.

The City 2.0 is not a sterile utopian dream, but a real-world upgrade tapping into humanity’s collective wisdom.

The City 2.0 promotes innovation, education, culture, and economic opportunity.

The City 2.0 reduces the carbon footprint of its occupants, facilitates smaller families, and eases the environmental pressure on the world’s rural areas.

The City 2.0 is a place of beauty, wonder, excitement, inclusion, diversity, life.
The City 2.0 is the city that works.

So far- I would say - nothing revolutionary. But with the announcemnt of the prize winner TED also calls for contribution on the idea of the city 2.0.Individuals or organizations are called to formulate a 'wish' for this city of the future. The winning 'wish' will be unveiled by the end of February 2012. I am curious to see what the wishes will be.

The City As A Palimpsest: Teufelsberg

2011-12-06T10:48:00.001+01:00

+52° 29' 49.89", +13°14' 27.64"

Strolling around Berlin is not a journeythrough history it is the simultaneous experience of various histories. Ergo,many urban theorists refer to the city of Berlin as a palimpsest.

Recently, lured by a sunny autumn Sunday, Itook a long walk in West Berlin’s Grunewald – The Green Forest. At 3000hectares it is the largest green area in the capital. With its old oak trees noone would expect a rich history on this site – if it wasn’t Berlin. Out of theflat sea of trees raises the Devil’s Mountain – the Teufelsberg - 80 m abovethe level of the surrounding and completely flat Grunewald. The Teufelsberg isone of the highest elevations in the city. I approached the site from S-Bahnstation Heerstraße, the north-eastern part of the Grunewald. Soon after youenter the forest, the paths guide you upwards until you reach a vast plateau.You find yourself on a flat meadow. Very flat. However it’s not the Teufelsbergyou ended up- it is the Drachenberg –named after the most popular activity there: kite flying. From the plateau youhave a beautiful view over the city. If you look back where you came from, in immediateproximity, you experience the first evidence of the multiple histories ofBerlin which will become apparent on this excursion. Within one’s reach,embedded in the forest: Corbusier’s Unitéd’Habitation (1956-1958), the monumental statement of modern living. And right behind, quite disturbingly inscale, the Olympicstadium reminds you immediately of Berlin’s past as the imagined WelthauptstadtGermania. As my goal is the Teufelsberg I continue walking. Down the hill,back to the level of departure and upwards again to reach the peak of theDevil’s Mountain. On a clearing in the forest another monumental structureerects in front of you. Still having Corbusier in mind, I am surprised: Did themaster also built a chapel in Berlin?

Coming closer it becomes clear, it’s not aforgotten Corbusier relict standing on the hillside of Teufelsberg. The concrete structure isa 10 metres high climbing sculpture built in 1970. Fascinated by theserendipitous experience I follow the path over a small bridge which is openingthe view again towards the Olympic Stadium, the Unité and a cooling tower of aclose power station. Despite its presence, the stadium is only the mostapparent reminder of the nazi period. The other relicts of the city’s dark pastare covered under your feet. Both the Drachenberg and the Teufelsberg are notgeological elevations but artificial mountains – so-called Schuttberge or Trümmerberge. The debris of onethird of Berlin’s buildings that were destroyed during World War II are buriedunderneath the picturesque landscape. During the period of rebuilding Berlinafter the war from 1950 to 1972, up to 800 truckloads per day piled up to theartificial mountain. The reason for transporting the rubble to this particularsite excavates another layer of history: The unfinished WehrtechnischeFakultät, a massive university building designed by Albert Speer also as part of “WelthauptstadtGermania”, lies under the debris. The mountain is a burial ground for buildings (approximately15,000) and history. In 1972 the debris mountain got ‘naturalised’ and treeswere planted. Immediately the whole area was used as a sporting ground for manyBerliners. Especially in winter the mountain has been used for sledging orskiing – a skiing lift included.In 1985 even a skiing worldcup slalom took place. On the southern slope of thehill even a vineyard was laid out. Nowadays all of this has vanished.

But let’s continue to the highlight of ourtour: The derelict listening station erected and in operation during the ColdWar by the NSA (National Security Agency) andthe British army. Consisting of 4geodesic domes (with the highest - the radar tower - being 69 metres) the NSAand the RAF were able to surveil radiocommunication up to 600 kilometres - far beyond the Iron Curtainfrom the Teufelsberg. With their strategic point on the highest elevation ofWest Berlin, in all directions was “East”. It is rumoured that the station waspart of the global ECHELONintelligence gathering network.

When you enter the site, you are impressed byits sci-fi aesthetics of the geodesic domes. The ground is overgrown by pioneerplants, the adjacent buildings are half collapsed, with broken windows andimpress with an amazing variety of street art. In some buildings hugeincinerators and document shredders are still reminiscent of the past, wheretons and tons of sensitive information was collected – and destroyed.

If youvisit the site, the highlight is most definitely climbing up the radar tower.Half way you reach a plateau with two of the geodesic domes. Apart from theimpressive view over the city of Berlin, the domes are giving your visit analmost dramatic sci-fi moment. Uponentering the partly vandalised domes you are witnessing an impressive not-of-thisworld acoustics many artists have already beenexploring.

With the echoes in my head I climbed up theradar tower, stopping at each floor with its textiles waving in the wind. Thesound of the wind and the sun setting down behind the domes is just one of themost strong experiences you can get at this trip. When reaching the most epicspot – a ‘window’ at the highest point of the tower – you have hopefullybrought your laptop to download the data from the DeadDrop that have been installed ther very recently. What a perfect spot forthese containers usually hidden to transmit secret messages that were typicallyused by spies and now are spread all over.Unfortunately I left my laptop at home hence I could not download what is onthe DD: confidential cold war material! (If anyone is ever going to find theDD, the downloaded material is NOT supposed to be spread over the internet).

It is time to leave this unique spot. Thesun has already disappeared behind the horizon. While walking back through thedark forest, which is also known for the high concentration of wild boar hanging around there, I am wondering ifthere is any other city in the world where the notion of the palimpsest is more appropriate or more intense?This excursion truly has been a journey expanding far beyond the couple ofhours of a sunny autumn afternoon.

all Images by SYNCHRONICITY

The Detroit-Berlin Connection

2011-11-30T17:11:00.000+01:00

Numerous comparisons have been made between Detroit and Berlin. Especially within the fields of electronic music or the thriving art scene. The Detroit-Berlin Connection is a radio series produced by WDET public radio in cooperation with Berlin Stories, that looks at the futures of these two cities and speculates on the measures being used to reinvent industrial cities for the 21st century. The series goes beyond the common comparisons in the fields of art and music and outlines other connections by covering also comparisons in Land Use, on Mies van der Rohe, or on The Creative Class. A more general overview gives the radio discussion on What can the Detroit Berlin connection teach us?
Also the other media is worth checking out, to give you a summary on the similarities but also discrepancies between these two distinct cities.
For those with a deeper interest in the topic and living in Berlin, there is a disscussion at the US embassy in Berlin tomorrow 4pm (map).

Ruins of East Berlin 2008 (source)

Ruins of Detroit 2011 (source)

Manuel Castells: The Crisis Always RingsTwice

2011-11-26T11:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, sociologist Manuel Castells was giving a lecture at Tent City University at Occupy LSX entitled "The crisis always rings twice: from financial crisis to fiscal crisis to political crisis".

How To Design A Thriving Community

2011-11-24T18:00:00.001+01:00

Sustainability still is broadly examinedfrom the angle of environmental concerns. Nevertheless there is a growingawareness of social sustainability amongst urban planners and architects. The Young Foundation recentlypublished a report commissioned jointly by the Homes and Communities Agencyas part of Future Communitiesprogramme on the Design for Social Sustainability. On 55 pages, the reportprovides ‘a framework for creating thriving communities’. In the forewordBartlett Professor Peter Hallargues that under the scope of last summer’s riots in Great Britain we havefailed to create successful new communities within the existing fabric. Hefurther argues that “This study, which might have seemed peripheral andacademic, has become central and urgent. […] The lessons and the recommendations of this report are bound tohave a salience that its authors can never have imagined.” In relation to theongoing urbanization the report poses the question: how can we create newcommunities in new housing developments that will flourish and succeed longinto the future? In Europe 32 newtowns are being created across 11 countries. Of course, the posed questionshould not be only approached by Western cities. Some estimates suggest that inChina 100 new cities with a population more than 1 million will be created inthe next three years. For example, as part of the Expo 2010 resettlementprogramme PujangNew Town in Shanghai aims to house 500,000 new residents to create One City, NineTowns. Outside Seoul the Incheon Development Area will house 200,000 peopleby 2010, while in Delhi four new satellite cities are being created to dealwith overcrowding and to cater for India’s growing middle classes. It presentsand will present huge challenges for governments to provide decent andaffordable private and social housing in communities that are economically,environmentally AND socially sustainable. But this is not a new challenge. Manyprojects have been developed to design out crime, incorporating socialinfrastructures, considering the role local greenspaces play in wellbeing andso on. However, many of them have failed. Partly because putting into practicewhat is known is difficult, claims the report. Theoretically these approacheswork out, but practically every community is different and therefore socialsustainability cannot be prescribed in the same way as standards for environmentalsustainability. Hence, it iscrucial to incorporate the specific local conditions. However, the report arguesthat planning for social success and sustainability can prevent or at leastmitigate, the likelihood of future social problems, and in many cases,represents a fraction of the overall costs of development and long termmanagement. After arguing the undeniable, that social sustainability has a case,the report defines extensively the terminology. Subsequently the YoungFoundation tries to lift the debate out of the academic arena and developed aframework that contains four elements that are essential to build new sociallysustainable communities: amenities and social infrastructure, social andcultural life, voice and influence, can space to grow.

What follows are the lucid diagramsdescribing the four elements of the framework (All images © by The Young Foundation)

Although further research is needed in therealm of social sustainability, the Young Foundations framework might be a hugestep forward on this terrain. It suggests a structured procedure which referencingfor every urban planner, designer and policy maker, as these issues will be oneof the main challenges of this century.

Related to this and the potentialpreventions of future disasters like the recent riots read Technologyand Urban Warfare in the archive.

Is Britain becoming Los Angeles?

