polis

Oscar Moment: A City in Dance

2012-01-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

In riveting scenes from Wim Wenders' 2012 Oscar-nominated 3-D dance film, "Pina," dancers for the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch move to the themes of love, humor and longing. They are transported from the stage and into the midst of city life in the German city of Wuppertal. On the street median, underneath the tracks, in the park, or in the industrial outskirts of the city, the drama of life is expressed in the language of dance. These city scenes provide a stunning, often unlikely backdrop for dance theatrics, perhaps paying homage to the city that this illustrious dance company and its iconic choreographer call home.

"Pina" highlights Wuppertal's unconventional mix of land use. Many scenes are set in lush greenery — no surprise, given that green space occupies two-thirds of the municipal area. The city is known for its woods, parks and slopes, which are within a 10-minute trek from any part of the city. At the same time, the audience catches glimpses of Wuppertal's industrial lineage and bustling downtown, connected by the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, a suspension railway. The 3-D effects in the film bring a certain physicality to the space, but also provide an unprecedented view "inside" the dance — you can see within the choreography rather than watching a faraway stage.

Credits: Photos from the "Pina" website.

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Misusing the City Statute in São Paulo

2012-01-26T07:55:00.000-05:00

Mauá Street squat. Source: Julia Chequer/R7

Brazil has become known for innovative urban initiatives, including the noted 2001 Statute of the City, which aimed to affirm the social purpose of space and property and social control of land and development. São Paulo was a pioneer in using the powers granted by this groundbreaking law, becoming the first major city to integrate urban instruments from the statute into its master plan. Promulgated in 2002, the plan designated specific urban areas as “Zonas Especiais de Interesse Social” (ZEIS, or Zones of Special Social Interest), which included some of the city's poorest areas.

Source: Google Maps

Some of the ZEISs were located in São Paulo's 13 central districts. These well-located and transportation-rich neighborhoods suffered from abandonment during the past three decades, as de-industrialization impoverished the working classes, and the middle and upper classes abandoned the areas for newer parts of the city. Many buildings were squatted, as the poor struggled to hang on in one of the most expensive cities on the planet.

With pressure constantly mounting on environmentally sensitive areas at the edge of the metropolis, a core idea of the central ZEISs was to encourage public and private investment for financing quality social housing to attract new residents. ZEISs could be built up more densely than other areas in order to attract capital, but as part of the statute’s goals of improving social control over development, deep popular participation in the planning process was required. Over the past few years, real estate developers have become aware of the profit potential of these central districts, and investment is now pouring in beyond the borders of the ZEISs.

Source: Nova Luz Perimeter

One of the most famous and grandiose projects in São Paulo is the city-led redevelopment of “Nova Luz.” The Nova Luz area is well connected to metropolitan transport services, including a new subway line, which — along with cultural spots such as the São Paulo Concert Hall — is part of a wave of public investments designed to spur interest in the area. Under a public-private partnership, the city is looking to "renovate" 45 blocks in the Luz and Santa Ifigênia neighborhoods, also in the name of “compact city” development to alleviate sprawl. To do so, the government is using "urban concession" — a legal instrument that allows the municipality to tender projects to private companies granted they serve a public purpose — to evict residents, demolish old buildings and build new ones. Only a single entity (or pool of companies) will implement the entire Nova Luz project, worth 750 million Brazilian real ($450 million), in five phases. One third of the area will disappear in order to make room for new apartment and office buildings. The Mauá Street occupation, a squat building home 253 families, is one of the buildings that will be demolished.

Drug raid on January 13, 2012. Source: Apu Gomes/FSP

These blocks and its old buildings are places of popular business and have some of the highest population densities in central São Paulo. This is due mainly to the occupation of old, empty buildings by an organized housing movement, responsible for the squatting of 44 buildings to shelter more than nine thousand families since the 1990s. Some of the streets are occupied by hundreds of crack addicts, including many children, a fact that the media has exploited to label the neighborhood "crackland." This problem is used by the government to defend the Nova Luz intervention: In a recent joint operation named “Pain and Suffering,” state and municipal police forces pushed addicts out of the area. Many hostels and tenements are being closed for the same reason, without any solutions for housing affected families.

Urban Concession Area. Source: Nova Luz

Nestled inside the Nova Luz perimeter is a ZEIS. According to the project guidelines, the ZEIS will be used to shelter part of the population evicted from the rest of area. Old buildings and squats will be demolished to clear the area for other (profitable) uses, while the ZEIS — restricted by law to social housing — will help mitigate the impact evictions. However, this scheme doesn’t guarantee that current low-income residents can remain. Many will not be able to afford or qualify for the new housing in the ZEIS. Moreover, many residents dependent on affordable rents are already being displaced, as rents rise in anticipation of the project. Activists and residents have even had to fight for their right to participate in the planning process, even though this is guaranteed by law.

Recently, some residents, local businesses, social housing activists and homeless representatives have come together around housing policy, common heritage, built environment quality, and drug and health policy. They founded a neighborhood association that is catalyzing collaborative initiatives, such as a workshop to inform residents about the five phases of the Nova Luz project, using different colored stickers to mark buildings that will be demolished. There have been some achievements, like the establishment of a ZEIS management council that forces the municipality to negotiate with residents, enhancing a culture of collaborative planning in the city.

Rendering of the ZEIS proposal. Source: Nova Luz

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the ZEIS is being used as a reservoir for the poor, a small island where a few will be allowed to stay while thousands more are evicted and displaced. Even worse, the ZEIS is being used to mitigate the impacts of a massive public-private redevelopment project and thus legitimate mass evictions, an issue that is becoming critical in Brazil's economic boom and redevelopment spurred by the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. The recent case of the Pinheirinho settlement is a strong example of this trend.

The City Statute and subsequent São Paolo Master Plan were seen as victories for the housing movement — a means to formulate projects that could change the face of exclusion by which Brazilian cities are known. But the city and state governments of São Paulo, and to a certain extent the federal government, seem to have chosen another way to build the future of our cities. This is a future in which evictions are increasingly part of “progress,” the social function of urban land is again made subservient to the demands of the wealthy, and the purpose of planning is to gentrify the core to the greatest extent possible.

This post is by Patricia Rodrigues Samora, a post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Housing and Human Settlements in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

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David Chipperfield on the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale

2012-01-25T08:00:00.008-05:00

Source: Spontaneous Interventions, U.S. Pavilion website for the Venice Architecture Biennale

"I want projects in the Biennale to look seriously at the spaces made by buildings: the political, social, and public realms of which architecture is a part. I do not want to lose the subject of architecture in a morass of sociological, psychological or artistic speculation, but to try to develop the understanding of the distinct contribution that architecture can make in defining the common ground of the city. This theme is a deliberate act of resistance towards the image of architecture propagated in much of today's media of projects springing fully formed from the minds of individual talents. I wish to promote the fact that architecture is internally connected, intellectually and practically, sharing common concerns, influences and intentions."

David Chipperfield, from an interview on "Common Ground," the theme of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale, 2012

This post is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We invite you to add others.

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Visions of Quito From Ecuador's Most Iconic Artist

2012-01-24T08:00:00.003-05:00

Source: Colección Pacar

Since my arrival in Quito two years ago, one of my most exciting discoveries has been Oswaldo Guayasamín. This iconic Latin American painter was born in Quito in 1919 and died there 80 years later.

Besides being Ecuador's most famous artist, he was also a politically active intellectual who supported the causes of the poor and victims of slavery, exploitation, wars, famine and other tragedies on the continent. He was a close friend of Pablo Neruda, Gabriel García Marquez, Fidel and Raúl Castro, François Mitterrand and Rigoberta Menchu, among other important progressive figures from the second half of the 20th century. Most of his pieces express a profound sense of sorrow, which can be interpreted as a condemnation of the suffering that millions bore because of social injustices and wars. Despite this, his art is strikingly beautiful.

"Quito en Rojo" (1968). Source: Christie's

Among the most important themes in Guayasamín's art is the city of Quito. In most paintings, the city appears under a dramatic mountainscape and rainy clouds, a scene that is common in Quito. Most of these works show the city climbing the volcano slopes; indeed, Guayasamín's house and workshop are situated on a high slope from which a large part of the city can be seen. It is also the best spot from which to see the sun set behind Quito and its major volcano, the Pichincha.

Two versions of "Quito de la Nube Negra" (1987). Sources: El Poder de la Palabra and Todo es Posible en Ecuador

Although Quito has multiplied in size since Guayasamín started to paint it, he managed to capture the city's essence, with informal neighborhoods settling on the climbing slopes and creating a sort of carpet covering the valley from one slope to the other.

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A Dynamic New Magazine on African Urbanism

2012-01-23T04:33:00.001-05:00

It has been nearly four months since we breathed a huge sigh of relief. After more than a year of meetings, informal conversations, exorbitant coffee bills and more meetings, we finally launched CityScapes at the Open Book literary festival in Cape Town. A brief introduction: CityScapes is a biannual print magazine focusing on cities in the Global South, an initiative of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. Don’t judge us by our geographical location: The cover of the launch issue features a photograph taken on the opposite end of Africa — a portrait by Moroccan artist Yto Barrada.

CityScapes has a core team of four diverse individuals: urban theorist Edgar Pieterse, who is also director of the Centre for African Cities; Camaren Peter, a sustainability researcher and scientist; journalist and arts writer Sean O’Toole; and myself, Tau Tavengwa, a bookmaker, designer and accidental researcher. The four of us spent a lot of time grappling with the various dialogues about cities in Africa. At the same time, we tried to figure out how they connected to larger conversations about urbanization and development in the Global South. One of our main conclusions was that there was need for a publication — something disciplined and thoughtful but also rambunctious — that would adequately serve a range of practitioners (scholars, architects, urbanists, journalists, artists, photographers, essayists and all other sorts of cultural factotums) saying interesting things about the "the city."

We want to be a catalyst for a more inclusive and nuanced series of dialogues on the future of our continent. More Africans than ever before now live in cities. In the next 10 years the scales will tip irreversibly: More Africans will live in cities than rural areas. It is in these cities that the big developmental issues will be played out. This is the future of our continent, and we want to be a thoughtful contributor to the debate. Our aim is to expand the definition of what the city is and who is qualified to speak on its behalf.

We are interested in describing and critiquing the practices, ideas and visions of a wide variety of actors whose work is primarily urban. We aim to identify where these practices merge and intersect with similar practices in South Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world experiencing rapid urban transition and comparable challenges. In doing so, we do not wish to simply compare Dehli to Johannesburg, Cape Town to Rio, or Addis to Lagos. Our intention is to surface more complicated readings of cities, individually and in juxtaposition.

The magazine’s tone is serious, critical and engaged, but it also aims to be accessible and irreverent. It offers readers both discursive thinking and narrative storytelling. The launch issue includes a long conversation between urbanist AbdouMaliq Simone and philosopher Achille Mbembe. The piece not only speaks of Simone’s work but also reaches into his personal life and influences, revealing the origin of his unique and laudable redefinition of academic practice. Aromar Revi, director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, speaks at length to Edgar Pieterse about his organization’s ambitious plan to train 50,000 new urbanists to manage India’s growing and new cities. By 2030 India will have eight cities with more than nine million inhabitants, four of which will be classified as "mega-cities."

CityScapes recognises the value of non-verbal forms of knowledge production. The new magazine has photo-essays from Dehli, Johannesburg, Tangier and Cairo’s Tahrir Square. The launch issue includes an enquiring piece of reportage into a working class Cape Town neighbourhood at the center of an awkward process of gentrification. The article forms part of a larger enquiry into Cape Town’s status as a design capital and is timed to coincide with the recent conferral of World Design Capital status on the city for 2014. The magazine also includes a series of opinion editorials by leading thinkers and enquiring writers, a regular city report section and, because music from the continent is essential listening, an in-depth interview with musician Neo Muyanga and cultural activist Ntone Edjabe, founders of a unique urban music festival.

It’s a disparate collection, but this is what cities in the Global South are like — schizophrenic, unpredictable, not easily boxed. CityScapes is our attempt to celebrate what they are and who is involved in their making (or unmaking). Although aligned with an academic institution, we like to believe that our constituents are worldly people who simply, ultimately, enjoy a good read. We strongly believe in print, in good long-form journalism and writing. We also enjoy the Web and understand its power to leapfrog Old-World ways of reaching out. We purposefully held back on building a website so that we could refine the structure of our magazine, see what works in print and what would be better online. Web and print are complimentary mediums, and we intend to use both effectively in our attempt to build a broad conversation that anyone in our fast-transforming cities can be a part of.

The second issue of CityScapes is due out on April 30, 2012. It will be as eccentric and enquiring as the first.

Tau Tavengwa is co-editor, creative director and co-publisher of CityScapes.

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Rebuilding After the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti

2012-01-22T10:54:00.000-05:00

A small business in Port-au-Prince surveyed as part of Architecture for Humanity's Economic Corridors Project. Source: Architecture for Humanity

Last week marked the second anniversary of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The devastation — more than 315,000 people dead, 1.5 million people displaced, 10 million cubic meters of rubble — stunned the world and resulted in a messy, often uncoordinated, response. As a development finance professional, I have followed rehabilitation efforts there over the last two years: taking part in some, listening to stories from colleagues and friends in Haiti and watching building projects move from plans to reality in response to the crisis.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), with the architectural firm HOK and a local non-profit partner, are designing Project Haiti, an orphanage and children’s center that will be a LEED Platinum structure. The designs were released on the earthquake's two-year anniversary and will replace a school building destroyed in 2010. The building's ecological aspects – including natural ventilation; solar, wind and biofuel power generation; and safe water supply – are intended to contribute to a sustainable future for Haiti. Rick Fedrizzi, CEO of USGBC, explained in his article published in the Huffington Post last week that this was an effort “to show the children of Haiti that their lives are valued, they deserve to breathe clean air and they are cared about.”

Design renderings of Project Haiti. Source: USGBC

Architecture for Humanity has been on the ground since days after the earthquake hit in 2010. Their approach focuses on community engagement and participation in design, building and planning for the future. While they have led the rebuilding of four schools and three clinics and worked to develop community rebuilding plans, they have also gathered information from communities through mass surveys and trained residents in construction and planning to ensure that there is a cadre of Haitian construction experts leading the efforts.

Community participation in the design of the Santo Community Development Plan. Source: Architecture for Humanity

The Haiti Rebuilding Center, which has grown to a team of 37 architects and local staff, focuses on coordinating rebuilding efforts, advocating for changes in building codes and planning laws and training local professionals and consumers. While Architecture for Humanity staff currently run the center, they plan to transfer ownership and management to an all-local team in the next five years. Their approach – which goes beyond constructing buildings or even training local leaders – works to increase access to finance for small businesses in the construction industry, change laws and develop entire communities.

