Atlantis #23.4 Considering Legacy

ATLANTIS ATLANTIS

#23.4 #23.1 June 2013 2012 Warsaw Skyline 4 Spatial Repercussions 8 The Return of Polish Cities 12

MAGAZINE BY POLIS | PLATFORM FOR URBANISM

Top 5: Urban Mistakes 16 Bata Shoe Company 18 The Bijlmer and Beyond 24 The Anti-urbanity 28 Cities Without Ground 32 The Non Legacy of Hong-Kong 34 Urban legacy of Shenzhen 36 Lost Juan Cun in Taiwanese Cities 40 Redesigning Juan Cun 44 A History of Civil Uprising 46 Tahrir Square Revisited 48 Los Angeles 50 A|rch|natomizing Somalia 54 Integration and Empowerment of the Excluded 60

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CONSIDERING LEGACY

SHIFTING TERRITORIES

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Editorial The Atlantis committee is very proud to present the final edition of this volume: 23.4 Considering Legacy. In this edition of Atlantis we take a closer look at some of the urban legacies of the past, and consider possible future legacies. In the field of urbanism a considerable legacy has been handed down to the contemporary urban designers and planners with the knowledge, structures and design methods stemming from a broad spectrum of creative practices and disciplines. The work of designers is further based on the legacy of their culture and social stratification, historical views, their value assessment. However, with globalization, the walls separating the legacies of many societies are rapidly coming down, creating new conditions of blended legacies. Some urban legacies are stronger than others for example the ideas of the modernists, or spatial changes brought about by rapid political and economic shifts. However, new models and solutions which are often promoted disregard the historical legacy of urban problems, and fail to adequately consider their future urban legacy.

As this edition is the final magazine of the 23th volume, it will also be my last edition as editor-in-chief. The last one-and-a-half years I have worked with a lot of pleasure on the Atlantis magazine. After the fire that hit our faculty 5 years ago, the Atlantis magazine had to start all over again. The editors of volume 21 took the task of the initial start-up upon them. The editors of volume 22 realised that the Atlantis magazine needed an intensive boost in the quality of articles and layout to be a worthy platform of communication. The result was a 64-page magazine with the signature single-color cover that featured a very diverse content by students, the Urbanism Department staff and professionals. In volume 23 we tried to build upon the solid base of the 22th volume: we kept the distinct cover, created a format of broad themes and expanded our editorial team. Like me, Andrew Reynolds is also graduating, so we will both leave Atlantis.

Surely, new editors will join the team in September to continue working on the next volume. The best of luck to them!

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In this edition we not only have a theme that ties the articles together, but also a number of clusters of articles that deal with the same geographical area. The first three articles came about at the Polis excursion to Poland end of last year. Wojciech Olenski opens this issue with addressing the issue of identity versus economic pressure in the skyscraper landscape of Warsaw. The next interview deals with Poland as a society in transition. The final article about Poland talks about the River Polska project by Kuiper Compagnons. From Poland we go to neighbouring Czech Republic to tell the story of the Bata shoe company and the legacy of this global company from the 1930’s. We discuss the most infamous social housing project in the Netherlands, the Bijlmer complex in Amsterdam, in an interview with Frank Wassenberg. The next article, a graduation project on integration and empowerment of the excluded in the Netherlands, talks about similar issues as were addressed in the Bijlmer.

The artpage in this edition comes from the Hong Kong Guidebook Cities without ground and is an actual representation of urban space in Hong Kong. As a complementary article, we can read what it is like to have a dentist practice in Hong Kong. Just across the border from Hong Kong lies Shenzhen. In an interview with two Urbanus employees, we explore the legacy of fast urbanisation in Shenzhen that led to the so-called urban villages. We stay in Asia, as we explore the legacy of Juan Cun or military dependents’ villages in Taiwan. In two articles, we speak to three experts on the history, condition and future of these villages that act like enclaves for mainland Chinese in Taiwan. No only historic legacies have a place in the magazine, as we investigate the current legacy of the events on the Tahrir square. What has been the role of this public space in the uprisings? We conclude this Atlantis with two of the best graduation projects of this academic year.

Please enjoy this edition and be critical,

ATLANTIS

#22.1 April 2011

MAGAZINE BY POLIS | PLATFORM FOR UBANISM

URBAN SOCIETY

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#22.4 Urban Landscape Keywords: landscape, metropolitan, urban-rural, biodiversity, border conditions.

#23.1 Shifting territories Keywords: territory, balance of power, borders, globalization, new towns, third world, mapping, slums.

#23.2 Re-Thinking practice Keywords: innovative practice, financial crisis, citizens participation, social media, small scale interventions

#23.3 Designing Research Keywords: research and design, Msc urbanism program, reflection practice, academic discipline, body of knowledge, methodology

#23.4 Considering Legacy Keywords: history, legacy, post-socialism, policy,

Matthijs van Oostrum

regeneration, participation, tradition, transition

From the board Dear Polis members,

Committees 2013

In front of you lies the second edition of Atlantis, a great achievement of our Atlantis Committee. At the end of this academic year a few editors are unfortunately going to leave the committee. So if you are keen on writing and would like join the enthusiastic team, do not hesitate to contact us.

We could not be as visible as we are without the great effort of a lot of active students.

With the help of them 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!

