Atlantis 26 4#horizons

ATLANTIS MAGAZINE FOR URBANISM & LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

#26.4 JUNE 2016

HORIZONS CREATING PERCEIVING IMAGINING

FROM THE BOARD Committees 2016 We could not be as visible as we are without a great effort from a lot of active students. With their help, we can organise excursions, lectures, workshops, drinks and events. The Polis board wants to thank all the people involved for their great efforts and positive input!

We are always looking for enthusiastic people to join.

Interested in one of the Polis committees? Do not hesitate to contact us at our Polis office (01.west.350) or by mail: contact@polistudelft.nl URBAN AND LANDSCAPE WEEK ATLANTIS EDUCATION PR COMMITTEE BIG TRIP & SMALL TRIP

Polis board Supriya Krishnan - Chairman Alex Chih-Chu Lee - Secretary IJsbrand Heeringa - Treasurer Alankrita Sarkar - Public Relations Panagiota Tzika-Kostopoulou - Atlantis

Become a member Not already a member of Polis? For only €12.50 a year as a student of TU Delft, €30 for individual professional membership, or €80 for organizations you can join our network! You will receive our Atlantis Magazine (for free) four times a year, a monthly newsletter and access to all events organized by Polis.

You will also get the warm feeling of supporting the work of a passionate group of students!

E-mail contact@polistudelft.nl to find out more.

The Polis Board is proud to present the second Atlantis issue of 2016, ‘Horizons’.

It is another fine effort from our Atlantis committee. ‘Horizons’ is also the last theme inherited from the committee of 2015. Now it is time for us to arrive at a new set of themes for next year. This time it has been intended to align the themes of Atlantis strongly to the Urban and Landscape week for cohesive research and exposure and richer insights. Besides Atlantis, we would also like to highlight other initiatives from Polis.

The Polis Hardtalks, which we started in February, is coming along nicely. We have had many interesting speakers along with good debates and discussions. The topics ranged from European geopolitics to student protests in Croatia. We were pleasantly surprised about the eagerness of our fellow students to discuss such politically laden topics. Hardtalks seems to be bringing back some much needed political discussion to our technical faculty. The next event will be just as interesting. We will discuss the phenomena of ‘Neighbourhood branding’ and ‘lifestyle profiling’ in Rotterdam, with André Ouwehand.

We are also working hard to set up our international student knowledge network to enable one on one interaction with student communities globally. It is proving to be a trickier task than we imagined, but we are making head way. Currently we are working with the department of Urbanism to find a suitable way to extend the reach of our fellow students. And hopefully, we will be able to kick it off next year.

Along with this, Polis is also looking at ways to improve the daily study experience in Urbanism. It has come to our attention that the Urbanism studio could do with a little extra something. We shall see how that turns out.

Then finally, the Board and the committees have been making huge steps in the organisation of the main event of the year, ULweek. After dozens of brainstorm sessions - and dozens of pizza’s - we have finally been able to choose a theme. And it is a great one! This year's ULweek is going to be a very special one. Of course we are not going to ruin the surprise just yet. For that you will have to join us at the great unveiling, on the 16th of June. Watch out for posters and the faculty screens for details!

That is it for this From the Board, if you wish to contribute to one of our projects, please feel free to drop by the office (01 West 350) or write to us at polisdelft@gmail.com.

Cheers Alankrita, Alex, IJsbrand, Nagia and Supriya

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ATLANTIS

EDITORIAL

MAGAZINE FOR URBANISM & LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Atlantis Volume #26 Are you passionate about urbanism and landscape architecture and would like to contribute? Contact us at: atlantis@polistudelft.nl

As urbanists and landscape architects, our actions shape the physical form of the horizons we see. In turn, these horizons and urban landscapes shape our perceptions of cities. We are also often involved in the envisioning of futures, as yet unrealized scenarios. In this issue of Atlantis, we explore the multiple narratives of Creating, Perceiving and Imagining the horizon.

“Creating” horizons introduces unlikely confrontations and dynamics of planning, as explored in “The adoption of Manhattanism”(p.05), by Gijs de Haan and Alkmini Papaioannou. The horizon is then “Perceived” as a limit to overcome, as a “symbol” and a cultural projection of the society itself in the interview with Costas Varotsos (p.40). Don't be startled if the horizon may disappear, as in the painting by Jan Groenhart (p.33). Or when it reappears in the artworks by Nathan Coley (p.43), as a need for cities to reinvent themselves post disaster. The final section of the magazine, “Imagining”, deals with the adaptability and resilience of cities. With “Highways for cows”, Iulia Sirbu explores the integration of ecological landscapes within urban life (p.51). In contrast, Rick Krosenbrink tests whether the horizon is a result, consequence or a demonstration of conflict (p.59).

Thus, the impact of the horizon, as a physical, temporal and design tool is addressed in the issue. Each article walks us along the boundaries of these horizons. While a few test how far we can stretch them, other consider ideologies for reinvention.

After a year with Atlantis, we have now officially been entrusted with the responsibility of editors-in-chief. Gaila Constantini, as our new head of layout, has been pivotal in making “Horizons” extremely exciting to read. For us, Atlantis has been a place where insightful discussions on Urbanism have been encouraged, and taken beyond the standard setting of the classroom. Our previous editor-in-chief, Kate Unsworth, has been instrumental in ensuring that. It is inspiring to be a part of the effort and commitment put in by rest of the team graduating this year, particularly by Kate and Alkmini Papaioannou.

As a closing note, for the upcoming issues of Atlantis, our aim addresses the relevance and position of Urbanism and Landscape architecture, and the “Dialogues” it generates. Italo Calvino had once mentioned,“Perhaps everything lies in knowing what words to speak.” As a discipline, we need to speak up more. We would be exploring how to define or rather un-define Urbanism and Landscape architecture, creating “Dialogues” with various practices, across multiple scales, and by using different tools and approaches. What are the limits of integrating Urban landscapes into these dialogues and how much can this actually influence change?

And as for now, unsettle your minds, broaden your outlook and enjoy reading!

Shruti Maliwar, Kritika Sha

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05 23 48

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CONTENTS

CREATING THE HORIZON // 05 THE ADOPTION OF MANHATTANISM GIJS DE HAAN &

ALKMINI

GARCÍA

PAPAIOANNOU

//

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THE

THREE

HORIZONS

OF

BOGOTÁ

LAURA

ALEJANDRA

// 15 THE DEEP HORIZON FRANCESCA RIZZETTO // 21 CLOCKTOWERS LOEK VIJGEN

PERCEIVING THE HORIZON // 23 NET.WORK IOANA IONESCU, GINTARE NORKUNAITE AND MICK DE WAART //

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35

UNBUILT,

THE

SINUOUS

HORIZONS SYLVIE CHEN

UNFINISHED,

INCOMPLETE.

//

TIRANA

33

ART

UNLAB

//

PAGE 37

INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA DAL BO ZANON IJSBRAND HEERINGA AND EELCO DE WITH

JAN

GROENHART

FLOATING

//

CITIES

// 40 HORIZONS,

THE LIMITS OF THE FUTURE INTERVIEW WITH COSTAS VAROTSOS EMMANOUIL PRINIANAKIS // 43 A

PLACE BEYOND BELIEF! NATHAN COLEY // 45 HORIZONS OF DOUBT MARTINA GENTILI

IMAGINING THE HORIZON // 48 URBAN DESIGN FOR SHRINKING AREAS PAUL STOUTEN, HERMAN ROSENBOOM

// 51 HIGHWAYS FOR COWS IULIA CRISTINA SIRBU // 55 THE NEW FUTURE OF A SMART

CITY DRIVEN INDIA KRITIKA SHA // 59 PLANNING FOR POST CONFLICT LANDSCAPES INTERVIEW WITH RICK

KROSENBRINK

SHRUTI

MALIWAR

//

63

4

THE

VENUS

PROJECT

JACQUE

FRESCO

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The adoption of Manhattanism An Athens-London comparison

The city is constructed as an endless historical layering of accidents, collisions and collaborations. These coincidences, in combination with local topographic features, create unique circumstances for all urban environments. Occasionally, a typology emerges that sprawls to become a global phenomenon, which is the case for the skyscraper metropolis of Manhattan. This is a story about the adoption of Manhattanism in London and Athens, and about honesty as an approach to urban development.

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Gijs de Haan & Alkmini Papaioannou MSc students, Urbanism TU Delft

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An Imaginary Metropolis ‘Manhattanism is the one urbanistic ideology that has fed, from its conception, on the splendors and miseries of the metropolitan condition – hyper-density - without once losing faith in it as the basis for a desirable modern culture.’

Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York (1978) It was a postcard of the Parthenon, the ancient temple on top of the Athenian Acropolis, that inspired Hugh Ferriss to leave his hometown of St. Louis and head for New York to become an architect. Koolhaas describes how it was the honesty of the Greek temple that inspired the young Ferriss: its stone materialisation and simple construction method did not obscure any fragment of its purpose. Full of ambition, he envisioned New York as the new Athens, as the place where new Parthenons could be constructed.

and the 1916 Zoning Law to explore the potential of future urbanisation. The drawings represent a city of infinite vague, undetailed masses. By erasing all detail, Ferriss uncovers the honest skyscraper, which is nothing more than a maximisation of the mass permitted to be built. The Lure of the City (1925) portrays the process of hyperdense development as a womb giving birth to his imaginary metropole.

Ferriss’ work is acclaimed as an important theorisation, or even the birthplace, of Manhattanism: the final urban stages of the process of transformation under pressure, caused by the enormous congestion located on the fixed space of Manhattan’s grid structure.(fig.1) London

His experience of working as a renderer in an architecture office however, turned out to be a disillusion. ‘The contemporary architecture of Manhattan does not comprise of the production of new Parthenons but of the pilferage of all useful elements of past “Parthenons,” which are then reassembled and wrapped around steel skeletons.’

No honesty was to be found in the architecture of Manhattan.

By formulating the development of Manhattan as an ‘urbanistic ideology’, it becomes transferable to other environments. It is not a coincidence that many large scale urban development projects all around the world are being described as ‘Manhattan-on-Thames’ or as ‘Manhattan aan de Maas’. The vertical extension of the city provided New York with its unique identity, seemingly offering a blueprint for the development of the global metropolis.

This disappointment inspired Ferriss to develop his own imaginary metropolis, his own new Athens, in the book The Metropolis of Tomorrow (1929).

Through the production of mysterious drawings in dark charcoal, he interprets the Manhattan block

For a long time, this has not been the case for London, which has been dominated for centuries by the church spires of Christopher Wren’s redevelopment after the Great Fire of 1666. The absence of topographical borders allowed the 6

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city to sprawl endlessly during the 19th and 20th century, until the implementation of the Green Belt in 1935. Since there was no necessity for extreme density, the height of buildings in central London was often no more than five storeys.

Nowadays, a promise of change can be sensed, made tangible throughout the city by the many construction cranes and ubiquitous property development advertisements. The immense amount of 436 tall buildings (more than 20 storeys) are in the pipeline to be constructed in London (New London Architecture & GL Hearn, 2016), which will radically alter the city’s skyline. The Wren churches have already been denigrated by skyscraping glass facades. As London is still one of the global cities with the lowest density, its ‘culture of congestion’ must have a different cause. Many of the high-rise developments claim to provide a solution for the city’s housing shortage, although being completely unaffordable to the average Londoner. More important, the current skyscraper boom in London is a result of global capital being stored in the city, creating a landscape of upright ‘safe-deposit boxes’. It is not the local condition that shapes London’s new skyline, but the need for centrality in a global economy.(fig.2) This causes London’s high-rise development to be scattered throughout the city, some in small clusters, but many as solitary giants. Although policies require high-rise development to be ‘well-designed

and in the right place’, its implementation appears to be very fragmented. Without programmatic diversity, affordable housing or thoughtful connections to the street, these developments are superimposed on London’s fabric. The current development in London creates an artificial experience of metropolitan density, a dishonest adoption of Manhattanism.

Athens Greece’s modern history starts in 1827 and because of its ideological importance, Athens was chosen to be the Greek capital in 1834-1835, although it was still a small city. At the same time, a new master plan by Kleanthes and Schaubert was approved for the city of Athens. It was a very innovative plan for its time, focusing on open public spaces, by which the Acropolis and the Palaces were given a monumental position on the new grid, creating the city’s main “axon”. On the Southern part of the “axon” there was a space left for excavations. This part is very interesting, as it was never actually used for excavations and it was (and still is) urbanised with residences that even “climb” the ancient hill of Acropolis, creating the area “Anafiotika”, approaching the hill of Acropolis. Thus, in the following years, height became an issue of losing the city’s special historical and cultural identity.(fig.3) Parthenon and the Rock of the Acropolis are 150 meters above sea level, which has created a big taboo, for all constructions in the city’s area, as 7

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no one is allowed to reach or overcome that height.

Something of those dimensions would destroy the classical skyline, successfully protected for over two thousand years, including not only the ancient landmarks, but also the seven hills of Attika.

However, what has this urban behavior done to the image of city? Today’s Athens can be characterized as being rather dominated by the building type of “polykatoikia”.(fig.4) “The term “poly-katoikia” is a composite word, from poly, translated as multi, and the noun “katoikia” (= dwelling).