2011-11-24T09:59:00.001+01:00

Recently the architect RichardRogers attacked the British government’s planning reforms and warned thatBritain could 'very easily' become to resemble the ghettoes of Los Angeles with'rust belts and towns joining each other'. Cities such as Birmingham and MiltonKeynes, Bristol and Bath would also begin to merge under the current prospectof the policies and foster an enormous sprawl. Rogers argues that 'cities arethe engines of the economy, the heart of our culture and places of innovation.If the framework is not greatly improved it will lead to the breakdown andfragmentation of cities and neighbourhoods as well as the erosion of thecountryside.' Until now the fears over the plans had been limited to thecountryside. Rogers is the first person to voice concern about the effect uponmajor cities, as the Mail online article tells. Instead of uncontrolledplanning, Rogers pleads for the re-development of derelict areas and buildingsin the inner cities. I would doubtthat Lord Rogers also had in mind the benefit cuts that result in an exodus ofinner-city working class people to the city’s fringes, as discussed in myrecent post. Maybe I do himinjustice, but I would have reasonsto believe that he is not (always) thinking of re-developments that benefitthe socially and economically disadvantaged.

The Demonization and Ghettoization of the Working Class

2011-11-17T14:12:00.000+01:00

The modern British working class has becomean object of fear and ridicule. Their demonization as feckless, criminalizedand ignorant by media and politicians alike has also become acceptable by the gentrifiedyoung middle-class, who otherwise praises itself with tolerance and acceptance.This fact has become stereotyped by one hate-filled word: chavs. Owen Jones’well-argued debut thatI have read just recently explores how the working class has developed from astrong part in British society to the ‘scum of earth’. In the media, throughcharacters like Little Britain’s Vicky Pollard or Jade Goody the contemporaryworking class gets ridiculed to a chav caricature. But also in other parts ofEurope the sneering at the socially deprived is everyday media-life. In Germanycountless docusoaps are relying on theinterest of viewers to mock and caricature the under class. Jones argues that this development wasinitiated through the downfall of the previous strong British (trade) unions evokedby the Tory government of Margaret Thatcher at the end of the 1970s andcontinued by Tony Blair’s New Labour and has recently also been associated with David Cameron’s term of the Broken Britain. However, Jonesaspiration lies beyond explaining how the working class has become demonized,moreover he advocates for a revivified debate about class in general terms.Thatcherism’s - or neoliberalism’s - attempt to eradicate the working classthrough igniting the aspiration for everyone to become middle-class under one’sown stem also has demonized a debate relying on the division of the society byclass. The aspiration for thefinancially deprived very often just means to ‘own more things’. And thisaspiration means economic growth in the neoliberalist thinking. The“non-aspirational working class” even had no place in New Labour, the partyoriginating out of British working class. Tony Blair declared upon assumingoffice in 1997: “ The New Britain is a meritocracy.” But when Michael Young wrotethe book TheRise of the Meritocracy back in 1958, “Meritocracy” was not intended todescribe a desirable society – far from it. It was meant to raise the alarm atwhat Britain could become. Young warnedthat its consequences would mean “that the poor and the disadvantaged would bedone down, and in fact they have been… it is hard indeed in a society thatmakes so much of merit to be judged as having none.” All these developmentshave fostered growing inequality in British society, one of the most, if not THEmost, unequal society in the Western world. It was not for the government toredress inequalities, because the conditions of the poor would only improve ifthey changed their behaviour.

The chav charicature: Little Britain's Vicky Pollard pictured as a teenage mum in front of a council estate. Image Source: BBC

Looking at British cities renders inequalityand also the demonization of the working class visible. The urban councilestate tenant has become the prototype of the chavcaricature. Jones argues that Thatcher’s Right to Buy schemeadded to this fact. Through this policy, which gives council estates tenantsthe right to buy the home they are living in, in areas where demand for housingexceeds supply, the stock of social housing was depleted faster than it wasreplaced. The remaining stock of council housing was concentrated inundesirable areas with little employment opportunity, further isolating andstigmatising the tenants. Due to the shortage in council homes only the poorestof the poor are entitled to move into a subsidised home, a fact that hasdrastically reduced the diversity in these areas. Instead of working againstthese developments in Cameron’s conservative led government this crisis willget more severe. The Tories called for the scrapping of lifetime counciltenancy agreements. Instead only the most needy would be eligible for five-yearor, at most, ten-year agreements. If it was decided that their conditions hadimproved sufficiently, they could be turfed out of their homes and made to rentprivately. Jones suggests that “Council estates would become nothing more thantransit camps for the deprived”. Through these policies combined with plans tocap benefits to workless families, low-income people face eviction fromrelatively richer areas, forcing them into effective ghettoes. According toestimates by London councils, as many as 250,000 people were at risk of losingtheir homes or being forced to move. This form of social “cleansing” would bethe biggest population movement in Britain since World War II. Jones speculates that these facts arenot only economically motivated but also politically, since it would lead toand exodus of Labour voters from London. But critisims also comes from withinthe party, as for example London’s mayor, the Conservative Boris Johnson, cameout publicly to say that he would not accept “Kosovo-stylesocial cleansing” in the capital. There is a reasonable fear that underthese circumstances London and its still diverse neighbourhoods like theborough of Hackney for example develops towards a homogenised urban inner cityarea with a belt of ghettoes of low-income people at the fringes, comparable toParis and its belt of banlieues.

These types of displacement have a profoundimpact on the cosmopolitan character of cities. They add to the contemporary developmentthat cities are under threat to loose their capacity to foster diversity andbring together people of different classes, ethnicities and religions throughcommerce, politics, and civic practices, as argued by SaskiaSassen. The growing ghettoization of the poor and the rich – albeit in verydifferent types of ghettos – leaves the middle-classes to bring urbanity tothese cities. And the middle-classes arguably are not always the most diversegroups in the city. Sassen argues further, that displacement (from countrysideto town or from the city centre to the fringes or even within the city) doesnot add to a rich diversity but rather becomes a source of insecurity.

Owen Jones’ book makes us well aware ofthese insecurities contemporary society is facing. Although the case heestablished is very UK specific it is a topic that addresses most of Westerngovernments - and cities. In his closing statement he anticipated a revolutionthat the current occupy movement is leading:

“At its heart, the demonization of theworking class is the flagrant triumphalism of the rich who, no longerchallenged by those below them, instead point and laugh at them … But it hasnot be this way. The folly of a society organized around the interests ofplutocrats has been exposed by an economic crisis sparked by the greed of thebankers. The new class politics would be a start, to at least build acounterweight to the hegemonic, unchallenged class politics of the wealthy.Perhaps then a new society based around people’s needs, rather than privateprofit, would be feasible once again. Working-class people have, in the past,organized to defend their interests; they have demanded to be listened to, andforced concessions from the hands of the rich and the powerful. Ridiculed orignored though they may be, they will do so again.”

The last weeks have shown that the globaloccupiers have found a way to organize to defend their interests. And theworking class is part of it. The city is the very site of this revolution.

Related to the decline of British working class: Aditya Chakrabortty's recent article on why Britain doesn't make things any more.

Ulan Bators ‘Ice Shield’ to Influence Summer Climate

2011-11-15T13:41:00.000+01:00

As a result of global warming Mongolia’scapital Ulan Bator suffers from unbearable hot summers caused by the so calledthe urban heat island effect. Mongolia’sgovernment is about to launch a bold project to influence the summer climate intheir capital as theguardian reports today. In giant blocks of ice geoengineers intend to“store” sill freezing winter temperatures that will aid to cool and water thecity as it slowly melts during the hot summer months. It will be tested if the city gets cooled through the ice insummer and how much energy-intensive air conditioning can be reduced.

Specifically, the idea of the project is toartificially create “naleds”.Naleds are thick slabs of ice that naturally can be found in far northern areaswhen rivers push through cracs in the surface to seep outwards during the dayand then add an extra layer of ice during the night. Through this process theselayered ice slabs continue to grow in thickness as long as there is enoughwater pressure to penetrate the surface. Due to their thickness of more than 7metres they melt much later than regular ice.

image source

The climate manipulating project tries torecreate this process by drilling bore hole into the ice that has started toform on the Tuul river. The water will be discharged across the surface addinga new layer of ice on top. The drilling will then be repeated at regularintervals throughout the winter.

Robin Grayson, aMongolian-based geologist argues that "if you know how to manipulate them,naled ice shields can repair permafrost and building cool parks incities."

While naleds have served industrialapplications before, as military bridges in North Korea or as platforms fordrilling in Russia, the Ulan Bator climate experiment is unprecedented.

This giant project lines up with other hugeclimate manipulation projects like the raincontrol operation for the Olympics by the BeijingWeather Modification Office.

Technology and Urban Warfare

2011-11-11T12:11:00.000+01:00

In the article that boldly claims to answer "how technology can help us redesign our cities – and lives" the guardian recently posed the question if the devastation of the British riots last summer could have been tackled earlier or even been avoided. Space Syntax answers in the affirmative. Space Syntax believes that through their computer-aided analysis they are able to provide information for authorities to predict the location of future social disturbances. This sounds great; although it might be difficult to believe, that their advanced technology has the capacity for doing that. Space Syntax claims that the spatial layout of urban spaces and buildings excerts a powerful influence on people's behaviour: "The way that places connect is directly related to the way that people move, interact and transact". The unrefusable critique of this architectural - or spatial - determinism is that it mitigates other influences on human behaviour like social or economical imprints.Speculatively, with the technology created by Space Syntax the authorities, might become even more effective in monitoring and controling their citizens. On the one hand this might help to better tackle crime and as well informs an approach of CPTED (Crime prevention through environmental design) but on the other hand there also lies a danger of relying on new technologies as a means of fighting an urban war. In the latter, the authorities and politics lose sight of tackling the real problems and causes. As for the guardian article, I would say that the glorification of technology in the future or also current redesign of our city has to be seen much more critical. In this context there is a thin line between the use of technology as a means to improve urban living and as a means of urban warfare. Our cities will have smart buildings, smart grids, and consist of smart materials. But concepts like SmartWater that appear to be deriving right out of the last episode of CSI are reality, and I would assume these are opening the doors for further control of urban citizens.