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Architecture of Peace

2012-01-21T07:23:00.001-05:00

SAYA/Design for Change, an Israeli-based architecture firm, designed approaches for Palestinian re-use of evacuated Israeli settlements.

There is no question that architecture and planning have been crucial components of conflicts taking place in cities. But whether designs are used to solve or enhance frictions is another matter. Recently I came across SAYA/Design for Change, an Israeli-based architectural, planning and design office that has taken a proactive role in social change by devoting its practice to peacebuilding.

One recent project faces a scenario most city planners would want to avoid. In collaboration with Palestinian planners, the office has created a series of designs illustrating options for specialized border crossings in a potentially split Jerusalem. This is a case study of the challenges urban planners would face if a two-state solution ever came to pass.

The work of SAYA/Design for Change is oriented around "resolution planning," a set of architectural and urban design tools that they developed for conflict resolution processes. Starting in the Israel-Palestinian context. the method is now being extended to other territories. The aim is to create better scenarios, master plans and policy proposals for final-status solutions to aid policymakers in the region and abroad.

From the project "A City Border along Road 60, Jerusalem."

From the project "Ben Hinom Valley – Future Separation in an Open Urban Area."

From the project "A City Border along Road 60, Jerusalem."

Credits: All images from SAYA/Design for Change.

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Design Activism in Detroit

2012-01-20T08:00:00.025-05:00

The Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) is not content with the status quo when it comes to built environment professionals — especially architects. Based at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture since 1994, it sees the production of architecture as a political act, one that supports or disrupts the actions of individuals and institutions. An architect is thus inherently an activist.

Source: Open Architecture Network

Source: DCDC

DCDC's work is based on three premises. First, they operate through intensive community participation, working only by invitation and solely with non-profits. They characterize their role as “the guide on the side vs. the sage on the stage,” meaning that they use their design skills to advise and facilitate rather than dominate and dictate spatial solutions. Second, they intertwine the tools of the discipline and community engagement to create the content for design, not for its validation. Finally, they are concerned with the totality of the built environment, not just buildings, as illustrated in the video on the Firebreak urban intervention below.

DCDC's approach and practice, 90 percent of which is based in Detroit, is particularly important in this shrinking city. The heart of the automotive industry and home to 1.8 million people in the middle of the last century, it now has a population of 700,000. Rather than returning to the "glory days," when the urban form celebrated the social, economic and racial divisions of the city, DCDC recognizes the need to work differently.

Through process and form, they believe that architecture and design can change the established way of doing things. On a small scale, they are doing just that.

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NYU Expansion Threatens Greenwich Village Green Space

2012-01-19T08:00:00.003-05:00

Sasaki Garden at Washington Square Village in N.Y. Source: Georgia Silvera Seamans

There used to be direct physical and visual access to the Sasaki Garden in New York City's Washington Square Village, but New York University blocked access when it built a postal services center on LaGaurdia Place. The garden was designed by landscape architecture firm Sasaki, Walker and Associates and completed in 1959.

Sasaki Garden (facing southwest). Source: Georgia Silvera Seamans

Interior of North Block. Source: Georgia Silvera Seamans

The Sasaki Garden is in the center of the North Block, a Greenwich Village "superblock" that replaced smaller blocks of low-rise, 19th-century buildings during a 1950s urban redevelopment project based on Le Corbusier's Radiant and Contemporary City models. Andrew Bernam of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has observed that, "Extra-tall towers were allowed with the understanding that they would always be offset by generous amounts of open space." The Sasaki Garden, a large playground and two small lawn areas — one of which is used for urban agriculture education — make up the generous open space in the North Block. The garden is home to 110 trees and 12 species of birds.

A Northern Cardinal in the garden. Source: Hubert Steed

The garden and the North Block's other green spaces are endangered. During the next 20 years, NYU proposes to add an estimated 1.5 million square feet to the two superblocks. The Sasaki Garden would be destroyed. In a city that spends millions on sustainability projects and policies (see PlaNYC and NYC Green Infrastructure Plan), it is incomprehensible that the local university would propose to destroy green space and that the city would support it.

If you would like to learn more about efforts to preserve the Sasaki Garden and the NYU campus expansion plan, contact the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and Community Alliance Against NYU 2031. The university's perspective is available here.

This post is part of a collection of Featured Places from around the world. If you'd like to share photos of a place you find interesting, just add them to the Flickr group or send them to info@thepolisblog.org and we will publish your feature. Video and sound recordings are also welcome.

Georgia Silvera Seamans is a regular user of the Sasaki Garden, and author of the local ecologist blog.

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Matthew Gandy on Water and Urban Fragmentation

2012-01-18T08:31:00.000-05:00

Source: Meena Kadri

"In a dusty office of the municipal buildings in K-West ward in northwest Mumbai there is a detailed map of the Paris water supply system placed under a sheet of thick glass on the desk of the chief engineer. This 'hydraulic decoration' acknowledges an attachment to a utopian vision of the perfect city: a striving towards a perfect synthesis of engineering science with urban modernity. The intricate arrangement of blue lines — varying in thickness and shading to depict the hierarchical structure of the city’s water mains — is counterposed with the familiar bridges, boulevards and radial sub- divisions of the Parisian arrondissements. This striking cartographic representation of Paris is suggestive of a tension between the idea of the modern city as a visible manifestation of conscious design and the complex array of unseen networks extending beneath the city streets. Mumbai, like any other modern city, bears the imprint of successive generations of civil engineers and urban planners yet its hydrological structure has never closely corresponded with a rationalized conception of urban space: time and again, ambitious plans and schemes have been only partially realized leaving the material reality of the city far short of any technical ideal."

Matthew Gandy, from "Landscapes of Disaster: Water, Modernity and Urban Fragmentation in Mumbai," 2008

This post is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We invite you to add others any time.

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Google Earth Images as Abstract Art

2012-01-17T08:00:00.006-05:00

Wandering through satellite images captured by Google Earth, artist Marco Cadioli uncovered manmade landscapes resembling geometric art. In his 2011 series "Abstract Journeys," Cadioli took these unintentional compositions and compiled them into screen shots and video vignettes through the lens of early 20th-century art history. The results are at once a romantic narrative of modern landscape and a critique of technology as a medium that can alter our perceptions.

Marco Cadioli's first solo exhibition, 'Abstract Journeys,' will be on view at the Gloria Maria Gallery in his hometown of Milan, Italy, from Jan. 26 to Feb. 22.

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Kenya's 'Little Italy'

2012-01-16T08:00:00.006-05:00

Source: Natalia Echeverri

On the red dirt roads of southern Kenya, a few hours from Malindi, kids chase and hail streams of Jeeps and Land Rovers hauling tourists to and from Tsavo, one of the country's largest safari parks. Most of the children gather along the road, so their shouts are clear. Surprisingly, they are often in Italian: "Ciao, ciao" or an occasional "aqua" or "dolce."

Source: My World Travel Guides

Approaching Malindi's city center, Italian becomes even more conspicuous. Signs on a supermarket storefront and a few restaurants are in Italian. Sambucca sits on a local bar's meager top shelf. A local man shouts Italian into his cellphone next to a group of Swahili women in black burqas who don't seem to notice.

Source: Sunday Nation

Malindi, it turns out, is Kenya's "Little Italy." Italians arrived in the historic coastal city more than 30 years ago, attracted by its climate and beaches. Since then, the Italian population has risen rapidly. Today around 4,000 Italians are permanent residents, while 30,000 tourists visit each year from the motherland. There are more than 2,500 Italian-owned properties in the city, including residences, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, bakeries and small businesses. There is only one foreign consulate in Malindi — it represents Italy.

Although the Italian culture is strong at the moment, Malindi is a multicultural city of more than 150,000 inhabitants. A Swahili trading settlement since the 14th century, it has been variously visited by Arabs, Asians, Portuguese, English and Germans. Their influence is also embedded in the city and its culture. Because of these layers, the city has a depth and sophistication that peeks through despite the dilapidation. The next round of tourists and traders will only add to this patina, and the kids will surely be shouting "Ni hao" or "Здравствуйте!"

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Assorted Links #49

2012-01-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

Source: The Atlantic Cities

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Short Film Explores U.K. Media Coverage of Developing Countries

2012-01-15T02:13:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday, the Institute of Development Studies in the U.K. released a short film exploring how the British media depict poverty in developing countries. "Famine, War and Corruption: The British Media's Portrayal of the Global South" includes interviews with journalist and filmmakers, many of whom say that the press disproportionately focuses on war and disaster. This not only leads to an inaccurate view of life in developing countries among the British public, but also desensitization, hostility to aid and ignorance about the structural causes of poverty.

"News is about bad news," ITN presenter Jon Snow points out, which drives reporters to focus on worst-case scenarios. Ratings pressures, time constraints and staffing cuts are also limiting possibilities for in-depth reporting. But as some point out in the film, the main culprit is the failure of many reporters to transcend simplistic narratives and examine deeper causes or multiple views of a situation.

The journalists interviewed in the film see a need for more frequent in-depth stories, locally based media and depoliticized coverage. This means no longer treating the public as the "lowest common denominator," World Development Movement director Deborah Doane said.

Beyond the small slice of the world each of us sees first-hand, the media, broadly defined, entirely construct our understanding of the world "out there." This immense power makes it a moral imperative that mainstream media outlets evaluate the narratives they put in our minds and that the public support diverse and probing coverage.

You can see longer interviews with Jon Snow and Deborah Doane here:

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Berkeley Sociologists Debate the Present and Future of Occupy

2012-01-14T08:00:00.047-05:00

UC Berkeley sociologists Claude Fischer and Michael Burawoy went tête-à-tête in an incisive debate at the peak of the Occupy fervor last November. The lessons of social history and the idealism of sociology clash as they explore the contemporary value and future development of this fluid movement.

The session starts with a summary of the events that led to Occupy Wall Street on Sept. 17, 2011, including links to anti-globalization movements of the late 1990s. Marcel Paret provides the context for the emergence of Occupy Oakland, including California’s current fiscal crisis and social and racial injustices and movements in the Bay Area.

Fischer makes his opening remark on the 18th minute. Pointing to American social history, he predicts that Occupy will not turn out well. Successful street action requires careful coordination with the tide of public opinion, powerful allies in high places, adherence to midterm concrete goals rather than long-term abstract aims, and the transformation of principle into policy. He concludes by offering the example of two movements that turned the tide of political fervor into political success: the civil rights movement and the recent Tea Party movement in the U.S. The key to longevity, he argues, is the transfer of political action from public space to votes that elect new leaders.

Burawoy counterpoints in the 30th minute, linking the spontaneity of Occupy to the emblematic 1968 student movement at UC Berkeley. We must look to history for reference, but what happens when something new appears? And how can sociology offer a lens to understand it? For Burawoy, Occupy is a new form of political mobilization, one that is central to the concerns of sociology: inequality, poverty and capital. The Occupy movement challenges the generalizations of historic social movements to expose the historical particularities of the present, he suggests. To understand this dimension, we must consider who the protestors are, why they are protesting and how they are doing so.

Burowoy builds upon Marxist analysis to explain that Occupy is about the “precariat” rather than the proletariat — those who are increasingly dispossessed from capital rather than the working class. Capital has turned into finance capital, with its fluid investments, rapid flows, local exclusions and global accumulations. The question at the core of this historical moment is: What role does finance capital play in creating the precariat? What can be done to challenge the power of finance capital and its web of dispossession over so much of the population?

Burawoy suggests, the only possible challenge can come from a movement that is as fluid as finance capital — one that turns away from electoral politics, because democracy is itself embedded with finance capital and bourgeois ideals. Given our current historical moment, one in which finance capital impregnates every type of social life, a new form of political action can only take place in the spontaneity of the assembly and the public spaces of the city.

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Management as Design in Urban Housing Blocks

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Starrett City housing development in East New York. Source: New York Magazine

Rosalie Genevro's article "Starrett City: A Home of One’s Own — With Party Walls" traces the history of a beloved modernist housing project in East New York. Cassim Shepard, editor of Urban Omnibus, explains its significance:

Looking a little deeper into the social story that inhabits the built environment — in this case, the story behind one of the last New York City developments built on the tower-in-the-park model — can only help illuminate new thinking about the relationship between people and buildings, and just might challenge us to question some of our basic assumptions about house, home and the American landscape.

Iconic demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, Mo. Source: Wikipedia

Genevro combines historical research with resident interviews to shed light on the factors that foster comfortable urban density. Her findings offer a more thorough understanding of the apartment blocks that Jane Jacobs and so many others have written off as isolating slums. She notes that:

Management is more important to creating successful places than architectural form. Form can be supportive, but it is not determinative. ... New York has plenty of examples of towers in the park that work, including Stuyvesant Town and Penn South and Fordham Hill in the Bronx.

Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan. Source: NY Daily News

The Starrett City case highlights management practices that contribute to attractive residential settings. Two that stand out are the employment of a local security firm and substantial investment in public green space. Troublingly, these measures were part of the developer's efforts to gain approval of the rental project by attracting a 70 percent "white" population. By 2007 that percentage had fallen to 32, and the development remains as successful as ever. Clearly, the determining factor isn't racial composition.

Khrushchev-era apartment buildings in Moscow, with balconies that open onto well-maintained courtyards full of mature trees. Source: Peter Sigrist

Based on archival work and interviews in Moscow, I've found that management is also the key to comfortable public green space in residential areas. When a housing development is well managed, people are more satisfied with their surroundings. The most valued management responsibilities include litter removal, maintenance of shared amenities (such as benches, greenery, playgrounds) and enforcement of rules for the use of public space. It's also essential for residents to have an attentive management body to approach when problems arise.

Central courtyard in the Moscow housing project where scenes from "Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!" were filmed. Source: Peter Sigrist

In many ways, management is a design issue. Setting up an effective, affordable and flexible management structure should be part of the design process for new housing developments. Management also goes hand-in-hand with aesthetic appeal. Litter is a perfect example, because its removal creates a more aesthetically pleasing environment. Developers can also invest in architecture, landscaping and building materials that stay attractive over time. The study of residential developments offers insight into the elements that work best, helping us achieve what Genevro describes as "well-built, carefully managed, desirable and long-lasting housing" in cities.