Our board has been working for five months. This means that we can already look back at few interesting and successful events organized by our committees. In cooperation with the study association BOSS, a debate was organized with Rudy Stroink regarding the call for a new ‘avant-grade’; an excursion to Amsterdam guided by Jos Gadet (Social Geographer) and Joren van Dijk (Environmental Psychologist) took place in April, and recently a brainstorm session, concerning the quality of education, was held in order to gauge the opinion of the students in the Master track of Urbanism. Besides those events, several drinks and exhibitions for students and staff have also been taken place.

We will continue to work with the same enthusiasm and have already planned a few future events, including a workshop together with the PalmBout Urban Landscapes on the Spoorzone in Delft and a couple of lunch lectures.

In addition, we are excited to inform you of this year’s Urbanism week, which will take place in the second week of October. The title of Urbanism Week 2013 will be: ‘Designing Lifestyles’ – changing roles and perspectives within the urbanism field. During the event four days of activities, including lectures and workshops, will consider future perspectives concerning the new shaping role of Urbanists. In addition, a trip abroad is planned for the beginning of November.

If you would like to join us organizing any of these events, or you have ideas for new events, feel free to contact us. We wish you very pleasant reading!

We are always looking for enthusiastic people to join. Interested in one of the Polis committees or becoming the new board of 2014? Do not hesitate to contact us at our Polis office (01west350) or by mail: contact@ polistudelft.nl Polis board.

Kevin van der Linden - President Tjerk Wobbes - Company Relations Sarah Rach - Secretary Arjan Smits - Treasurer Lizet Krabbenborg - Events Jet van der Hee - Atlantis Urbanism Week.

Erifyli Vlachvei, Eva Nicolai, Rogier Hendriks, Joppe Kant, Divya Jindal, Lizet Krabbenborg Big Trip.

Egle Varapeckyte, Klaas Akkerman, Kevin van der Linden Excursions.

Dries Zimmerman, Arjan Smits, Tjerk Wobbes

On behalf of the Polis board 2013, Jet van der Hee, Lizet Krabbenborg, Kevin van der Linden, Sarah Rach, Arjan Smits & Tjerk Wobbes

Symposium.

Daniel Radai, Luuk van der Burgt, Sarah Rach Atlantis.

Matthijs van Oostrum, Andrew Reynolds, Tess Stribos, Todor Kesarovski, Emilia Bruck, Jet van der Hee, Yos Purwanto, Jiayao Liu, Jessica Vahrenkamp

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Warsaw skyline: Guidelines for Skycrapers Identity versus economic pressure?

wojciech olenski urban planner city of warsaw

The characteristic composition of Warsaw's current skyline reflects a specific urban structure and changing fortune throughout the capital’s history. The skyscrapers are playing a significant part, as they coexist with historical buildings. As seen from the right bank of the Vistula River, which divides the city into two parts, the panorama of Warsaw is composed of two independent landmark clusters (fig. 2): on the natural slope one can see the reconstructed silhouette of the Old Town (UNESCO World Heritage site since 1980), while located in distant background, the new City with skyscrapers. During the last 40 years these were to reduce the supremacy of the Palace of Culture and Science – the most prominent symbol of communist rule in Poland, strongly overshadowing the present cityscape (237m height, constructed in 1953). Curiously, the historical UNESCO complex and the communist Palace of Culture and Science are both protected by conservatory law.

The construction boom in the first decade of the 21st century and the concentration of economic and administrative functions in Warsaw has caused an unprecedented expansion of tall buildings in the Polish capital. At the present time, according to the statistics and real estate reports, Warsaw is the European city with the 4th highest number of existing and planned skyscrapers and the 2nd most preferred location for high-rise investments (after London). The transformation of the city skyline’s scale and shape is particularly visible in the Western City Centre (called “Warsaw Manhattan”), a special area designed over 40 years ago as an “antidote” to the rule of the controversial Palace of Culture and Science, originally planned with five elegant skyscrapers (about 160m height). During the last ten years, the number of highrises standing in this area has doubled and the maximum height of towers has increased by half, up to 192 meters (construction of the first apartment tower, “Zlota 44” designed by D. Libeskind). In the near future the area of the Western City Centre will be enlarged in north-south direction because of 12-14 newly planned high-rises, of which five will exceed 200m of height. The “high-rise boom” in Warsaw is related not only to economic growth of the city but also to the fundamental changes in urban structure and composition of the cityscape. Accidental location and planning of tall buildings (e.g. observed in some controversial buildings from the 90s) can cause the deformation of the city’s panorama and the loss of a clear silhouette of the historical city. For the cultural identity of Warsaw the most important issue is the preservation of the visual and spatial integrity of the Old City, UNESCO world heritage complex, and legible composition of the high-rise zone that is growing up.

suitable methodology the analysis of classic cityscape studies was used as references, e.g. “The Image of the City” by Kevin Lynch who has described five spatial elements of cityscape perception (the node, path, district, edge and landmark – fig. 1a) and the research of Polish architect and urban planner Kazimierz Wejchert, who investigated many spatial relationships and anomalies (fig. 1b). As for practical research references the most significant was one of the first digital analysis of cityscape made in Ottawa in 1992 (fig. 1c).