In Greek, polykatoikia stands for the multi-storey apartment building, eventually becoming a term that describes every housing building except for suburban single-family villas. (…) The polykatoikia was originally conceived in the 1930s as a multi-storey apartment building for the Athenian bourgeoisie” (Pier Vittorio Aureli, Maria S. Giudici, Platon Issaias, 2012, domusweb.it) The main characteristic of this building type is its un-homogenous identity. The differentiating social, economic and programmatic constitution of the city is reflected in the subtle but distinguishable form, quality of construction and size of buildings and apartments.” (Woditsch 2009) During the military dictatorship in Greece (19671974), two laws were produced: “concerning active urban planning” and “concerning master plans for urban areas”. They were based mainly

on French models with some added elements of German legislation. The basic defects were the allowance of uncontrolled private interventions (“antparohi”) and the lack of planning, in order to cover the wider area of the city and create zones for development and improvement. The main differentiation of “antiparohi”, as a means of developing residential projects, was the decrease of the final financial source needed to complete them. The builder approached the owner of the land in order to use it for the construction of “polykatoikia-s” in exchange of some apartments, or one apartment and a certain amount of money.

This led to a situation of major problem of open space. “The user/actor adapts the building in a legal or illegal way to his needs.” (Woditsch 2009) In mid-60’s Athens was 1.4 to 3.1 million (31% of the whole population). Thus, illegal housing or construction with illegal parts was increased in order to solve the housing problem.

This uncontrolled situation led to limited open spaces, giving Athens the impression of a cement city. In London, the ratio of square meters of parks per city dweller is 9, in Paris 8.4 and in Athens only 2.7. Athens’s horizon is now a solid image with no breathing space and an almost fixed building height. There are only a few buildings that are considered as tall, which were also constructed during the period of dictatorship, or were designed in that period and finalized in the coming years.

Their purpose was primarily to show superiority of 8

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the current authority, and thus they are commonly considered as buildings with no character and aesthetics, creating another taboo about constructing tall buildings.

And yet, what would happen if Athens decides to breathe again? To free space inside its grid, by creating the opportunity for Architecture to go higher? It is really a question to wonder ourselves, whether the Greeks would agree with it or if they would sacrifice environmental benefits for their fear of an unknown typology. There might be a lot of questions to be asked about the potentialities of the Athenian skyline as an architectural landmark, but we can definitely say that the creation of a Mediterranean Manhattan would be extremely contradictory to what Athens and Greece, in general, has become. Concerning what Athens now consists of, can we actually say that it is an honest city, with its flaws and jewellery visible along its horizon?

Conclusion The Manhattan skyscraper was a result of immense pressure on a limited amount of land, a hyperdensity that requested new architectural typologies.

In contrast, high-rise development in London has very little to do with this form of pressure, but the city has still adopted the skyscraper as a global symbol for success. Ferriss’ imaginary metropolis is becoming the new definition of dishonest urban development as it emerges around the world in equal forms, regardless of its context. The city of Athens however, has prevented itself from this form of development, but might soon need an increase in density in order to sustain its liveability. The first prerequisite of honest urban development is to respond to the local urban condition, and not to iconic predecessors of earlier times or faraway places. •

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References

Athens, Berlin, 2009, Phd research LALENIS, K.: “Planning by Degree- Incompabilities of planning Laws and

FERRISS, H. (1929). The Metropolis of Tomorrow. New York: Ives

planning policies in Greece, during the 20th century. Analysis, Perspectives”,

Washburn.

paper for World Planning School Congress “Planning at the Turn of the

KOOLHAAS, R. (1978). Delirious New York: a retroactive manifesto for

Century”, 2001, Shanghai, China

Manhattan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

http://www.avsite.gr/forum/threads

NEW LONDON ARCHITECTURE, & GL Hearn. (2016). London

http://www.domusweb.it

Tall Buildings Survey 2016. Retrieved from London: http://www.

http://e-rooster.gr/04/2005/679

newlondonarchitecture.org/docs/nla_ir_tall_buildings-1.pdf

http://www.pointsupreme.com/content/urban/athens-by-hills.html

WODITCH R., Plural – public and private spaces of the polykatoikia in

http://www.tovima.gr/culture/article/?aid=220014

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1. Hugh Ferriss, The Lure of the City (1925) 2. Toby Melville, Churches of London (2015) 3. Alkmini Papaioannou, Anafiotika Vs Acropolis, collage (2016) 4. Point Supreme Architects, Athens by hills (2010) 5. Yiogis Yerolymbos, Athens Spread (2012)

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THE THREE HORIZONS OF BOGOTÁ Bogotá was founded with 12 huts and one temple, by the Spanish colonizer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in 1538 (Banrepcultural.org, 2016). The location was strategic, in the foothills of Guadalupe Mountain, with shelter being provided by the mountains and a close proximity to an abundance of water, stone and wood. Before the Colony, a number of indigenous groups inhabited this plateau, that was surrounded by lakes and forests. After the settlement of the city on the higher part of the esplanade, and also because of the increasing human activity, the lakes dried up and some of the forests disappeared, leaving as legacy, few wetlands which are threatened today by urbanization. Bogotá is now an urban savannah, dominated by the imposing city, with the mountain as a natural border in the east, and the river to the west.

The natural structure of the city is fragmented. It is therefore important to look at the processes of transformation of the original landscape in order to understand the city that exists today. These processes are seen as 3 distinct sections forming unique horizons: the mountains, the city and the savannah.

The mountains: Immense, dominant, the best compass. If a person from Bogotá is asked to describe one main feature of the city, their answer would be the eastern hills. The city structure works parallel to this natural setting. The lights from a more informal neighborhoods give the mountains a prominent presence during dark, cold nights.Thus, where no horizon can be perceived, the mountains remain.

There is no architect or artist that forgets this element in drawings. They form an implicit part of the design, acting as the framework, always remaining in sight.

This first horizon of the city, imposingly rises 550 meters above the urban area, 3152 m above sea level.

The Savannah: Infinite, calm, imperceptible. The savannah of Bogotá not only contains the urban area, but also many villages near the city. For the people from city core, the savannah refers to a place along the outskirts, where they go and spend their weekends, are closer to the countryside and where farms and greenhouses start appearing in the landscape. They tend to forget how much they are embraced and influenced by it. This calm and vast landscape forms another distinct horizon as the line between land and sky is translated by the savannah into a harmonious view, far from the crowd, far from the reach of the eye.

The second horizon merges the infinite landscape with the sky.

The city: Broad, modern, alive. Bogotá’s massive urban growth started around the 1940’s. Previously, there were small centers connected only by larger roads, leading from the city center to the northern neighborhoods or to the existing villages in the west.

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Laura Alejandra García MSc student, Urbanism TU Delft

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1. Laura Garcia, View of the mountains from the perspective of the city center, sketch (2016) 2. Laura Garcia, High-Rise city, sketch (2016) 3. Laura Garcia, Peak of the city from the other side of the mountains, sketch (2016) 4. The mountains of Bogotรก.

Source: http://worldradiomap.com/co/bogota_img/ cerrosorientales_01.jpg

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Isolated projects started to attract urban development to areas which were located far from the center. This, along with the increased population growth and higher migration from the countryside, made the city the biggest urban agglomeration of the country.

The city was expanding its borders, and an interesting project to design a new urban center with a high symbolic value was conceived. The project of Tequendama-Bavaria as a new center in Bogotá, designed and built between 1950 and 1982 (Fontana & Mayorga, 2008), framed the urban future of the city by establishing high rise building as the main typology of the city center. Thus the third horizon was built in concrete and modernity.

Vertical vs horizontal After decades of urban expansion, Bogotá is now at a crossroads, where there is an urgency to decide if the city should keep on growing horizontally, or should start developing vertically. There are some cases of certain neighborhoods that have been raising their density by building more floors in the same area, or have replaced one plot of a single house with a building with 8 apartments. However, this approach does not take a number of urban conditions into consideration.

This is a critical issue, because not only will the existing infrastructure be insufficient for the amount of housing that is being built, but it won’t be able to support the increasing number of people moving towards these areas. With increasing traffic, public space will transition from little to almost non-existent. The development of the city is being led by construction companies, who have limited moral responsibility

towards public spaces like sidewalks, for instance.

Because Bogota is only growing from the perspective of building and densifying on an existing urban grid, the current infrastructure is not able to bear the increase of functions and inhabitants.

While some areas are being densified (vertically), most parts of the urban area are still in expansion (horizontally), mainly because of the increase of population in the periphery of the city. New settlements are being built every day in a self-built way, increasing the risk of collapse, overcrowding and low livability in the houses and neighborhoods.

The dilemma is indeed, whether urban development should work towards improving informal settlements, providing more infrastructure for densification in existing areas, or if it should embrace self-built techniques and include them within an integral model of urban renewal. An integral model needs to consider vertical density and horizontal functionality and livability, the best of both worlds. The urban guidelines must be simple and clear; inclusion of nature as the main component of any development, involvement of people in the urbanization processes, and ensuring the quality of public space for a healthy and happy urban life.

Will the three horizons of Bogotá merge into one sustainable future? •

References: http://dearq.uniandes.edu.co/sites/default/files/articles/attachments/ DeArq_03_-_11_-_Fontana_-_Mayorga.pdf http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/historia/hiscua/hiscua13.htm

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5. On-going construction.

Source: http://www. skyscrapercity.com/ 6. Displaced population.

Source: http:// modelosmetropolitanos. blogspot.nl/ 7. Children's horizons. Source: http://www.eldinamo.cl/blog/ en-los-patios-traseros-delcontinente-tambien-hayfelicidad/ 8. Laura Garcia, Merging the horizons of Bogota, collage (2016)

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The deep horizon When first I started to hear about the city of Taranto, it was on the news in 2012.

I knew the city was one of the main cities in Puglia region, but I had never heard about it as one of the greatest cities in south Italy. Normally, when people think about southern Italy, they have a certain image in their mind: the sun, fresh food, sea, popular songs, happy people, and an agricultural landscape with olives trees.

Taranto is excluded from this frame as it was never a vernacular, happy place. It is perceived as a piece of industrialised North (Italy) strategically planned in the South. It was, and still is a lonely aloof department of Turin.

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The only tourists that Taranto has seen in the past decades are people looking for employment in the steel factory or in the Navy academy.

In December 2012, when I visited the city for the first

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Francesca Rizzetto

Urbanist, Co-founder of UNLAB

1. Aerial view © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 2. Localization © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 3-4-5. Design concepts © Francesca Rizzetto 2015

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time, there were only few hotels and B&B's which were self-organized exclusively in the area called Borgo.

Special prices were offered but only for cadets and steel workers.

Taranto has an airport, albeit, a dismissed military airport, where not even airlines like Ryanair have been allowed to land. If one wants to go there, he/she needs to fly to Bari or Brindisi and then travel another 2-3 hours by bus or train. Taranto has a train station but no bus station. The bus companies are private, which means that they do not run during holidays, but neither do the trains (although they are nationalised).

In 2012 the citizens were angry, disillusioned and tired. The situation was worse than the story told by the journalists. Not only the terrain, water and animals were intoxicated, the people’s minds were colonised.

In Taranto, industrial foul-up is one of the biggest contributors to the high percentage of cancer-related deaths. The cause of pollution is an integral cycle steel plant, where all stages for the steel-transformation take place. The Italian government, in retaliation to the economic crisis and to avoid the factory closure, is guiding a project for reforming the production cycle.

However, the rural cultivated area around the city will not be accessible anymore. Moreover people are reclaiming a new place inorder to live far away from the factory’s chimneys. In the context of a liberalized and ‘globalized’ economy, territorial development has become suitable for different economic developments.

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The thesis project aims to transform the territory into a park made by different landscapes where mixed, residential and productive areas would provide a re-generative economy for the population. The thesis project has been developed following three main themes: Relocation, Remediation and Economic Alternatives. They are represented in multi-scale scenarios, divided into 5 different projects, each of them embracing a different scale, from landscape to a city-block.

XL_ The area is about 400 sqKm of vacant land, abandoned rural buildings, and heavily polluted soils.

Using phytoremediation principles to remediate the polluted soil, the distribution of public spaces, land

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use, and accessibility of the areas have been defined, offering also aesthetic signs along the landscape.

Masserias (fortified farmhouses, the historical system by which the territory is measured) will control the production and collection of polluted plants used for the phytoremediation. These will be transformed to Biomass for the production of bioenergy for the city. This new productive land will be an economic resource for new types of workers. In the landscape, the forgotten paths used in the past by shepherds for transhumance become alternative pathways to discover the territory, rich in areas of natural resources and archaeological interest.

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L_ The former Military Railway along the river from the small sea will be reused as sustainable public transport, capable of connecting people, local resources (natural, agricultural, historical, cultural) and the satellite towns around the Small Sea. The sustainable light-mobility system will allow everyone to exercise the right to move and experience the Landscape, which is now forbidden.