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Why Microsoft's 'Avoid Ghetto App' Takes Us the Wrong Way

2012-01-12T08:11:00.009-05:00

Source: EURweb.com

The American Internet is atwitter after Microsoft announced last week that it had patented a mobile application technology giving pedestrians directions that avoid high-crime areas. An early story from a Seattle TV station dubbed it the "avoid ghetto app," and the avalanche began. Twitter is exploding with links to tech blogs, witty 140-character opinions and links to online debates: Is it racist? Does it protect women?

MSNBC, which is owned by Microsoft, attempted to weigh in on the budding controversy by mentioning that they never used the term "ghetto." An AOL reporter actually did some reporting, talking to experts who compared the tool to redlining and found it "appalling" and others who said it was "creepy" but useful.

What makes this issue so complex is that Microsoft is using highly fallible technology to replicate an existing practice that is itself both problematic and practical. People are writing about the app not only because Microsoft is using crime data to mark communities "to be avoided," but also because this mimics something most city residents do already.

Whether we like to admit it or not, we avoid certain parts of the city — especially on foot, especially at night and especially if we are carrying something valuable. When friends visit, particularly women, we advise them on safer routes or offer to pick them up in a car if an area is dangerous. We keep an eye out when we move about the city, looking for signs of trouble. This is called "street smarts," and it is practiced not just by middle-class white folks but also by low-income residents, people of color and tough guys. Staying in one piece in many communities involves knowing which blocks to avoid.

Is Microsoft's app a problem even if it replicates a common practice? Yes. Here are a few of the many reasons why:

Codifying something matters. Banks always discriminated against people of color and poor neighborhoods, but it got much worse when redlining became official policy. Since the advent of the Internet, technologies that are widely used by major corporations have a form of codifying power. This app will further mark some communities as places to avoid, exacerbating abandonment and creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Folk knowledge is absent. "Street smarts" is often about relationships with people you know, specific incidents and particular places, not about raw data in GIS. As author Sarah Chinn wisely points out in the AOL article, most violent crime occurs between people who know each other. There is simply no way to create an exclusively "data-driven" application for street smarts in a way that actually makes people smarter. Note to IBM: The pathway to "smarter cities" involves smarter citizens, which goes beyond access to "data." This app would not teach us how to read, live in or navigate a city — it would simply chop the city up into "safe" and "unsafe" areas.
This is a practice we want to undo, not replicate. All of us, especially if we are white and not poor, have avoided places based on some "sign" or reputation. Sometimes this is probably quite wise — I've been mugged, and I now know why I should have avoided that place. But we have all likely avoided places based on unfounded fear, one that permeates our society and constantly helps reproduce spatial inequality. We should be looking for ways to reduce the "automatic avoidance" instinct, not build it into our cellphones.

Perhaps we should be thankful to Microsoft for raising a much-needed debate. Chinn made the not-quite-tongue-in-cheek suggestion that a better app would help young men of color identify areas to avoid getting profiled. Instead, how about an app that points out areas that you may avoid because you imagine them to be dangerous, but that are in fact relatively safe to explore?

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Mapping Architectural Controversies

2012-01-11T08:00:00.035-05:00

Aerial view of the 2012 Olympic stadium in London, one of the projects profiled by Mapping Architectural Controversies. Source: Flickr user Frans Zwart

While we've previously mused on the agency of mapping in reconfiguring information vital to the production of the urban realm, the Mapping Architectural Controversies research project at the Manchester School of Architecture provides a well-defined example of applying such analysis to the time-based development of specific buildings and projects. Attempting to embrace the complexity of unknowns, multiple stakeholders and shifting negotiations throughout the planning and design process, the project utilizes basic computer modelling techniques to decipher and display the relationships and priorities of those driving complex projects, as well as those affected by them.

As a visual tool, such models hold the potential not only to reveal points of difference and conflict, but also to hint at realms of consensus and negotiation that allow projects to address mutual interests. In building up an archive of various development scenarios, the animations can then be traced to inform future projects, as they typically document adaptations among different human and non-human actors to alter the course of a project over time. While such maps are always to some extent reductive and selective of the realities in any design scenario, they highlight new methods of re-embedding the social into the architectural, shedding new light on how the process of design affects the city and its constituent parts.

Source: Vimeo user ARCHfondas

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Who is to Blame for Evictions in Spain?

2012-01-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

Announcements of solidary actions against evictions in Barcelona and Zaragoza, Spain. "Desahucio" means "eviction" in Spanish.

More than three years after the beginning of the global economic crisis, Spain continues to fall without a visible end. One of the most traumatic effects in this country has been evictions. Since 2008, there have been more than 150,000, according to official figures; some NGOs say there have been more than 300,000. Although many evictions counted are actually parking lots, industrial premises, beach houses or flats in empty real estate developments, that still leaves tens of thousands of families in tragic situations. Most of these families used to be middle class and are now below the poverty line.

Most local newspapers report on conflicts between poor families and banks, telling of families that bought a home with a long-term mortgage with low (but variable) interest rates. When one or more family members found themselves unemployed and unable make payments, banks could claim the property plus the difference between the amount owed on the property and its current value (often one-third lower than the original price). This has left families not only without jobs and homes, but also with massive debt to be repaid across decades. At the same time, national and local governments are making massive cuts to social welfare because of public debt.

A group protests an eviction. Source: Identidad Andaluza

In reality, the situation is more complex. Many cases involve real estate speculators and white collar thieves who told families that it did not matter if they couldn't afford a home — they could sell it later and supposedly make a profit. They praised the wonders of the Spanish economy and claimed real estate prices would never go down. Some bank employees and real estate agents hid costs or lied about the conditions of the business, while others omitted information that would have discouraged many from getting into the mortgage.

The common Spanish citizen became part of a widespread culture of speculation, with many families taking out a mortgage because it was a profitable business. It was an excellent business indeed — but only for those who sold before the crisis. In the end, most houses were bought and sold by individuals; banks and real estate agents were just intermediaries that facilitated transactions and anticipated payments. Those who sold overpriced properties cannot be blamed for it, although they are unquestionably part of the problem.

The law is clear, and many people signed their mortgages irresponsibly. However, there has been a gross lack of ethics, as many abused people's ignorance and innocent confidence. Self-professed experts in power who misled almost everyone on the real fate of the world's economy share in the responsibility. This is what the 15M movement in Spain and the Occupy movements across the world are protesting. They are also decrying the irresponsibility of public institutions that have the capacity to control dangerous economic bubbles, such as the one that provoked the global crisis, but did nothing for fear of affecting market confidence or investment flows. The crisis was predicted numerous times, but they did not listen. Now those who lost everything ask, "Why didn't they tell me this could happen?"

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Moving On Up? Outdoor Escalators in Urban Environments

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Source: Daily Mail

Escalators are usually associated with the internal workings of multi-level buildings. On notable occasions, moving staircases appear outdoors in an urban environment, even if perhaps rather incongruously.

In Hong Kong, outdoor escalators carry city folks and tourists up the slopes of Central Mid-Levels, an expatriate enclave and hangout for the affluent. In Barcelona, I recall hiking up to the neighborhood around Parc Guell — only to notice a few thoughtfully placed escalators on my way down, where I met locals carrying bags of groceries up to their homes. In Comuna 13 of Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, a recently built 1,260-foot long escalator snakes across the hillside shantytown in six separate divisions. As part of the neighborhood's larger urban regeneration project, this massive outdoor escalator cuts down the time to traverse Comuna 13, reportedly one of Medellin's poorest and most violent neighborhoods, from 35 minutes to six minutes on foot.

The integration of conspicuous technologies into unlikely environments inevitably raises questions from skeptics: Is this an appropriate use of technology? Is this simply a shiny new idea with press value that leaves unintended social consequences in its wake? How should we measure its impact on people's lives, and its return on the city's investment?

In explaining what makes cyber-culture so compelling, Ted Friedman notes in "Electric Dreams" that its debates take place in "the utopian sphere: the space in public discourse where, in a society that in so many ways has given up on imagining anything better than multinational capitalism, there's still room to dream of different kinds of futures." Friedman's observations ring true beyond cyber-culture. With the introduction of new technologies into old, seemingly entrenched circumstances, there is a sense of uncharted opportunity — the possibility of discussing and enacting alternate futures that improve on existing paths.

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Polis Picks: 2012 Urban Events Calendar

2012-01-08T08:00:00.008-05:00

Top 10 Ethical Travel Destinations for 2012

2012-01-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

View of Riga, Latvia. Source: Flickr user diasUndKompott

Now that the holidays are over, you may be looking forward to your next vacation. Consider a trip to one of the "10 Best Ethical Destinations" for 2012, according to a report from Ethical Traveler, a San Francisco-based nonprofit.

Argentina
The Bahamas
Chile
Costa Rica
Dominica
Latvia
Mauritius
Palau
Serbia
Uruguay

I was part of the research team that selected the destinations based on their recent record of protecting the environment, promoting social welfare and human rights, and creating a sustainable tourism industry. Ethical Traveler puts the list together every year in the hopes that tourists will put their dollars where their values lie.

In addition to the top 10, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) and the Republic of Cuba appear in the report as "Destinations of Interest." Although they don't make the cut as ethical travel picks, these are places undergoing rapid social and political change, and travelers have much to learn by seeing them with their own eyes.

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God's Plan: A Podcast on Faith and City Planning

2012-01-06T10:28:00.001-05:00

Khirkee Masjid in New Delhi, India. Source: Aditi Mehta

The connections between faith and city planning are undeniable. Faith-based groups rebuild areas after disasters, they develop affordable housing plans, and they help the poor. Additionally, social movements that have profoundly changed society, like the civil rights movement, were guided by faith.

Yet planning education generally does not deal with faith. "It's this whole realm, and we come up against it all the time, but we keep ignoring it," said Annette Kim, an urban planning professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This podcast is a conversation between Kim and her colleague, Professor Phil Thompson, on the relationship between faith and planning. Should the study of faith traditions and values be part of a planning education?

Polis brings you this Polis Podcast on CoLab Radio with our partners at CoLab Radio. Our goal is to offer a stimulating series of discussions, debates and interviews on a wide range of subjects from as many different places as we can manage.

Housing Production Transformed in Hanoi’s New Urban Areas

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Hanoi horizon. Source: Melissa Garcia Lamarca

Before Vietnam moved toward a market-driven economy in the mid-1980s, the state heavily the regulated the housing sector and was the main, if not only, actor supplying housing. This socialist housing regime, as David Koh calls it, drastically affected housing conditions, as private construction required numerous licenses and permits that took months or even years to produce. As housing provision failed to meet needs and demand, illegal construction flourished, particularly after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

Recognizing the multifold challenges of provision, regulation and enforcement, the state began creating a housing market in the late 1980s. It lifted a ban on self-help building activity and created a legal basis for land and housing ownership and property transactions. A housing boom ensued: In Hanoi, 300,000 to 400,000 square meters of floor area were added each year between 1998 and 2003, and more than one million square meters have been built since then.

Privately constructed housing in Hanoi. Source: Tran Hoai Anh

During the 1990s, private individuals were the main players producing new housing on a small scale, but large-scale housing projects from public and private developers have reigned since 2001. This is because Vietnam’s urban development policy shifted to encourage the creation of "new urban areas" — large-scale urban developments providing housing and infrastructure. The policy granted preferential treatment and incentives to developers undertaking housing production and encouraged foreign investment.

Linh Dam new urban area. Source: Tran Hoai Anh

The movement toward creating new urban areas has been successful in abating ad hoc development and the fragmented urban fabric resulting from private individuals producing housing on a small scale. Yet several challenges are emerging from this new form of housing provision. One issue is accessibility. While some of the first new urban areas were relatively affordable — such as the Hanoi Urban Development Corporation’s Linh Dam and Viet Hung projects — most recent ones are not. New developments are increasingly driven by private and foreign capital, targeting wealthy Vietnamese and foreign residents.

The Manor, a 23-hectare area with 660 apartment units in six blocks and 110 villas developed by Bitexco Group. Housing costs $2,250 per square meter. Source: Tran Hoai Anh

Furthermore, much of the new housing production ends up in the hands of speculators who are well connected to developers.

Indochina Plaza Hanoi, a mixed-use project comprising 390 condominiums and offering “effortless lifestyle on par with the highest international standards in the world.” Housing costs $2,500 to $2,700 per square meter. Source: Indochina Capital

Another challenge comes from policy implementation. Vietnam's urban development policy dictates that 20 percent of new urban area developments are to be returned to the city for the construction of low income or social housing. Not only is this 20 percent usually placed outside the development, often behind a wall, but some required housing is not being built because the state lacks funds for construction.

Ciputra International City, a 392-hectare site with 50 20-floor apartment blocks, 2,500 villas, offices, schools, a golf course and shopping mall. The developer, Ciputra Group, promises "modern with a touch of luxury." Housing costs $1,700 per square meter. Source: Ciputra Group

New urban area developments are also swallowing up agricultural land and destroying livelihoods, with developments planned for or under construction on 75,695 hectares of land around Hanoi.

Rendering of the Ecopark housing development. Source: Ecopark

Ecopark, a 500-hectare site to be built in nine phases through 2030. The first phase (54 hectares) is currently under development and includes 130 units of row housing, 354 villas and 1,500 apartments in five buildings. Vihajico, the developer, predicts that “at Ecopark, urban expansion and Mother Nature unite to create vast expanses of green areas and blue waters.” The housing cost is $1,000 to $2,000 per square meter. It is highly unlikely that the value of such developments will outweigh the socio-economic costs.

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Zaha Hadid Imagines the Architecture of 2012

2012-01-04T15:35:00.001-05:00

Source: Mo Kader

In looking forward to the coming year in architecture, Polis chose the top 10 architectural projects of 2011. Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House (above) was selected for its contribution to the cultural and economic development of the region, as well as its striking design. Hadid has emerged in recent years as one of the world's leading architects and a truly global practitioner, working on projects from China to Spain to Singapore.

In 2007, The New Yorker hosted 2012: Stories from the Near Future, a conference in which a number of luminaries offered predictions for their fields. Hadid discussed the future of housing and public space, the meaning of global architecture and upcoming projects with Paul Goldberger, the magazine's architecture critic; the video is online here.

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Urban Hackers Turn Billboard into Merry-Go-Round

2012-01-03T08:00:00.005-05:00

Billboards are ubiquitous sights in urban settings. As conduits for advertising, they are often viewed as eyesores and ignored by passersby. To reclaim the space of a spinning billboard in Prague, urban hackers Vojtěch Fröhlich, Ondřej Mladý, Jan Šimánek and Vladimír Turner turned the structure into a temporary merry-go-round late last year, creating a moment of escape within very public view.