For the valuation of Warsaw’s skyline a complex 3-dimensional model of the city was developed, which is compatible with GIS and CAD programs used by urban planners. It allows for a dynamic visualization of a transforming city panorama (fig.3), selected views of streetscapes, geometrical shapes of proposed high-rises and the observation of silhouettes of historical buildings.

The analytical principles assumed to reconcile two processes in the development of the city landscape: the protection of the historical cityscape and creation of a modern city centre. On this basis, specific objectives for tall buildings in Warsaw could be identified. The visual modernization of the cityscape with preservation of the historical values, higher quality of public spaces and better architectural landmarks and symbolic reduction of the Palace of Culture.

• Cityscape transformation – 3D model and methodology

In 2007 the Municipal Office of Urban Planning and Development Strategy started a complex urban analysis of high-rise locations.

A comprehensive and permanent system of landscape valuation, based on an original methodology, was developed. By means of new computer techniques the full quantity of proposed high-rises in Warsaw's downtown could be revised. For establishment of a Figure 1. Cityscape schemes by K. Lynch, K. Wejchert and the National Capital Commission, Ottawa

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Figure 2. Warsaw panorama seen from the Gdanski bridge, beginning of the highrise boom 2007 ©W.Olenski

The mentioned functions of tall buildings indicate the role of high-rise in the cultural landscape of Warsaw. Hence, urban regeneration should unify three separated pieces of Warsaw’s cultural landscape: an ancient historical capital, a city reconstructed from ruins and a modern metropolis. The method applied to the analytical procedures was based on the study of several related features of landmarks in the landscape.

Three scales of perception were defined: skyline, streetscape, individual building, three parts of high-rise’s shape: base, shaft and attic of the tower (the column analogy), three utility functions: architectural design, quality of public spaces and “memory” function.

When the basic part of the study was to be completed almost sixty skyscrapers were proposed by developers. Most were “waiting” for administrative decisions regarding the urban conditions of the site, the downtown area, such as valid local plans or height limits. Many of the architectural concepts were hence disregarding the context of the surrounding buildings and proposed skyscrapers detached from the city centre as individually exposed towers. One of the first

practical conclusions of the Warsaw highrise analysis was the definition of the view protection system for the UNESCO complex and delimitation of high-rise zones (fig. 4), which facilitated the studies on the future silhouette of the city centre. However, the analysis has not been officially adopted by the City Council, remaining as a methodological basis for the new spatial development plans and for administrative decisions. Until now it is also the only complete and reliable 3D database of all the planned high-rise buildings in Warsaw.

• Methodological and visual problems of “verticalisation”

The contemporary cityscape of Warsaw with its preserved ancient panorama and the growth of a new city with high-rises, is an interesting case study for many historic towns that are trying to resolve the spatial and cultural dilemmas of unexpected landscape transformation. This problem concerns not only old European cities but also modern metropolis – the best example is the constantly contested and discussed reconstruction of the WTC Area in New York. The experience of the Warsaw highrise studies and practical realizations of high-rises, those from 40 years ago as well as at present, are indicating two important aspects of the phenomenon of cityscape “verticalisation” process: conceptual and perceptual. The first aspect relates to the processes of understanding the urban context and designing tall buildings, and also who and how is taking part in it. The second aspect relates to the perception of the growing scale of buildings and their visual impact on the surrounding area. The following problems are associated with these issues.

• Undefined vertical scale of buildings

Different building height classifications are included in planning standards, technical regulations and zoning documents, resulting in discrepancies in the correct identification of tall buildings’ scale and urban context.

According to the Polish technical index a high-rise building is a construction exceeding 55 meters, in the planning system, however, the high-rise dominant is not clearly defined by the number of meters. Meanwhile, zoning areas in general planning regulations for Warsaw are lowered to the minimum height of 30 meters. Another system of height limits is adopted in the Warsaw Chopin Airport certification documentation which does not allow more than 130 m of height for buildings in the south-west of downtown Warsaw. In land-use plans the most important factor determining building dimensions is the development intensity (ratio between total floor area of buildings and site area), but in case of very large objects it is not an objective tool.

• Non-compatible planning drawings

The growing vertical scale of buildings causes a disproportionately large impact on the long, horizontal cityscape. The use of traditional urban techniques based on 2D maps and section drawings is not sufficient to measure the spatial impact of tall buildings and to design a cityscape with high-rises. For an effective research advanced 3D & 4D analysis as well as testing of many variants of building compositions are necessary.

Another problem to be resolved is the incomplete conversion between 2D and 3D projections, which makes it difficult to define an adequate range of the protected landscape, e.g. in Warsaw there are at least five regulations, based on different 5

methodologies, referring to the protection of the UNESCO complex: (1) direct boundaries of the UNESCO Complex according to the World Heritage List, (2) UNESCO buffer zone, (3) the Monument of History Area (the Old Town, the Citadel and the Royal Duct, (4) the area of Warsaw Escarpment, (5) viewpoints along the right bank of Vistula River selected in the Study on the Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development of Warsaw.

• External and internal cityscape relations

The visual impact of high-rise buildings mentioned above goes far beyond the scope of many local plans and fragmented urban analysis. The protection or transformation of the cityscape, threfore needs more complex and comprehensive studies. Special planning regulations should not only concern the external influence of skyscrapers on the city’s panorama, but also the internal composition of tall buildings that create a new independent component of the city skyline, which has its own identity and spatial structure. In Warsaw, the protection

of the urban landscape is not reduced to the historical panorama and UNESCO silhouette, but it includes the coherent development of the Western High-rise District with a simultaneous reduction of a high-rise sprawl outside the city centre.