"Bundled, Buried, and Behind Closed Doors"

2011-11-04T11:04:00.000+01:00

mammoth recently pointed at this documentary short by Ben Mendelson and Alex Chohlas-Wood portraying the telco hotel at 60 Hudson Street in Manhattan. The former hotel is now a huge internet hub and, as the documentary speculates, may be an "outpost of a global empire". Within the physical infrastructure of the internet, 60 Hudson Street shows facinatingyly the "tendency of communications infrastructure to retrofit pre-existing networks to suit the needs of new technologies". Amongst Mendelson's and Chohlas-Wood's interviewees are Saskia Sassen as well as Stephen Graham whom we know well for his contributions on military urbanism and splintering urbanism.

Metabolic Architecture Repairing Itself

2011-11-03T13:51:00.000+01:00

Image source

Protocells are able to help building bottom-up materials that form a living architecture. A quite bold claim by Rachel Armstrong from the Bartlett in this, admittedly not very current, TED talk.

At the Bartlett, she is specialising in non-Darwinian techniques of evolution and the challenges of the extra-terrestrial environment. Armstrong is summarising that their research intends to generate,

"metabolic materials to counterpose Victorian technologies [to build up] architectures from a bottom-up approach. Secondly these metabolic materials have some of the properties of living systems, which means that they can perform in similar ways. They can expect to have a lot of forms and functions within the practice of architecture. And finally, an observer in the future, marvelling at a beautiful structure in the environment, may find it almost impossible to tell whether this structure has been created by a natural process or an artificial one"

In her talk she suggests that it might be possible that Venice repairs itself. Let's hope that this amazing city will not sink before the protocells are ready to petrify the wooden piles it is build upon.

São Paulo's Highline

2011-10-18T16:50:00.000+02:00

Picnic on Elevado Costa e Silva. Image source.

The city of São Paulo is famously known for its congested streets and highways and as well its tremendous lack of public space. In the 1970s the Elevado Costa e Silva (also known as the Minhocão - the 'big worm') was built to relieve the load of the traffic in the city centre. Right from the beginning the infrastructural project has been very contested, since the elevated highway was boldly erected in the inner cities street canyons leading the traffic only few meters away of the windows of the neighbouring buildings. This fact has rendered an ongoing discussion to destruct the highway ever since it has been built. In order to compensate the infrastructural misplanning the city government has decided to close the route from Monday to Saturday during nighttimes and also during daytimes on Sundays only a few years ago. Hence the 2.2 miles long Minhocão has become a space for leisure in the city where public space is scarce. For many residents the highway, paradoxically, has become a retreat from the chaos of the congested city to enjoy a minimum of leisure time. Hence especially on Sundays the park is packed with runners, dog walkers and even picnickers. Therfore each week a linear park evolves comparable to New York City's Highline - both are successfull, but the Minhocão doesn't need an awarded design firm for its public activation.

all images by Paolo Batalha

Nevertheless in recent years the dismantling of the expressway is demanded from various fronts, including São Paulo's Major. Also filmmaker Fernando Mereilles advocates for its destruction. The Minhocão famously featured in his film 'Blindness', since for him it 'is a perfect image to represent the madness of a city built and inhabited by the blind'. In case it is possible that the traffic can be dealt with, the destruction might be a good idea. Nevertheless, what Mereilles - who interestingly also is an architect and urban planner - and the other supportes of the highway's destruction are not thinking of is to compensate the use of the Minhocão as a public space.

Film still 'Blindness'. Image source.

This post is part of an ongoing research on urban picnicking. More to come soon.

Occupy Wall Street - The community and their clearing

2011-10-13T16:29:00.008+02:00

Filmmaker Alex Mallis gives insight in the protesters' everyday life. Only in a few weeks time OWS formed a remarkable community with highly developed infrastructures at Zuccotti park. Amongst the most obvious of the emerged infrastructures are food provision, personal hygiene, and sleeping camps. Moreover the protesters also initiated a highly developed media centre at the square, with electricity from gasoline powered generators. Furtheron they have organised their own health-care with sponsored medication, and as well - since protesting and sleeping on the concrete floor has implications on the protesters' body - a massage studio. Collective cigarette rolling and musical entertainment are also amongst the activities and services the occupation of Zuccotti Park provides. Watching the short documentary very much brings into mind how informal settlements in other cities of the world work. Strinkingly, the OWS protesters generated a thriving urban space in a remarkable short period of time. What sets the OWS space apart from other informal settlements is that the mainly young protesters can tap into recources that less medialised communities are not able to access. The internet and even the installation of a shipping address (The UPS Store, Re: Occupy Wall Street, 118A Fulton St. #205, New York, NY 10038) has supported the rapid infrastructural development at Zuccotti Park.

After it was announced that the police will be clearing the privately owned public space of the protesters so that the parks owner can clean and do repairs, OWS has mounted an online effort to get the resources they need to clean up the park themselves before the police will take action on friday. The single proper reaction to this announcement. OWS is asking people to donate brooms, lots of brooms, mops, squeegees, buckets, waste bins, dust pans, trash bags, and they could use some power washers too either to bring them to the plaza or to ship them to their address (via amazon possibly).
In course of the announcement of the clearing of the plaza the letter from the park owner Brookfield Properties to NYPD leaked yesterday. Unsurprisingly they no longer tolerate the occupation. Their reasons are mainly circulating around that the 'public space' has to be clean and neat to be able to serve the local population again - which in fact are the Wall St brokers (who also were sending complaints to the owner). Hence cleanliness and locality might overcome freedom of political expression with potentially massive impact. And NYC Mayor Bloomberg approves. We are waiting with bated breath what will happen.

Finally, here is a link to the transcript of Slavoj Zizek's recent speech at Zuccotti Park.

Postscript Oct 22: The clearance of the park could have been prevented. Here is a link engaging as well with the community that evolved since the start of the occupation of Liberty Plaza: It tells us more about the barbers, cigarette rollers and other volunteer workers.

Occupy Wall Street - Zuccotti Park

2011-10-08T17:14:00.003+02:00

Zuccotti park during the Occupy Wall Street protest. Image source.

Zuccotti Park in Manhattan's financial district has become the locus for the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests in the last few weeks. Protesters have gathered, prostested and camped out there to make their demands visible in public. Yet, in contrast to other recent social movements the site of protest is not a public space in its common sense. Zuccotti Park is privately owned, named after a real estate development lawyer who has been active both in governmental affairs and in private development. The park, which is actually a paved plaza, is owned by Brookfield Properties, in conjunction with its ownership of One Liberty Plaza, the adjacent high-rise commercial tower. Arguably the park is a privately owned public space, a quasi public space that is so common in city centres of the great capitalist cities. Nevertheless, and interestingly, the space is still a site to enact democratic action.
OWS's spatial setting is different than those of other urban movements like the arab spring which is closely connected to Tahrir Square for example. OWS' site was chosen deliberately due to its symbolic character, as being right in the middle of New Yorks financial district. The occupation of Zuccotti park IS already the occupation of a piece of Wall Street.
Besides, the park has quickly become a tourist attraction.
Also Peter Marcuse has written a worth reading comment on the protest.
Zuccotti park after the post 9/11 refurbishment. Image source.

Tower of David

2011-03-04T15:11:00.006+01:00

Squatters on the Skyline (via NYT):

Facing a mounting housing shortage, squatters have transformed an abandoned skyscraper in downtown Caracas into a makeshift home for more than 2,500 people.

Mapping The Crime

2011-02-16T12:57:00.005+01:00

Last week police.uk launched a map of every single crime recorded in December last year in England and Wales. The phenomenal reaction to the launch caused the crashing of the website. With a resolution down to the street level everyone is now able to track the safety of their neighbourhood. Updated monthly the maps can be filtered according to different sorts of crimes and even Anti-social behaviour incidents are mapped. I wonder what impact this has on for example real estate prices or neighbourhood watching. If you're looking for a flat wouldn't you check the crime map before? Policing Minister Nick Herbert said the Government was determined to provide as much detailed information as possible. "We can't sweep crime under the carpet," he said. "We have to tell the truth about crime and where it is happening and give the information and the power to the public." Apart from informing the public, access to this data might also fuel fear and the suspicion and mistrust to your neighbours. It even might be possible to identify crime victims due to it's accuracy.
In response to the crash of the website the guardian launched their own map with the feature of comparing different areas and crimes .

Militant Modernism

2011-01-27T12:22:00.018+01:00

Berlin Hansaviertel

During a recent research I came across to an incredible collection of vintage postcards depicting mostly modernist buildings in Germany, France and the Netherlands. The postcards mainly dated from the 50s, 60s and 70s show less known modernist structures in a sometimes almost romantisising manner. Advertising the new way of living, nowadays the depictions appear less unattractive for a general viewer. Taufkirchen close to Munich

Lelystad Kantoorgebouwen

The failure of many modernist housing induced a trend towards building of diseneyfied pre-industrial public housing. This trend is especially apparent in Great Britain. In Prince Charles' experimental town Poundbury designed by Leon Krier and built in the 1990s the houses follow a pastiche of various traditional anti-modernist styles. In strong opposition to these developments is Owen Hatherley's book Militant Modernism, a manifesto for a rebirth of socialist modernism. As the Guardian reviews: 'Hatherley's book is an intelligent and passionately argued attempt to "excavate utopia" from the ruins of modernism'. The book refers to built and un-built examples of the Smithons, the Park Hill estate in Sheffield, Heygate in London or the Bevin Court designed by Tecton. Apart from the the chapter of the industrial and brutalist aesthetics in Britain, Hatherley references Russian Constructivism in architecture, the Sexpol of Wilhelm reich in film and design and the alienation effects of Brecht and Hanns Eisler on record and on screen - all aruing for a Modernism of everyday life. As written on the book cover: 'This book is a defence of Modernism against its defenders (...) it attempts to reclaim a revolutionary modernism against its absorption into the heritage industry and the aesthetic of the luxury flat.'

Royen

Royen

Royen

Royen

Pratteln

Montelimar

Ludwigshafen

Berlin

Montepulciano

All Images by Hansaviertel

David Harvey: Crises of Capitalism

2010-10-22T10:58:00.005+02:00

In this animation human geographer and social theorist David Harvey asks to look beyond capitalism and aim for a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane. Amazingly drawn!

Biennale Review

2010-09-07T14:21:00.025+02:00

'The first decade of the 21st century is ending in a succession of radical changes. In this context of rapid evolution, can architecture be the mouthpiece for new values and modern lifestyles? The 2010 Biennale is the opportunity to test architecture's numerous possibilities and to account for its plurality of approaches. Every one of its orientations relates to a different way of living.'