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Polis Picks the Best Architecture and Landscape Projects of 2011

2012-01-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

In selecting our list of the 10 best works of architecture and landscape architecture in 2011, we at Polis have settled on works that highlight a number of issues dear to us. This was a year of social change, a sputtering economy and fewer big projects — one in which design was decidedly not the only issue. Some of the projects on the list were conceived before the economic downturn but realized afterward. Others reflect the power and give expression to emerging countries. Several directly seize on shifting economic and political contexts. Still others show how architectural values are being reconsidered.

The list is in no particular order. As always, we hope you will add your own picks in comments.

1. 9/11 Memorial in New York, United States (Michael Arad and Peter Walker)

Opening to the public 10 years after the terrorist attacks, the memorial marks the the absence of the Twin Towers and mourns lives lost with simple yet powerful voids set within a large public forest. While the surrounding development has adapted to market pressures and other forces, the memorial itself stayed true to the design architects envisioned nearly a decade ago.

Source: Architecture Article

2. Madrid Rio in Madrid, Spain (West 8 and MRIO Arquitectos)

This six-kilometer linear park spanning a sunken motorway connects Madrid's city center and adjacent neighborhoods to the newly rehabilitated Manzanares River. After eight years of delays, dust, noise and traffic jams, residents are finally enjoying unique public spaces and sport facilities.

Source: Landezine

3. Buturo Hospital in Burera District, Rwanda (MASS Design Group)

While most architectural projects in the Global South stem from either the "design" or "development" ends of the spectrum, the Buturo Hospital integrates strong design with progressive development.

Source: Archinect

4. Shibaura House in Tokyo, Japan (Kazuyo Sejima & Associates)

This simple building is primarily the home of a printing company but also provides workshop and educational space to the public — a de facto community center. The delicate structure allows for adaptability and unique interior spaces.

Source: Domus

5. Norwegian Wild Reindeer Center Pavilion in Dovrefjell National Park, Norway (Snøhetta)
The simple yet striking pavilion combines advanced fabrication and design techniques with traditional building practices and locally sourced materials.

Source: ArchDaily

6. Vanke Center in Shenzhen, China (Steven Holl)
This low, long building houses a hotel, apartments and the headquarters of a major Chinese developer. It employs bridge-building technology with the strong concept of a building raised from a reciprocal ground. The result is a sculptural building and open landscape (mostly) accessible to the public.

Source: Natalia Echeverri

7. Guangzhou Opera House in Guangzhou, China (Zaha Hadid)

The Opera House was conceived as an urban catalyst for the new cultural district of this quickly developing Chinese city. The building sits as a striking object along the Pearl River, opening a connection to the waterfront. The design gives considerable attention to the interiors, as swooping and sumptuous as any of Hadid's work.

Source: Iwan Baan

8. The Historic Corner near the Main Square of Reykjavik, Iceland (Studio Granda in association with Gullinsnid and Argos Architects)

This humble reconstruction of a historic block in the city center shows that architects were conscious of the difficulty of (re)creating authenticity. The process behind the project also reveals their faith in architecture as a tool for democratic change and a better society. When private investors planned to purchase the historic, fire-devastated block, Studio Granda opposed. "We had to take of our architect's coats and become activists. To serve the public and not the financial market. To not loose integrity." (Swedish Arkitekten)

Source: Studio Granda

9. Torre Confinanzas in Caracas, Venezuela (2,500 local residents)

Also known as the Tower of David, this is not a new building but a continually re-adapted one. The shell and structure of the building were started and abandoned during the banking boom in Caracas in the late 1980s. Since then, it has been continually "completed" by scores of informal residents, who have molded the tower into a thriving community during the past several decades. This building will never be finished in the traditional sense, but Venezuelan artists Ángela Bonadies and Juan José Olavarría published a work documenting the tower in 2011.

Source: Domus

10. Tents and structures of the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement in Tahrir Square, Zuccotti Park, St Paul's Cathedral, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Sproul Plaza and other public spaces around the world

The protest movements that sprang up around the world this year were unique, attuned to political and social contexts. But nearly everywhere, the occupation of public space became the stage for redefining these varied agendas. The structures of occupation — tents, shelters, shields, sculptures — are temporary by definition. But that is their power: Destroyed one day, they can be rebuilt the next.

Source: Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Source: MSNBC

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The Original Urbanist Graphic Novel

2012-01-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

“This is the city and I am one of the citizens, whatever interests the rest interests me.” (Walt Whitman)

With this quote, Belgian graphic artist Frans Masereel unveils “The City: A Vision in Woodcuts.” Masereel, who became known for his pacifist anarchism, achieved with this 1925 woodcut series an uncanny precursor to the modern graphic novel.

Almost a century after its publication, "The City" remains an emblematic representation of urbanism pertinent to our times. In their simplicity and starkness, Masereel’s woodcut plates exude a primitive attraction as essential and direct as any photojournalistic endeavor. The images' accessibility in both substance and form makes "The City" not only an artistic exemplar but also an iconic record of urban life.

Masereel’s visual essentialism bears forth in monochrome purity. Each piece works as an individual composition depicting the banalities of everyday life, captured through infrastructure, buildings and architectural artifacts. The city never escapes the viewer or the protagonist inside the swift graphic narrative. Mystery, joy, horror, hope and failure come alive in intimate and public spaces that frame an idealized city. Upon deeper reflection, each of us can recognize this city through our surroundings, paths and gazes.

Masereel’s city is our city. The colors, techniques, characters and artifacts may have changed with time, craft and technology, but the story of winners and losers remains the same. Each page of "The City" turns with ethnographic honesty and fervor, illustrating the social hierarchies systems, bureaucracies, rituals and practices that define urban life.

What questions or responsibilities does Masereel’s city — with its vice and splendor, frailties and vigor — offer us? I return to Masereel regularly to gain inspiration from the clarity of its aesthetic precision and ponder the questions that guide my research and practice.

Credits: Images from "The City: A Vision in Woodcuts" (Dover Publications).

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Assorted Links #48

2011-12-31T16:22:00.000-05:00

Credits: Photo of Snow Blind by Matthias Heiderich.

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Fountain Stage in Manhattan Square Park

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

While visiting my parents over the holidays, I stopped by a park near the center of Rochester, N.Y., where I spent a lot of time as a child. I remember its unusual playground with long, wide slides that you could run and jump onto, landing halfway down before reaching their sandy base. We saw Garth Fagan Dance, Arlo Guthrie and Ahmad Jamal perform there for free on summer evenings. There was an observation deck at the top of a giant steel lighting apparatus for shows in the courtyard below. I never thought about how this unusual place came to be.

Source: Landslide 2008: Marvels of Modernism, an exhibit by The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The official name is Howard Hanson Plaza in Manhattan Square Park. It was designed by Lawrence Halprin in 1972. The steel structure is a sculpture by Kerro Bruegging, titled "Tribute to Man." The park was part of an urban renewal project initiated in 1968, which included demolition of a residential neighborhood to make room for the Inner Loop expressway.

Lawrence Halprin's Lovejoy Fountain Park in Portland, Ore. Source: Pika 69 | Fort Washington Park

Former waterfall, wading pool and restaurant in Manhattan Square Park today.

The park hasn't been a great success. The fountain proved too expensive to maintain, the restaurant didn't seem very popular and the concrete surfaces never became comfortable. As much as we loved playing in the plaza, it was also kind of hazardous. I remember a girl in my kindergarten class having to get stitches after stepping on broken glass in the wading pool. The design is inexpedient, but maybe its bright points can be preserved or redone in a way that functions better in use.

View from the stairs leading up to the observation deck.

This post is part of a collection of Featured Places from around the world. If you'd like to share photos of a place you find interesting, just add them to the Flickr group or send them to info@thepolisblog.org and we will publish your feature. Video and sound recordings are also welcome.

Credits: Photos by Peter Sigrist unless otherwise noted in the captions.

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Podcast: Occupy as an Urban Movement

2011-12-29T09:18:00.003-05:00

An occupied home in Atlanta. Source: Occupy Our Homes.

It may seem completely spontaneous, but the Occupy movement did not come from nowhere. It has deep roots in longtime efforts to combat injustice, often at the urban level. As the Occupy movement in the U.S. moves toward 2012, this podcast looks back to the urban roots of the movement — in particular the role of community-based organizations and coalitions. It also explores the movement's newest manifestations, including Occupy Our Homes and Occupy the 'Hood.

Guests:

Nwamaka Agbo, Soul of the City campaign director and former green jobs director, Ella Baker Center

Ilana Berger, co-director of the New Bottom Line and former executive director of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE)

Rachel Brahinsky, doctoral candidate in UC Berkeley's Department of Geography and former staff reporter for the San Francisco Bay Guardian

Jennifer Flynn, managing director of Health GAP and former executive director of the New York City AIDS Housing Network (now Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders VOCAL-NY)

Hosted by Alex Schafran. Recorded via Skype, pardon the odd beep and ding.

Polis brings you this Polis Podcast on CoLab Radio with our partners at CoLab Radio. Our goal is to offer a stimulating series of discussions, debates and interviews on a wide range of subjects from as many different places as we can manage.

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Retracing Koolhaas's 'Singapore Songlines' Through Orchard Road

2011-12-28T08:00:00.014-05:00

Taking Singapore's Orchard Road as a linear slice of urban fabric, it may be read as representative of both the city-state's remarkable capacity for economic development and complete disregard for historical strata. In an awkward attempt to impose a blanket of elite market-driven exchange without the frayed edges and individual liberties of Western urban models, Singapore has stirred heated debate over its cultural authenticity. What is the genuine essence of a city that functions in a constant cultural grey zone, importing multinational corporations and citizens from abroad?

In the opening passage of “Singapore Songlines” — Rem Koolhaas’ seminal essay on the Westernization and runaway modernization of Singapore — he critically discusses the Singapore Model as the “Portrait of a Potemkin Metropolis ... or 30 Years of Tabula Rasa.” He points out that there is a “sense that no one in Singapore speaks any language perfectly”: The planning regime has kept pace with the rapidly growing population by perpetually uprooting, leading to a state of permanent cultural disorientation. “From one single, teeming Chinatown, Singapore has become a city with a Chinatown,” Koolhaas writes.

Singapore’s tabula rasa developmental logic has subtracted any perceivable contextual background, adding only glamorous foreground. The Potemkin Metropolis of Singapore — more harshly described by William Gibson as “Disneyland with the Death Penalty” — is a model for rapid urbanization in a part of the world where priorities diverge from those established in other global cities. Food poverty, defective infrastructure and destructive flash floods continue to shape the reality of countries in the region. Singapore developed by betting on qualities that rarely push cities to greatness in Europe and North America. It implemented a rigid, authoritarian ethos that appealed more to immediate conditions than to the cosmopolitan lifestyles of New Yorkers and Londoners. The city-state renowned for its prosperous economy, the banning of chewing gum and effective strategies against crime remains the odd man out within a broader geographical context accustomed to hardship and scarcity.

“It is shown with pride, not shame. They think there will be no crime. We think there can be no pleasure.” (Rem Koolhaas)

Within Singapore’s constantly shifting urban context sits Orchard Road — a celebration of architecture at the far end of the technological turn, hosting global icons in fashion design and a neoliberal culture of accelerated consumption. Just a few days into December, holiday lights had already transformed this iconic commercial street into a reflection of London’s Regent Street or Los Angeles' Rodeo Drive. Chinese, Malays and Indians — who compose just over 98 percent of the local population — embrace this holiday period regardless of religious inclination or interest in the Gregorian calendar’s New Year. In fact, (religious) national holidays are respected by all, independently of personal beliefs. Hindus take part in Christmas, Muslims feast with Hindus at Deepavali, and so forth.

Just as public holidays unite diverse Singaporeans, Orchard Road’s high fashion retailers break through international boundaries as they offer upper-class Singaporeans the opportunity to share dress codes with Milan, Paris, London or New York. With six Gucci shops, five Prada stores and many Louis Vuitton and Chanel locations, you don’t have to look far to buy the same gear as you would in other global cities.

Singapore’s weather does not seem to much influence the latest arrivals in high fashion. Since the end of the European summer, it has become increasingly difficult to find summer clothing, despite the fact that stubborn local temperatures rarely fall below 25 degrees Celsius. While thousands of travellers are anxiously planning their holiday escapes to the beaches of Koh Samui, Phuket and Bali, an hour away in Singapore, we can dress as if we were in Milan and be blinded by shimmering holiday lights as if we were in Manhattan. Singapore continues to build and invest in its glamorous foreground, seemingly convinced that the soul of the Western cosmopolitan cities it seeks to emulate is built upon global brand icons, ranging from Louis Vuitton to Santa Claus.

“The irony of Singapore’s climate is that its tropical heat and humidity are at the same time the perfect alibi for a full-scale retreat into interior, generalized, non-specific, air-conditioned comfort – and the sole surviving element of authenticity, the only thing that makes Singapore tropical, still.” (Rem Koolhaas)

The qualities that Singapore achieves through its complex assemblage of Western semiotics are fundamentally different than those which these signals create when embedded in their original context. While Prada may celebrate high fashion in Milan, a utopia for up-and-coming fashion designers, Singapore’s commodity market honors the brand only, not the creative talent from which it emerged — consequence without cause. Without historical background, even originals become simulacrum.

Benjamin Leclair-Paquet is a researcher whose interest lies at the nexus of innovative means of participation through design and heterotopian architecture in violent spaces.

Credits: Text by Benjamin Leclair-Paquet and Andrew Wade. Photographs by Benjamin Leclair-Paquet.

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Claude Fischer on Big Cities and Subcultures

2011-12-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

"In the early 1970s, Berkeley sociologist Claude Fischer began investigating the social effects of living in dense urban centers... His research led him to one overwhelming conclusion, published in a seminal paper in 1975: big cities nurture subcultures more effectively than suburbs or small towns... If one-tenth of one percent of the population are passionately interested in say, beetle collecting or improv theater, there might only be a dozen of such individuals in a midsized town. But in the city there may be thousands. As Fischer noted, that clustering creates a positive feedback loop, as the more unconventional residents of the suburbs or rural areas migrate to the city in search of fellow travelers. 'The theory...explains the 'evil' and the 'good' of cities simultaneously,' Fischer wrote. 'Criminal unconventionality and innovative (e.g. artistic) unconventionality are nourished by vibrant subcultures.'"

Steven Johnson, from "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation," 2010

Here is a taste of the rockabilly subculture in Japan, as personified in a music video from Peter, Bjorn and John:

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Aerial photo of Hong Kong by Min Li Chan.