• Architectural and urban tools confused

The analysis of new high-rise projects, both architectural and urban has led to the observation that in many projects skyscrapers are reduced to spatial and visual features.

The evaluation of scale and form in a specific context is omited. Consqeuently, this often leads to the placement of new skyscrapers in the UNESCO protected background or context disregarding formal architecture.

Instead of cooperating, architects (designing for investors) and urban planners (responsible for spatial order) are trying to replace each other.

• The fomality of skyscrapers

Changing architectural shapes of skyscrapers has a long history of searching for the appropriate shape of towers. The most

Figure 3. Transformation Study of the Warsaw skyline ©W.Olenski, 2007-2012

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significant aspect in the creation of a classical form of high-rise was the invention of a steel-frame construction and the hanging exterior glass wall, determining the simple geometric forms of skyscrapers and modular glass and steel facades. The rejection of the simple aesthetics after the era of modernism resulted in architectural experiments with the form of tall buildings, having little to do with the art of aesthetic and economic construction. In Warsaw, one of the visible consequences of changes in the criteria of design is the realization of strange form of skyscrapers, determined only by the sunlight and shadow regulations or the airport documentation.

• The computer models’ trap

For the effective and complex analysis of the cityscape computer techniques, especially virtual 3D models and visualizations, are of substantial use. A significant amount of misunderstanding occurs due to the lack of distinction between commercial representations of architectural conceptions and analytical schemes of urban studies.

This often means the misuse of tools for evaluating the spatial context of new investments. Brilliant images of buildings are opposed to simplified schemes and diagrams of landscape research. Another issue are false perspectives or deformed images of architectural forms simulated by computer visualizations or photo-realistic collages. It causes the abnormal perception of spatial form, the so called Snow Queen Mirror effect of the well-known fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Ugly things seem to be pretty, nice things seem to be ugly, complicated, simple, etc. The final shape of a building, after long formal procedures of design, is very different from the idealistic images. However, an “unreal” visual language of urban plans and analysis always requires descriptions (legend, tables, etc.) enabling the interpretation of viewed drawings.

Al.-Kodmeny K., Ali M., The Future of the City. Tall Buildings and Urban Design, WITPress, Boston 2012.

Lynch K., (1960). Image of the City, Massachusetts and London: the MIT Press.

Olenski W., (2008). About Warsaw skyscrapers.

Krajobraz Warszawski 2008 nr 95. m Olenski W., (2012), Digital city panorama (Cyfrowa panorama miasta), ArcanaGIS 2012 nr 3, pp.43-46.

Olenski W., (2011), Preservation of Loss of the City Identity – Methodological Problems of Warsaw Landscape Changes, international conference: The Life Quality in City Centres – Conditions of Residence and Tourism, city of Torun 05’2011.

Ottawa Views, (1992), City of Ottawa: National Capital

• Post scriptum

Commission.

The Municipal Planning Office continues to research on the Warsaw cityscape transformation. Studies concerning the “verticalisation” of cityscapes and issues concerning the perception of high rise structures are subject to the scientific work of the Author at the Technical University of Cracow. All studies match the last UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011), which adopted new instructions for the protection and development of a historic urban landscape defined as the landscape approach. It will help to implement new conservation regulations and planning tools for a sustainable development of contemporary cities with skyscrapers.

Outstanding Universal Value and Monitoring of World Heritage Properties, (2011). Warszawa: Polish National Committee of ICOMOS and National Heritage Board of Poland, pp.116-155.

Warsaw – Past, Present and Future, (1997), City Hall of Warsaw, Warszawa: Akapit-DTP. Wejchert K., (1984), Elements of urban composition (Elementy kompozycji urbanistycznej), Warszawa: Arkady. www.wiezowce.waw.pl – website with descriptions and photos of the highest buildings of Warsaw (available in English), author: Blazejewski. M.

Figure 4. Map of high-rise zones (grey) & viewshed protection corridors from primary viewpoints (1,2,3) © W.Olenski, 2012

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Spatial repercussions of a society in transformation wojciech olenski urban planner, city of warsaw 24 years after the end of the communist rule in Poland, the country, meanwhile part of the European Union, faces a societal regeneration. In the following interview with urban planner Wojciech Olenski we address the spatial implications of the ongoing transition, as recent developments merge with Poland’s seamingly historical or socialist appearance.

To what extent has Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004 impacted the countries current urban development?

In my opinion the accession of Poland to the structures of the European Union has a rather indirect influence on the spatial development of Polish cities. We are able to see some positive spatial changes that are becoming visible in the cityscape with a few years delay, as many investment projects related to infrastructure, culture or education are finished. In several cities the historic parts were modernized including the revitalization of facades and upgrading of the streetscape.

Such activities have constructed a new esthetic of public space for the people and created interesting tourist spaces for visitors.

The need for a complex urban revitalization

in many Polish cities is the consequence of the second World War, when most cities were destroyed by Germans and some by Russians.

