“Most EU countries have a gap between their richest and their poorest regions. But the distance between the UK’s richest and poorest regions is, on this measure, hugely and shockingly larger than any other. At one end – the richest area in Europe – is West London (or at least its leafier parts towards the city’s centre). At the other end of the scale is West Wales – earning just 20% of West London’s figure.”
via Breaking free of London-focused growth | new economics foundation.
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by Ares Kalandides
I recently received a list of interview questions on Place Branding by a master student. I found them very interesting and decided to share the interview with you:
1. Place Branding applies modern marketing methods that position and market consumer goods and transfers them to cities. What are in your opinion the most important differences between a geographical area and a product in relation to brands?
There are indeed very few commonalities between places and consumer goods – except when places become commodities:
First, places do not have an ontological existence. Except for their purely physical coordinates, places are manifestations of social relations. They are the loci of interconnections and open-end trajectories. In this sense, they rather resemble processes than objects. Continue reading
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by Ares Kalandides and Markus Kather
This is the second part of the article. In part 1 we looked at the German legal framework and the particularities of green planning in Berlin. Today we will be looking at examples. You can read part 1 here.
C. Examples
a) Tempelhofer Freiheit
Temporary gardens at Tempelhofer Freiheit
The airfield of the former Tempelhof airport is one of the largest landscaping areas in central Berlin today with a total surface of about 370 ha. Following the closure of the airport in 2008 several plans were design and rejected, reflecting the lack of development pressure by the real estate sector. This gives the city the luxury of both space and time to try out innovative planning processes, in particular trial-and-error through interim uses. Three themed fields in the outer ring of the field (urban gardening, culture and sports/wellness) have been defined as experimental interim use spaces, while the totality of the centre is to keep its meadow character. Interim uses for the three fields are chosen by competition, while the best projects may be integrated in the final plans. A large building project is to take place in the south-west edge of the area with a location reserved for a large library. Yet the main feature of “Tempelhofer Freiheit”, as the project is called, is this of a vast inner city field, with a clear open view across it.
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A tree standing alone in the landscape. At former Tempelhof Airport.
by Ares Kalandides and Markus Kather
A. Introduction
In the warmer months of the year Berliners of all ages and backgrounds flow into the squares, parks and gardens of the city. The more adventurous ones are not even discouraged by the bad weather: under rain and snow, sleet and fog, there are children in the playground while adults take longer walks in the woods, crossing frozen lakes and snow-covered fields. Nature is an integral part of the city; for many people it is the quintessence of public space. Its deep roots in German culture – exemplified by German 19th century romanticism – cannot be stressed enough. Yet, the importance of nature in the city has taken many different forms and there is no doubt that it means very different things to different people. In this article we focus mostly on gardens (and parks) as community spaces, though in order to understand what that means we take a closer look at some of the other functions.
Diepsloot, Jo’burg, from above
PROJECT SUMMARY
You can download the full call here.
This call for participation is addressed to students and young professionals (incl. PhD candidates) who want to work on the subject in a team composed of 10 participants from Germany and 10 from South Africa, two weeks in July (30/6 -14/07) and two weeks in November (17/11- 01/2) 2013.
The (In)formal City is a project initiated by Inpolis and the Goethe-Institut and funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, aiming at bringing together practitioners and scholars from urban and cultural studies in Berlin and Johannesburg to work on the broad issue of informality.
The candidates need to address their interest until May 15th to kalandides@inpolis.de (see below for details). Those shortlisted will be invited to an interview. The maximum number of available places is 5 students (2 in a waiting list) and 3 young professionals (1 in waiting list)
A rendering of Konza, the Kenyan New City being hailed as Africa’s Silicon Valley.
Some scholars have gone so far as to call the New Cities “urban villages,” distinguishing them from a “normal” city that gradually grows and evolves over time. New City projects emerging in Africa are planned urban areas, usually on the periphery of an older city, designed to meet their own residential, commercial, industrial and retail needs. The concept is not a novel one. Over a century ago, Sir Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Cities were an attempt to create new modern cities to right the wrongs of London during the 20th century. Ebenezer’s concept is now being applied in Africa, albeit under new and complex conditions. But of concern is that, with so many New Cities already in the pipeline, still no one knows what their impact will be. A vast urban experiment is underway, with not nearly enough study or forethought as to how these places will affect the economies, environments and lives of people who will live both in and outside of them.