Director Kazuyo Sejima's statement - by the way the first woman to direct the Architecture Biennale - resulted in the less pretentious 12th International Architecture Exhibition in the absence of 'Lynnadids'.
In the previous editions of the exhibition the vast and beautiful spaces of the Corderie dell'Arsenale used to act as a mere background for sculptures of 'Star-Architects'. This year the installations refer directly to their sourrounding and create a series of diverse and interesting spaces. Probably the most beautiful and definitely the most poetic of these spaces is Matthias Schuler's (Transsolar) and Tetsuo Kundo's Cloudscape.
An artificial cloud hanging between the columns which could be gradually experienced through a lightweight spiral ramp. You enter the cloud from cool and dry climate underneath until the cloud fully embraces you. When reaching the top the climate gets warm and dry and sight becomes clear. The cloud is generated through different pressures of air.::image source

Canadian artist Janet Cardiff's sound installation 'The Forty Part Motet' is intangible. In the early modern hall under the wooden pitched-roof a choral of Thomas Tallis (1514-1585) hangs in the air. 8 x 5 speakers - arranged in an ellipse - distribute Tallis' 'Spem in alium'. Forty vocal scores expand the space and create a touching experience of the space.
Both installations deal strongly with the experience of space and its physiological and psychological impact on the human body.

The second main exhibition at the Palazzo del Esposizioni as well showed a heterogeneous overview of contemporary architecture production. Next to known offices from Japan like Atelier Bow Wow, Sejima's SANAA and Toyo Ito Biennale proved Aranda/Lasch as well as many young practices showed their conceptual approaches - few of them really outstanding but as a whole a highly informative cross-section.
Most intriguing was OMA's mini exhibition on Preservation. With the theme of CRONOCAOS, ::OMA/AMO, 'Preservation', exhibition view

OMA explores the wrenching simultaneity of preservation and destruction, which is destroying any sense of a linear evolution of time - an intelligent and critical debate on preservation. Additionally their new project for Venice's Palazzo Tedeschi which is to be converted to a shopping mall/cultural center was shown to the public for the first time.

Many of the pavillons of the participating nations were dealing with the theme 'People meet in Architecture'. Outstanding: the Netherlands, the winner of the Golden Lion Bahrain, Japan on the 50th anniversary of Metabolism, Canada, Croatia with their floating Pavillon.

:: The Netherlands on vacant spaces

:: Canadian Architect philip beesley's installation 'hylozoic ground'

:: Croatian floating pavillon, source

In summary it can be said that it is one of the most interesting yet heterogeneous architecture Biennales. An overview of alternative contemporary architecture without laying claim to completeness.

::all images by synchronictiy unless otherwise indicated

Off For Biennale di Venezia

2010-08-25T12:59:00.010+02:00

::'balancing act' by ensamble studio at the arsenal building in venice, italy
image courtesy of ensamble studio

Synchronicity is heading towards Venice for the opening of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition Biennale di Venezia. I am very curious about what director Kazuyo Sejima will come up with. People meet in architecture is this year's theme and my guess is that the exhibitions will be quite different from the last architecture Biennale curated by Aaron Betsky which was somewhat dissapointing.
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement has been awarded to the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas/ OMA. OMA will also be presenting an exhibition entitled 'preservation', which looks at our sense of duty towards history and aims to redefine the under-explored theme beyond architecture's disciplinary boundaries. Synchronicity will report soon about the exhibitions via comments and images. Stay tuned.

The new header image is a picture of South African artist Moshekwa Langa's installation Temporal Distance (With Criminal Intent). You Will Find Us in the Best Places. A city made of twines and bottles. The picture was taken at the 2009 International Art Exhibition Biennale di Venezia (image by synchronicity).

In the archives:

BIENNALE DI VENEZIA - ARSENALE

Weather = Energy

2010-08-17T14:30:00.012+02:00

In the amazingly beautiful competition entry for the Land Art Generator Initiative by Paisajes Emergentes and Lateral Office weather is used to create energy. Read an extract of the team's project statement:

WeatherField is a shape-shifting energy generation park along a strip of sandy beach in Abu Dhabi between Yas and Saadiyat Islands. The park is an open public space and is capable of harvesting the abundant renewable energy resource of wind within the Middle East context. The public park offers a variety of ways to engage with climate and renewable energy, as an economic sponsor, as a visual or physical experience, and as information.
Unlike current renewable energy fields where technologies are publicly inaccessible, static, and always on, WeatherField offers a range of public engagement dependent upon wind, sun, and moisture. Energy generation becomes a public performance, dynamic, reactive, and interactive. The park is active when weather events are active, and calm when weather is calm, in each instance offering the public a compatible experiences.
Paisajes Emergentes: Luis Callejas, Sebastián Mejia, Edgar mazo, Alexander Laing
Lateral Office: Mason White, Lola Sheppard, Matthew Spremulli, and Fei-Ling Tseng.

The rest of the statement can be found on their flickr page.
Of course, a high efficiency of the proposal is questionable. But in my opinion the real quality lies in the aesthetic statement of the land art project and, as well, that the ground and aquatic ecology is almost undisturbed.

:: source of all images

In the archives:
Wind Energy Replaces Oil From The Gulf
Wind Of Change
Hydro Visions

Pneumatique

2010-08-16T16:00:00.010+02:00

:: Paris, image source
Pneumatic post or pneumatic mail is a system to deliver letters through pressurized air tubes. It was invented by the Scottish engineer William Murdoch in the 1800s and was later developed by the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company. Pneumatic post systems were used in several large cities starting in the second half of the 19th century (including an 1866 London system powerful and large enough to transport humans during trial runs - though not intended for the purpose), but were largely abandoned during the 20th century.Recently I came across this interesting text on the pneumatic post in Paris. A major network of tubes was in use until 1984, when it was finally abandoned in favor of computers and fax machines. This invisible network under the city is highly fascinating in terms of its size and capacity. For example in Paris the peak was in 1945 where 11.271.228 deliveries were sent through the 467 km long tube system. :: Rohpost Berlin 1885, image source
:: Damages on Berlin's pneumatic post after WW II, image source
Also Berlin sustained a pneumatic system called 'Rohrpost' of 400 km until the years 1963 (West) and 1976(East).:: Prague, image source
In Prague, in the Czech Republic, a network of tubes extending approximately 60 kilometres in length still exists for delivering mail and parcels. Following the 2002 European floods, the Prague system sustained damage, and operation was mothballed indefinitely.:: New York City's pneumatic subway in 1870, image source
New York City even had a pneumatic subway in the 1870s. Over 400,000 New Yorkers took a joy ride underground during the three years the pneumatic subway was open for demonstration. In 1873 , a stock market crashed killed financial support and thus the extension of the pneumatic subway.

Holidays for 20.000

2010-07-30T15:40:00.020+02:00

Prora is a beach resort built on the island of Rügen, Germany, known especially for its colossal Nazi-planned touristic structure. The massive building complex, built between 1936 and 1939 consists of eight identical building was planned as a holiday locale, but was never used for this purpose. Extending over a length of 4.5 kilometres in a 150 metres distance to the beach the megastructure was designed to house 20.000 holidaymakers, under the ideal that every worker deserved a holiday at the beach.

::image source
Designed by Clemens Klotz (1886-1969), the building concept was brilliantly simple, functionally thought through and also perfectly adapted to the given local circumstances: An almost five kilometer long arc. The "residential wings" stretch behind a wide promenade parallel to the beach, a gently and evenly curved bay; geometrically this makes one sixteenth of an imaginary giant circle. The center of this complex comprises a square of 400 by 600 meters. Towards the sea there is a massive quayside (with bridges for KdF cruisers) and on the opposite side the festival hall. Adjoined to the two remaining sides of this square are the six-storey "residence wings". Each of these buildings extend over more than two kilometers, containing over 7000 identical "living and sleeping cell units". All of the "cell units" allow for a view of the sea. They "measure 2.20 by 4.75 m and are all identically furnished with two beds, a washstand with running water and waterproof curtain, wardrobe (...) table, chairs and a couch".

:: image source
Each pair is connected via a communicating door, so that a six-member family could be accommodated. Furnishings, kitchenware, bedding, even the complete set of beach utensils, right down to the bathing suit, are designed according to rational principles. Towards the woods, stump-like wings are attached to the residential buildings at regular, close intervals; they contain mainly the stairwells and the bathrooms. Thus, approaching from the backside one faces an endless row of identical backyards and staircases. On the ocean side, there where ten massive, though slender "dining buildings", each seating 2000 "guests". These wings extend all the way to the water and thus divide the beach into eight, just over half a kilometer long segments - the vacationers' "home area". Here, calculations said, each guest is provided with five, or according to other calculations ten, squaremeters of the beach. Numerous secondary facilities were planned inland. Among them a train station, 5000 underground parking lots, residential areas for 2000 employees, a power station, theaters and cinemas, two indoor swimming pools with artificial waves - and a slaughterhouse.

::image source
During the few years that Prora was under construction, all major construction companies of the Reich and nearly 9,000 workers were involved in this project. With the onset of World War II construction in Prora stopped. Since future use of the still existing structure is undefined, the historic monument declines.
The Nazi-organisation Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy,KdF) should rise the general life standard of Germans through enabling holidays for everybody for two weeks per year considerably influenced through Nazi-propaganda. Aside from cruise trips of Kdf-built cruise ships, the construction of altogether five beach resorts - each for 20.000 people - was planned. The only partly realised of these projects was Prora.

::image source
In his highly interesting presentation at the XII Economic History Congress 2002 in Buenos Aires Hasso Spode speaks about it as the holiday machine which had nothing to do with 'blood and soil'. Instead it required cold-blooded, modern solutions. (Hasso Spode: The „seaside resort of the 20.000“: Fordism,Mass Tourism and the Third Reich). Spode gives background information on how the KdF became the word's biggest tour operator.

KdF provided indisputable evidence of how effectively the grammar of rationalization can be applied to the production of the consumer good 'holiday trips'; just as Henry Ford had demonstrated with his Tin Lizzie how one could turn an unattainable object of desire into a mass-produced article.