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M_ The first housing complexes at the Tamburi neighbourhood were built for the railway employees’ families in the early twentieth century in the proximity of the central station. With the flourishing of the

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6. Masterplan of the area © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 7. View © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 8. Axonometrical section © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 9. View to the sea © Francesca Rizzetto 2015

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industry during the ‘60s, the neighborhood and the factory became closer, bringing the industrial pollution in the residential area to high levels. The project proposes a slow depopulation, moving inhabitants in a zone further away and consequently demolishing the social housing built next the factory. Meanwhile a process of naturalization on a large scale is applied in designing an infrastructural buffer zone, composed by wooden artificial hills that can protect the remaining parts of the built environment.

S_ 18.000 people from the Tamburi neighbourhood are proposed to be relocated in the dismissed Navy yard, which is not accessible yet. Starting from the design of the public space, the different housing typologies are distributed; urban blocks, towers, attached and stepped row houses with different green structures define the new neighbourhood. Moreover, a campus area will emphasize the dismissed powder keg’s hill (historical monument of the Great War).

Taranto is one of few provincial capitals in Italy

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10. Prospect © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 11.Aerial view © Francesca Rizzetto 2015 12. Taranto model ( 90 x 90 x 4 cm) © Francesca Rizzetto 2015

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that still does not have a University institute. Thanks to the new technology applied and the necessity to reclaim the polluted land a specific university could be established.

XS_ The area of Paolo VI was born to accommodate the steel factory workers and their families. Today it appears as a dilated landscape in which high buildings stand out from a ground without identity. It is the ruin of itself, a dormitory. The strategy adopted for this area is based on the re-definition of space qualities, integrating small and large elements for the rehabilitation of the public domain. A new tramline will connect the neighbourhood with the other districts. The semi-privatization of green areas makes possible horticulture activities and private gardening as the starting point for regeneration of the green structure. As a consequence, a stronger relationship between people, environment and public structure, increases the consciousness of a reformed public domain.

This project reformulates the relation among the territory, its citizens and decision makers, working on the edges of the government’s political maneuvers and a necessity for territorial governance. •

This text is part of the research by design project:

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Reloading Landscapes. Micro & macro interventions in the polluted territory.

Archiprix 2nd Prize, 2015, Urbanism, TU Delft (Design as Politics studio)

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Clocktowers

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Positioning ourselves in space and time

One of the most fascinating structures in old historical towns are their clock towers. In the case of Delft, the city I live in, they are a great part of the face of the city. This was already captured in ‘A view on Delft’ , painted by Johannes Vermeer around 1660. The clock towers are easy to spot and subconsciously work as a medium of navigation. However, they seem to do much more than this. When walking or cycling through the streets of Delft they appear and disappear in our field of view. The configuration of the towers changes, they are seen from different angles and distances and they form different compositions together. Each moment in the city becomes distinct, unique. This provides logic to the spatial orientation of the individual and to the time spent moving. It helps create legibility of the place.

Kevin Lynch has stated that legibility is crucial in the cityscape and for the way in which people can identify with and feel connected to the city. He said: “A highly imageable (apparent, legible, or visible) city in this peculiar sense would seem well formed, distinct, remarkable; it would invite the eye and the ear to greater attention and participation.”

space. Although clock towers indicate very precise points in space, they are seen and heard from several parts of town. Hence, they are being shared by and form part of multiple places at the same time, in and around the city. Their appearance and role however, is different for each place. They can be near or distant, dominant or subservient.

This attention and participation adds to the liveability within a city and enables citizens and visitors to feel involved in, and identify with the city. The clock towers in particular play a key role in the legibility of Delft and are therefore a compelling subject of study. What can we learn from these towers, and how should we apply this to the practice of urban and architectural design? We can distinguish two different aspects in the role that clock towers play in how people perceive the city. One related to space, concerning the physical relationship between the object and the observer. The other is time, which deals with the change between different perspectives.

It is also important to have multiple clock towers.

A single tower indicates one point of reference for the viewer, whereas multiple towers are capable of creating a composition together, allowing an easier reading of the distance between them and the viewer.

This configuration changes when people move through the city and when viewed from different perspectives.

However, the sequence of movement through historical towns and their clock towers, includes the fundamental layer of time.

Space – contrast and composition The quality of the clock towers in Delft is that they are highly visible in comparison to their surroundings.

They therefore form a contrast between the towers and the city which improves the readability of the

Time - duration and history As we all know, clock towers literally indicate time in hours and minutes. More importantly however, through their spatial presence as indicated above, they introduce a sense of duration. While moving from point A to B we see that the configuration of these clock towers changes . This movement takes time, and while we move we see a formation of different 21

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Loek Vijgen

MSc student, Architecture TU Delft

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scenes of the city, in which the clock towers and other distinguishable elements are present in different ways.

Our speed, in combination with the amount of visible change, provides us with useful information about the duration of our movement. It adds awareness of time to the physical environment.

The other type of time clock towers indicate is one of age. The clock towers in Delft are attached to churches. Churches were one of the most important institutions until recently and this is visible in their architectural expression. In modern times we rarely build churches accompanied with big clock towers, as social norms and priorities have broadened and changed. It is however important to be able to see what previous mentalities existed and how we as passengers in a place can relate to these.

The city around those clock towers kept developing, adding several new layers of history and improving its general legibility. The city of Delft will also keep developing, which adds more expressions of contemporary society to the city.

An application to practice Predicting future societal features and tendencies is not possible, but we ought to look at the qualities of clock towers and utilise these in our current practice.

Certain qualities notably, allow people to position themselves in time and space adding value and

identity to their surroundings.

First of all we should pay more attention to contrast within the physical appearance of a place we design.

Homogeneous landscapes or landscapes with little or no contrast should be avoided. A contrast in the composition of the physical appearance is necessary to give expression to the duration of activities in the place.

Furthermore, it should be the main aim to appreciate cities and urban spaces as lived places, where designers create flexible and tangible ambiances, and where a designed space contains room for future generations to express themselves. A lot of large scale urban planning has been built as finished products. Even though it might have a wide variety in composition, they still only contain the mentality of that final product and barely allow future generations to add their own stamp to the place.

The design questions this raises are: How can we create contrast in the composition of both time and space?

How can we design an urban plan which allows for other layers to be added in the future? How do we incorporate this contrast in the physical appearance of places? And finally: What would a contemporary clock tower look like? • References Lynch, Kevin. 1960. „The image of the Environment.� In The image of the City, by Kevin Lynch. Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press. (Quote pp 10.)

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1. View of Delft. Painting by Johannes Vermeer, 1660 image from: https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_ of_Delft#/media/File:Vermeerview-of-delft.jpg 2-3. Difference in contrast between a church tower in Delft and one in a high rise city.

4. Movement through space 5. Almere Buiten, where are the clock towers? Image from Bing Maps

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NET.WORK

The Net.work project questions the future of the rural and natural land, placed in-between cities and main regional lines (rivers and infrastructure) around Zwolle. A structural plan, constructed as an open framework, is meant to open new territorial perspectives, which can support different scenarios, using as base resources the existing physical and cultural patterns in the region.

The region of Zwolle is characterized by strong social and natural links trained by history since Roman times. These links make the base of the Dutch culture and still persist in this ‘landschap’ as ‘noaberschap’.

“One has to take care of all the neighbours visible from the window of his house”. The farms in the region, organized in a scattered structure, used to cooperate socially and economically. The Zwolle region is still a lived-in landscape (fig.1) and a place with a strong cultural identity, where the noaberschap structure works as a ‘guardian’ of the landscape.

driving forces at different scales by reinforcing and upcycling the existing social and natural web, perceived as powerful unique resources of the Zwolle region. Economic and mobility strategies could facilitate this upgrade, while preserving and preparing the local for the future. A powerful list of stakeholders from the European scale to the national, municipal and local scale of NGOs and farmers, has been taken into consideration during the design process.

In the past, agriculture was closely related to nature and the type of soil. Those practices seem to have persisted around Zwolle even when agriculture was intensified in the Netherlands around 1950s (Hajer and Dassen 2014). Such local economies supported the region to perform the best in the Netherlands during the 2008 crisis (Municipality of Zwolle 2011). However, at present, the region of Zwolle is threatened by the disappearance of small scale farms, ageing population, urban expansion and large scale economic developments inside the region’s ‘green heart’.

The proposed strategic framework, metaphorically entitled ‘Net.work’, facilitates new projects by enhancing accessibility, small economies and natural qualities, while integrating active social nodes which already exist in the landscape.

The project looks for possibilities to balance the

Design approach

Net.work reinforces an integrated ecological system in the space in-between cities, major infrastructures and the natural lines that mark the edge of the four patches, each one with its own landscape identity.

Net.work highlights a web which could be upcycled to strengthen the social, economic, natural, and mobility links in the landscape, making use of the main mobility nodes located on the edges.

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Ioana Ionescu Gintare Norkunaite

MSc students, Urbanism TU Delft

Project by

Ioana Ionescu Gintare Norkunaite Mick de Waart

MSc2 Urbanism, TU Delft

Tutors:

Diego Sepulveda, Saline Verhoeven and Francisco Colombo

1. Lived in landscape of Zwolle region 2. Methods for integration of mobility, social, economy and natural systems

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QDWX Q UH DWXUH

O

FLD

VR

O

FLD

VR

NODENODE TYPE:TYPE:

EDGEEDGE NODENODE

INNERINNER NODES NODES

HF \

\

RP

RP

RQ

RQ HF

PR ELO LW\ PR ELO LW\

12'(12'(

noaberschap noaberschap

naturenature |heritage | mixed use farms |heritage | mixed use farms

slow intermodality slow intermodality

stationstation

MAIN MAIN DEFINITION: DEFINITION:

MOBILITY MOBILITY mini mini bus bus

mini mini cars cars

SOCIAL SOCIAL event event space space

ECONOMY ECONOMY

mini mini cars cars

naturenature watching watching

NATURE NATURE naturenature watching watching

PATHPATH TYPE:TYPE:

INNERINNER LANE LANE

local mobility local mobility

/,1./,1.

INNERINNER PATHS PATHS

slow intermodality slow intermodality

slow intermodality slow intermodality

EDGEEDGE PATHPATH

fast |slow intermodality fast |slow intermodality

MAIN MAIN DEFINITION: DEFINITION:

MOBILITY MOBILITY

HFRQRP\

VRFLDO

QDWXUH VRFLDO PRELOLW\ QDWXUH HFRQRP\ PRELOLW\

mini mini electric car car electric

SOCIAL SOCIAL publicpublic meet meet shared shared spacespace gardens gardens

new new share share share share garden production garden production

ECONOMY ECONOMY distribution sharedshareddistribution gardens gardens point point

preserved EXW EXW preserved UH LQIRUFHG UH LQIRUFHG

distribution solar bike distribution solar bike path path point point

NATURE NATURE

new design new design SDWWHUQV SDWWHUQV up-cycled, up-cycled, GHVLJQ GHVLJQ UHIHUHQFLQJ WR UHIHUHQFLQJ WR ORFDO SUDFWLFHV ORFDO SUDFWLFHV

link ecologises city city link ecologises edgesedges

link ecologislink ecologises cityesedges city edges

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links

Staphorst patch

edges/links

Mastenbroek patch

Kamperveen patch

Salland patch

nodes

Cities and regional water structure

Regional scale

It is therefore an integrated system which brings together powerful yet vulnerable local networks.

The patches are spatially defined by edges, links and nodes (fig.3), which use the existing structure of the patterns on site to integrate the already planned investments in the area. Net.work webs together cities and patches, defining the Zwolle region in 2050 as a ‘green heart’ that beats.

The water structures of Vecht and Ijssel represent both strong links and patch edges for this NET. WORK. They bring together the patches and the cities, by interlacing different mobility speeds: bike, boat, train. Therefore, the rivers become strategic mobility spines and act as edges, distinguishing four types of different landscapes, identified as the four patches. In Hanseatic times the water structure was a very powerful economic link. Later societies turned their back to the water in favor of faster infrastructures. Net.work demonstrates how water routes can be upcycled by taking Hansa times as a precedent.

The design framework adapts to local, social, natural, economic and mobility systems of each patch and brings the patches together at a regional scale. The framework uses the patch edges, 3 types of nodes and inland links (fig. 2, 4). These elements are designed to create intermodality and public spaces, at the same time supporting the existing natural and economic qualities. Tourism, leisure and distribution points for local products are introduced in a circuit.

Methodology Each patch is connected at the regional scale with urban networks and neighboring patches. This step encouraged further site visits, interviews and small scale experiences of local, spatial and social morphologies. This methodology was crucial to better understand potential and conflicting local networks.

Consequently, the framework simulation of settling the links and nodes into space follows not only quantitative methods, but also qualitative research

Patch scale

Noaberschap/burenhulp scale

3

developed in several sites of the region. The proposed strategy builds upon existing local patterns and inputs from different stakeholders identified in the region.

A timeline and a stakeholder table were used as a tool of design to organize the knowledge about the projects developed at different scales in space and time in the Zwolle region. The methodology and theory framework refined the design requirements and the spatial implementation of the strategy.

Each team member elaborated the framework strategy for one of the four patches, enhancing the unique identity of each patch. A quantitative inventory helped to identify types of nodes and links in each patch.

