New Vitalities
ALLY BALMER, EMMA ACOMB, AMANDA BANIC, NATALIE BUCCINI, ALISON DOOLEY, JORDYN ELLIOTT, MERIJN JANSEN, CATHARINA KUEHN, JUDITH LAPP, JULIA LECY, MOLLY LEHRER, THOMAS LINDENSCHMIDT, KRISTINA LONGACRE, MATTHEW NEWCOMER, MIA PHAN, MADELIENE WHITIS
A new paradigm: Back to the productive city Our current linear productive model, based on the segregation of functions and assuming an infinite supply of resources, has been expelling the productive economy to the periphery of the planet. The unlimited mobility of food, goods, and energy, and its dependence on fossil fuels to make it possible, threatens the human future on many levels (environmental, biological, social, economic, cultural, and political) and places the planet on the brink of collapse. From an urban point of view, to mitigate the global emergency, the city of tomorrow can not be discussed without (re)considering local, slow, integrated, productive urban networks based on renewable energy fonts. The challenge is to reinvent networks of productive proximity, close circular economies, and new alternatives of coproduction and sharing so living and working conditions are compatible with spatial and social structures. This shift can be understood as a reverse ecological transition towards the pre-industrial city. This new (old) city should be defined by the interaction of three main dynamics.
Metabolic. The traditional opposition between city and nature has to come over. The productive city acts as a complex ecosystem where different natural flows (energy, water, vegetation, construction, production, waste, people, animals) coexist in a cyclical balance and minimize their environmental footprint and the consumption of non-renewable energy. Inclusive. The productive city has to dispute gentrification and social segregation. Connecting complex social structures with inclusive spatial strategies prevents social fracture. Spatial equity contributes to social equity by granting diversity and accessibility to housing, work, education, and public services. Regenerative. The productive city already exists but has succumbed to the older logic of planned obsolescence, propelling the demand for replacement. Any structure that can not integrate into the latest capitalist requirements is irrelevant, expendable, and disconnected from the network. Those marginalized spaces need to develop regenerative relationships with existing ecosystems, urban fabrics, and artificial networks to restore lost relationships between the city, the people, and the natural systems. Over-the-Rhine, New Vitalities Most of the revitalization of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood has been developed south of Liberty Street. New breweries, quaint boutiques, fancy restaurants, elegant lofts, and Washington park have turned the area into a popular going-out spot. Our design studio will focus on the north area, where the ecosystemic conditions of the urban fabric remain more marginal. The center of our study will be around the Findlay Market, built in 1855 and operating continuously since then. This iron cast structure is the only surviving public market still open in the city and one of the few living heritages of the original industrial era. Our goal is to envision a bright future for OverThe-Rhine, implementing metabolic, inclusive, and regenerative vitalities, evoking ideas of renaturalization, social interaction, and local production within the context of human urban settlements.