The areas of the cities, most valuable from a historical and cultural point of view, were leveled completely to the ground e.g. Warsaw, Wroclaw, Szczecin, Gdansk and many others. During the communist era (19451989) the process of urban development and planning was subordinated to the expansion of heavy industry, changes of functions and structures of urban space in many cities. For political reasons the reconstruction process was only partially persued. Looking at the transformation of Warsaw's cityscape after joining the EU in 2004 we may observe the increase of big investments in the center of the city and the entering of many foreign firms and institutions that opened its

agencies in Warsaw. The most spectacular effect of this process was the emergence of new high-rise buildings in the downtown area. This is a combinations of two factors, the halt of Europe's building boom four years ago on the one hand, and Warsaw's specific position, being disproportionally richer and bigger than other Polish cities, on the other.

The second correlates with Warsaw being Poland's administrative and governmental center as well as headquarter of its largest financial institutions and enterprises. It can be concluded that after joining the EU the most required changes in land-use planning, associated with the modification of urban planning regulations, coverage with spatial plans of the cities’ areas and re-evaluation of approaches to shaping the cityscape, have not taken place in Poland yet.

8 Figure 1. Warsaw Skyline Collage ©W.Olenski, 2012

conceptually “transplanted” from abroad.

The 90s were also a time of extensive and uneconomic development of Warsaw's periphery, the urban sprawl led to the devastation of the suburban landscape.

Currently, the quality of architecture and spatial solutions is significantly improving in Poland. An increasing amount of interesting architecture is being built, which Figure 2. 3. Moskwa Cinema, Warsaw

Can you give an example on how past and current developments collide or merge, and the sort of new urban identity they generate?

Preservation and creation of urban identity is the key issue that we are trying to explore in our office. By the way, it is a issue in most European cities in which contemporary architecture and unprecedented scales is well adapted to the spatial context of the city. Moreover, the people's perception of architectural remnants from previous eras has changed. The best example is the Palace of Culture and Science - once a hated symbol for the Soviet domination, and now a tourist attraction and architectural curiosity.

Figure 4. Supersam Pavilion, Warsaw

appear in historic districts. The post-war reconstruction of Warsaw's urban space preserved the division of its landscape in two parts: the “historical” part with the silhouette of Warsaw's Old Town and the “socialist” part with the enormous shape of the Palace of Culture, surrounded by recent skyscrapers.

It is a distinctive feature of Warsaw's landscape and of important value for further development of the cityscape. Architectural investment which is particularly affecting the integrity of Warsaw's landscape are highrise buildings which are to complement the existing high-rise zone (e.g. The 192m high tower “Zlota 44” designed by D. Libeskind or the 157m high “Cosmopolitan” designed

by H. Jahn). In some locations, however, high rise developments have also destroyed the historical city panorama such as the North Gate Tower or the Daewoo Tower.

Building regulations and local plans are insufficiently addressing formal languages of new developments, as they lack the understanding of the “vertical” phenomenon in city development and it's potentials of adding value for future landscapes. Our

cityscape analysis with the use of digital 3D models is a necessary addition of traditional means of city planning.

What are the challenges Poland faces in the quest of detaching itself from its socialist past?

From the architect’s or urban planner’s point of view a simple answer to this question is impossible, as the landscape of Polish cities inherited from the communist era is not uniform. It contains ugly spaces and “ideological” buildings as much as valuable examples of good architecture and composed urban structures.

Since the end of communism in the early 90s some of the old buildings were too quickly removed from the cityscape and some new ones too quickly accepted and built. In Warsaw for instance several outstanding modernist buildings such as the “Moscow” Cinema, the “Supersam” Market Hall or the “Okecie” Airport, disappeared. At the same time unconsidered commercial buildings such as the Daewoo Tower, the Pulawska Centre or the Millenium Plaza Tower were

In Warsaw, the remaining problem of the preceding era is the poor quality and an insufficient number of traffic routes, an undeveloped or disordered downtown zone and improper renovation of historic buildings. As the development of the city's peripheral areas is too intense and poorly communicated, a process of buildings’ return to the city centre has been observed in the recent years.

As part of a greater urban develement strategy a second metro line, connecting the city center to the districts North of the Vistula river, and a metropilitan ring road are under construction. A comprehensive revitalization of the Vistula waterfront area, initiated several months ago, is to complements the National Stadium standing on the other side of the river. Another interesting element of the Warsaw's development is the emergence of a number of modern museums and university buildings such as the Museum of Warsaw Uprising, the Polish Jewish Museum or the new University Library. Metaphorically, we can say that the landscape of many Polish cities has left it's communist past far behind, but remains in need of “medical” treatment.

Emilia Bruck

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From Soviet Union to European Union

Report emilia bruck

msc3 urbanism student

After forty years of communist rule Poland, as many other countries, has become vital ground for a society in transformation. Following the incentive to trace the urban implications of a dawning new era, the excursion committee of Polis organized a four day trip to Poland last November. The trip was undertaken in collaboration with Kuiper Compagnons and Edyta Wisniewska, who has recently conceptualized the river bank regeneration of Poland's national water network. The tour took us from Amsterdam via night train to Poznan and then through the country's rural heart to Warsaw.

Welcomed by wafts of mist, our group of twenty-six master students and graduates stumbled into its first morning in Poland at Poznan's central train station. Here, we had our first encounter with an eclecticism currently prevailing in Poland, in a building where the post-war reconstruction of original classicist elements blend with Socialist expansions and the most recent glass superstructure.