The detailed structure of nodes and links revealed the social and ecologic complexity at the very small scale. The images rendered towards the end, show snapshots of the future and illustrate how links and nodes reinforce and bring together mobility, economy, nature and society. Further in the future, the potential and vulnerable local networks are gathered into mixed use links and nodes, supporting a ‘vita activa’ in the landscape. This is illustrated in the example projects ‘a complex line in Mastenbroek patch’ (fig. 5-8) and ‘a complex node in Salland patch’ (fig. 9-12).

Theoretical approach The project learns from the Veneto Region (Secchi and Viganò 2006; P.Vigano, et al. 2012) seen as a similar cultural landscape exposed to change. The theoretical framework is also shaped around Thomas Sieverts’ book “Cities without Cities” and his talk at TU Delft in March 2015, describing how local cultural ties can strengthen and complement regional resilience and how cities and landscape can create a powerful net together, supporting each other for a vita activa. The key for creative active landscapes is to change our vision about the weak networks, which can be activated on several levels of scale. The economic, social, ecological and mobility infrastructures are integrated in the proposed design framework and try to heal the tendency of “competing rather than cooperating with each other” (Sieverts 2003). The

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Meppel

existing t1 up-cycled t1-t2 new t2-t3 NODE edge node t1-t2

Kampen

inner node slow intermintermodality t2-t3 inner node

nature,heritage, mixed use farms t1-t2

burenhulp

Zwolle

nodes. connectors of patches

Dalfsen

multiple nodes LINKS D3

Natural

D1

existing t1 (Natura 2000) reinforced t1- t2 (national landscape)

D4

extended t2- t3 D5

Mobility edge link

t1- t2

inner link water t2- t3 inner link bicycle, eletric car t1- t2

inner lane t1 driverless train t2- t3 mobility

km

richer a network is (eg. mobility: water, bicycle, train), the better it collaborates with the other networks.

Further knowledge about complex networks integration was consolidated by Sybrand Tjallingii’s research on mobility networks and natural structures (Tjallingii, 2005), stating that sustainable large scale design should focus on three dimensions: social, economic and environmental networks. Without involving the social, economic and environmental network in the debate’, the ‘two network strategy about water and road infrastructure’ (S.Tjallingii 2007) cannot be integrated without implication on the other contextual networks.

References Fabian, L., Giannotti, E. and Viganò, P. (2012). Recycling city. Pordenone:

km

4

burenhulp new bridge new station

Giavedoni.

Hajer, M., Dassen, T. (2014). Smart About Cities.Visualising the Challenge for 21st Century Urbanism. Nai010 publishers. Rotterdam Municipality of Zwolle 2011, Connecting Zwolle. Available from: https:// www.zwolle.nl/sites/default/files/english-brochure-zwolle-economy.pdf.

[11 April 2016].

Secchi, B., Viganò, P., Favaro, S.(2006). Water and Asphalt. The Project of Isotropy in the Metropolitan Region of Venice. EMU publication.

Sieverts, T. (2003). Cities without cities. London: Spon Press.

Tjallingii, S., Jonkhof, J. (2007).INFRANATURE / infrastructure works, landscape and nature:experiences and debates in The Netherlands. KNNV Publishing Zeist, The Netherlands. p. 508-527 Tjallingii, S. (2005).Carrying Structures for the Urban Ecosystem. Shifting Sense. Techne press. Amsterdam. pp 355-368.

* Article continues on the following spread.

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3. Elements of the framework at different scales 4. Framework for Zwolle region

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5

URBAN SPACE

EDGE OF THE CITY: TERRITORY IN BETWEEN

6

LANDSCAPE

PRINCIPLE NODES URBAN SPACE

SUBURBAN SPACE

LANDSCAPE PLACE

SUBURBAN SPACE

URBAN SPACE

Hasselt

Kampen

km

1

Station

mobility

sport/leisure

boat stop

nature node

burenhulp

3

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A complex line in Mastenbroek Patch “The new Kampen driverless station square is a busy space gathering commuters, visitors and local vendors. From the pick-up point in the square, you can take a boat, a bicycle or an electric car to go to the Mastenbroek polder, gradually crossing urban, suburban and landscape public spaces. The complex path, comprised of solar lanes, energy roads and canals with wild nature (2), meanders through the vast mosaic of pastures, wild meadows and public spaces.

These public spaces have an intimate sheltered edifice and stalls with local production available at any time.

Nearby, there are farms or cultural objects where you can experience the rural lifestyle or take part in the arts. Mastenbroek polder is an attractive place to live and to visit.�

Program: Gathering Network in Mastenbroek Patch edge nodes

slow Intermodality nodes nature/leisure nodes mixed-use farms

4 11 5 9

inner water | bike links

47 km

inner mini car | bike | bus links

80 km

edge water | bike | train links

36 km

Stakeholders involved: EHS, OBN, Groot Salland Waterboard, Weidevogelboerderijen, Workgroup Polderplan Mastenbroek, NS, Kampen, Zwolle, Zwartewaterland Municipality, local farmers.

Local inhabitant, 10.04.2050

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9

10

nature

economy

social

mobility

new

station

revitalised

castle

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section line

A complex node in Salland Patch “Den Burg castle is an active event space. It is easy to take an electric mini-car or a bike from this point to the station. There are trees where birds' nest were planted, all along this route (1). At the station (2) you can drop your mini car or bike and switch to train.

Driverless trains operated by Arriva and Meppel Research Center run all night. The station building stands in a designated agora, crossed by the inner link that goes towards Vecht. Along this route a linear garden market (3) grown by the locals provides fresh vegetables that you can pick yourself and pay at designated stall points at any hour. On the Vecht Edge, there is a nice public space and a crossing point that softens the edge and connects to Staphorst patch. As one of the darkest area in the Netherlands, solar bike lanes will light up the way without disturbing local habits and habitats. I love living in this region.� •

Program: Gathering Network in Salland Patch edge nodes

3

slow intermodality nodes

9

castle-mini car nodes mixed-use farms

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inner water | bike links

26 km

inner mini car | bike | bus links

34 km

edge water | bike | train links

21 km

Stakeholders involved: EHS, OBN, PAS, Bosschap, Arriva, Dalfsen Municipality, local farmers, castle owners

Local inhabitant, 10.04.2050

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12

5. Upgraded link with public space 6. Upgraded link 7. Complex line in Mastenbroek patch 8. Patch strategy and location 9. Garden linear market 10. Downgraded link 11. Complex node in Salland patch 12. Patch strategy and location

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THE S I N U O U S HORIZONS Deriving design principles in the alpine landscapes

The horizon is the apparent line that separates earth from sky. In an alpine environment, which is strained from artificial leash, nature is able to spread out its primitive and absolute power; boldly as well as delicately. In this context, horizons become undulated, dynamic, and sensitively related to the existing layers of the land.

Through the concept of the site and the principle of settlement, the environment becomes the essence of architectural production. From this vantage, new principles can be seen for design and methods that give precedence to the setting in a specific area.

This project explores the possibilities of design in the formation of sinuous horizons in Tayuling, an alpine area in Taiwan. The site demonstrates the drastic ambiance of transformation between time and space. In the project, the alpine environment

is interpreted as a Time-space Complex, within which designs are conceptualized as "slices".

Based on that, methods were proposed according to three scales of alpine landscapes.

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by

Sylvie Chen EMU student TU Delft

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Redefine Nature as “Time-Space Complex”

by Investigating into Alpine Mountains In cities we use perfectly accurate scales and measures to define space and time. However, in the alpine environment, space and time is dominated by the power of nature. Enormous powers beyond human imagination collide and combine with one another, proceeding with neither constant velocity nor equidistance, as they operate on their own timetables. All these relationships and logics form an intricate net, which is always changing through time. This net or state, I name it the “Time-space Complex”, indicates that natural elements at a specific place form a special logic within that very time and space.

Such logic emanates a unique atmosphere and condition, which forms the spirit of the place. The term“complex” here is a metaphor for the meaning of things gathering and interacting, therefore forming an intertwined, dynamic and mutually connected net.

Design Enters Nature as a “Slice” The overall condition of a natural place could hardly be described by one single sense. However, the essence of natural places would be experienced by interacting with the environment. Then, we can be aware of more intimate contact with the dominant natural power of the place. To sum up, we actually enter the place and become a part of it. By roaming and wandering in nature, we are actually crossing time and space, unwittingly and unconsciously.

Located in a natural place, all the views, phenomenons that we see, are actually a “slice” of the Time-Space Complex in this very moment. The slice reaches through high hills and deep valleys, from riversides to tree tops and elsewhere. A slice is a small piece of section representing the whole. We capture a "slice" from the Time-Space Complex, to observe an overall condition of nature. A slice does not break the continuity of nature, nor does it block 30

1. The proposals of three designs for three scales of alpine landscapes.

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the relationship of elements inside and outside it.

A slice acts as a filter to observe and experience nature. The strategy of this project is to first study the place and determine the elements that define it and make it unique. From this logic we then generate the methods to design Architecture as slices.

Design Manipulation Tayuling, as a Time-Space Complex, carries all kinds of natural elements and phenomena. The most definitive ones occur at certain places, which then become slices representing the entire site.

They include: the slate geology, the construction of Central Cross-Island Highway, the Red Pine Woods, the ancient crossing trail, watershed, the line of ridges, the saddle landform, which are caused by the drastic changes of mist and cloud.

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These compositions can be categorized in three scales: long, medium, and short time-spans. Each of them is prosperous, absolute or obvious in a certain place within the site, that dominates the overall atmosphere. Therefore, I chose three places as three slices, each one representing a scale of time and space. Interventions are to be inserted in the above defined slices. Then standing points are built for people to experience the spirit of these places.

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2. The analyses and resulted design methods for each scale of alpine landscape.

3. Nature's complex state.

4. The "slice" concept.

5. The designs at three sites.

Meanwhile functions are provided according to the distribution of different group activities, or the atmosphere that is to be created. The Architecture and the place then exist together by the same corresponding logics. Finally the tour-realm composed of important (place) slices is designed and created. •

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“Whenever there is a horizon in my painting, I quickly make a choice. In case of a high horizon I want to tell something about the land, while a low horizon makes me focus on the sky and clouds.

Our Dutch landscape is so marvellously flat, the word “Einder” applies perfectly (Dutch for the imaginary dividing line where the earth’s surface and the air seem to touch each other, ed.). The possibility to “disappear” is therefore an important factor in my work.

My Landscapes appear to be existing places, however they are never really somewhere.

I paint the sense of a landscape. Consequently, people think they recognize the location. Most of the time, I choose a slightly higher point of view, making more land visible and broadening the view.

Slowly but surely, my landscapes become more and more simplified and abstract, getting to the essence of the scene and its atmosphere, and to increasingly let go of the image.” - Jan Groenhart

“De Woude” Oil on linen 100 x 120 cm by Jan Groenhart 33

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Unbuilt, unfinished, incomplete

Tirana

Interrupted, incomplete, unfinished and unbuilt, private and public projects are the side effects of the process of modernization within the Albanian territory after the collapse of the communist regime. This resulted in an endless, uncensored heritage of buildings, infrastructures and public spaces, where the process of realization and activation remained unfinished, and others unbuilt.

What remains from the envisioned future are the self ruins of modernity. These are, and become incomplete landscapes that are daily inhabited, frequently crossed and unconsciously removed from our memories.

In most cases, these “landscapes� are incessantly interrupted in their construction and transformation due to financial inertia and political decisions.

The existing architectural and urban culture is not prepared to apprehend these abandoned landscapes, while simultaneously disoriented in their understanding of these objects. In this vacuum of interpretations, UNLAB explores these areas that are

in a perpetual state of transformation with a different lens that captures their complexity and brings multiple representations. [un]built Tirana is the first step towards a wider project. It is about the unfinished and incomplete architecture of Tirana. The intention is to envision a possible working strategy. The very core of the project is the relationship between the unbuilt architectural concrete frame buildings and the relative unfinished and incomplete landscape of Tirana. •

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by

UNLAB

Francesca Rizzetto & Andreas Faoro

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Floating cities Companies such as DeltaSync and Waterstudio, organizations like the Seasteading Institute, but also countries such as the Maldives are thinking about expanding cities on the water. For Atlantis, an interview was conducted with architect Barbara Dal Bo Zanon (DeltaSync) about the design and research on floating urbanization, the reasons for building on water and her opinion on what life in a floating city would look like.

interview with

Barbara Dal Bo Zanon DeltaSync

by

IJsbrand Heeringa and Eelco de With MSc students, Urbanism TU Delft

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Can you shortly introduce yourself and your work?

I am architect and researcher at DeltaSync, a company specialized in design and research related to floating development, with focus on technology and architecture. Our aim is to realize floating cities with a positive impact on the environment.

This is an ambitious objective and we are aware we cannot achieve it alone. For this reason we created a new company, Blue21, which consist of a network of experts from different fields (biotechnology, architecture, governance, etc.) that work together to realize floating cities.

Why do you think floating cities are a solution?

Currently, a large part of the population lives in cities.

Many of the rapidly growing cities are located in coastal and delta areas and are facing problems such as sea level rise, extreme weather events and land subsidence. Land scarcity is also a problem, both on a global and a local scale. We have estimated that because of the increasing demand of space for food and biofuel production, in 2050 there will be a global land shortage of the size of North America. Floating urban development combined with food and biofuel production offers the opportunity to provide space for urban functions, supporting part of the food and energy production that is happening on land. On the water, floating algae systems could be used to produce biofuel, feed and food, without competing with the crops on the land. Micro algae in particular are a promising source for biofuel, since they grow fast and have a high lipid content.