The Nazi version of Fordism was called 'Sozialismus der Tat' (Socialism of Deed). This term suggests that National Socialism - in contrast to the labor movement - really improves the situation of the workers, and thus makes the working class and their "Marxist ideology" obsolete.KdF established a new level of tourist behaviour: between the proletarian excursion and the distinguished bourgeois travel.

The propaganda was right in saying the KdF vacationer is a new type of vacationer and the KdF holiday, though orientated according to the bourgeois model, is a new type of holiday: less formal, less costly, less individual.

A short documentary on Prora can be found here and here (in German, but also only the footage is worth watching). This video shows how the beach resort looks today.

Synchronicity - Relaunch

2010-07-28T12:21:00.001+02:00

Synchronicity got a new outfit! What do you think? You could call it a beta-version right now, still in a testing phase. But the layout and also its content will be enriched step by step. The new header's background image will change from time to time. At this first step it features an image of the AES Huntington Beach Generating Station. It is planned to launch regularly updated uncommented slide shows in the side-bar as well. Similar to the delicious links you will be updated visually about Synchronicity's likes. In addition three new main categories are introduced, under which most of the postings can be classified: Urbanities - Territories - Spatialities
Accompanied by the new design postings will be more regular. Promise.
A series of postings addressing the politics of open space in new development areas in Vienna will be a focus point until November. As well, in the medium term synchronictiy will launch a range of postings from different guest writers.
I hope you will enjoy the new!

YUKON MISSISSIPPI DANUBE - MEANDER

2010-06-18T19:54:00.013+02:00

Yukon River meandering. via Pruned

(Fisk, 1944. Map of ancient courses of the Mississippi River, Cape Girardeau, MO - Donaldsonville, LA. Plates 22-1 to 22-15.) see a larger version here. via Pruned
River Danube (1790) close to Vienna before regulation in 1870

FINALLY... Kaas am Markt has opened

2010-03-30T16:01:00.008+02:00

If you are wondering what I was up to the last couple of months:
Here are some images of the market stand we designed.

FABRIC - Atelier for Architecture Urbanism Landscape
Map

all images by FABRIC

Please be patient.....

2010-01-20T09:38:00.009+01:00

The last months have been a quite stressfull time.
But Synchronicity will relaunch soon....

In the meantime watch out for the delicious links (check the sidebar)

! MAP THIS ! #16

2009-08-25T11:22:00.007+02:00

view pdf

via RADICAL CARTOGRAPHY
in the archive: see subways in scale

portrait - STEINBRENER/DEMPF

2009-07-10T09:52:00.002+02:00

Trouble in Paradise - A sunken car wreck at the rhinos, railroad tracks in the bison pen or toxic waste in the aquarium are unexpectedly interfering with our notions of idyllic wildlife. Trouble in Paradise is a temporary irritating installation in the Viennese Zoo by artists Steinbrener/Dempf.In large part, the Austrian artists deal with perception of public space. They got great attention back in 2005 with the temporary installation DELETE!, where they 'erased' any advertisment, sign, slogan, pictogram, company name in a prominent Viennese shopping street. A phenomenon we are sufficiently familar with from two-dimensional representations and photomontage works was translated f into three-dimensionality. Delettering the Public Space.
::: all images via Steinbrener/Dempf

GIBELLINA II

2009-07-08T10:12:00.005+02:00

:: image via Flickr user charlesbegniamino

Thanks to a post by mammoth this is a follow up to Synchronicity's Gibellina entry from May with links to awesome pictures of Alberto Burri’s Grande Cretto and the other artworks of Gibellina.

Grande Cretto
Gibellina 1
Gibellina 2
Gibellina art

In the Archives: Gibellina

PARI(S) PLUS PETIT

2009-06-11T20:05:00.003+02:00

The project Paris Plus petit by MVRDV in collaboration with ACS and AAF is one of ten proposals by international architecture and urbanism teams to envision the future of the French capital and its vast agglomeration. The urban challenge has been commissioned by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

! MAP THIS ! #15 TIME-LAPSE VIDEOS OF MASSIVE CHANGE ON EARTH

2009-06-04T14:39:00.007+02:00

Wired Science recently posted a series of time-lapse videos on:

the Urbanization of Dubai:

Sucking Out The Aral Sea:

or Clearing the Amazon

Over the past decade, the number of people on Earth shot up by more than 13 percent, to nearly 6.8 billion people. To make room for all the hungry, breeding, CO2-emitting bodies on our small planet, we’ve ravaged Earth’s surface with staggering feats of deforestation, irrigation and urbanization — and NASA satellites have captured it all. The videos shown above (and a few more on Wired) are compiled from images posted on NASA’s Earth Observatory, of some of the most impressive conquests of man over environment.

TRAFFIC!

2009-05-31T13:02:00.015+02:00

The French writer and philosopher Jean Baudrillard once wrote of the freeways of Los Angeles as being "ideally suited to the only truly profound pleasure, that of keeping on the move." Indeed, nowhere is the pleasure of keeping on the move more profound than in a city whose freeways rarely offer it.

Architecture photographer Benny Chan documents Los Angeles' traffic problems. Shot over a few years during various helicopter trips, the photographs give information about the extents of LA's car problem.

:: images and quote via GOOD Magazine

GIBELLINA

2009-05-10T09:53:00.014+02:00

In 1968, the small town of Gibellina, Sicily was completely destroyed by an earthquake. And only a few years later rebuilt close to the original site. The erection of the new Gibellina was supported by a unique vision: against traditional forces of bureaucracy, corrupt politics and Sicilian mafia. Artists were invited to design buildings and sculptures and to incorporate place and landscape into their work. After a short period of florescence, Gibellina of today resembles a ghost town.
:Butterfly shaped new Gibellina

After the earthquake, a history of 900 years was destroyed, but not only the buildings were damaged also the people and their communities. Hence after the catastrophe there should be a new very unique Gibellina, art should reconcile the people. Urbanism from scratch should create the new home. Promoted by the charismatic mayor Ludovico Corrao, who wanted the best for his people, now four decades later the experiment failed. The butterfly shaped new Gibellina is dead. People could not find a new home in the modernistic structure. The community was destroyed. At the beginning of the 80's 8000 people lived there. Today there are only 4500. Young people went away, to Milan, Torino or America. The grand scale Piazze and streets are all empty. An inhabitant: "This town is a stranger in its own environment. A town with enormous amount of space - and enormous disconsolation."Corrao wanted to create a modern contemporary Gibellina, completed with all kinds of sculptures and artwork. This should create a touristic attraction and therefore bring money to a town in a poor area of Italy. Huge metal sculptures, now rusty, giant stars spanning over streets, vast open spaces. A small town with no soul. The experiment failed. But blaming art for that failure would be too easy. Gibellina is an example where modern architecture and urbanism failed.
Probably the only still 'functioning' piece of art is situated at the area where the old town once was located. In 1981 Italian artist Alberto Burri erected an enormous monument out of concrete. The former blocks were waist-high monoliths, in-between the old layout of the streets.
Austrian filmmaker Juergen Burger tries to get hold of Gibellina in his documentary "Gibellina - Il terremoto". Trailer

:: all images via GoogleEarth

Follow up: Gibellina II

PLEASE..

2009-04-15T21:08:00.002+02:00

.. be patient and sorry for the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks.
But in may, SYNCHRONICITY will launch again at full force !! So watch out.

...WHAT A WONDERFUL MORNING

2009-02-13T14:17:00.005+01:00

This Otto Neurath inspired narrative is part of the work 'Book from the Ground' by Brooklyn based artist Xu Bing. He is even developing a computer programm that translates from different languages into the pictoral language of isotypes. Read the artist:

Book from the Ground is a novel written in a "language of icons" that I have been collecting and organizing over the last few years. Regardless of cultural background, one should be able understand the text as long as one is thoroughly entangled in modern life. We have also created a "font library" computer program to accompany the book. The user can type English sentences (we are still limited in this way, but the next step will include Chinese and other major languages) and the computer will instantaneously translate them into this language of icons. It can function as a "dictionary," and in the future it will have practical applications.

via ads without products

! MAP THIS ! #14 COMPLEXCITY

2009-01-24T12:35:00.011+01:00

The Complexcity project explores major cities around the world focussing on how their urban sprawls have evolved over time. Using the patterns formed by roads in each city, Korean born designer Lee Jang Sub creates complex graphic configurations, combining the idea of natural and man made systems. In the process he finds a concealed aesthetic within the convoluted pattern of urban networks. He started with his hometown Seoul, and has already completed Paris, Rome, and Moscow.

Through this work, I would like to suggest they don't see the complexity of a city only as an object that should be neatly arranged. Instead I propose a new approach of finding order in the ComplexCity, Seoul.

Each one of branches in a big tree seems to be disorderly spreaded with no rules, but when you see the whole tree, you can find it is in perfect harmony. Nature has a balance which we cannot see with our vision. I created this tree with patterns of roads spontaneously developed in a city, Seoul. I could find the patterns in a map of Seoul which represents the complexity of the city.

::Seoul (image via Lee Jang Sub)
::Paris (image via Lee Jang Sub)
::Moscow (image via Lee Jang Sub)::Rome (image via Lee Jang Sub)

::image via Lee Jang Sub

WIND ENERGY REPLACES OIL FROM THE GULF

2009-01-16T12:00:00.009+01:00

Office for Metropolitan Architecture recently has presented a masterplan for the North Sea, claiming that wind farms in the North Sea can produce as much energy as the oil from the Persian Gulf is now. The plan was inspired by Hugo Graat, who in 1609 highlited that the sea should be a binding medium between nations, enabling communicating and exchanging ideas.
via archinect, architectenweb

URBAN OMNIBUS

2009-01-08T09:27:00.005+01:00

... is online finally.

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League that explores the relationship between design and New York City's physical environment: revealing the choices shaping the city, encouraging conversation, inspiring innovation.

It already features a walk through nyc with Richard Sennet or has some articles in the 'act local' section about urban farming.

! MAP THIS ! #13 EVERY FLIGHT ON EARTH IN 72 SECONDS

2008-12-16T23:35:00.001+01:00

via

Re: ARE WE REALLY READY FOR 'BOTTOM UP'?