Read the whole story by Jane Lumumba here: Why Africa Should Be Wary of Its ‘New Cities’ – The Informal City Dialogues.
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The Pyramid of The Sun and Avenue of The Dead, viewed from the top of Pyramid of The Moon, are the symbol of Teotihuacán in Mexico.
Part of the ancient Teotihuacán site, pictured above, is now underneath a Walmart. Walmart destroys Mexico’s cultural heritage for profit. An archaeologist gives her view.
“The construction of the Walmart at Teotihuacán has taken a toll on the site. Even though Teotihuacán is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, UNESCO has stated that it was not informed that the Walmart was being constructed, a potential breach of the preservation plan associated with the site. As early as 2005 (the year after the construction of the Walmart), UNESCO has sent technical teams to review the construction and to assess site damage. A 2005 report states that no significant archaeological remains were destroyed during the construction of the Walmart (but, recall, the archaeological remains of everyday people are usually classed as ‘insignificant’), ‘however, the visual integrity of the property with its setting can be compromised affecting its associated symbolic values.’”
Read the full artcile by Dr Donna Yates here:
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“Free comparison and interpretation from Venturi’s and Brown’s illustration in: “Learning from Las Vegas”
by Daniel Wagner*
This is the third part of Daniel Wagner’s diary of the Philippines. You can read part 1 on mobility here and part 2 on public space here.
Davao City is the third largest urban concentration in the Philippines with more than 1,5 million people. But that seems not to be enough. Everywhere, it looks like the city is trying to assure itself, leading to the thought that the city lives in a constant state of self assurance, of self defining. As if it is constantly screaming to everyone: “Look! I am a City!”
The first impression of Davao is that the city is one entire periphery, like a giant suburb. Except for the most expensive hotel in town, there are no high rise buildings, and the city sprawl takes shape of a continuous amalgamation of houses and small streets between a couple of highways. And like Venturi’s views of the symbolism in the buildings of the “strip” in Las Vegas, in Davao giant billboards emerge from much smaller buildings below. Symbolizing something evidently bigger than the building itself, both in material size and meaning. Like an architectural crown stating that this is not a mere building, but is part of something greater, a city! The actual construction doesn’t matter much, it seems that the important thing here is not the object – no great architectural value, or impressive size – but what is it saying, what is it holding proudly on the top of its head. Continue reading
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The Wounded Brick, Cinema Moviemento, 22, Kottbusser Damm, Berlin, Tuesday 9th Arpil, 7:30 PM.
Short Synopsis
“The Wounded Brick” is a cinematic essay on the visions, hopes and failures while searching for humane housing in the face of economic and political interest. Filmmakers Sue-Alice Okukubo and Eduard Zorzenoni encounter architects, urban planners, sociologists and victims of the 2009 earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy.
Interviews with Vittorio Gregotti, Stefano Boeri, Lorenzo Romito, Vezio de Lucia, Friedrich von Borries, Hartmut Häussermann, Gottfried Böhm, Pauhof Architects, Harry Glück and citizens of L`Aquila merge associatively into a poetic reflection on: Who owns the city? What does housing mean?
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Image 1: Preparing to bury the large Sounion Kouros. © National Archaeological Museum
The hiding of the ancient treasures of the National Archaeological Museum on the eve of the German occupation of Athens, 1941.
During a period of six months prior to the German invasion of Greece a group of workers and archaeologists was digging the floors of the National Archeological Museum to bury Athens’s most valuable treasures: its Kouroi and Lekythoi.
On Sunday 27th April 1941 the German troops occupied Athens. Early the next morning, when the German officers hurried up the marble steps of the National Archaeological Museum, they were surprised to discover that they were taking over an empty building. They couldn’t find a trace of the thousands of valuable exhibits that were housed in the country’s largest museum for the past sixty years of its existence. Instead of statues they saw before them the few frozen and expressionless archaeologists and guards who were on duty at the time. To the officers’ persistent questions, the latter answered enigmatically that antiquities are always where everybody knows they are: under the ground. And it was true. The antiquities had in fact returned underground – to the only ark in the world where they would be safe. Continue reading
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