And why does the city need to follow food production and expand on water ?

When building food and energy production systems on water, infrastructure such as roads and pipes are required. However, production facilities and systems are often not sufficient to pay off for the initial investment. From a financial perspective, combining real estate with food/energy production on water is much more interesting. In addition, the demand for urban functions such as housing is high in cities with rapid population growth. For those contexts floating urban expansion becomes an interesting option, as well as in places where it is not safe to build on land, for example in floodplains.

So the aim of moving agriculture and the city together is to make the entire circle more sustainable?

There are benefits from combining food production and urban functions. Centuries ago, in absence

of transport connections such as airplanes, trains or ships, villages and towns depended on the local landscape for their resources. This mutual relation between towns and the landscape is shown in the model of von ThĂźnen, where the town is surrounded by concentric rings with agriculture and forest. This

"We have estimated that, because of the increasing demand of space for food and biofuel production, in 2050 there will be a global land shortage of the size of North America.'" configuration helped in ensuring food security for the population. Now we are in a globalized world, where resources consumed by cities are imported from everywhere. This offers opportunities to get many different products, but also raises questions on the sustainability of producing food in one place and consuming it thousands of kilometres away. We cannot ignore the fact that we are in a global economy.

But including part of the food production in urban areas will, in our opinion, help cities becoming more resilient. A local bio-based economy will create new jobs and other benefits for a city.

Your office has been working on two big projects concerning floating urbanism, namely a project for The Seasteading Institute and the BlueRevolution project. What is the difference between the two?

The project for the Seasteading Institute was an assignment to make an implementation plan for the first seastead. The objective of the Seasteading Institute is to test new forms of governments outside territorial waters. The budget for the project was crowdfunded and DeltaSync was requested to make a concept design and a feasibility study, focusing on the size of the platforms in relation to safety and sea sickness.

For the first seastead, we advised the Seasteding Institute to start in a protected area inside the waters of a nation. Once the settlement is growing it can slowly move out. While expanding, the seastead will start constructing a breakwater, which will protect the floating city from open sea high waves.

The BlueRevolution is more of a concept and represents our company's vision for future cities. The BlueRevolution concept starts from the reflection on how to make cities more sustainable through a symbiosis between cities on land and on water. In our opinion the water offers the space and the opportunity to test and implement solutions to help solving current

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1. Floating City Project Š DeltaSync

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urban problems related to sea level rise, population increase, and the growing food and energy demand.

How do you create a sense of place within these cities?

What is important in the planning and design of these cities?

This is an interesting reflection. The technology, which enables us to build on the water, won’t probably change much from country to country. However, the same technology also allows for flexibility. Floating platforms, upon which the cities are built, can be configured in an endless array of patterns. In addition, superstructures can consist of buildings of different

At DeltaSync we are reflecting a lot on how floating cities could perform and function. With the BlueRevolution concept we have acknowledge the importance of recycling nutrients and emissions in cities, proposing floating developments that are productive instead of consumptive.

Next to how floating cities could perform and function, we are also very interested in how cities on water could look like from the point of urban space.

We are also doing research on how this type of urban development can provide opportunities for ecological development, creating a habitat both for humans and for other species.

So you are not choosing only the metabolism approach, but also using different approaches?

Yes, there are different things we are looking at.

Energy and resource efficiency are important aspects to take into account in the design. Ecological aspects and principles are also something we consider.

Personally I am very interested in biomimicry and how to apply living systems principles to the design.

Can you give an example of biomimicry?

Biomimicry can be applied at different scales, from the design of a small object to the design of a city. For cities it was suggested to look at ecosystem services such as nutrient recycling, water purification, etc, comparing the project’s performance with the one of a nearby ‘natural’ ecosystem. In this way designers are challenged to provide with their projects, levels of ecosystem services that are not lower than the ones of local ‘natural’ ecosystems.

What about monitoring the environment?

There is no way to evaluate the impact of a project on the ecosystem without monitoring. Indymo, a spin off company of DeltaSync and Tauw, is currently monitoring ecosystem development around and below floating platforms, to evaluate how floating structures affect ecology and water quality.

"In my opinion however, the main challenge of floating cities is probably not technology, but people’s perception." typologies and styles, according to the inhabitants’ preferences. Every floating city can be very different.

DeltaSync puts a lot of emphasis on the growing population of cities. However, most people moving into cities, especially in developing countries, do not have a lot of money. How affordable would these floating cities be?

Well, floating development is not necessarily hightech and high-cost. There are projects of affordable floating housing as well. Floating platforms are on average more expensive than foundations on land.

However, a ‘plot’ on the water is often a lot cheaper than a plot on the land. So for cities with high ground prices it can be interesting and perhaps more affordable to move to the water.

What is the biggest challenge of making floating cities real?

Much research is needed, on different topics related to floating cities, but also fast implementation.

The integration of different (and often innovative) technologies is also a step that needs to be made.

Although most of the ‘building blocks’ are already present (e.g.: floating buildings, floating algae systems, etc.), they are often not integrated.

In my opinion however, the main challenge of floating cities is probably not technology, but people’s perception. The construction of floating cities is part of a wider societal transition, where governance has a fundamental role. •

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the limits of the future Horizon is a concept that exists in both the physical world, as a formal element, and the mental world, as a thought. From the visible skyline of a city to the abstract idea of future and development, the notion of horizon has been used by different disciplines to describe various things. The Greek artist Costas Varotsos has created a series of artworks on this theme.

“Horizons” are a physical manifestation of an abstract idea, which in this case combines and represents the concept’s dual nature.

Art and urbanism have always gone hand in hand, since art is not only a medium for urban design, but it is integrated into urban life. Costas Varotsos is a professor in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the department of Architecture, with a vivid presence in public space art internationally. This interview, or rather conversation, presents his theoretical and artistic opinion on the concept of the horizon and urban life.

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What is the main inspiration behind the series of artworks, “Horizons”?

It was at the beginning of the 90s, in the city of Thessaloniki that I conceived the project “Horizons”(figure 1,2). It was an era of significant changes in Europe, with the fall of the Berlin wall and communism. It was a period of optimism and expectations. The vision at the time was of the European Union, and a general sense of a positive anticipation towards the future created an enthusiasm which I wanted to capture. The city of Thessaloniki, and generally the whole Mediterranean region were also inspiring for me. In both cases the landscape, natural or man-made, engulfs the sea's horizon creating a V-shape which helped me define the form of my artworks and enabled them to evolve, with the most recent example of the double "Horizon" in university of Salerno(figure 3).

interview with Costas Varotsos

Artist, professor in Architecture A.U. of Thessaloniki, Greece

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Emmanouil Prinianakis MSc student, Urbanism TU Delft

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I consider myself more of a painter, and my work is linked to the forms of the real world. That’s why I want to create art works that submit to space, and undergo the process of "metamorphosis", spatially.

What does the term horizon mean for you?

Horizon, based on its etymology, has a sense of limit.

It is the outline that defines a place. Personally, I perceive the horizon as a boundary, as a challenge for me to overcome. I am not referring purely to the physical dimension of horizon, the strict line far away that provokes you to overcome it, but also to its conceptual dimension, the line that separates the old and the new.

This meaning of horizon is a part of human nature, and every civilization since ancient times has strived to overcome the existing limits of their era and create something new.

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1. Horizon in Thessaloniki www.costasvorotsos.gr 2. Horison in Lakonia www.costasvarotsos.gr 3. Horison in Salerno www.costasvarotsos.gr

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How are your artworks influenced by public life and space?

Public space has always been interwoven with the notion of authority. It reflects the relationship between people and the politics of space. For example, in Naples and in Greece public space is often used as a means to express the citizens' frustration towards authorities.

The relationship between artists and public space before the industrial revolution was meaningful. After the industrial revolution, architecture, urban planning and art took their separate ways. I try to integrate my artwork back within the public space.

What are the factors that you take in to consideration when creating an artwork in public space?

My goal is never to create artworks that are selfreferring, nor artworks that are there to fulfill my ego. One could say that the city gives them to me. I have always tried to understand and depict the social layering, the diversity and the culture of the place that my artwork is intended for. Cities are talking, and one just has to listen to them. They are filled with history, with events, with horizons, if you like.

"Art is a fact and a concept at the same time."

"Cities are talking, you just have to listen to them. They are filled with history, with events, with horizons if you like."

The most important limits arise from within society itself. Every person has to exceed social prejudices and expectations. The effort to overcome the major limits of our reality, like the limit of death, or sadness, stems from our psyche. Those are horizons that everybody has to overcome. It basic human instinct to evolve by striving to adapt to all limits, from the large and theoretical, to the very small practical ones. The role of art generally is to help them overcome those limits. Especially in public spaces, where interaction exists daily, art acts as a medium for escaping reality and relaxing the mind. It gives new perspectives, for overcoming the limits that life itself has already set.

How does your art interact with the space and people it encounters?

I have to answer this question with an example. My sculpture “Dromeas” (the runner) is an excellent case to observe the interaction of my art with public space and life. For the urban fabric, “Dromeas” became a landmark, a place with significance (figure 5). It changed the surroundings and the horizon of the street. It is a massive sculpture that defined a new image for the area. And people embraced it because it is a landmark. They needed a reference point, not

They are dynamic, even natural ecosystems because people are natural beings. They are defined by their landscape and their culture. These are the factors that I am looking for. Any artwork, or creative act generally, is a link to the real processes of place.

For example, in Bern (Switzerland), (figure 4) I tried to grasp the meaning of the city. The answer was given by the landscape, the mountains and the difficulty of connections, of going from one place to another.

When someone arrives at their final destination, it’s not the same culture, or social and economic structure anymore. Thus my artwork was about connecting two different urban environments that exist in the same city. I tried to grasp the natural and physical elements, and the conceptual dimensions of diversity that exist there. These were factors that contributed to the success of the artwork and its acceptance by the people. This is the point of art in public spaces, to draw from the context. The same art work in Athens would just be out of place.

You said that the horizon is a limit. How can art, especially in public space, help people overcome their limits?

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only in space, but also in culture. At the time that it was constructed, the people wanted change, a boost of national confidence. They felt that “Dromeas” was something special, originating from the Greek culture.

It is not a coincidence that every resident and visitor of Athens has seen it.

"Art, especially in public space, acts to boost cultural pride."

Thus art, especially in public space, acts to boost cultural pride for the people. Particularly in Greece as a culture, we define ourselves through our artistic and scientific products. Thus “Dromeas” was a medium for that. The same phenomenon occured with many of my artworks, in Switzerland, in Salerno and so on.

What does the horizon hold for art, the urban fabric and their combination?

The horizon as a limit is defined by the context, by the economy (especially in the case of Greece) by the science, by the way that people view the world.

Art, and the cities to an extent, were always linked to science through the new technologies that existed.

The new media, the contemporary scientific evolution is going to change everything. The essence however is going to stay the same. What artists look for, from

Ictinus to Picasso and for me as well, is to capture and overcome horizons. Public space has a political meaning and art acts as a political statement. This merging of the two, results in a horizon dependent on the political scene of the future.

Viewing the horizon of art, or of public space and life, as individual entities becomes irrelevant. They were, are and will be interwoven and interconnected. There is no art without the horizon of limits and there is no public life without art. The general conclusion from this interview was hence about the dynamism of the network that links all of those concepts. Eventually, the focus shifts towards to the future, questioning what lies ahead. Costas Vorotsos then argued that everything is going to become “white”.

"As public space has a political meaning and art is a political statement - their horizon depends on the political scene of the future."

This, I interpret as the unknown, the ambiguity of nothing and everything coming together and of the anticipation of the unexpected, undiscovered future.

The horizon is about the future, but also about the limits of this future. There is always going to be a new horizon, a new limit to overcome. •

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4. Untitled, Bern www.costasvarotsos.gr 5. Dromeas, Athens www.costasvarotsos.gr

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A Place beyond Belief!

The work by Nathan Coley titled, ‘A Place Beyond Belief ’, focusses on how cities move ahead post disaster, finding the need to reinvent themselves, adapting to other identities, contributing a distinct narrative to the perception of ‘Horizons’ in cities.

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Nathan Coley Artist

The illuminated font of the statement, originally referring to 9/11, adds varied layers of topical interests. The artist thus tries to interconnect text and site, and articulate the meaning behind the relashionship of the two.

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The text, ‘A Place Beyond Belief ’, is introduced into the landscape as a temporary proposal, to create an image, a statement and change perceptions of how one interprets a particular site, particularly post a disaster or conflict.

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and temporary celebration. There is a strong dynamic created due to the contrast between the form of the installation and the text it supports.

The words start acting as catalysts for the site, initiating pauses for reflection at each occasion.

The perception of the installation is also influenced by the historical events that have shaped the landscape.

The phrase originates from things collated from our collective world. It could have resulted from literature, ancient philosophy or by stories and songs about the city. The works are interpreted diversely, depending on where they are placed, how they are installed and what kind of situation they can be presented in.