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Why Rio+20's 'Green Economy' Approach is Not Enough

2011-12-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

Source: Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil.

During the 1992 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, most of the world's national governments agreed on the existence of a global environmental crisis. However, this agreement did not recognize the systemic relationship between this crisis and the dominant development model. Instead, signatories of the Rio Declaration institutionalized a seemingly friendly label for a highly profitable and predatory system: sustainable development.

Caricature of the famous giant statue of "Cristo Redentor" (Redeemer Christ) in Rio de Janeiro, where the next UN Conference on Sustainable Development will take place in June 2012. Source: FASE.

By next year's United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, the environmental crisis will have worsened exponentially to a nearly irreversible situation, giving space to a debate that in 1992 was considered a prophecy of doom: adaptation. Biodiversity today is largely considered a lost cause, as climate change seriously threatens the global economy. Deforestation, pollution and depletion of fisheries indeed seem relatively insignificant in the face global-scale, interlinked catastrophes caused by greenhouse gases emitted by human activities.

Although the starting point for Rio+20 is a broad agreement on the threat, the dominant debate again avoids any serious questioning of the development model that is driving the globe to this catastrophic future. This time the main theme is "Green Economy," a new tag that preserves the ideology of the prevailing development model, based on economic growth that feeds unsustainable patterns of production and consumption.

The greater challenge is that an immense majority of the world's population has bought into this model and aspires to own cars, air conditioning and concrete houses in sprawled urban areas, as well as to eat meat every day, as symbols of improved social status. National governments, which lead the conference as member states, are either elected by such populations or depend on their conformity to maintain their authority.

The world cannot sustain seven billion compulsive consumers for a very long period without disrupting its climate and essential environmental elements, such as water. A green economy is only feasible in the long term if there is a significant change in the social dynamics that are pushing governments to preserve our unsustainable development model.

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The Town of Jesus, Bedouins and American Explorers

2011-12-25T07:32:00.000-05:00

Visiting Capernaum was a surprise. Not knowing what to expect from the dot on the map, we found ourselves at a site where Jesus strolled more than two thousand years ago. Today — during a birthday observed by many — I am reminded of the ancient town I visited last April on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. Passing the ruins of such ancient houses, churches, synagogues, squares and streets made an impression.

The day was hot, and when we read a sign that said, "No shorts, please," we almost considered passing it by. Capernaum is not only an excavated site for tourists to wander around but also home to a Franciscan monastery and Greek Orthodox church. But we chose to obey the demand – sometimes one just has to put on pants.

Capernaum was Jesus’ second home and, during the period of his life, a garrison town, administrative center and customs station on the major road between Damascus in Syria, southern Israel and beyond. According to the New Testament, Jesus chose his disciples Peter, Andrew, and Matthew from Capernaum and performed many of his miracles here.

The town of Capernaum first came into existence in the second century B.C. It remained a large and prominent city, holding some 1,500 residents for more than nine centuries. In 1838, an American explorer discovered its ruins, and British, Italian and German archaeologists and pilgrims soon followed. The newcomers acquired a large area from the Bedouins and fenced off the site where they had found remnants of churches and a synagogue (above).

The layout of the town appears to be quite regular for its time. On both sides of an ample north-south main street arose small districts bordered by small cross-sectional streets and no-exit side streets. The most extensive part of the typical house was the courtyard, where there was a circular furnace made of refractory earth, as well as grain mills and a set of stone stairs that led to the roof. Seems like a likable city to me.

This post is part of a collection of featured places from around the world. If you'd like to share photos of a place you find interesting, just add them to the Flickr group or send them to info@thepolisblog.org and we will publish your feature. Video and sound recordings are also welcome.

Credits: Photos of Capernaum by Rebecka Gordan.

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Sarajevo's Buildings Embody its Diverse History

2011-12-24T08:00:00.010-05:00

Austro-Hungarian buildings line the river that runs through the center of Sarajevo.

A few weeks ago, on Nov. 25, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrated Statehood Day. Earlier that week, Republika Srpska celebrated the 16th anniversary of the Dayton Agreement, the peace framework that ended three and a half years of war that had torn the Balkans apart. However, Republika Srpska doesn't celebrate Statehood Day, and the Federation doesn't celebrate the Dayton Agreement — one of many reminders that Boznia and Herzegovina are autonomously governed areas.

The Central Bank is housed in a 1920s Art Deco building.

As I walked through Sarajevo on Nov. 25, I saw the national flag everywhere: in store windows, pinned to small children's jackets, flying above major streets. Walking through the streets, I was reminded that the city's history reaches far beyond the pock-marked buildings damaged by war in the 1990s. I passed 18th-century buildings that have stood since Turkish rule, elegant 19th-century Austro-Hungarian apartment buildings and early 20th-century Art Deco buildings. I walked by heavy, concrete structures from the communist era and Tito's rule and newer buildings that demonstrated impressive rebuilding efforts after the war.

A quiet residential street with one of the many mosques that make up the city's skyline.

When exploring Sarajevo, it is easy to see only war-damaged buildings. Looking beyond these, the city's architecture reveals a long and varied cultural history.

Credits: Photos by Anna Fogel.

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Locals' Future Uncertain in Hanoi's Red River Project

2011-12-23T08:00:00.008-05:00

Before the development of roads, the Red River was fundamentally important in facilitating trade between Hanoi and other parts of Vietnam. While Hanoi is nestled into a bend of the river, the city’s growth has cut it off from this waterway, largely due to a heavily traversed arterial road (pictured below) that disconnects the city from the central part of its riverside.

Yen Phu Road separates Hanoi from the Red River.

Getting over to explore this part of the riverside, an area known as Phuc Xa – Phuc Tan, is a bit difficult but worth it. At the base of Long Bien Bridge is Long Bien Market, a large, agricultural wholesale market open from midnight to 2 a.m. There is a mix of formal and informal settlements as one continues east on the bridge. On the river, these settlements transform into a few dozen floating houses made largely from found materials. Residents fish and farm on the island in the Red River.

Long Bien Market

Informal housing next to Long Bien Market

Floating houses on the Red River

Woman working her family's fields on the island in the Red River

Floating houses on the west side of the island

As Hanoi is undergoing rapid growth, it is uncertain how much longer this area will retain its form and character. In 2005 Hanoi signed an agreement with the city of Seoul for Koreans to help the Vietnamese capital develop the area along the Red River. With a projected cost of $7 billion, plans involve construction and upgrading of more than 75 km along banks on both sides of the river, including 42 km of new development, and building 80 km of roads along the river.

This massive redevelopment project will require relocating 39,100 households (170,000 people), begging the question of what will happen to people living in informal housing next to the river or in floating houses on the river. Equally uncertain is the fate of people who farm on the island — the plan slates agricultural land there for "leisure and tourism." While the plan has been controversial, it is currently stalled due to the financial crisis. Time will tell what comes of it.

Credits: Photos by Melissa García Lamarca. Images of Red River redevelopment plans from Tran Hoai Anh.

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Trivandrum: Urban Life Beyond India's Mega-Cities

2011-12-22T08:00:00.011-05:00

London. New York. Tokyo. Paris. Mumbai. Chicago. We all know that these cities are big and powerful, and that we are now living in a truly "urban" world. Few students of cities, myself included, have been willing to take the leap outside of "big city life" and venture into the relatively uncharted territory of the "small city." For many urban dwellers, it is a sad day when we have to leave the city limits.

My day came about two months ago, when I moved to the South Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram (or more simply Trivandrum) in Kerala, my home for the next year. I am renegotiating my understanding of the "city" in a place that is still negotiating its own idea of "urban-ness."

Trivandrum is an expression of the"rest" of India’s idea of urbanization — beyond the Mumbais, Delhis and Bangalores — with a distinctly Southern flavour. It is still in its infancy, trying to figure out what this "city" business is all about.

From the sky, Trivandrum looks like a forest with a gentle dusting of high-rise apartments. The view of the tall palms is both spectacular and confusing: For a place that is supposed to hold a population of 750,000, the city looks more the part of an overgrown village. But somewhere beneath all of the green, there is a city of bustling markets, traffic-ridden streets, chain restaurants and a string of home-grown big box stores.

There is a beautiful heritage in its architecture, an amazing sense of the highly politicized Keralan population (with a nearly permanent set of chairs for protesters who gather and chant daily in front of the State Secretariat), and everywhere there are constant reminders of the state’s "communist" and "Marxist" politics.

For those of us who have lived in India's bigger urban centers and become versed in contemporary issues with Indian cities, Trivandrum seems to sing to a tune of its own. Kerala has often been touted as India’s golden child, with a relatively high standard of living, lower poverty rates and literacy rates comparable with those of a developed nation. Trivandrum appears to live up to such expectations, with less visible extreme urban poverty, although it may just be a matter of time before these issues emerge with the steady growth of cities in Kerala.

There are signs of change already. Trivandrum has slowly been revealing a new face through infrastructure upgrades and marketing for prospective investors in the IT field. The Trivandrum Technopark, the first of its kind in India, has been largely successful and similar projects are popping up elsewhere in Kerala.

However, the future is uncertain. A challenging global economic climate has rendered the Malayali Diaspora of Persian Gulf workers unemployed, and they are coming home to a Kerala that is not yet ready to employ them. Cities such as Trivandrum are poised to be centers of growth, and substantial transformations may be on the way. But in terms of urban living, Kerala adheres to its own social realities, where norms are conservative and very much based on village life, and a true sense of urban awareness is still being negotiated. In comparing Trivandrum to bigger Indian cities, there is a sense that people are subjected to a subtle form of social policing. Youngsters, for the most part, do not mill about on the street, young couples are rarely found "hanging out" together, and public spaces are largely empty.

My initial observations have shown that Trivandrum, while a vibrant place of protest and politics, has little regard for or understanding of "public space." My Malayali friends who are researchers here suggest that, like the majority of India, the idea of living in an urban world is still quite foreign, and Trivandrum is continuing to figure itself out.

Credits: Photos by George Carothers.

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Urban Anti-Revolution: Internet and Autocracy in Moscow

2011-12-21T09:59:00.000-05:00

Protesters gathering at Bolotnaya Square, just south of the Kremlin. Source: Ilya Varlamov

The more we collaborate, the more difficult we are to subdue. Revolutions against monarchy and imperialism were empowered through urbanization — centralized populations were able to collaborate more effectively than their dispersed counterparts. The recent wave of protests against autocracy and neoliberalism are empowered through digitization, as it is now easier than ever to collaborate locally and globally. Perhaps the Internet is virtual urbanization, but physical proximity is still important. This was clear in the events leading up to the Bolotnaya Square protest in Moscow.

Presentations at the Moscow Urban Forum. Source: Peter Sigrist

Plan for expanding Moscow's borders from 107 to 251 hectares to the southwest, where an estimated 250 thousand people currently live. Sources: газета.ru (info-graphic) and PolitRUS (birdie graphic)

The Moscow Urban Forum took place at the Swissôtel from Dec. 7 to 9, directly between the initial protests over the Russian parliamentary elections and the gathering at Bolotnaya Square. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin summoned a cadre of local and global "experts" for advice on an ambitious masterplan that includes expanding Moscow's borders to more than double their current size. He spared no expense — including white Audis emblazoned with the forum logo — in presenting three days of dinners, tours, keynote addresses and panel discussions. Admission was free, but there was an opaque selection process and tiered system of event access. Presenters hailed primarily from the worlds of business, government, media, higher education, technology, cultural institutions and design.

Conference graphic featuring an elaborate highway system to address traffic congestion. Source: Moscow Urban Forum

Sessions were grouped under the headings of Finance and Management, Planning and Construction, Infrastructure and Technology, Identity and Marketing, and Sustainable Development. The general assumption was that Moscow must improve living conditions and market itself more effectively to become a "global city." An Urban Land Institute (ULI) Advisory Services team presented recommendations after less than a week of touring Moscow and meeting with local experts. Despite the business rhetoric, I found most of their advice on livability, density, redevelopment, mixed-use communities, public space and transport infrastructure very appealing. The most urgent point — to preserve the city's population density by reusing abandoned industrial sites instead of proceeding with the expansion — was apparently rejected by Sobyanin, despite his progressive opening speech.

Mayor Sobyanin's opening speech. Source: Moscow Urban Forum

This could mark the apex of Moscow's enchantment with global capitalism, inspired by looking abroad in response to the stifling political situation at home. It appears to have offered a temporary focus for many people's desire for change. Their deliverer is Sergey Kapkov, a glamorous public official with strong business and government ties, who discussed his work on the redevelopment of Gorky Park. As impressive as this work has been, it seems part of a calculated move by the poll-obsessed federal government to curry favor with Moscow's restless upwardly mobile set.

New ice-skating facilities at Gorky Park. Source: The Village

As evident at the urban forum, global business, culture and design flair hasn't lost its appeal. But it doesn't take the place of a just society. Now sophisticated commercial media outlets — including Сноб (Snob), Большой Город (Big City), Афиша (Ad), Слон (Elephant), OpenSpace.ru and The Village — are openly supporting the protests. Perhaps this will bring a new movement in Moscow to lead instead of follow global trends; a commitment to put more resources into drinkable tap water, for example, instead of luxurious urban forums; and an end to decision-making limited to party officials and globe-trotting experts.

Bolotnaya Square. Source: Google Maps

Bolotnaya Square is located on a human-made island across the river from the Kremlin. Through several hundred years of landscaping, it has changed from a floodplain (and site of public executions) to a popular site for wedding photography. It is now something more. The demonstration on Dec. 10 has been deemed the largest in Russia since the early 1990s. It was peaceful and full of hope, excitement and resolve. The crowd overflowed to more than double the space allotted, expanding into the park, over two bridges and along the opposite bank of the canal. Aggressive flags of nationalists mingled with those of Solidarnost, opposition parties, gay-rights advocates and local universities.

The crowd along the embankment, possibly captured by the remote camera below. Sources: Новости в фотографиях (above) and OpenSpace.ru (below)

Support for the protest movement galvanized rapidly. Leading up to the elections, an almost surreal marketing campaign by United Russia occupied the best ad space on television and throughout the city. Seeing giant billboards of Putin and Medvedev — along with graphics identical to those of United Russia used to publicize the elections (see comparison below) — turned a tragicomic sense of disbelief into anger; obviously, no other party or presidential candidate had a chance on such an unfair playing field, so why waste so much money on marketing? And whose money was being wasted?