2008-10-31T13:50:00.004+01:00

This week _urb_ (a blog I am reading a lot these days and I can really recommend) features a post on this question. I am personally dealing with this issue as well for quite a while. Since I am relased to the professional world I have been trying to bring the ideas of bottom-up 'design' closer to architects and clients, but my attempts are without success. That doesn't really answer the question but it substantiates suspicion that some ideas work better on an academic level and the so called 'real world' has nothing to do with that - or are we not ready yet?

image source

URBAN FOOD PRODUCTION

2008-10-24T17:47:00.007+02:00

Benedetta Garguilo :: Fish Faming

Here are two projects of last year's AA inter3 studio. Students were asked: Can extremes of programmatic effectiveness blend with the fragility of human habitat? Can food production be integrated into the fabric of the City?
Benedetta Garguilo dealt with fish farming in central london while Soonil Kim designed the King's Vineyard London
Soonil Kim :: Vineyard

Thanks to pruned for the hint

related posts:
on urban agriculture here, here and here and on aqua-culture here and here

YELLOW FOG

2008-10-12T13:30:00.005+02:00

Finally Vienna got one: the recently installed Olafur Eliasson's Yellow Fog. Each day at the break of dawn the yellow fog rises. The Austrian Energy Company Verbund bought the installation - previously installed at the New York Jewish Museum - 2005 for 75,000€. Now the installation is worth around 400,000€. all images by synchronicity

BIENNALE DI VENEZIA - ARSENALE

2008-10-10T15:47:00.013+02:00

An Te Liu::Cloud:: Air Purifier installation :: image synchronicity

As expected, la Biennale di Venezia was a big show off of big names - at least at the main exhibition at Arsenale. Zaha, Frank, Hani, Greg... with few things which were new. While Greg Lynn's recycled toy furniture was quite interesting comprehending a good sense of humor, I was quite disappointed by Diller + Scofidio's installation - a ride through venice with a gondola filmed from rear and front. We know that already way back in the sixties from Valie Export.

Greg Lynn Form ::image by disturbnet
Also Zaha's and Patrick Schumacher's mobile Lotus home was a bit annoying, especially when you listened to Patrick Schumacher's Parametric manifesto where he talks about Parametrisim beeing the real new style after Modernism - Post-Modernism, Deconstructivism only where transitory styles. But the problem with the Lotus installation is, that it only is able to exist in a Modernist building, a white box or as well the beautiful Arsenale pavillion. But how would it look like in a curvy Zaha building? So what about this new style being so dependend on the old one?

Zaha Hadid Architects::Lotus ::image by disturbnet
UN Studio's 'The changing room' was at least more critical in the description.

UnStudio :: Image synchronicity

Philippe Rahm showed again one of his Architecture and Meteorology installions, which I always like a lot although it did not work the time I was there.

Philippe Rahm (whith MVRDV's Flying cars City in the back) :: Image synchronicity
A fresh cheer up on these exhaustive days was S1NGLETOWN by Droog Design focusing on the world of contemporary singles

Droog design :: image synchronicity

I will post an entry from the Biennale dealing with issues of sustainability and landscape soon. So stay tuned..

SYNCHRONICITY@BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

2008-10-03T09:27:00.000+02:00

reflections on 'archtitecture beyond building' soon on this platform.

! MAP THIS ! #12 PEOPLE BASED INFOGRAPHIC

2008-09-30T20:04:00.002+02:00

link via information aesthetics

WELCOME TO ARCADIA: public space belongs to whom? PART II

2008-09-12T12:47:00.004+02:00

This is Part II of Synchronicity's mini-feature showing different attitudes towards public space iin cities all over the globe. For this part we'll have a look on Mumbai.
Mumbai's Dharavi area is a good example how public space in the area mis-developed, because not the interest of inhabitants came first, but the interest of a few companies. For hundred years Dharavi was a swampy no man's land, in the late 19th century inhabited by fishermen, occupied afterwards from immigrating people of the countryside. It became an almost real city district. The land was public; it needed not to be 'captured', because for a long time nobody was interested in that piece of ground at all. But Mumbai is growing fast and Dharavi is now one of the biggest slums in Asia and located almost in the centre of the city. So now private investors are interested in that 1,7 km2 piece of land, consequently the rents increase and the living space of 400.000 people was recently sold – by the city council. And soon this area will be characterised by cricket stadiums, office towers and shopping malls and lifestyle restaurants. The inhabitants were displaced – banished in fact.
There was an article in LA Times recently on Dhavari. Architect Mukesh Mehta is quoted in the LA Times as saying:

"You're talking of a location that's fantastic. This is the only location in Mumbai where I can bulldoze 500 acres of land and redesign."

A fabulous man...

Watch out for Arcadia part III, providing an insight into Bogotá's public space policy
in the archives: Arcadia I

image sources: 1,

EXOTIC URBANISM

2008-08-28T10:19:00.004+02:00

new MONU out now.
related

! MAP THIS ! #11 - MAPPING THE HUMAN 'DISEASOME'

2008-08-27T09:16:00.005+02:00

Researchers created a map linking different diseases, represented by circles, to the genes they have in common, represented by squares. Related NYT Article: Redefining Disease, Genes and All
source

WELCOME TO ARCADIA: public space belongs to whom?

2008-08-08T23:44:00.004+02:00

The city is the space between buildings and walls – but this space belongs to whom? To those who conquer it.

This is the first post of a new mini feature dealing with public space in cities with different attitudes.

Vito Acconci offers, out of uncountable definitions, probably the most accurate definition about what public space is - but as well one of the most pessimistic. Public space, by definition, is planned by authorities. 'What was built is a production: a spectacle, glorifying the company or the state – or both. Hence space is only borrowed to people. To people who are considered to be part of an organised society, members of the state and potential consumers'. And it's true: public space in a 'western' point of view is a playground of political and economic power: Investor architecture on grounds which are easily got prepared from city's governmental institutions. Flashy brand logos here, shopping malls there. Shopping arcades and canopies on commercially conquered open space. This space between buildings is occupied, conquered, defined, depending on the wishes of city planning. Who will win the match depends on the wishes of the local city planning. Or in an ideal case economy and inhabitants tied for first place.

But the public space are we all, not Acconci's institutions. What is lacking in over regulated cities is only the awareness of this.

One example is Spain: When the Spanish Franco-dictatorship ended in 1975, the recapturing of public space was the first action the population took – in cities as in small villages. Parc Diagonal Barcelona source

Beth Gali, a Barcelona based architect: 'People wanted to have back what was taken from them for a long time: the public sphere! The open space of the city should be understood as second home, a living room for everybody.' Spanish landscape and open space planners, probably one of the best, had enough time and enough public money to develop this challenging field in architecture to an extraordinary culture. And it works: every bit of open space is activated 24 hours. Parcours for skaters in Barcelona's city centre, the street furniture is high end design, everywhere you can use and enjoy the public space, without the need to consume a beer or a coffee.skater in front of MACBA source

upcoming posts will feature public space in Bogotá, Mumbai, Tirana. watch out!

! MAP THIS ! #10 - BRITAIN FROM ABOVE

2008-08-08T09:44:00.000+02:00

thanks to bricoleururbanism for the link

AUGMENTED ECOLOGIES (or singing plants)

2008-08-07T08:23:00.004+02:00

Archinet's new feature ShowCase presents exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.
Guido Maciocci's Augmented Ecologies is debuting. Here is a short summary:
The integration of biological and technological systems in the design of an interactive human interface is explored through an installation where plants rigged up with sensors provide a kinesthetic user experience based on movement, touch, sound and light. Human interaction with the system affects an algorithmic projection and soundscape.
Sonic Plants: When stroked these technologically augmented plants talk back with musical
120 second interaction: 2 virtual flocks interact within 3d space to define the light-scape of the installation space via a projection. The aesthetic is a result of the triangulation of the co-ordinates of each entity in the flock and ghosting of the video output.

Guido Maciocci, the developer of this projects sees the future application in Augmented Landscapes:

The deployment of biotechnological interfaces to mediate habitation of outdoor urban spaces is explored conceptually within the context of my thesis project situated on the Chatham Waterfront, Medway, UK. In this project spatial and ecological conditions emerge from the deployment of a modular surface that responds to the surrounding context in it's variations of modular density, scale and intensity of folding. The surface is deployed so that the directionality of the modules attenuates surface flow (flood waters, precipitation, surface flow from the city) allowing diverse microhabitats to emerge between the modules. In time the landscape will gradually be populated by local species according to varying soil conditions created by the surface.

Once populated biotechnological interfaces can be deployed on a large scale to transform the landscape into a vast kinesthetic garden. Habitation of the landscape is based on one's own movement and tactile relationships with the space. Pressure sensitive turfed areas respond to footsteps, long grasses chime to be stroked, artificial scents are diffused through the air at the tap of a leaf whilst vast arrays of LED's change colour in response to your movement.

interactive landscapes and really great representation. thrilling!

all images via Augmented Ecologies

! MAP THIS ! #9 - MEN'S DEATH SKULL

2008-08-07T08:04:00.000+02:00

JUST ANOTHER HYDRO VISION

2008-08-06T09:46:00.007+02:00

near-shore aqua-culture, Image by N.E.E.D

The winning entry from the South Street Seaport - Re-envisioning the Urban Edge competition is "an aquaculture-driven floating park, inlaid with combinational modules of public indoor programs." by N.E.E.D.
Imagesby N.E.E.D
"South Street Seaport," writes N.E.E.D., "has always been closely connected with infrastructural industry of the city. Being a port and a market for fish, it actively switched its urban structure according to development of transportation modes and storing methods of goods. To continue this historical trajectory of being a highly responsive urban district, the project proposes a fish farm(works), where the future of aquaculture actuates the next transformation phase of the area."Imagesby N.E.E.D
Thanks to pruned and Bustler for the images.

related posts:
on urban agriculture here, here and here and recently on aqua-culture

HOTEL OF DOOM WAKES FROM COMA

2008-07-22T19:08:00.013+02:00

the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in North Corea's capital Pyongyang

North Korea is refurbishing the "the worst building in the history of mankind" after a 16 year break.
the three sided pyramid that dominates Pyongyang's skyline used to be the number one prestige project of Korea's leader Kim Il-sung. after losing the sowjets as their main supporters the construction had to pause. just until now: Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il decided to put the hotel back under construction.
one of many questions: who will dwell in that 3000-room giant in a country that basically does not except tourists?