For instance, ‘A Place Beyond Belief ’ being installed in a former Nazi swimming pool in Freiburg plays a different role than when the work is installed in a New York loft. What supports the concept, is the materiality of the installation. Fairground lamps are used due to their association with theatre, the circus,

The sculptures are strong enough to be subjected to most situations - physically, formally and conceptually. The more places they are exhibited in, the more the work is tested leading to further creation of images, adding different narratives to the history of the work and to the perception of the city. •

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1. A Place Beyond Belief, 2012 Installation, National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristina 2. A Place Beyond Belief, 2012 Installation, Haunch of Venison, London 3. A Place Beyond Belief, 2012 Installation, Triennale Brugge

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HORIZONS OF DOUBT

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Inter rogation on gentr if ication “I am a gentrifier myself �. This unusual remark, given by a gentrification scholar during a lecture, triggered a reflection on the somehow awkward position of urbanists when it comes to gentrification processes. As students or scholars of urban disciplines, we have a qualified knowledge of gentrification, we are aware of its negative consequences and we are able to debate about its causes and dimensions. At the same time though, we might be part of the very problem we are debating, whether by being pioneers of gentrification (i.e. students) or established gentrifiers (i.e. affirmed professionals or academics) (Blasius et al., 2016). This puts us in a peculiar position; one that certainly makes me feel quite uncomfortable.

Far from being a thorough analysis of existing positions on the topic, this article aims at being a provoking self-interrogation, an attempt to share the many doubts that have troubled me since I realized I might be a gentrifier. Rationally, I know it would be wrong to blame certain people for their housing choices. Most people pick where to live based on

economic pulls: they might opt for a gentrifying area because other neighbourhoods are out of their reach or they might choose to pay less on housing in order to save for other kinds of expenses. Housing decisions are a product of constraints as much as they are of preferences and everybody has the right to live where they wish, including in gentrifying neighbourhoods.

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Martina Gentili

Urban Planner & Designer, Guest Researcher TU Delft

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" wAs students or scholars of urban disciplines, we have a qualified knowledge of gentrification, we are able to debate about its causes and dimensions. At the same time though, we might be part of the very problem we are debating..."

However, I am also convinced that urbanists use (or should use) their knowledge of urban processes to make responsible housing choices that consciously take into account the displacement of lower income households as a potential consequence. Whether as a student, a young urban designer, or an affirmed professional, we all know too well what gentrification means to pretend our personal lives are detached from it.

The background question I am asking here is: why do I still feel guilty of being a gentrifier when I know the mechanisms of gentrification work on a much higher level than my housing choices? My higher education and cultural tastes are easy to be labelled when I move to a scruffy neighbourhood, but am I to blame for only being able to afford such a place? And am I even to blame if I like to live in such a place, because I think it embodies the very qualities of urban life? Should my knowledge of the system change my personal choices?

These spontaneous questions are at the core of two issues that are important for me to address.

The first one is rather general and it has to do with the role of the middle class in the process of gentrification.

This issue has been addressed from multiple points of view in the academic literature, without ever reaching an agreement. Some seem to blame the middle class intrinsically, on the basis that middle-class tastes drive gentrification, while others shift the focus to the neoliberal real estate and housing systems (see Slater, 2006 for a very critical summary of these positions).

Schlichtman and Patch, in their 2014 paper “Gentrifier? Who, me? Interrogating the gentrifier in the mirror?”, very clearly summarized my original feeling: “We have come to see middle-class presence in classdiverse neighbourhoods as the proof of gentrification, thus making it impossible for a middle-class person

not to gentrify. So then, where does this leave us: is there anything that we as middle-class people can do according to our literature - to have a legitimate place in a heterogeneous city?”

Personally, I agree with the many scholars that blame real estate and housing systems for maintaining the idea that it is completely normal to pay a substantial amount of one’s income on housing.

Political institutions are promoting policies that, by encouraging gentrification as a cure for deprived neighbourhoods, are responsible for its negative consequences, such as displacement and exclusion of working-class and low-income households.

The second issue that bothers me is much more personal: are millennials (and here I include myself) even to be considered middle-class gentrifiers?

According to OECD (2015), millennials, including the highly educated ones, are increasingly facing

" It might be time for design and planning to engage with politics, economics, public policy and sociology to achieve a more equitable city, where gentrification stops being a real estate tool to cash in on urban regeneration processes ... " unemployment, under-employment and precarious work. Economic instability is the only certainty.

As Aronowitz (2012) states in her article on The Atlantic, we might be middle class in our cultural tastes and lifestyles, as our background and level of education suggest, but our income is closer to working class or even poverty levels. All this reflects on our housing choices. We enjoy urban amenities, we appreciate diversity and we need the proximity of jobs and services, but we certainly cannot afford an apartment in an established area of any city. Our choice in terms of locations is limited, and we will obviously tend to pick, among the affordable options, the one that better suits our social, cultural and aesthetic needs. We are somehow forced to be pioneers in gentrifying or about-to-gentrify neighbourhoods.

Are we to blame or are we victims of an unaffordable housing system? What can we do about this?

While I am convinced that academic research should focus on the far more important issues of displacement of low-income households and loss of affordability in

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working-class neighbourhoods, I believe that a selfreflection on our individual agency, in light of our awareness of structural processes, can only be positive.

Nonetheless, even after this self-interrogation, I seem to have found no answers. I still feel somehow trapped in a system that strips me of my ability to make a responsible decision. Either my housing choices are good for me but go to the detriment of lower-income households - thus making me feel “immoral” for acting against my knowledge of structural processes - or they are “morally sound” and don’t harm anyone else but me, undermining my ability of affording the rent and still lead the life that I want for myself. In a provocative way, I might even argue that this awareness restricted my horizon, in that it burdened me with unnecessary struggle in a quest - that for affordable housing already complicated in itself.

stops being a real estate tool to cash in on urban regeneration processes and where it is not acceptable to pay unhealthy amounts of money on housing. In such a city I would not have to weight my morality and my purchasing power against each other for fear of being part of an unfair larger mechanism. •

References Aronowitz, N.W., 2012. How the Recession Made Me a Gentrifier in My Home Town. CityLab. Available at: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/ neighborhoods/2012/06/how-recession-has-made-me-gentrifier-my-hometown/2289/ Blasius, J., Friedrichs, J. & Rühl, H., 2016. Pioneers and gentrifiers in the process of gentrification. International Journal of Housing Policy, 16(1), pp.50–69.

Schlichtman, J.J. & Patch, J., 2014. Gentrifier? Who, Me? Interrogating the Gentrifier in the Mirror: Debates and developments. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38(4), pp.1491–1508.

In order to broaden the horizon of the single planner, designer and academic, I believe it is necessary to imagine a new horizon for the discipline. It might be time for design and planning to engage with politics, economics, public policy and sociology in order to achieve a more equitable city, where gentrification

Slater, T., 2006. The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 30(4), pp.737–757.

Stockdale Otarola, J., 2015. Generation wait? Understanding the millennials. OECD Insights Blog. Available at: http://oecdinsights. org/2015/12/03/generation-wait-understanding-the-millennials/

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1. ‘“Middle class scum” taken from: https://www. scenesofreason.com/ gentrification-explained/ 2. “Gentrification cartoon” taken from: Kwenortey, E., 2016. From Doonesbury to Grayson Perry: 10 of the best gentrification cartoons.

The Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian. com/cities/gallery/2016/ jan/13/from-doonesbury-tograyson-perry-10-of-the-bestgentrification-cartoons

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Urban design for shrinking areas In the last few years, urbanism students graduated on design by research aiming to improve the spatial quality and livability of shrinking cities and regions in the Netherlands. Their design strategies were driven by the concept of the poly-centred urban fabric including the evolution of (new) nodes and infrastructure that are able to connect the living and working towards a sustainble region.

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Paul Stouten and Herman Rosenboom TU Delft

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Shrinkage in the Netherlands Shrinkage is a selective process and involves specific population groups: mostly young people and young families with higher incomes are leaving these regions. That means that elderly and lower educated groups are the ones staying behind. Decreasing population and changes in the social fabric caused new requirements to the living environment and urban fabric e.g. the demand for provisions and care.

As far as spatial aspects are concerned, shrinkage is less predictable then changes in the social fabric.

Particularly, the future of private managed functions, such as vacancies of dwellings, shops and closing down of businesses on locations that were not expected before, is now uncertain. For amenities and public managed provisions as schools, sports centres, swimming pools, libraries and public transport, local and regional authorities are able to elaborate a regional vision and agreements concerning what remains and what should be abolished.

How residents are and will be prepared to participate to revitalize and to keep the living environment of the whole region attractive is a key challenge. Running a local supermarket or maintaining the full services of a library are examples of an active participation from residents.

Urban networks According to the urban networks concept, dominant cities do not exist. That means that a mono-centred development is replaced by the idea that every city has a proper function, role and meaning within the urban network of a region. Cities are regarded to be complementary to each other within one urban network, which requires a well-connected infrastructure between them.

Public as an instrument for creating a sustainable region was an important drive. In favour of profound co-operation between cities belonging to a network city, competition has to be avoided as much as possible.

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Liveability The improvement of liveability is, next to connectivity, an important challenge for revitalization of shrinking cities and regions. It is a complex issue mostly defined as the assessment experienced by residents about their living conditions: their own neighbourhood, area, place of residence. People refer to social indicators as safety, nuisance and inconvenience, and to physical aspects as the housing conditions, provisions and facilities in the neighbourhood and the quality of the public space.

Urban design for shrinking areas The studies were focused on the following regions: -A region that goes through shrinkage for a long time: Zuid – Limburg (Dalyan, 2009) -A region that since a couple of years is confronted with shrinkage: Zeeuws – Vlaanderen (Balthus, 2011) -A region as part of one of the main Dutch cities, in which exists shrinkage as well as growth: Alblasserwaard (Dunnen, 2012).

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Park city Limburg (former mining region) The project is focused on the region around Heerlen within the spatial context of Aachen (Germany), Liège and Hasselt (Belgium). Improving the connectivity is an important drive in the design proposal. Recently, a new tram connection between Aachen and Heerlen had been completed, which led to the restoration of the previous connection that existed till 1950.

opportunity for further development. More touristic facilities are needed and have to be upgraded. In the proposal, the existing tram track along the Belgian coast between Knokke and De Panne will be extended to several cities in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (see fig. 1). This would result in the longest tram track in the world connecting different small towns along the coast.

The design is based on two complementary zones: the first zone, along the tramline, will be enforced with buildings and the second zone, on a one kilometer distance from the tram stations, where the shrinkage will be concentrated (see fig. 2). That means that the strategy is based on growth in the first zone and shrinkage in the second zone.

Conclusions

Alblasserwaard The proposal assumes a top-down perspective on the regional scale combined with a more local bottom-up approach. That means that, particularly on the local scale, successful projects have to be generated. The strategic plan on the regional level is based on scenario studies and has led to a proposal for key-projects including the design of new railway stations (see fig. 3).

Besides, connections such as the inland water structure, the new waterbus and new connections with other parts of the Alblasserwaard, are made to stimulate a functional mix in these areas.

Zeeuws-Vlaanderen This proposal concerns the shrinkage within the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen region. For the area around one city (Sluis), touristic attractions will be seen as an

The spatial structure and the liveability of shrinking areas is a challenge in the spatial planning which

"How residents are and will be prepared to participate to revitalize and to keep the living environment of the whole region attractive is a key challenge" deserves more attention. The solution to shrinkage problems needs a tailor made approach for every region. The fight against unemployment is a structural problem for which spatial solutions, certainly on low level of scale, are limited. The urban networks concept offers opportunities to fit limited approaches of separate municipalities in a broader, more regional, perspective.

In order to achieve prudent approach on the regional level with coordination between parties and the municipalities involved and also to avoid unwanted competition, new initiatives and investments are

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required. The development of scenarios and strategic plans will make the approach more negotiable. If the shrinkage will continue, the livability will become a more important aspect.

of function, redevelopment and transformation of the existing urban fabric should be tested by all municipalities and other parties on a widely supported regional plan. •

Within the shrinkage, the proximity of a lot of provisions will not be available anymore and the accessibility, just for the elderly, will be an inevitable issue. In conclusion, accessibility, connectivity and clustering of provisions on accessible locations should be one of the starting points. Relocation, change

References Balthus, M. (2001) Catching People? How to Deal with the Shrinkage at the Dutch Countryside Dalyan, S. (2009) Shrinkage; The Challenge of Re-structuring the City Dunnen, J. den (2012) Shrinkage within the Dutch Rural Context

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1. New tramline along the coast of the municipality of Sluis (illustration by: author) 2. Impact of the regional tram (city scale) 3. Regional strategic plan Alblasserwaard (source: author 2011)

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HIGHWAYS FOR COWS The new Dutch horizon 51

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Imagine what if the cows were not abducted anymore for any reason, but they were actually being part of our daily lives...

The article proposes a provocative response to the transformation of Dutch urban areas when the “carpet metropolises”1 unfolded across entire deltas, risking the possibility of leaving no space for nature to take its course. Suffocated by urbanization and suffering from environmental effects, the Dutch landscape needs to be re-envisioned. Cities become “landscape architectonic subjects”2 from which constituent flows can be used as a planning tool and are formative to urban form (Dirk Sijmons, 2015).