United Russia campaign billboard (above) with the same graphic background as the announcement printed on subway cards (below) to publicize the elections. Sources: Молодая гвардия (above) and Peter Sigrist (below)

"Together We Will Win!" United Russia advertisement at the corner of Зумляной Вал and Покровка. Source: Peter Sigrist

Following the election results (which were widely contested using video phones, YouTube and other contemporary means), protests broke out in Moscow's center. Hundreds were arrested, including the popular anti-corruption blogger Alexey Navalny. Media outlets such as Телеканал ДОЖДЬ (TV Rain), Эхо Москвы (Echo of Moscow), Новая газета (New Gazette), The Moscow Times and Ведомости (The Record) strongly criticized the elections, and Facebook erupted with related links, debates, plans and notifications of the gathering at Bolotnaya Square.

Video from the demonstration, including a wedding held on the scene. Source: RT

Despite boldly expressed frustration with the parliamentary elections and crackdown on initial protests, the majority of the crowd at Bolotnaya Square was against the idea of revolution. When a nationalist leader mentioned it in his speech, he was booed thoroughly. Most people seemed intent on preserving stability and capitalist development. Protesters were simply calling for an end to the corruption that has allowed a small group of officials to siphon off a large portion of the nation's wealth underhandedly. The protests were not about replacing the entire system; they were about true democracy.

Participants facing the speakers' podium at bottom right. Source: Новая газета

Opposition leaders addressing the crowd. Source: Peter Sigrist

Opposition leaders and celebrities (including Noize MC) addressed the crowd. However, they were less important than the shared sentiment in their words. People came together based on common interest in a just society rather than the appeals of a charismatic leader. Despite Navalny's popularity, no one has captured the imagination of an overwhelming majority as a legitimate presidential candidate. Some see this as an impediment to unseating Putin, and that may be true; but it is also increasingly characteristic of pro-democracy movements today.

Scene from an interactive panoramic photo of the crowd. Source: Moscow Panorama Service

Many have raised doubts about the prospects of this movement, seeing it as basically limited to yuppies, hipsters and opposition parties without a significant base. Protesters face the threat of reprisal if Putin wins the elections in March, and there's no indication that he will decide not to run. Activists have faced severe repercussions in the past for opposing his regime.

A sense of hope within the crowd. Source: Peter Sigrist

Can change take place in digital space and transfer to the physical world? Can this prevent the abuse of power more effectively than movements of the past? Yes. More and more people are moving to metropolitan areas. More and more people are connecting to the Internet. Fewer and fewer people can be taken advantage of by authoritarian leaders. Bolotnaya Square is one of many examples. The fundamental claim is modest: fair elections. The protesters are wary of revolution, but seek involvement in the decisions that affect their lives.

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On View: 'Cities and the Things That Matter'

2011-12-20T08:00:00.004-05:00

Cities are complex social, political and cultural ecologies. "Cities and the Things that Matter," currently on view at New York's Lombard-Freid Projects, explores the numerous rhythms, structures, stories and transactions of urban life. Seven artists and artist collectives — Haig Aivazian, Emre Huner, Wilfredo Prieto, Michael Rakowitz, Raqs Media Collective, Nasan Tur and Yamashita+Kobayashi — took a present a subset of urban ecologies through particular lenses. The artists examine the monumental qualities of the tallest buildings in the world, juxtapose utopian-themed 1960s corporate propaganda with shots of abandoned buildings and reverse spectatorship at baseball games. Their sculptures, installations, videos, photography and drawings contribute to the collective urban story.

"Cities and the Things that Matter" will be on view at the Lombard-Freid Projects gallery in New York until Jan. 21, 2012.

Credits: Image of Post-Scriptum: On the Other Side of the Sky (An Epilogue in Three Parts) from Lombard-Freid Projects.

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Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore on (New) Media

2011-12-19T08:00:00.002-05:00

"All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the message. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.

All

media

are

extensions

some

human

faculty —

psychic

physical."

Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, from "The Medium is the Message," 1967.

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Image from "The Medium is the Message."

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Assorted Links #47

2011-12-18T08:00:00.004-05:00

Credits: Photo of pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain from Architectural Violence by zunguzungu.

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A Sculptural Response to the Wall Street Bailout

2011-12-17T08:24:00.000-05:00

Leon Reid IV, a public artist based in Brooklyn, has created a powerful sculpture in response to the bank bailouts and Occupy Wall Street. It is pictured here. In Leon's words:

"OCTOBER 2008" is the title of my new limited edition sculpture — a satirical jab at the 2008 bank bailout where tax-payer dollars went to prop up the tax-exempt elite. The sculpture shows a panhandling Wall Street executive accepting cash from a homeless woman.

The concept came to me in the summer of 2011, and I planned its release in fall to coincide with the three-year anniversary of the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008." The casting/molding materials to produce the piece were a bit over my production budget, delaying the release by several months. The resilience and sacrifice of the global OWS movement truly inspired me to ante up and bring the work to life. My message to the global struggle: Thank you for setting a positive example, keep fighting the good fight.

More information on this work and others can be found at www.leonthe4th.com.

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Scenes From a Revolution: Tunis Through the Lens of Mark Mouck

2011-12-16T07:44:00.002-05:00

When news broke on a crisp January day that former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had fled the country after 23 years of dictatorial rule, people around the world watched in awe at what would become the first major victory in one of the most important waves of popular resistance in history. But in the streets of Tunisia, the day after Ben Ali's departure was one of hopeful uncertainty. The police, long the violent bulwark of the regime, were now gone. The army had stepped in to do what it could, but it had been purposefully weakened by the government, and no one knew what would happen when no single force could protect people or property.

We are taught to fear anarchy, but anarchy is precisely what happened: not in the colloquial sense of chaos and lawlessness, but rather the voluntary association of free people to protect and defend their communities, families and property. In Tunisia, anarchy was neighborhood-based. With no perceivable law enforcement, and rumors of disgruntled former police officers rampaging through neighborhoods to incite popular violence for Ben Ali's return, neighbors banded together to build roadblocks, exchange news and wait.

My friend Mark Mouck is a teacher in Tunis, and an excellent amateur photographer. He lives in the quiet suburb of La Marsa, a fairly bourgeois but diverse community. Many local families have lived there since it was farmland, and middle-class homes sit side-by-side with mansions and expatriate enclaves. La Marsa is also down the road from the Presidential Palace and from Ben Ali's personal mansion, a monstrosity that juts out from the hills of Sidi Bou Said, lording over Carthage and the rapidly growing city of Tunis.

With news limited and sporadic, the men of the neighborhood (and some women) spent Jan. 15 watching and waiting, peering from rooftops and hoping that what seemed like a blessing would in fact turn out to be one.

They also gathered and talked, an activity that was dangerous to do in large public groups under Ben Ali. One never knew who was watching or listening, and even hints of subversion could have long-lasting repercussions.

It was not all business, as the newly closed streets and installed barricades provided a perfect opportunity for soccer games.

People went to bed that night not knowing what would happen, and the feeling of uncertainty remains prevalent. One of the tragedies of the West's obsession with Islamism in post-revolutionary North Africa is that there is not enough attention paid to inequality, especially in cities. Few are asking what will happen if the doors to the Tunisian economy and land market are yanked open by the "Turkish model" to Euro-American and Gulf capital.

What we do know is that nothing happened that night in La Marsa, or in most of the neighborhoods and subdivisions of Tunisia. People came together peacefully in their streets, and anarchy ensued.

Credits: Photos of La Marsa by Mark Mouck.

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Podcast: Civil Rights Leaders on Social Change Today

2011-12-15T08:00:00.004-05:00

Unveiling ceremony for the Delta Seeds program in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Source: Delta Seeds.

How do you work toward a more just world when the systems that hold it up are crumbling before your eyes?

"In this period, imagination is more important than education," said the Reverend Nelson Johnson of Greensboro, North Carolina. This podcast features veteran organizers and civil rights leaders, most of whom have already survived social upheaval in America, unpacking and examining the tremendous opportunities before us.

This conversation includes Rev. Dr. William Barber II of the North Carolina NAACP; Scott Douglas of Birmingham Greater Ministries in Alabama; Juan Leyton of Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts; Burt Lauderdale of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth; Joyce and Nelson Johnson of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, Carolina; and Derrick Johnson, President of the Mississippi NAACP.

Derrick Johnson unveils Delta Seeds, which will enable Mississippi farmers to sell produce directly to public school kitchens. This program is one answer to the question he raises: "How can we be self-directed in the quality of life we live?"

Together with our partners at CoLab Radio, Polis is bringing you this Polis Podcast on CoLab Radio. Our goal is to offer a stimulating series of discussions, debates and interviews on a wide range of subjects from as many different places as we can manage.

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London's Boxpark as 'Pop-Up' Urbanism

2011-12-14T09:11:00.002-05:00

Boxpark Shoreditch, promoted as a "retail revolution", opened its doors in East London this month. Conceived as a way to revitalize a slice of urban land adjacent to the Shoreditch High Street Overground Station, it seeks to activate the latent economic and social potential of the site. The area faces the challenge of underutilized land that is simply waiting for a thorough and more permanent redevelopment, which may not occur for several years. Boxpark uses this window of opportunity to provide flexible, short-term and low-cost rental agreements to attract small, independent retailers to shops within carefully designed and retrofitted corrugated metal shipping containers.

The concept and design of the project emphasizes its ability to "pop-up" and engage dormant sites, potentially as a replicable model that could adapt to neighborhoods throughout the city. Essential to this is a quick turnaround time from concept to completion, facilitated by the use of standardized shipping containers that are redesigned for each retailer and fitted out to specifications during three months. It then takes a mere few weeks to assemble them on site, creating a more dynamic, artistic and urban version of the mega-development shopping mall experience, with 60 shops assembled in only four months.

There are debates over whether retailers renting the containers are too corporate and whether Boxpark remains true to its concept of offering an independent alternative to mainstream High Street brands. But it has successfully implemented a quick, yet substantial design intervention in the city. The project's true potential lies not in creating another space of consumption and transaction, but in provoking questions on the suggested use and unique qualities of the site over the next few years, informing its future redevelopment. Viewing "pop-up urbanism" in this light — as a means of inquiry into the assets and constraints of urban sites — it holds the potential to feed into future redevelopment plans, promoting an evolution of responsive urbanism.

Credits: Photos from Flickr user wirewiping.

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Moscow's Growing Pro-Democracy Movement

2011-12-13T16:26:00.001-05:00

Video of last week's protest at Bolotnaya Square.

Daria Syuzeva, a recent graduate of the Strelka Institute, just sent in an account of events surrounding last week's peaceful pro-democracy protest in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square. She shares the frustration of living under the current regime, along with the euphoria of joining fellow citizens and supporters around the world in opposition.

So it finally started! Something extraordinary. We have gathered twice already — on Dec. 5 there were around 7,000 people, and five days later there were around 50,000.

Last spring President Dmitry Medvedev changed our constitution to extend the terms of elected officials. He prepared the next president to rule for six years rather than four and for parliament members to serve five years instead of four. On Sept. 24, Vladimir Putin announced that he would seek to be president again, with Medvedev as his prime minister. The next day, finance minister Alexey Kudrin announced that he would not work under Medvedev due to different opinions on budget expenditures — he wanted less military funding, in particular.

The distribution of votes among parties was similar, except for United Russia (in blue): the higher the total attendance, the greater the relative proportion of votes for the party. Source: Gazeta.ru.

Elections took place on Dec. 4. Many violations were documented — ballot stuffing, erasable pens, denial-of-service attacks on opposition websites — and after the results were calculated, they were changed dramatically. According to newspapers, exit polls stated that the United Russia party gained not more than one third of the votes, while the official results were close to 50 percent, so several million votes were falsified. Moreover, experts noticed inconsistencies in statistics pointing to artificial interventions in favor of United Russia.

The day after the elections, people decided to protest. Usually protests hardly gather 300 people, but after the elections there were thousands! Everyone was shocked by the number of people. A second protest on Dec. 10 drew more than 30,000 people — and it was peaceful!

Protesters in Bolotnaya Square oppose vote-rigging in Russia's Dec. 5 elections. Source: Daria Syuzeva.

Everyone was so excited — this is real democracy. People who are 25 years old do not want to live for 12 years under an oppressive and corrupt government. There is no fair competition in Russia nowadays, and the incompetent win, so the future is doubtful.

On the evening of the day after the protest at Bolotnaya Square, Alexey Kudrin announced that he was thinking of starting a party — a liberal one. I am very happy with that. Meanwhile, Medvedev stated on Facebook that he does not believe the protesters.

The next protest in Moscow will take place on Dec. 24 at the square behind Saint Basil's Cathedral. Over 50,000 people are expected. People have gathered to support the cause in cities around the world, including Minsk, London, Paris, New York, Oslo, Prague, Hamburg, Limassol, Washington, Montreal, Almaty, Berlin, Dublin, Lyon, Toronto, Tokyo, Munich, Freiburg, Frankfurt am Main and so many others. We gather with the help of Facebook and are trying to build global support so that more people here will believe this is possible.

Two young supporters in New York share their hopes for Russia's future.

The curious thing is that society has been developing faster than the political elite, which does not know what to do with this activity. This is a new type of civil society and democracy: social media democracy. It is an inspiring experience that I hope can be an extraordinary precedent.

Before enrolling at Strelka, Daria graduated from the Higher School of Economics with a degree in public administration and a focus on urban economic development. She was born in Zlatoust, in Russia's Chelyabinsk region, and currently lives in Moscow.

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Lessons from Ecuador's Citizen Participation Law

2011-12-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

In April 2010, Ecuador's National Assembly passed the Citizen Participation Law — an excellent compendium for anyone interested in participatory democracy. The law defined mechanisms for direct democracy through which Ecuadorians are participating in government decision-making and controlling public affairs. These mechanisms, many of which were already functioning in some parts of the country, constitute, in the law's own words, "a progressive setting of new spaces that make the direct exercise of citizen power possible."

At all levels, this legislation defined processes through which people could reform the Constitution, change laws and by-laws, organize referendums and binding popular consultations, remove an elected official and free access to public information. At the national level, the law established a set of councils through which civil society could participate in decision-making processes. At the local level, it created citizen assemblies (which can manage public funds), local planning councils, participatory budgeting, public hearings, open town hall sessions, an "empty chair" in the town council (filled by civil society representatives), citizen oversight over public management, popular observatories and local consultation councils.

A year and a half later, most ministries and local governments have started adopting such mechanisms. The speed and effectiveness of implementation has depended much on the political will of officials. The main challenge that civil society movements and organizations are facing is the tendency that government officials have to co-opt these mechanisms. Indeed, the national government kept some powers that can prevent organizations from exercising their rights to participate in public affairs.