The station was constructed as part of the greater municipal urban development, fueled by a surge in investment due to the EURO championships in 2012.

Heading towards a day filled with presentations at the municipality, the city center's urban fabric recounts its historic past of extensive urban reconstruction in the wake of the Second World War. The buildings circumscribing the central square had to be holistically rebuilt, partially implying the relocation of facades, famous for their brightly colored Renaissance and Baroque patterns, from the less

damaged side streets. While the old Brewery, "Stary Browar", was converted into a commercial center in a contemporary architectural style, the recent restoration of the Royal Palace, Zamek Królewski, focuses on reestablishing its pre-war appearance. The approaches of architectural reconstruction, hence, strongly contrast, collectively propagating an atmosphere of revitalization. While a commercially buzzing area, just next to the historic center, was established during economically more optimistic times, it has also been subject of pressure from foreign investors eager to develop. As a reminder of what was before, a rusty chicken wagon remains encircled by global chain stores. Much of the city's engagement with architectural and infrastructural redevelopment was triggered by its staging of the soccer championship EURO 2012. Improvement of the main infrastructural routes, highways and expansion of public transport system are some of the lasting benefits for Poznan and its people.

As part of the lecture series organized by Ms. Wisniewska, Municipal Architect Andrzej Nowak gave a talk on the recent urban revitalization of five major modernist housing estates built in the periphery of Poznań between the 1960s and 80s. Facilitating the extensive housing shortage and coupled with a rapidly increasing population in the wake of the second world war, entire residential neighborhoods such as the Winogrady or Rataje were developed across the Vistula River, far off the historic center, due to their demanding spatial scale. Formerly a separate village, the Rataje houses 90,000 inhabitants, or one sixth of Poznan's current population Infrastructural accessibility, connecting the outlying districts with the center, remains the key challenge for Poznan's urban development and constitutes the spatial plan for greater Poznan. Ending our urban explorations of Poznan with these peripheral modernist estates or very recent, awkwardly gated, residential developments, we continue our journey towards Warsaw to warm up from the blistering cold over steaming Żurek and Pierogi.

The following day is filled with another set of presentations at the Pałac Kultury, the most prominent remnant of Socialist architecture in Poland, located in what today is considered Warsaw's city center or CBD district. In Warsaw, as in Poznań, the currently prevailing planning issue is the connectivity of Warsaw's city center

10 Figure 1. Excursion Group, Warsaw ©Djawid Tahery, 2012

to its outer districts through an extensive image. (Further reading page 4 "Warsaw Heading towards Warsaw's Old town, we encounter the fruit of Poland's biggest expansion of mobility infrastructure. As Skyline" by W. Olenski) construction site. The city's most famous part of the development plan a metro line crossing the Vistula River towards Praga According to the elevator attendant, it takes street named Nowy Swiat (engl. New World) and a metropolitan ring road are under us nineteen seconds to reach the famous 114 leads to the Krakowskie Przedmieście, construction. A major focus of the Municipal meter high outlook terrace, introducing us Warsaw's royal avenue along which the Office of Town Planning and Development to a panoramic view over the city which is Presidents Palace, the University of Warsaw and the Kopernikus Strategies is the revision of an memorial are located. Is image for Warsaw signifying its the heart piece of Warsaw's economical and demographic renovation work.

The growth through flourishing adjacent building blocks, as contemporary architectural well as the Northern situated development. The attention of Old Town, had to be entirely international investors for the reconstructed after the vast country, but Warsaw as a city demolition of more than 85 in particular, has increased in Polish joke on the Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw's most % of the city's historic center recent years. This manifests prominnant socialist remnant. during the second world itself spatially in the area around Pałac Kultury and the central train somewhat compromised by November's war. It is here in the Old Town, a UNESCO station. The landmark tower by Daniel heavy fog. Looking down we see a sleepy world heritage site since 1980, that our Liebeskind, "Złota 44", and the "Złote modern day Warsaw characterized by group starts it last night in Poland enjoying Tarasy", a commercial hub designed by The extensive reconstructions of its historic parts, traditional cuisine. We end our night and Jerde Partnership in 2007, are a few of such soviet concrete slabs and the most recent urban explorations in the buzzing nightlife flagship developments. Wojciech Olenski, showcasing of contemporary architecture of Warsaw's current city center, some of us Urban Planner and cityscape designer, resembling the city's unprecedented period in the midst of a vibrant music and youth elaborates on how economic development, of economic growth. It is a mix of styles and scene, set in a depraved Hospital building. embodied in high rise, can and needs to be legacies merged into an assemblage enriched Both building and youth culture signify the complementary societal transformation, regulated, specifically in relation to a new by its frictions. which perpetually follows the urban lead. urban panorama and symbolically enriched

"Which is the most beautiful place in Warsaw? The 30th floor of the PKiN, from which you cannot see it."