Imagine what would happen if cows were brought in the urban environment as a top layer and needed to be considered in the facilitation of urban and landscape research and planning. This would thus lead to an agro-urban way of rethinking and reshaping cities.

There is a rising need for cities to be reconnected with the natural environment. Green highways can connect the wild landscape with the urban landscape as an open corridor to people, livestock and vegetation. Also, they themselves become natural ecosystems, ecological bridges linking the different types of landscapes in the Dutch environment.

The first steps towards ecological type of design in the Netherlands have already been taken.

The infrastructure supports these steps, and facilitates their even higher goals (they become part of a network or enclosed loop and are updated with properties that can provide several types of services to the user).

But in the Dutch landscape, inevitably, there is another element which has the potential to become part of a network. It is definitely part of a system, a very well organized one. One that receives quite a lot of attention and that concerns us directly:

Cattle.

I suggest calling it the brown infrastructure...

Would you imagine an elevated infrastructure that can be integrated in the ecological approach of designing and planning the landscape?

It can benefit us spatially in a different way. It can link the city to the wild nature while providing solutions to the problems derived from extreme climate change. At the same time, it will support the recycling of resources, considering the cattle as a symbol for natural recycling and transformation of goods and materials. Besides its status as a main food source, the cow itself and its waste represents a symbolic self-preserving and self-supplying 52

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Iulia Cristina Sirbu EMU student TU Delft

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system; the cow grazing is a supplier of different products, e.g. manure as a source of energy, urine as a cosmetic product, methane gas for burning, etc.

Providing food- Through providing space that facilitates free movement and growth of the cattle, free pasture leads to a production of 25% more milk.

On top of that, the milk and the derivate would be less poisonous and more natural. It can also be closer and easier to access by the inhabitants of the city (collecting spaces for fresh milk could be planned and through a system of on ground sewage, it can be directly delivered to households).

Regulate the air quality- Starting from the wild, running through the urban fabric and ending up again in the wildness, the green highways generate interconnected strips of green flows. Fresh air is brought by the greenery that also absorbs the pollutants from the city, thus decreasing the effects of heat islands. Nature will not be impeded anymore and it will grow undisturbed within the city. In this sense, is there any possibility that nature will end up taking over the urban landscape turning it into a hidden or unused system?

It will educate the citizens as a secondary effect.

Having a direct and routine type of interaction with the new infrastructure, new ways of thinking would be initiated. New ideas and solutions will be designed. A new status will thus be, achieved.

Tourism will follow and economic gains, too. This idea however is based on the refurbishment of an element that plays an important role in the identity of the Dutch society. Therefore, it has the potential to enhance this identity further.

Green spaces can always accommodate several functions. In this case, green highways can offer a recreational choice which also helps in regulating the air quality. Furthermore, in time it can control environmental risks such as flooding due to heavy rain fall, etc. due to its possible capacity to retain water and regulate effects of climate change, while improve aesthetics, identity and enhancing recreation.

Overall, it has the potential to close the loop and become a sustainable idea within the framework of a Dutch landscape that risks neglecting the green wild part. We need to think about the character of a natural environment that is in danger of losing its primary functions, especially in the Netherlands.

Here, the country has an image characterized by wild green areas, the polders characterized by pasture agriculture, clean air and pleasant space for recreation out of the urban areas.

So, how can we preserve this specific image and the culture and lifestyle that come along?

Instead of a specific answer, I choose to raise few questions that could open up the imagination.

What if, just like any other type of element that is prominent for the proper functioning of a system, brown infrastructure gets its own literal infrastructure? What if this infrastructure becomes an object of design? As long as it meets different functions and provides a multitude of services, it could become an element of interest for designers; a guiding element for the development of future cities. • References 1. Dirk Sijmons, Farewell speech, 16 October 2015, TU Delft

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1. Alien abduction, picture by author 2-3. Highway for cows in the city, picture by author 4. Returning to the city, picture by author

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The new future of a smart city driven India The allure of a ‘higher standard of living’ as opposed to a better ‘quality of life’ has enamoured much of the developing world, especially in growing economies like India and China. To satisfy this aspiration of the people, their governments have established several programs and policies to develop so called ‘Smart Cities’, which will guide the direction of growth that the country would take for the next century. Although, the intent is to make these cities competitive and centers for innovation to inspire others tofollow course, the methodology which has been undertaken to achieve these goals needs to be questioned.

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In the specific case of India, the project needs to be overhauled completely. This is due to the emergence of several arguments that show that this program will increase the existing crevasse between different strata of its very complex society existing in a unique cultural context. These entire arguments sum up to form the crux of the issue, and that is the disparity between classes in society which the project is unknowingly encouraging. It doesn’t fulfil its written proposal, but instead works against its basic principles and values of equality and social justice.

Several cracks are already becoming visible, as reported in the national and international mainstream media with more and more people questioning the process that the Indian government has undertaken to fulfil this ambitious vision. The inherent social

implications of such a large program needs to be explored and debated, before embarking upon it, as it would potentially determine India’s future over the next century.

The developing world today seems to be enamoured with catching‐up with the ‘free‐world’ in terms of technology, resources and its sophistication. India is no exception to this scenario; the Indian government recently established in 2014 generated the ‘100 smart city project’ where in development of satellite towns in larger cities and modernizing the existing mid‐ sized cities is proposed. This project is conceived to lead India into a model of sustainable and inclusive development, which would act as a beacon to inspire other cities. Therefore, this single project has the power to shape India’s next 100 years.

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by

Kritika Sha

MSc student, Urbanism TU Delft

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So what is so ‘smart'

Content before Context

To comprehend the pitfalls of the envisioned smart city program, we must identify and understand the program which the Indian government has tried to represent. The official website states that there is no universal definition; and that it should be provided guidelines to direct these cities into one common mission. In this particular program, the focus has been to incorporate ‘smart solutions’ which will enable cities to use technology, information and data to improve infrastructure and services.

A major part of the smart city paradigm derives from the concept of ‘smart infrastructure’, where the goal is to make existing infrastructure work in a more integrated way, whether it is waste, habitation or transport connectivity, with a heavy reliance on ICT services. Many European and middle‐eastern cities are fore‐runners in the inevitable energy transition. They see the linking up of infrastructures, technologies and services in key urban sectors as a smart way to improve the competitiveness, sustainability and most importantly, the quality of life.

The image which the Indian government is portraying is of so called successful European, south‐east Asian and middle‐Eastern metropolitan cities.

With such a wide range to choose from, it can be questioned, which are these cities and in what sense are they ‘smart’? For example, if we take the current government’s program to transform Kolkata,India in the image of London, most people of the western world would wonder what is so ‘smart’ about London.

It is sold as a utopian vision, where everybody has easy access to infrastructure, services, housing and a new way of life. But in reality, cities such as London, Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, amongst others, come with its own set of complexities. They can only worsen when they are directly imposed on a city in India.

This plan of making Indian cities in the image of the “utopian”version of western and middle‐eastern cities will have serious repercussions in its society, which the smart city program has not anticipated for.

A project of this nature requires a comprehensive scaling‐up of concepts and design models, which is not suitable for developing countries such as India.

The over‐reliance on these models of perceived development has already resulted in the failure to manage the growth of cities in low and middle income countries, which are now combating unplanned informal expansions in major cities.

On the other hand, there are several successful projects that offer a combination of innovation and in genuity, while keeping in mind the backdrop and context. Projects such as the ‘cable cars’ of Caracas (which illustrates that a community‐aimed, bottom up approach can go a long way in unifying the favelas with the city); and Nairobi’s ‘digital matatus’ (using mobile routing applications to create a new transit map helping the citizens navigate the informal public transport), prove that developing countries are now responsible for a long list of both technical & social

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1. Smart solutions listed by the Indian government.

Source: http://smartcities.gov. in/writereaddata/What%20 is%20Smart%20City.pdf 2. Transit map in Nairobi, Kenya. Source: https://dusp. mit.edu/cdd/project/digital‐ matatus 3. Cable cars in Caracas, Venezuela. Source: http:// www.architonic.com/ntsht/ over‐site‐how‐caracas‐s‐new‐ cable‐car‐system‐is‐making‐ the‐city‐s‐favelasmore‐Kenya.

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processes that rival anything the developed world has to offer for ingenuity and practical utility.

But, for some reason, this is not the face of urban innovation that India wants to share with the world.

It could be possible that small‐scale projects are not grand enough to convey the magnitude of increasing national ambition. We hear, instead, of schemes like Palava City , a futuristic vision of digital technology intertwined into everyday urban life.

The overwhelming evidence is that this ‘aped urban policy’ has failed to secure social, or spatial, justice.

Cities such as Lavasa (India’s first city built from scratch by a private enterprise with state support) have become ghost towns, with very few people choosing to settle there. Lavasa has been widely reported as an unsuccessful venture, mainly because the planners failed to incorporate the aspirations of their clientele, i.e., the local population.

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Lavasa and Palava cities are just a few examples to illustrate how the future of the ‘100 smart cities’ can look like if it continues in its current trends: re‐building cities that are more suitable in another continent rather than where it is intended. A prudent approach instead of jumping headfirst onto the ‘Smart City’ bandwagon may be a better process towards urban development. This need not be a step backwards in India’s progress, but a more cautious step to move forward.

Urbanisation without control The current government feels that it is time for India to take a bigger role in the world’s economy. Therefore a long standing argument is being presented in India that no economy can grow on the basis of agriculture, and so it is inevitable that people would move to cities.

This further extends to the belief that innovations with new technology emerge and belong only in cities. However, India’s base is in the hinterlands, with 70% of the population living outside the cities and agriculture being the main source of its GDP. India has a fluid network and connection between urban and rural area, with workers regularly going back to cultivate their farmlands. Its process of “circular urbanism” differs from the standard model of dominating mega cities and an empty hinterland.

Its networked lifestyles are not quite suburban or simple rural either, as dual households remain profitable and socially important. One worker keeps shifting from being a farmer to a security guard, grocery shop owner to labourer, blurring boundaries between cities and their surrounding area. Even then, cities remain key nodes in every expanding economy of India,neglecting either will not work. The smart city program currently focuses on the development of urban areas, leaving aside the crucial hinterland; without it the circular economy system collapses. In

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fact, it would make better sense for policies to forsake the rural and urban lines of directing investment, and recognize that India’s potential lies with the network of connections between these polarized areas. A shift in perspective will help evolve a set of categories and suitable projects that do greater justice to the emerging urban landscape in the country.

The Exclusiveness of the Clientele The official mission statement: The smart city project aims to improve the ‘quality of life’ of the people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to smart outcomes.

This ambitious project does strive for a better future for its citizens. However, it largely ignores the social behaviour of the biggest component of these cities: the people. Instead it focuses on technology to improve the quality of life. Technology can only improve upon the ‘standard of life’, whereas improving the ‘quality

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of life’ cannot be achieved through technology. For India’s true progress, both the ‘standard of life’ and ‘quality of life’ should be given equal importance.

The smart city program is, nudging India towards information technology, rather than promoting local government and utilizing the power of its over 1 billion people.

The country’s problems run deep, and would not be solved by a superficial attempt. Proposals for developing city through wide controlled technological grids should not be implemented in a country where 300 million people live without electricity and almost double without access to toilets. These proposed cities are relying heavily on automated systems like intelligent traffic management, automated garbage disposal systems and transport connected to smart phones, to keep them running. This would surely turn the cities into isolated islands for the privileged people. This emphasis on high‐end infrastructure and superlative quality of life in this project hints at a discomfiting answer to the question: who the intended inhabitants of smart cities are likely to be?

the utopian vision of development, can only lead to a fragmented future.

The exclusive nature of the smart city program, as illustrated, forgets the social structure. The project, in its current form and serving a limited clientele cannot serve the aspirations of the people as a whole, which means that it should be overhauled to ‘include’ rather than ‘exclude’ the people of India. This forms the root of many arguments presented against this project, as it works against the basic values of equal social justice in democratic India. These values are not negotiable and any project which doesn’t work along with them represents a serious threat to India’s inclusive growth.•

References The Guardian, UK: From Singapore to Amravati-The Battle to Build India’s new state capital - January 26, 2016 (http://www.theguardian. com/cities/2016/jan/26/amaravati-andhra-pradesh-india-singaporenew-state-capital-city?CMP=fb_a-cities_b-gdncities); ‘We don’t need IT here’- The inside story of India’s smart city gold rush - January 22, 2016 (http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/22/inside-story-indiasmart-city-gold-rush-it) http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/prime-minister-narendra-modi-

The truthful answer to this question is that it would only serve the upper‐middle class and the wealthy, turning a blind eye to a majority of the population.