Credits: Image of the participation ladder from DFID (Department for International Development).

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Sharon Zukin on Authenticity

2011-12-11T08:00:00.005-05:00

"Authenticity must be used to reshape the rights of ownership. Claiming authenticity can suggest the right to the city, a human right, that is cultivated by longtime residence, use, and habit. Just as icons – in the original, religious meaning of the word – derive their meaning from the rituals in which they are embedded, so do neighborhood, buildings, and streets... If we appreciate them as authentic, we are speaking from a distance of space and time, where we no longer participate in the routines and rituals of their origins...

Authenticity is nearly always used as a lever of cultural power for a group to claim space and take it away from others without direct confrontation, with the help of the state and elected officials and the persuasion of the media and consumer culture. We can turn this lever in the direction of democracy, however, by creating new forms of public-private stewardship that give residents, workers, and small business owners, as well as buildings and districts, a right to put down roots and remain in place. This would strike a balance between a city's origins and its new beginnings; this would restore a city's soul."

Sharon Zukin, from "Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places," 2011.

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Photo of Brooklyn by Rebecka Gordan.

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Urban Forum and Protest in Moscow

2011-12-10T03:36:00.000-05:00

Watershed events often coincide. Based on the tenor of the Moscow Urban Forum over the past three days, it seemed that "global city" ideology had found another haven of unconditional support. This was part of a wave of surface change associated with the initial hope inspired by outgoing president Dmitry Medvedev, based on visions of a more open, innovative, cosmopolitan society closely integrated with the global economy.

Initial protest at Chistye Prudy on December 6, following disputed parliamentary elections.

However, as Julia Ioffe explains in an incisive account of the current political climate in Moscow, the announcement of Vladimir Putin's plans to succeed Medvedev and the disputed results of parliamentary elections last weekend have pushed many into the arena of direct opposition. Over five thousand people gathered in protest on Monday, and 253 were arrested. Another protest will take place in a few hours at Bolotnаyа Square. Around 30,000 are expected to participate despite astonishingly underhanded attempts by the federal government to prevent them (see Ioffe's article for a full account).

There are many intersections between the Moscow Urban Forum, the Russian federal government, current protests and the Occupy movement. At the forum, increasingly retrograde neoliberal schemes mixed with contemporary urbanism provided a channel for many people's desire for change. The autocracy of the federal government was (for the most part) not directly criticized, but attendees were obviously dissatisfied with the current state of the country. Their challenge is different from that of the Occupy movement, but the core problem is the same: abuse of power allowing a small group of people to make a disproportionate amount of decisions and control a disproportionate amount of resources to the detriment of most people's well-being.

I'm about to leave for Bolotnаyа Square, but I plan to write more about the conference and protests soon. Bolʹshoy Gorod (Big City) magazine has been documenting events as they unfold. Although the articles are in Russian, they include a lot of imagery and they're very worth Google-translating. I'll include other good sources as soon as possible.

Credits: Photo by Peter Sigrist. Video by BigCitymag.

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Jan Gehl Presents at the Moscow Urban Forum

2011-12-09T07:28:00.002-05:00

This is a quick post to share a keynote presentation by Jan Gehl given yesterday at the Moscow Urban Forum. There may be a much better version online already, as the events are being recorded and many are live-streamed on the forum homepage. Gehl discusses urban livability, from reducing traffic jams to designing comfortable public spaces. Such measures — based on inspiring work done in Copenhagen and other cities — are desperately needed in Moscow after 20 years of highly unlivable urban development. Although I find it unsettling to hear livability tied to neoliberal ideas for a "global city" that have dominated the forum, I was impressed with Gehl's practical approach to problem solving at human scales.

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Credits: Video from Voicing the City, a collaborative YouTube channel by CoLab Radio and Polis.

Resisting Evictions Before the Brazil World Cup and Olympics

2011-12-08T13:00:00.003-05:00

Residents of the Vila Harmonia community in Rio de Janeiro are being evicted as part of a road-widening project in advance of the 2016 Olympics.

As Brazil "cleans up" its cities for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, many of its poorer urban residents risk losing their homes and jobs. Projects linked to the games have already displaced thousands of families in at least eight cities, and the mayor of Rio de Janeiro announced a $4.5 favela redevelopment plan last year that will tear down 123 areas and relocate 13,000 families. Street vendors have also been evicted to make way for roads and other developments, and more will be pushed out when zones around event sites are fenced off for official sponsors.

Catalytic Communities and StreetNet International are among the organizations working to reduce the games' negative impacts on low-income families and workers. Catalytic Communities is training youth from favelas to use digital media to bring attention to evictions and share local perspectives on the mega-events. The organization started Favela.info and its English-language counterpart RioOnWatch.org to publish local news online. Mainstream city papers in Brazil have mostly ignored evictions or presented them as solutions to "lawless occupation."

The municipal government of Rio de Janeiro has marked more than 300 houses in the Pavão Pavãozinho favela for demolition.

StreetNet International launched a World Class Cities Campaign in Brazil earlier this year to draw attention to the effects of World Cup preparations on informal workers, organize street vendor organizations into a national network and help them benefit from business opportunities. Read more about their work on the StreetNet blog.

Credits: Video from RioOnWatchTV.

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Jordi Borja on Democracy and the City

2011-12-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

"If the city is both the producer of citizenship and the generator of innovation, it is therefore the soil in which democracy lives, progresses and responds to new challenges. Without the city, the place that maximizes exchanges between people, democracy loses its strength to create potential futures and promote current actions. The city is the past, present and future of democracy. Without a vision and constant activity to construct the city that is built up and torn down every day, we accept the slow, steady degradation of democracy."

Jordi Borja, from "Democracy in Search of the Future City" in Cities for All: Proposals and Experiences Towards the Right to the City, Habitat International Coalition, 2010.

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Photos of 15 October Global Day of Action in Palma de Mallorca by Melissa García Lamarca.

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Anne Morgan Spalter's Rhythmic Compositions

2011-12-06T08:00:00.004-05:00

"Traffic Circle" is a series of geometrically patterned video paintings generated from footage of urban landscapes. Artist Anne Spalter uses a symmetrical kaleidoscopic framework to bring order to visual complexity. These rhythmically structured compositions simultaneously isolate, abstract and highlight the features and motion of the observed landscape, providing endless new ways of experiencing the subject matter. With a background in painting and mathematics, Spalter has spent more than two decades integrating art and technology into her work and teaching. She was the artist-in-residence at Brown University's Computer Graphics Research Group and is the author of "The Computer in the Visual Arts."

"Traffic Circle" opens this Thursday at the Stephan Stoyanov Gallery in N.Y. and will be on view until Jan. 6, 2012.

Credits: Video of Antennae from AnneSpalterStudios.

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A Bird's Eye View of China's Rapid Urbanization

2011-12-05T08:00:00.019-05:00

China's urbanization is happening at a pace never seen before. In the last two decades, thousands of new developments have sprouted along the fringes of cities across China. Wilderness and farmland have been heedlessly replaced by replicated towers. Villages have been demolished as developers prepare grounds for the next development.

The southern edge of the city of Xi'an in 2005.

The same view in 2009.

The same view in 2010.

These changes can be traced through Google Earth. The following video shows a decade of transformation of 11 Chinese cities: Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai (Pudong), Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shenyang, Changchun, Hangzhou, Wenzhou and Xi'an. These are just few of the countless examples.

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Assorted Links #46

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Credits: Image by Stuart Williams from Luminous Earth Grid.

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Urban Constellations, Somewhere in Flight

2011-12-03T08:00:00.021-05:00

Somewhere in flight, between San Francisco and Miami, the line of the horizon dissipates and urbanism becomes a matter of stardust.

It is quite an experience, when one is lucky enough to enjoy a clear night and smooth weather to witness the passage of strange forms and organic shapes rendered in soft palpitating light.

Small towns, corridors, farms, districts, cities and even petroleum platforms in the Gulf are reduced to their essential infrastructures and energies. What is left behind is a a naked city that unveils a secret nocturnal morphology.

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Photos by Hector Fernando Burga.

Evaluating Residential Courtyards

2011-12-02T08:09:00.001-05:00

As urban populations rise and environmental concerns become more pressing, the need for green space in cities is greater than ever. While initiatives like MillionTreesNYC are addressing this need quantitatively, qualitative measures are also needed to assure that real benefits exceed liabilities over time.

Ecological benefits of urban green space — from healthy recreational settings to carbon sequestration — are more clear than economic benefits, given the expense of maintenance and the opportunity cost of limited commercial space. However, if green space is developed based on input from local residents, the resulting quality-of-life improvements are likely to outweigh the costs. Following this logic, cities would become more attractive places to live and increased tax revenues would help fund public green space. If these areas are also constantly evaluated to improve their ecological and economic value, funding is less likely to go to waste.

Individual yards, while effectively aligning investment with benefits, are untenable in dense urban settings and the space they require makes driving a daily necessity. Many people appreciate the way public green space frees them from direct maintenance responsibilities. At the same time, shared space requires mutually agreeable standards for design and management. It seems that the first step in developing these standards should be understanding related strategies from the past.

Moscow courtyards offer an excellent case study. With each ring of the city's expansion, courtyard designs change along the following general continuum: traditional (pre-1920s, located within city blocks surrounded by historic buildings like the ones in the photo at the top of the page, often publicly accessible through archways), experimental (1920s-1930s, avant-garde designs like the plans directly above, green space generally within city blocks), Soviet-monumental (1930s-1950s, courtyards within blocks lined with buildings designed to project grandeur), regional (1950s-1990s, green space surrounding buildings in microdistricts, later buildings are taller and less dense) and post-Soviet monumental (1990s-2000s, large-scale buildings, green space more closed-off or reduced to ornamental furnishings, some infill development in the city center). Housing developments reflect the ideology that guided their design with some historical continuity and almost no resident choice. They are densely populated and often include comfortable wooded areas. These areas are well cared for in many cases, but neglected and abused in others.

Residential green space in Moscow holds insight into different approaches to design, maintenance and use through the experience of current inhabitants. Which approaches do they find positive or negative? What ideas do they have for improving the courtyards around their homes? I'm currently conducting interviews based on these questions. I will share the findings in a series of posts over the next four months. I plan to use similar methods to evaluate other forms of public green space in Moscow, followed by comparisons with other cities. I hope this will be useful for urban designers and policymakers around the world.

Credits: Photo of an old Moscow courtyard from Solnechnolunnaya. Photo of tree-planting event from Harlem World. MillionTreesNYC graphic from HunterGatherer. Photo of suburban houses from Tom Young. Sketches of a Workers' Housing Complex by Konstantin Melnikov. Photo of a wooded area around a Moscow housing unit by Peter Sigrist.

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Race and Foreclosure on the Edge of the Bay Area

2011-12-01T15:02:00.003-05:00

The New York Times recently published a haunting piece about the black middle class in America. It isn't discussed enough that the sub-prime crisis not only brought the economy to its knees but also destroyed the public-sector job market upon which so many black middle-class lives have been built for half a century. Black households have also been twice as likely to lose their homes to foreclosure as white ones. Many black families now face losing their homes and jobs simultaneously.

Never before has a generation taken it on the chin so directly, a fact that is exceptionally evident in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have been making maps lately as part of my attempt to understand and document what happened. Here are three maps that link the sad mix of population growth and foreclosure to the racial legacy of an even more segregated metropolis built a generation ago.

The first map (above) shows where intense growth occurred. The red spots are towns, cities and a few unincorporated villages that grew by more than 50 percent over the past 20 years and added more than 5,000 people. I've started calling these places "50/5000 cities," partly to avoid the vocabulary of "fringe suburbs," "exurbs" and more derogatory terms that seem to occupy our regional vocabulary.

Calling these places "fringe" implies that they are small or irrelevant. They may have been small, but the 24 Bay Area cities in the 50/5000 club are home to roughly 850,000 people. The 23 in the greater Sacramento area, which along with the Bay form the Sierra Pacific Megaregion according to Nelson and Lang, are home to another million. But these are not Phoenix or Miami — cities built in the desert or swamp with no prior history. For the 47 cities on the map, the median incorporation date was 1908, and the median founding date 1878. There is more history here than we remember — which is partly why we understand their growth so poorly.

This next map (above) shows foreclosures; the redder it gets, the more there are. In the 50/5000 cities, the median foreclosure rate per 100,000 people in 2008 was 1,866. In the 74 Bay Area cities and towns not in the club, the rate was 317. San Francisco, which lost almost half its black population during this period, had roughly 70 foreclosures per 100,000 people. Stockton had more than 2,000, Patterson more than 5,000. No city in my beloved Eastern Contra Costa County had less than 1,800.

Finally you have the map of African-American population growth from 1990-2010 (above). This is raw growth: just people, not percents. If your city is in the red-yellow range, it means that African Americans left. San Francisco is exceptionally red. If it is green or blue, it means that the black population grew. Antioch, with a population of about 100,000, welcomed almost 15,000 new African-American residents, roughly half the number that San Francisco lost. In 50/5000 places, median African-American population growth was more than 400 percent; in the rest, it was 10 percent. Hispanic population growth was not quite as uneven, but still almost two-and-a half times more pronounced than in the rest of the region's cities.

Lest you jump to the conclusion that migration of communities of color somehow caused this calamity, the arrow of causality went in a specific direction. In forthcoming work done with my colleague Jake Wegmann, analyzing real-estate data in the region since 1988, we can show that the zip codes to which African Americans migrated were doing well in terms of median home value until 2005, long after the migration had begun. Not just well overall, but well against San Francisco's Cole Valley, one of the most gentrifying places around. Their presence in the fast growing portions of deep suburbia did not cause the crisis, and their decision to move made sense. If you were black and middle class, moving to places like Antioch and Patterson seemed like a good deal — a chance at a piece of the American pie and a rational economic decision. Nobody realized how shaky the terms of the deal would turn out to be.

This is one of the many reasons that Chris Leinberger needs to change his tune. I agree that sprawl was a bad idea, that growth on the fringe helped bring the economy down and that urban centers are the heart of our global future. We've known this since suburbanization began in earnest two generations ago. But we failed to stop it.

Now the "fringe" in Northern California alone is home to millions. And in the 24 Bay Area cities in the 50/5000 club, almost half a million of the 850,000 residents are not white. These are generally hard-working families who followed the same suburban path the white masses went down a generation or two ago — except much farther from city centers and with worse debt, less job security and no real mass transit. This is a generational raw deal hatched at every scale of our urban development.