Figure 2. Poznan Music Academy ©Emilia Bruck, 2012 11

The Return of Polish Cities The River Polska project

edyta wisniewska urban designer at kuipercompagnons

The RiverPolska project explores the phenomenon of post-socialistic cities of Central Europe from the perspective of urban riverside regeneration. The recent

The RiverPolska is a join initiative

urban development of Poznan, the provincial capital of Great Poland, exemplifies the

of Honorata Grzesikowska and

transformation of a former industrial city into a contemporary knowledge, leisure

Edyta Wisniewska. RiverPolska

and innovation hub/centre. New developments such as the A2 highway connecting

was presented by Edyta

Berlin to Warsaw (and further to Moscow)via Poznan, university expansions, the

Wisniewska during the conference

international fairgrounds extension (the biggest fair venue in the Central Europe), and

TEDXRiverRawa in Katowice,

the renewal of the ld brewery, Stary Browar, are but a few examples of the perpetual

Poland on October 13th. For

change. There is yet another large change taking place: the regeneration of the

more information of this project

central river zone, the city center itself and surrounding residential neighborhoods

please visit the project site www. riverpolska.com

The regeneration of river areas has been a source of heated discussion in many European cities for decades. Cities with no communist past are enjoying the results of their urban river renaissance: developments of urban transitions. The methods implemented in rehabilitating those areas are often considered examples of best practices amongst formerly socialist Europe.

But how can such river regeneration strategies be successfully applied in post- socialist cities, especially after the 2004 migration boom in Poland when and the 2008 world economic shift?

The 21st century is characterised by record global population growth, and particularly concentrated in urban areas. This rapid demographic shift, however, is happening predominantly in Asia, while the reverse is true of Europe where population is, in fact declining Demographic changes are accompanied by the economic changes. Europe’s economy, at the moment one of the world’s major players, faces the challenge of maintaining its strong position. Europe has the advantage of having already undergone dramatic process of urbanization, and today, the quality and standard of life in European cities is unique and attracts people from all over the world. Processes of globalization have introduced highly developed infrastructural networks enabling connectivity, namely through integrated transport networks and communication thanks to the internet revolution. Therefore, it is

Figure 1. European river system and Polish river network

12

Figure 2. Development of river system

+

+

+

+

=

POLAND is…

…into country of

RiverPolska

…with unique

RiverPolska is an

…transformed from the

Cities united and

represents a strong

characters, powers

excellent city of

country of the cities

joined by the rivers!

system of urban and

and meanings!

the future!

divided by their rivers...

intercity network ...

the significance of people’s choices to live and/or work in a specific environment which increasingly affects the competitiveness of cities. The most dynamic and attractive cities draw a large number of inhabitants from the region, country and abroad. National borders and continental divisions are no longer obstacles to human migration. The location of a city, availability and quality of infrastructure, services and labor possibilities, quality of the education and/or public space, individual character and identity, historical values, natural and environmental resources, diversity of housing options, perceived social tolerance, among many other variables collectively determine a city’s attractiveness. The most attractive cities offer social, ecological and economical balance. These are but a few of the elements that affect the choice modern human beings are faced with when considering where to

live. In times of global migration of people, goods, knowledge and talents, as well as demographic and economic changes, cities all around the world need to invest in themselves in order to invest in their future.

Polish cities are likewise facing the challenge that accompany intense change. One of the characteristic features of Poland is its unique landscape and beautiful rivers. The Vistula, Oder and Warta are the main ‘blue veins’ of Poland. Almost every major city in Poland is located on a River. Warszawa, Szczecin, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk and Krakow are just a few examples. The identities and importance of those cities are strongly tied to the presence of the rivers. Fascinating and amazing rivers have always been an integral part of the special layout and urban fabric of cities and their life. The potential of rivers was already recognized centuries ago. They were cleverly integrated as part of a city’s

RIVERPOLSKA

protection, transportation ways, as well as a valued location for human beings providing high end locations for residential, service, work and recreational functions.

In recent decades, however, due in part to flooding, politics and divergent development agendas, many Polish cities turned away from their roots the rivers. The rivers, left underdeveloped, are the inherent ‘blue hearts’, hence, one of the most valuable parts of the cities. Nevertheless, they seem forgotten. Recognizing global migration trends, and thus, the increasing importance of cities to invest in vitality and a strong urban structure, Polish cities face a major challenge in the coming years; Polish rivers often pass through the central zones of the city that are attractive and full of potential for the (re -)development of the Polish cities. In this period of global 13

economic crisis, Poland is one of the few countries within the European Union with a growing economy. Poland and its cities have the opportunity to effectively (re-)develop their urban fabric through an integrated transformation of riverside areas. The vision should include an integral approach that creates eeconomicconomic opportunity and promotes social cohesion while ensuring proper utilization of the rivers in the city.

This could allow for a unique empowerment of Polish cities in Europe and the world.

Poland with its strong cities and towns on beautiful riverbanks are reborn in the network of RiverPolska. The RiverPolska vision promotes reintegrating Polish cities with their rivers and proclaims a country offering the best place to live, socially, economically and ecologically . Poland as it is loved and chosen by the people.

During the 45 year reign of the communist regime in Poland, Polish cities and those of Central and Eastern Europe, were under mutual economic and political pressure.

The everyday reality was characterized by a centrally- orientated system influencing all human activities. Political censure had a strong influence on the development of architecture and urbanism. The legal and administrative rules were conducted by the downbeat of economic plans, congresses and meetings of the communistic party. During this period the spatial development agenda was very different from the one transforming cities in the western part of Europe.

The spatial development of river areas in many Polish cities bears the consequences of the rather one dimensional ‘engineering approach’ towards rivers that dominated 20th century communistic, Poland. Within this approach, river management was considered from a technical, rather than natural perspective. During this period, many Polish rivers were canalized in order to discharge the river water as fast as possible. The result for the spatial development of the riverbanks within cities was that the historical relationship between the city and its river was often lost. Riverside areas were neglected and, as a result, became unattractive zones with poor spatial, socioeconomic and natural qualities.