This is not in line with the government’s ambition of an inclusive city.

launches-smart-cities-mission/article7353823.ece Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Urban Development, India: http://smartcities.gov.in/writereaddata/What%20is%20Smart%20City. pdf; pp.1 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/170759/kolkata‐london‐darjeeling‐ another‐switzerland.html

India now stands at a crucial junction, where its actions would determine its future for the next century. The ‘100 Smart Cities’ program may work well on paper and propaganda, but the country’s harsh realities should not be swept under a rug. India’s complex and layered society should be perceived as strength and not be discarded if it does not fit into a preconceived program. Sacrificing social stability for

European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities: https:// eu‐smartcities.eu/about/european_context Project Digital Matatus, Nairobi: https://dusp.mit.edu/cdd/project/ digital‐matatus http://www.archdaily.com/644850/b‐v‐doshi‐and‐rajeev‐kathpalia‐on‐ the‐idea‐of‐the‐indian‐smart‐city Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Urban Development, India: http://smartcities.gov.in/writereaddata/What%20is%20Smart%20City.pdf; pp.3

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4. Tiruchirappalli (the next ‘smart city’?). Source: Adam Jones; https://flic.kr/p/6Kx9bb 5. Lavasa Waterfront. Source: AbhijitBhatwadekar; https:// flic.kr/p/CCeXoG 6. Aerotropolis city, near Durgapur. Source: http://www. wbidc.com/about_wb/bengal_ aerotropolis_project.html

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Planning for Post-Conflict Landscapes Converting dead zones Post conflict planning perceives architecture and urbanism as a way of understanding the circulation of ideas between different political systems, societies and cultures that shape cities, as inflected by history, tradition, recent events and thought.

interview with

In an age of anxiety that has witnessed civil liberties, freedom of movement has come under repeated attack. Every city has its own conflicts. Here, the notion of conflict implies unpredictability in time and space, and it involves uncertainty of operation.

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The interview with Rick Krosenbrink questions what roles can be undertaken by Urbanists and Architects regarding the functionalist architecture of occupation as a slow act of violence and the local community’s explanation of what it is to live among landscapes designed from a military perspective to ensure separation and act as a means to control. It addresses post conflict geographies and cultural landscapes that play a role in integrating military structures in post conflict life and how that fits into the idea of a community.

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Rick Krosenbrink

PhD researcher in Uban Security

Shruti Maliwar

MSc student, Urbanism TU Delft

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What made you research the spatial implications of security in the urban context?

The thing that I am really interested in, is the way the design of security structures and military compounds contribute to the feelings of safety for the people and the well being of communities, as they call in the United Nations development program of 1994, human security.

When I was in Afghanistan for the first time in 2008, we designed and built military barracks in the Uruzgan province, and in that process I was questioning why we leave behind massive walls that aren't really contributing to the future of the community.

This was actually due to a couple of reasons. The first, is about having a primary focus on mere protection of the inhabitants, the people living in the base.

The second reason was for logistical implications, in order to be able to sustain yourself in the middle of nowhere. Maybe, the 3rd reason was then to act as a hub from where military operations could be conducted in the area.

So, I started thinking of what would happen if we would see this base differently, as a source of

interaction, for care facilities, education, transport, or even regard it as a community centre to empower people and to make the community more resilient.

The main thing we were doing earlier, was trying to conduct post conflict reconstruction efforts, and fight enemy combatants constantly, while neglecting to focus on the resilience of the local community.

However, an important aspect to be taken into consideration when you start conducting military operations, is that you're going to leave. Its far more important to stimulate them to stand for their own values, empower them, and only when its necessary, support them. When you leave, they should be able to cope with the oppressors themselves.

That was the idea that started to grow in my head. It was quite a complex issue and I found it most suitable and hands-on to start looking at the context of the operations. When you do not understand the physical landscape around you well enough, you do not see the value of the landscape in contribution to security.

That was one starting premise of the research that I began in 2008-09. Five years later I started my PhD on this specific topic, with a focus on designing and building in conflict and post conflict reconstruction efforts.

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So you are saying that the idea of understanding such a context could significantly contribute to the building of better structures?

Yes. I think the Netherlands armed force are now really improving in that regard, and you can see that all sorts of cultural lessons are given in Holland already, regarding the Afghan culture, the Pashtun culture, their languages, their tradition, how you greet people, etc. There is an attempt being made and some awareness being created, but this is just the beginning.

Is the local community responsive to these efforts? Are they open to it?

They have willingly accepted it. My personal experience is that they are quite pragmatic, but of course, it is because they have to be. They are in a survival situation and are responsive towards receiving assistance that leads to improving the lives of their families and friends.

Does the design of the structures play a very important role for the urban context, besides its importance for military operations?

Is that taken into consideration when designing ?

No, its completely not taken into consideration at the moment. What is taken into consideration is the protective value of the structures. The design can thus end up being inclusive in nature, catering primarily to the military operation. You're creating an otherness, inherently making a difference between everybody who's in and everybody who's out. But when there’s more interaction between the people on either side of the compound, the dynamics are different.

"Security and trust is something that should arise when you plan from the grassroots, from beneath, to make it more sustainable."

That’s why I find it really interesting to look at the 'White Compound’. It was one of the bases in Chora valley that was built according to vernacular architecture, without big walls around it and hence was more relatable and inspiring, rather than

functioning as a fence. The design should be more participatory in nature.

Does the community participate in the planning process at all currently?

The community should be involved far more. At the moment we are not involving local community and local knowledge enough, specifically while constructing infrastructure, such as these bases. It should be much more inclusive of the community. Local governments and NGO’s could also play a part, to create these small but strong bonds with the different communities.

Security and trust is something that should arise when you plan from the grassroots, from beneath, to make it more sustainable.

Why do you think that doesn't happen currently from the start of the process itself ? Is it due to time constraints?

There is always time pressure. Under this time pressure you see the military engineers that are designing and building, falling back to what they already know, to the doctrine, the handbooks, their knowledge and their previous experiences. Which is not subjective to the context it’s being built in.

The Dutch armed force is not that big so it’s

"I wondered why we didn't construct in a way that the locals can pre-cycle and use all the material and make it easy to be dismantled by the local population, by hand not by machines, while making good reuse of it. " always the same group of people involved in the design process. It is now time to foster innovation, to broaden the scope and make it more interdisciplinary. There is a lack of knowledge and design thinking. Military culture is quite hierarchic, straightforward and result driven, whereas the design process is more organic, requiring more interaction. And modern soldiers need to learn that way of thinking, when it comes to the construction of these "peace keeping structures," which have a huge impact on the local community.

In the post conflict scenario, what is left behind of this infrastructure? Is it utilized?

Or does it act as a ruin?

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Unfortunately, most of the time, we don't design these military bases with the idea of a legacy in mind. For instance, in Kunduz which is in Afghanistan, we designed the barracks to become local military headquarters. But in Uruzgan, we didn't initially plan how to leave them behind. So eventually, we had to turn the structures into a civilian airport and because we then had to convert one structure to another, it was far more difficult.

For example in Mali it would've been a great idea to build an agricultural university, because if you ask all the people there what they need, the answer is more knowledge about cultivating the land and developing fisheries. It could also have been a place where soldiers use the classrooms to sleep in, which gradually shifts towards the end user. If you look at Yugoslavia for example, a lot of the bases are demolished or left behind as ruins, or sometimes used as police posts.

Often, the local population utilizes all the material that is left behind for building their own structures and houses.

When I found out that the locals were reusing or recycling these bases I felt that the idea had potential, but then I wondered why we didn't do it in a way that they can pre-cycle, and use all the material and make it easy to be dismantled by the local population, by hand not by machines, while making good reuse of it.

What would happen if you design it as a zero-foot print base?

That is actually a topic much discussed within the Ministry of Defense in Holland. Another possibility is to not build a base at all. Even so, you still have to think about the infrastructural support required by the different types of operations conducted, such as peace keeping operations, stabilizing operations or maybe combat operations.

The solution, for instance, could be that as a soldier, you live out of your vehicles when you don't build anything.

Once the military operation has culminated, is there still a lot of turmoil in the particular area?

In the best scenario of course, there is sustainable peace and the soldiers leave the area gradually, handing in everything to the local government and the population. Unfortunately, most of the times that’s not how it occurs. In Uruzgan we left somewhat abruptly because of political decisions

and the collapse of the government at that specific moment. This happened because two parties did not agree about the way these operations were conducted, and as it was not gradual, nothing sustainable was left behind.

In Yugoslavia we were able to leave sustainable peace, because we had been there for 20 years with a few thousand men and in the end there were only 50 men and women. Whereas in Uruzgan we were there with 1500 and then within a few years, with 0.

The transition period is highly important in order

"The design can thus end up being inclusive in nature, catering primarily to the military operation. You're creating an otherness." to leave anything sustainable behind. Otherwise there’s a security vacuum. With every mission you have to understand that at some point you're going to leave and it may not be in a moment that is the best for everybody. For political reasons, you are going back to your home country, because the population in your home country cannot support the mission anymore or for other financial reasons.

As you can imagine, these missions are really expensive. So, one of the criteria for planning is that in the end you may be leaving things behind in turmoil.

How does the context then change or how do people start appropriating these structures? What are the implications on the larger geography?

Yes, you can ask yourself, what country isn't in conflict anymore. Every country, every city, has its own conflict. So we have to start designing to help communities evolve from conflict to peace or tranquility, towards a more organic development of military architecture.

Instead of thinking in terms of combat and conflict, it could be more of a facilitator for other organizations to start building for the community by using local participation and not dictating what is best for them. The idea has landed, and now tools need to be developed to plan this. Some of these are architecture and design. They could make military architecture non-intrusive, blending and more organic. •

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1. White Compound, Chora Valley

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THE VENUS PROJECT Designing the future

What is the future hope for society? What kind of world do we wish to live in? Is it actually possible to create a different future? One wherein materials are unnecessary and jobs are automated?

by

Jacque Fresco

futurologist and self described social engineer

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You might think that this is just a Utopia, but the futurologist and self-described social engineer, Jacque Fresco has created a showcase of what the world could be, using science and technology for human betterment. Fresco advocates global implementation of a socio-economic system which he refers to as a "resource-based economy" - the Venus Project. The Venus Project calls for a straightforward redesign of our culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but also as totally unacceptable.

Based on the fact that there are many technical solutions that have been around for years when it comes to housing, transportation, creating clean energy, growing nutritious and providing water, Jacque Fresco comes up with multiple ideas about what the future city could look like.

The Venus Project proposes a circular city plan that would utilize the most sophisticated available resources and construction techniques. Its geometrically elegant and efficient circular arrangement will be surrounded

by parks and gardens, which will be incorporated into the city design. All cities will be designed to operate with the minimum expenditure of energy using the cleanest technologies available, which will be in harmony with nature to obtain the highest standard of living for everyone.

“This means that the central cybernated systems will coordinate all of the machinery and equipment that serves the entire city, the nation and ultimately the world. ” To ensure the efficient operation of the city’s various functions, all of the processes and services are equipped with electronic environmental feedback sensors. These sensors are coordinated with redundant, back-up systems that operate in the event of failure or breakdown of the city’s primary systems.

This means that the central cybernated systems will coordinate all of the machinery and equipment that serves the entire city, the nation and ultimately

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1- 2-3-4. The Venus Project, design by Jacque Fresco © 2015

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the world. One can think of this as an electronic autonomic nervous system extending into all areas of the social complex. As Jacque Fresco points out, “Decisions being made in this innovative society would be based around the needs of the people and the conservation of the planet, not corporate interests.”

Many of the presented ideas are being translated into reality today, creating new-city horizons. The first phase of The Venus Project has been completed in a research center, little over twenty one acres, in still pristine south-central Florida, where the future is currently taking shape. The actual buildings and conference center are supplemented by models, illustrations, blueprints, posters, books and video presentations. These are the first steps that have been completed to help one see, feel, and touch the future.

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Of course a society that would be inextricably based on technology could raise questions similar to Blade Runner, or other Science Fiction movies. However, since the massive technological evolution has already become an integral part of our lives, finding a way to use it efficiently should be one of our main goals.

Besides, a society without a vision of what the future can be, or how is going to implement its new technologies is bound to repeat past errors. •

1. Public Space Tools interface © publicspace.tools 2. PST Workshop working groups © Todor Kesarovski 4

References https://www.thevenusproject.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/thevenusprojectmedia https://www.tvpmagazine.com/

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Colophon ATLANTIS Magazine by Polis | Platform for Urbanism and Landscape Architecture Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft Volume 26, Number 4, June 2016 Editor in Chief Kate Unsworth, Shruti Maliwar, Kritika Sha Head of layout Alkmini Papaioannou, Gaila Costantini Editorial Team Maryam Behpour, Ting-Wei Chu, Laura Garcia, IJsbrand Heeringa, Nagia Tzika Kostopoulou, Angela Moncaleano, Iulia Sirbu, Marcello Felice Vietti, Giulia Spagnolo, Jere Kuzmanic

Sylvie Chen, Marina Dondras, Gijs de Haan, Ioana Ionescu, Francesca Mavaracchio, Emmanouil Prinianakis, Gintare Norkunaite, Jelske Streefkerk, Louise Kragh Hjerrild,

Editorial Address Polis, Platform for Urbanism Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft office: 01 West 350 tel. +31 (0)15-2784093 www.polistudelft.nl atlantis@polistudelft.nl

Printer Drukkerij Teeuwen Cover image Iulia Sirbu Atlantis appears four times a year.

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Disclaimer This issue has been made with great care; authors and redaction hold no liability for incorrect/ incomplete information. All images are the property of their respective owners. We have tried as hard as we can to honour their copyrights.

ISSN 1387-3679

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