"...Bruno Giberti, associate head of California Polytechnic State University's Department of Architecture, said the project was typical of what has been produced recently in many cities trying to show their emerging wealth by constructing gigantic edifices that were not related in scale to anything else around them."
thanks to yahoo news for the info - link

watch this great movie referring to the hotel of doom.

the utopian vision of north korea's future once it's open to the global market

thanks for the movie - link

! MAP THIS ! #8 - SHRINKING CITIES

2008-07-21T09:10:00.003+02:00

World Map of Shrinking Cities from 1kilo on Vimeo.

Shrinking cities is a project (2002-2008) of the Federal Cultural Foundation, under the direction of Philipp Oswalt (Berlin) in co-operation with the Leipzig Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the magazine archplus.

Moving Datas from 1kilo on Vimeo.

Thanks to Digital Urban for the link

HYDRO VISONS

2008-07-20T14:35:00.006+02:00

A project already discussed a lot a few month ago, but worth to remember: the hydro-net vison for San Francisco 2108 by IwamotoscottArchitecture. See related article on Inhabitat.
The architect's Flickr photo set also provides a deeper insight into to project.
While this project takes advantage out of natural processes by growing seaweed, algae and chanterelle mushroom the atmospheric physicist Carl Hodges believes that salicornia will be the natural resource for future energy supply.Salicornia is a crop nourished by ocean water that holds the potential to provide food and fuel to millions. See related article 'The man who farms with the sea' by LA Times

excursus II

2008-07-20T11:01:00.002+02:00

In Radiohead's new video for "House of Cards", no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.

Directed by James Frost
From the album IN RAINBOWS

Thanks to information aesthetics for the link

1 MILLION TREES FOR NEW YORK CITY

2008-07-12T17:47:00.001+02:00

image source
link

postscript URBAN FLORA

2008-07-12T17:29:00.005+02:00

subtle subversive urban seeding. Have a look at: Bloom: Peddling Green

The Bloom device is meant to be a subversive and inspirational tool for our concrete jungles. Similar to the tuft of a dandelion as the wind carries the seedling, we propose a way of dispersing seedlings with bubbles and bicycling.

URBAN FLORA'S HIGH SPEED EVOLUTION

2008-07-09T16:44:00.004+02:00

recent studies show that weeds are able to adapt to urban conditions very rapidly. reason for this is the split-up of their habitat. but for them this is not a problem at all: instead of investing energy in complex flying divices to fan out (such as the so called Holy Pippau/crepis sancta does), they focus on creating seeds that are heavy enough to fall down from the plant directly and germinate at the same location. makes sense, since it is not very likely the flying seeds will fall down on a piece of fertile soil.
remarkably is that this process of adaptation from rural to urban only takes a few seasons!
so now we know. not only humans are capable to adjust to city life...

WHEN ARCHITECTS MEET AUTOCRATS

2008-07-08T16:30:00.008+02:00

Republic Square Kazakhstan by E.O. Moss

...some architects argue that architecture is more important to them than politics. “I’m a guy who has on my wall a picture of the guy in front of the tank,” said Eric Owen Moss, a Los Angeles architect, referring to the famous photograph from the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. “But I’ve never turned down a project in Russia and China.”...
???????

link

excursus I

2008-07-05T21:11:00.004+02:00

excursus will be a new irregular series of posts, collecting links of diverse interest with some sort of personal influence. Here comes number I:

Digital Kitchen.

a digital media firm responsible for Six Feet Under's great opening credits. An Artwork itself.
Also the opening sequence of Dexter is worth a look.

HYDROLOGICAL HEALING

2008-07-05T20:35:00.001+02:00

These images appeared recently relating to a project in Los Angeles, related to the restoration of water reservoir levels of bromate. A new approach is the use of sun-block, in the form of plastic balls, that limit the mixing of bromide and chlorine which is causing elevated levels of bromate.

"Department of Water and Power workers are emptying out bales of plastic balls in the Ivanhoe reservoir in Los Angeles on Monday, June 9, 2008. Department of Water and Power released about 400,000 black plastic 4-inch balls as the first installment of approximately 3 million to form a floating cover over 7 acres of the reservoir to protect the water from sunlight. When sunlight mixes with the bromide and chlorine in Ivanhoe's water, the carcinogen bromate can form."source Boston.com and Landscape+Urbanism blog

! MAP THIS ! #7 BIGGEST DRAWING IN THE WORLD

2008-06-16T10:47:00.003+02:00

Erik Nordenankar about his huge drawing:

With the help of a GPS device and DHL, I have drawn a self portrait on our planet. My pen was a briefcase containing the GPS device, being sent around the world. The paths the briefcase took around the globe became the strokes of the drawing.

As the author notes on his website, this is fictional work. The GPS device was never sent. And any resemblences with the-world-is-my-canvas project (also worth a glimpse) are occasional.

WIND OF CHANGE

2008-06-06T11:47:00.003+02:00

Sail ships are back.
A cargo ship with wind in its sails will take to the high seas, carrying the hopes of the shipping industry for a clean and green future free from the dependency on oil.

It's no ordinary clipper replete with rigging and tons of canvas. The MV Beluga, due to sail on its maiden voyage from the German port of Bremen across the Atlantic to Venezuela, is closer to a kite-surfer on steroids. Giant sails of 160 square meters complement the Beluga's existing power plant; the more wind, the less fuel is used.

Developed by SkySail, the propulsion technology is based on a similar concept to paragliding. It consists of a towing kite with a rope, a launch and recovery system and a control system for automatic operation. With future kite sails up to 600 square meters being proposed, it will cut fuel consumption in half in the right conditions. A significant advantage of the SkySail technology is it can be retrofitted to virtually all existing cargo ships and the force it exerts is similar to that of a tug.
:: via smart planet

! MAP THIS ! #6

2008-05-21T20:17:00.001+02:00

'Everybody Is Against Everybody – Somebody Has To Be For Them'
Amnesty International's United Nations of War
Click image to enlarge, it's worth it!

POST-WATER BARCELONA

2008-05-19T12:55:00.000+02:00

Do you remember the plan to import water to the city because of the severe drought? It's no longer being considered; it's being carried out.
A ship loaded with drinking water is seen docked in the northern Spanish port of Barcelona, Spain Tuesday, May 13, 2008 as part of an unprecedented emergency plan to alleviate a drought in Barcelona. The ship was carrying some 20,000 cubic meters (5.3 million US gallons) of water, roughly enough to satisfy a day's requirements for 180,000 people, from nearby Tarragona. Spain is suffering its driest spring since records began 60 years ago. Catalonia is one of the worst-hit regions, with reservoirs at about a fifth of their capacity, compared with reservoirs on average half-full nationally. Read the Guardian's article

! MAP THIS ! #5

2008-05-18T19:36:00.000+02:00

relative densities of Internet connectivity across the globe. The stronger the contrast, the more connectivity there is.

The Dimes Project provides several excellent data sets that describe the structure of the Internet. Using their most recent data at the time (Feb 2007), Chris Harrison created a set of visualizations that display how cities across the globe are interconnected (by router configuration and not physical backbone). In total, there are 89,344 connectionsWorld City-to-City Connections

European City-to-City Connections

North American City-to-City Connections

TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR

2008-05-13T20:06:00.000+02:00

The Stranger writes on the Topography of Terror: Seattle's famous Freeway Park transforms to 'a garden of earthly delights--for the city's crazed murderers and inhuman rapists!'
via pruned

! MAP THIS ! #4

2008-05-06T23:23:00.001+02:00

Travel Time Tube Map of London by Tom Carden. Click here to test

! MAP THIS ! #3

2008-04-25T10:43:00.003+02:00

The Animal Messaging Service is the first part of Michiko Nitta's three-part Extreme Green Guerrillas manual, the designer's final project at the Design Interaction Department, Royal College of Art, London.
see more on Pruned and Metropolitan Fauna of Jason King

21st CENTURY SOCIALISM

2008-04-18T09:58:00.006+02:00

VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ BUILDS SOCIALIST UTOPIA
Just outside of Caracas, in the mountains in a patch of land called Camino de los Indios leftist President Hugo Chávez is building a new metropolis from scratch.
Caribia, the first of about a dozen "socialist cities" that is intended as a utopia of sorts, where all residents will participate in community affairs and grow crops such as carrots and coffee on patches of countryside that will surround their homes.
The city is bulldozed out of the tropical forest and will be populated with the denizens of Caracas's overcrowded slums. It would be a beautiful place, with shopping malls, parks, schools and enough neat four-story apartment blocks to house 100,000 people.
But where does socialism fit into this oil-rich nation where the rich-poor divide is as palpable as anywhere else in Latin America? Chávez has a name for it: 21st Century Socialism. Caribia embodies Chávez's vision that socialism and the intensely capitalist society of Venzuela can sit comfortably next to each other.
"Our goal is that there is no inequality, that everyone has an equal voice," says Rafael Lander, the vice minister of planning in the government's Ministry of Popular Power for Housing and Habitat. It's part of the government's push for adequate housing for Venezuelans, one of several "missions" for the poor that have been financed largely with oil wealth. But this socialist city is not just any old housing project. It will boast its own radio station and newspaper. The community will be ecologically sound and self-sustaining. There will be parks, a university, and medical clinics. The most important feature, planners say, is the 10 or so community councils that will be organized around groups of housing complexes. Residents will hail from high-risk neighborhoods, says Mr. Lander. When the program was announced, the local media quoted Chávez as saying: "The socialist cities are ecological cities for the family, for the people … not for consumerism."

The Washington Post article on Chávez' vision says:

In launching this extraordinary project, which he hopes will be the first of many around Venezuela, Chávez joins a long list of rulers who have dreamed of converting nature into orderly living space for the masses. Among them are Stalin, Mao and Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu -- but also the more benign Julius Nyerere, the Tanzanian president who, back in the 1970s, thought it would be a good idea to move 5 million of his countrymen into cookie-cutter villages partly financed by the World Bank.
Like all of these men, Chávez acts on an ideology that anthropologist James C. Scott of Yale has called "high modernism." In his brilliant 1998 book about the phenomenon, "Seeing Like a State," Scott explored the peculiar mix of good intentions and megalomania that has driven one unchecked government after another to pursue the dream of a reconcentrated populace: "a strong, one might even say muscle-bound, version of the self-confidence about scientific and technical progress, the expansion of production, the growing satisfaction of human needs, the mastery of nature (including human nature), and above all, the rational design of social order commensurate with the scientific understanding of natural laws."

and further:

Architecturally and ecologically unsustainable, high modernist projects always collapse of their own weight sooner or later. As Scott writes, "the history of Third World development is littered with the debris of huge agricultural schemes and new cities . . . that have failed their residents." Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union fit that assessment also, as visitors to Germany's Eisenhuettenstadt, begun in the 1950s as Stalinstadt, can attest. Designated "the first socialist city on German soil" by East Germany's Communists, it was plunked down next to an immense steel mill and commanded to thrive. Today, the depressed city is hemorrhaging residents.