The foreclosure crisis is a national tragedy that hand-wringing about the failures of sprawl will not undo. Predicting the "death of the fringe suburb" is reminiscent of the harmful language used to describe cities in the days before urban renewal, when we labeled the neighborhoods of the working classes and communities of color as "slums" and "ghettos," bulldozing what we could and redlining the rest. This massive and exceptionally racist failure of urban policy in the post-war era laid the groundwork for this crisis more than a half century ago. While we were busy destroying inner cities and building nice suburbs, we denied African Americans the right to move out as well.

Sprawl is now a lived reality for the exceptionally diverse community once called the American middle class. We must deal with what we have wrought where we have wrought it, not call for a demise that would heap further misery upon communities that certainly do not deserve it, no matter how much we wish it had happened some other way.

Credits: Maps by Alex Schafran. Drawing from the New York Times.

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Bernward Joerges on Controlled Infrastructure

2011-11-30T08:00:00.005-05:00

"Built spaces always represent control rights. They belong to someone and not to others, they can legitimately be used by some and not by others. Variable control rights over built spaces constrain what can pass in and around these spaces. Only rarely and in the most trivial senses can one show that such constraints are coupled to building form. In this view, it is the processes by which authorizations are built, maintained, contested and changed which are at issue in any social study of built spaces and technology"

Bernward Joerges, from "Do Politics Have Artefacts?" 1999.

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Photo of elevated highways in Shanghai from Remko Tanis.

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Urban Typography in New York and San Francisco

2011-11-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

In part three of a series on urban typefaces, character sets and signage, I thought I'd share a few more encountered in recent jaunts around New York and San Francisco.

In New York we begin with an exhortation through the simple but provocative use of dualism in font size and color.

Below is another form of dualism, an experiment in combining a serious declaration of elegance with more accessible flourishes.

Crossing over to the West Coast, serifs and italics abound in a painstakingly hand-painted sign with an assemblage of typefaces in the lamp-lit dusk of Mission Street in San Francisco.

Further along Mission Street, an unmistakable 99-cent proclamation, framed in the foreground by a back-lit sign for Gracias Madre, a vegan Mexican restaurant, sporting a typeface that is simultaneously old and recognizable yet distinctly contemporary.

Credits: Photos by Min Li Chan.

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Is Underground Transport Worth the Cost?

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Most cities around the world are growing at a hardly manageable speed. One of the most challenging issues is urban mobility, which becomes a nightmare when growth has taken place without adequate planning or public transport. The main aggravating factor is that most urbanites get a car as soon as the family budget allows it. Then they have to choose between slow, cramped public transport or driving in routine traffic jams. The increasingly individualistic character of mainstream urban societies favors the private car in spite of the psychological, social and environmental damage that derives from traffic jams. Driving one's own car also contributes to social status for many people.

In Quito, Ecuador, as in many Latin American cities, the number of cars increases by 15 percent annually, which means 50,000 more cars every year in the same streets. The fast-growing middle class does not see the current public transport system as an honorable option. Quito's mayor has opted for the underground train as the long-term solution to this problem. This project will cost $1.4 billion, and construction will bgin next year. Considering that the minimum wage in Ecuador is $264 per month, many have considered this project an excessive investment. Moreover, many argue that the problem could be solved at a reasonable cost with an integrated, fast and good-quality bus and bicycle system. This would require changing current cultural patterns, including the relationship between private cars and social status.

One positive aspect of the underground train project is the cost of the ticket ($0.40), which will be subsidized in order to make the new service affordable for most citizens. This subsidy will add to the annual payment of the credit given for its construction, but it can be considered a wealth redistribution measure rather than an additional project cost. This is not the case in some other Latin American underground transport systems, such as Rio de Janeiro's, where the cheapest one-way ticket costs $1.64, a largely unaffordable price considering that the minimum wage in Brazil is $275 per month.

Credits: Photos linked to source.

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Cameron Sinclair Shares His Secrets

2011-11-27T08:00:00.058-05:00

Cameron Sinclair is the co-founder and CEO of Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings professional design services to communities in need.

Sinclair founded Architecture for Humanity in 1999 with his partner, journalist Kate Stohr. Today the organization includes 73 chapters in 25 countries with more than 4,650 volunteer design professionals. Projects range from schools, health clinics, affordable housing to long-term sustainable reconstruction. Work has also included rebuilding after the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 South Asia tsunami.

With his 2006 TED Prize, Sinclair and Stohr launched the Open Architecture Network, a site offering open-source architectural plans, drawings and CAD files and the ability to collaborate, manage projects remotely and share design knowledge.

Polis met with Cameron Sinclair in Stockholm earlier this month, at a conference organized by Akademiska Hus, to discuss some of his solutions, projects and challenges.

In comparison to similar organizations, Architecture for Humanity has been very successful in implementing projects. What has been the key to achieving this?

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world.” I think he got that a little bit wrong. The secret is, "Be the bank." Have some developers on your board. Have some people thinking very differently about financing.

We are not just architects, and that is what developed us. When you control the financing, you can control the quality of the construction and the way in which projects get implemented. This has been vital for us. Since we started to control the finacing and be the bank for the communities, our projects have been easy.

Do you see any problems in taking the role of the "bank"?

No, I don’t. There is a reason why communities don’t have a school, and that is not that they weren’t smart enough to think of that need, but that they never had the resources to build it. If you are coming in as an architect with this great expertise, but without the resources, it doesn’t really matter for them. It is almost like a gift that the community allows you to come in and work with them. So you have an obligation to help them raise funds, whether through government financing or private financing.

Architecure for Humanity doesn’t have any government funding, so we bring in corporations and individuals. I would say that, in the last 10 years, we probably brought about $20 million just through our organization to communities in need.

Recently, Architecture for Humanity announced a design competition that will envision a re-use of military sites as civic spaces. How come?

In the U.S., we spend billions of dollars on environmental remediation of these sites, but we have no transformations of these buildings into civic use. The people living around them essentially get a well-built abandoned building. So we say: Let’s try to engage the community into getting something that they need. We have asked people to actually work in their local communities affected by closure of a military installation.

What are you thoughts on the architect’s responsibility when working with communities: prescribe or respond?

I think we have to do a little bit of both. I would like to be a little more preventative in disaster areas. My problem is that we get asked to rush into a disaster, and we could have done a lot more development work and thoughtful work prior, thinking about flood resistance and earthquake-resistant housing. But nobody wants to fund that. There is no research — there is no NASA for this.

In America, architecture is seen as a design art. The only funding scheme from the government is the National Endowment for the Arts. Basically taking money from painters and sculptors – I don’t want to do that. So we have to find someone that is willing to fund preventative work.

What knowledge can we bring from the humanitarian field into the everyday architecture practice?

Almost all of our schools are multi-use, 24-hour buildings. It is not just a school; it is a community center and has a health component to it. I think that making sure that buildings have multiple functions and that they are used correctly and efficiently is something that can add value in the developed world.

It is funny — everyone talks about us working in the developing world like it is a bad thing. My biggest problem is that they don’t have an economic meltdown in the developing world. They’re having a constant six percent return on their growth, while the dollar and the euro are crashing so hard that I am actually losing money working in these countries.

What is on your mind today?

I had a video conference with Japan at lunch, so I was thinking about the work we are doing there. The hardest friction is between the government bureaucracy and the implementation. We have taken a very radical approach to our rebuilding strategy, which is that we essentially are a social entrepreneurship business. We are paying our architects for their work, we are paying our taxes; we are acting like a non-profit construction company. And we seem to be getting stuff done. So we may actually be scaling up and trying figure out how to do more work in the field.

It seems like you are taking steps forward right now?

Yes, we are constantly growing. And I am constantly hiring. I am looking for five more people this week: a decent director of operations and some project managers. I am reading resumes like crazy. In an economy where no architects can find work, I am busy trying to hire. That is the other thing on my mind today!

Credits: Photo of Cameron Sinclair by Rebecka Gordan.

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Manuel Castells Speaks at Occupy London

2011-11-26T22:21:00.003-05:00

Manuel Castells, the Spanish sociologist known for his work on urban social movements and information networks, visited the Occupy London encampment yesterday. Addressing a crowd seated on the steps of St. Paul's Church, he spoke on the nature of the current economic and social crisis, the importance of nonviolence and the potential of online communication and urban occupation as complementary political tactics.

Polis recorded his talk from the steps of St. Paul's (with apologies for not having a tripod along).

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The Changing Face of Hanoi's Booming Ancient Quarter

2011-11-25T08:00:00.021-05:00

Bustling. Vibrant. Dynamic. These are just a few adjectives that describe Hanoi’s “36 Streets” or Ancient Quarter, an area that has existed since the city was founded in A.D. 1010. Originally the center of supply for Vietnamese rulers in the Imperial City and a residential area for “commoners,” the area emerged as an important trade and craft center in the early 13th century. This was due to its privileged location nestled between the country’s seat of power, the old citadel destroyed by French colonizers, and the Red River, whose flow provided an important connection to nearby regions.

The urban morphology and function of the Ancient Quarter has, remarkably, remained largely intact throughout Vietnam’s more recent history of French colonization and decades of war. Its "spaghetti" street pattern remains from the 15th century, when trade streets emerged that specialized in a particular craft or good, still reflected in street names today. Constant division of properties over the centuries led to the creation of the Quarter’s characteristic "tube" or "tunnel" houses, providing live-work spaces for the residents of the area.

The Ancient Quarter’s vibrancy dropped significantly during the decades of the communist state’s centrally planned economy (1954 to 1986), as the state intervened to control and direct economic activities across the country. But after Doi Moi, major economic reforms launched in 1986 to shift Vietnam from a centrally planned economy toward a “socialist-oriented market economy,” the country is now fully in the throes of rapid, market-driven growth.

Since the late 1980s, the Ancient Quarter has undergone a massive entrepreneurial boom. A high proportion of the local population has benefited, as they have transformed their "tube" house living quarters into shops, cafes, restaurants and hotels. There is a thriving pavement economy, with street hawkers — overwhelmingly women — commuting in daily from the countryside to sell vegetables and other goods. Foreign tourism is also booming.

International organizations and local architects have proposed plans to maintain the Quarter’s character and urban morphology through conservation projects and construction guidelines that would limit building heights, protect the "tube" style development and so forth. But the economic benefits of building up are too attractive for many entrepreneurs. Despite existing height regulations, having connections and "paying" a bit extra will get the desired results. This, alongside the dominant Buddhist beliefs in Vietnam embracing change and transformation, make it difficult to get locals to appreciate the value of preserving urban heritage.

Debates on the best way to maintain the character of the Ancient Quarter and effectively carry out such plans continue, amidst continuing change and transformation.

Credits: Photos by Melissa García Lamarca. Image of "tube" houses from Ingolf Vogeler, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

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Phillip Lopate on NYC and Urban Cannibalization

2011-11-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

"A city that had once pioneered so many technological and urban planning solutions, that had dazzled the world with its public works, its skyscrapers, bridges, subways, water-delivery system, its Central Park, palatial train stations, libraries and museums, appears unable to undertake any innovative construction on a grand scale, and is now consigned to cannibalizing its past and retrofitting it to function as an image, a consumable spectacle. Productivity has given way to narcissism; or, to put it more charitably, work has yielded to leisure."

Phillip Lopate from "Above Grade: On the Highline" at Places: Design Observer, 2011.

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Photos by Min Li Chan.

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Doors in/to Cities: Cyprus

2011-11-23T08:50:00.007-05:00

I took these photos on Agiou Andreou Street — the longest street in Limassol, Cyprus. It runs through the old town from what was once the Turkish district to the tourist district. The old town of Limassol has been extensively renewed, and a lively cafe and bar scene crowds medieval castles and Byzantine arches. Beautiful, old olive buildings are renovated into galleries, boutiques, bars and restaurants.

Dotted among the renovated buildings sit dilapidating ones like the one pictured. Up the street is the medieval castle in which Richard Coeur De Lion married Berengaria of Navarre in 1191, and directly opposite is the Columbus Centre, a shiny new restaurant and bar complex. This building, like many others in the district, remains conspicuously unrenovated because it may belong to Turkish Cypriots stuck on the other side of the Green Line since the 1970s. Property ownership disputes between Turkish and Greek Cypriots are common and may even extend internationally, as in the many reported cases of British investors buying holiday homes in Turkish Cyprus only to discover that their investment is actually owned by a Greek Cypriot on the other side of the Green Line.

Greek Cypriot owners are unwilling to commit to renovating buildings, even in prime locations, in case the "original" owners return to claim them. Instead, they cover holes where doors and windows once were with very convincing plastic facades. I almost didn't notice that these were not real timber and steel shutters and doors. Before the plastic facades were put up, the buildings may have been a more conspicuous and painful reminder of the long-reaching consequences of the Cyprus conflict. I thought these facades were a neat symbol both of the patchy, superficial progress made so far in solving the "Cyprus Problem" and the Cypriots' desire to make the most of a bad situation and move on.

Seraphima reads, eats and ambles as a researcher for the New Salon.

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Wynwood Walls: A Street Art Museum in Miami

2011-11-22T08:00:00.005-05:00

Once a complex of abandoned factory buildings and parking lots, the Wynwood Walls in Miami is now the world's largest concentration of commissioned murals. Since it opened in 2009 for Art Basel Miami, the collection has expanded to include over 30 artists from around the world. It will be featured in the pilot season of "Here Comes the Neighborhood," a documentary series exploring the transformative power of public art. In the months leading up to Art Basel Miami, episodes of the series will premiere for free at hctn.tv.

Credits: Trailer from hctn.tv.

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Assorted Links #45

2011-11-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

Credits: Video from Hyper Geography (2011) by Joe Hamiliton.

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Richard Sennett on Quality of Life in Cities

2011-11-20T08:00:00.005-05:00

"I want to explore the concept of 'quality of life' in cities. My own view can be stated simply: the quality of life in a city is good when its inhabitants are capable of dealing with complexity. Conversely, the quality of life in cities is bad when its inhabitants are capable only of dealing with people like themselves. Put another way, a healthy city can embrace and make productive use of the differences of class, ethnicity, and lifestyles it contains, while a sick city cannot; the sick city isolates and segregates difference, drawing no collective strength from its mixture of different people."

Richard Sennett, from "Why Complexity Improves Quality of City Life," "Hong Kong: Cities, Health and Well-Being," publication of the Urban Age Conference, November 2011.

This is part of a collection of quotes related to cities. They don't necessarily reflect our views, just topics of interest. We welcome you to add others.

Credits: Image of "Boulevard de los Capucines" by Claude Monet from www.awesome-art.biz.

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