But Chávez, the tribune of Venezuela's poor, is not listening. He is thinking big. He is like previous high-modernist authoritarians, who, as Scott writes, "regarded themselves as far smarter and far-seeing than they really were and, at the same time, regarded their subjects as far more stupid and incompetent than they really were."

CAIRO...

2008-04-16T21:27:00.003+02:00

...A CITY WHERE YOU CAN'T HEAR YOURSELF SCREAM::image via flickr

There was an interesting article about Cairo's noise level in the New York Times recently.
"We’re not just talking typical city noise," the article says, "but what scientists here say is more like living inside a factory."
After five years of study, scientists concluded that the average noise in Cairo from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. is 85 decibels, a bit louder than a freight train only 15 feet away. But this 85 dB is only the average across the day and across the city. At several locations it is far worse. There the noise often reaches 95 decibels, which is only slightly quieter than standing next to a jackhammer.
::image via flickr

In general terms, the noise is a symptom of an increasingly unmanageable city, crowded far beyond its original capacity, officials at the National Research Center said. The main culprit is the two million cars, and drivers who jam the city roads every day.

But also, Egyptians like to live loud, preferring community to private space, mourning a death and celebrating a wedding with a good dose of noise. Muezzins call from loudspeakers in the minarets of thousands of mosques in the city...

The number of inhabitants is increasing, so are the honking horns and people which don't even realize that they were shouting not speaking...

! MAP THIS ! #2

2008-04-15T20:32:00.004+02:00

Map of Austria, and what it stands for..

GROUNDED

2008-04-13T14:20:00.006+02:00

People stroll around the Dutch cargo ship "Artemis" in Les Sables d'Olonne, on France's west coast, after strong winds pushed it off course.
Source

Barcelona and the surrounding region are suffering the worst drought in decades. Spain is considering to import water by boat from France. Alexander Trevi of Pruned points out:

If this drought should continue, growing worse and worse for years to come, we could see a new river, armored in metal and artificially propelled, flowing through the Mediterranean Sea.

Also have a look on what would happen if global temperature rises in this article by Catherine Brahic from New Scientist.

Postscript May 19 2008: The Plan is carried out. Link

! MAP THIS ! #1

2008-04-11T15:09:00.004+02:00

For a school dissertation (PDF), Nicolas Kayser-Bril has generated cartograms that "show the world through the eyes of editors-in-chief in 2007" — countries that received more coverage appear larger in these cartograms.

Kayser-Bril concludes that online media is far less parochial, and that traditional newspapers "are highly selective in their coverage of world news. Looking at the three British dailies, editors favour countries that are bigger and more populous, but also closer to home and better developed. They also give more room to the countries of origin of British immigrants, especially if they are white (look at the size of Australia and New Zealand)."

GLOBAL SEED VAULT

2008-03-25T12:36:00.006+01:00

With plant species disappearing at an alarming rate, scientists and governments are creating a global network of plant banks to store seeds and sprouts, precious genetic resources that may be needed for man to adapt the world’s food supply to climate change.
A few weeks ago the newly built Global Seed Vault in Longyearbyen, Norway received its first seeds.The vault's goal is to store and protect samples of every type of seed from every seed collection in the world. It was built by Norway, and its operations are financed by government and private donations, including $20 million from Britain, $12 million from Australia, $11 million from Germany and $6.5 million from the United States.
The Global Vault is part of a broader effort to gather and systematize information about plants and their genes, which climate change experts say may indeed prove more valuable than gold.

The Global Seed Vault began receiving millions of seeds in boxes that workers moved into different chambers as they began the storage process on Svalbard. What started out as independent efforts from seed banks around the world is now being consolidated and systematized.
A polar bear made of ice decorates the entrance to the Global Seed Vault in Norway. The vault descends almost 500 feet into the permafrost, with the entrance tunnel designed to withstand bomb blasts and earthquakes.
An automated digital monitoring system controls temperature and provides security akin to a missile silo. No one person has all of the codes for the entrance.
An ancient strain of wheat, left, and garbanzo beans, right, are examples of the types of seeds and sprouts that will be stored in the vault to prevent the continued disappearance of plant species. Already, three-quarters of biodiversity in crops has been lost in the last century, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
::via NYT

BORDER URBANISM

2008-03-25T12:09:00.006+01:00

Last week I stumbled over a (not so) new magazine on urbanism. At least it was new to me and is one of few magazines covering issues of Urbanism (Is there any other? Let me know)
From what I read by now, it is worth a closer look. The current issue deals with border urbanism, with articles about border cities of Mexico and the US, Canada and the US, segregated Istanbul, etc. And, of course, Berlin.
More about MONU soon on synchronicity

LIKE A MOLE IN MADRID

2008-03-19T21:44:00.010+01:00

Things have been very stressfull these days, sorry for the long absence of post on this corner. But we are back.

Here we go: a very nifty commercial of Madrid's Metro, a view of the city from below.

|link via super spatial

COW URBANISM

2008-02-18T13:05:00.001+01:00

Do you recognize these images from previous posts on synchronicity?
Just found another cow-this time in Liverpool. The Udder Way is a project back from 2005 also featured at the shrinking cities interventions exhibition.
On the 18th July 2005, in the early hours of the morning, 5cows, 5 calves, 3 stockmen and a milking parlour arrived in Toxteth, Liverpool and remained for 9 days.
What do you think you can gain out of a piece of cow dung? Go for the Udder Way's product site.
There you'll find this:

Cow dung - BBQ briquettes for all exterior cooking
Anti wrinkle agent - Skin care- 100%organic cow manureFor strong teeth and fresh breath - Udder tooth polish - 100%organic cow manure ash

FARMADELPHIA

2008-02-17T14:06:00.006+01:00

Front Studio's FARMADELPHIA proposes to transform the urban environment by introducing bucolic farmlands into
the city's urban fabric. Farmadelphia adopts the extensive sprawl of overgrown lots and vacant buildings as a source of inspiration while it fortifies and reinforces the ongoing green legacy of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia would become an 'edible landscape', with vast crop fields, and free roaming farm animals.The project would also address – or is intended to address – "the rehabilitation of the existing city fabric by proposing ideas for vacant buildings that would allow the present-day character to remain while creating new uses."Whole sections of the city would be deliberately cultivated. Or, from a slightly different perspective, it's the controlled re-wilding of the city.Some appropriate crops for the proposed agricultural stabilization of the city might include the following, the architects suggest:

—start with low maintenance, easy to grow, and profiting crops; consider perennial crops such as asparagus, shallots, garlic and herb varieties
—other crops include shade tolerant, easy to grow kale, sweet potatoes, lettuce
—other crops that do well in Philadelphia climate: collard greens, broccoli, mustard greens, corn, raspberry bushes
Those plants, in particular, would form a biosystem that could help push the city onto a seven year agricultural plan – after which this newly implanted ecosystem would level off, forming something like a cultivated permaculture.
find out more on Front Studio's website or see the panels here

Related posts: Urban Agriculture

URBAN AGRICULTURE

2008-02-15T11:59:00.010+01:00

urban agriculture, urban farming, vertical farming, subterranean farming, guerrilla farming - according to my recent www-cruises it appears that this issue is coming back to discussion. Here is a list of links:

Subterranean Farms of Tokyo by pruned
A subterranean farm cultivated inside a former bank vault beneath a high rise building in one of Tokyo's business districts. Tomatoes, rice, lettuces, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers and herbs, are grown in an area covering almost a square kilometer.

Watch out for an Urban Farm for PS1 posted by Life Without Buildings or again from pruned with A Farm Grows in Queens
A proposal by Work Architecture that won this year's Young Architects Program at the P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center in Long Island City, Queens.
The eight-year-old competition calls for creating an outdoor social space for dancing and drinking in the summer months.

To organize the space Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, the husband-and-wife duo behind Work Architecture, chose heavy cardboard tubes in part because of the shadows they would cast and because of their resilience. Columns will be bolted together to form a span that rises on either side of a pool like a large V.

Each tube will play its own role. Some will contain plantings on dirt shelves equipped with liner bags to prevent leakage.

There is a fabric tube that people can enter through a curtain where you can 'hide' from the party.

for guerrilla gardening follow this link.

for Vertical Farming go to The Vertical Farm Project or watch this project of Atelier SOA Architectes Paris

Roof Farming in London (via BLDG BLOG)

finally Wikipedia's Urban Agriculture and an article about Food Less Travelled

Posts on farming in Philadelphia and on Algae harvesting in San Francisco will be featured soon, so stay tuned

LANDSCAPES OF DECAY

2008-02-06T22:19:00.000+01:00

“The skeletons of the plants are for me as important as the flowers.” Garden designer Piet Oudolf creates melancholic natures which beautifully decompose. Romanticism is back!
He is also responsible for the plantation of Field Operation's High Line in New York which will open in September.
Read the related New York Times article 'A Landscape in Winter, Dying Heroically'.

"He's gotten away from the soft pornography of the flower," said Charles Waldheim, the director of the landscape architecture program at the University of Toronto. "He's interested in the life cycle, how plant material ages over the course of the year," and how it relates to the plants around it. Like a good marriage, his compositions must work well together as its members age.

EARTH WITHOUT PEOPLE²

2008-02-02T09:44:00.000+01:00

Welcome to earth : Population 0. Since I Am Legend this topic seems to be quite popular (see our post Earth Without People). The History Channel launched recently its documentary 'Life After People'. For almost 2 hours they explain chronologically, from one day to 10,000 years, what would happen on a planet from which humans have suddenly disappeared. In contrast to Alan Weismans bestseller 'The World Without Us' which describes a more garden eden like planet, the documentary draws a more apocalyptic vision, while referring on similar speculations.
Also read the review on NYT.