Take for example, Poznan: located by the 14

Figure 3. The Warta river in Poznan 2012 and 2030

Figure 4. Regional plan (below)

River Warta, it is one of the oldest and historically most important cities of Poland.

The development of its urban structure was orientated toward the river until the beginning of the 20th century. After World War II, Poznan became the capital of the Great Poland region. At that time, the city faced huge challenges: on the one hand, reconstruction after the war devastation and on the other hand, establishing its significance. The existence and meaning of the river began to change then.

Due to modernistic redevelopment concepts of the historic center of Poznan and compounded by flood experiences in the early 20th century, the river structure was completely changed, canalized, damped and isolated from the rest of the city. It’s reconfigured structure took on a pattern of islands. In the second part of 20th century, the waterways of the Warta lost their importance, contributing to the deterioration of the city’s historical island called Chwaliszewo, once known as the Venice of Poznan, as well as the loss of urban vitality along the river banks.

Since the beginning of 21st century, the Warta river has been increasingly missed by local citizens and recently become a central issue in public and media discussions. In 2010 the water level of the River Warta rose in Poznan to a dangerous level, while

Figure 3. The Warta river in Poznan 2012 and 2030

at the same time, the city was developing The Poznan Strategy 2030, which sets out a strategic vision, intermediate goals, and crucial programs for the city’s development looking forward toward 2030. In that period, KuiperCompagnons approached the municipal council with its intrinsically Dutch approach and expertise on water management to help tackle the challenge posed by the Warta River. This resulted in a pilot project proposal outlining the strategic program, “River in the City”. Thereby, KuiperCompagnons laid the foundation for further cooperation in Poland.

Being an outsider with extensive water management experience helped to establish the acknowledgement of river regeneration projects. The city of Poznan recognized the necessity for a river development strategy by taking up the task in the Poznan Strategy 2030. This project is a joint initiative of the City of Poznan, the Dutch Governmental Subsidy Programme under ‘Wereldwijd werken met water’, KuiperCompagnons , DHV (engineering), and SwedeCenter (an Ikea Group investor).

The strategy is underpinned by six guiding themes: river safety, landscape and nature, historical heritage, connectivity, living and working, and tourism and recreation. Within these guiding themes, some 70 short-, midand long-term projects are identified such as developing river islands, new river channels, marinas, ecological corridors and the revitalization of riverfronts. A well balanced realization of these projects, tackling the issue from different perspectives and scales, will result in an integrated long-term vision for the river zone with benefits for Poznan’s people and nature. The development strategy is the product of an intense and interactive process involving local experts, business leaders, the public and politicians.

Public outreach through presentations and a project website (www.dorzeczni.pl) create a transparent process for all who are interested. In a relatively short time, many people and groups have participated and become enthusiastic about the methodology and the immediate results of the strategy.

The main goal of the strategy is to provide a long-term vision incorporating a framework and toolbox for the regeneration of the riverbanks in Poznan. The River Warta area in Poznan offers development opportunities alongside the city with possibilities for many bottom-up projects which are strongly present in the Polish tradition and history of development. The public should be encouraged to realize their dreams and cultivate an environment where all inhabitants of the city can happily live and successfully realize their dreams. Some such projects have already begun, including a public beach collaboratively organized by Poznanian citizens, the city public port by the Warta River and the Mississippi Blues Warta Festival. Poznan - the livable and lovable city!

Cities of Tomorrow - Challenges, visions, ways forward, 2011, European Union, ISBN: 978-9279-21307-6

The development strategy presents a long-term vision that incorporates water safety measures in Poznan’s diverse social development, while at the same time enabling spatial developments to be adapted to essential water management measures.

Piotr Marciniak, 2010, Modernism experience.

Architecture and urban planning of Poznan during the socialistic Poland (PR)L,) ISBN: 97883-7503-113-3 The Poznan Strategy 2030, 2010, City of Poznan

15

Urban Mistakes Not-to-do Guideline

TOP 5 todor kesarovski atlantis editor tu delft

This article is inspired by Sir Peter Hall’s Great Planning Disasters book (1980) which analyses and evaluates different planning projects in the mid-20th century. It seems reasonable to admit that the characterization of a certain planning practice as bad is a highly subjective matter. However, our team tries to draw a modest objective criticism on urban planning decisions in terms of contemporary perspective that seems to indicate negative financial investments and provoke heated debates rather than add quality to existing urban structures.

Nova Cidade de Kilamba, Luanda, Angola Just outside Angola’s capital city of Luanda is Nova Cidade de Kilamba, a suburban, residential development of 750 identical 5-, 8- and 11-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units. This mega project was executed in 2012 by one of the biggest Chinese construction corporations – CITIC for a $3.5 billion. The development stretches across 12,355 acres with lots of parking and green lawns. The problem is that the town is almost completely devoid of actual residences. Ten percent of the apartments are reportedly sold but at a starting price of $100,000, few people even in the relatively wealthy capital can afford them. GDP per capita in Angola is $5,873 per year, according to the World Bank (2013). It is uncertain what benefits Angola will derive from this project. In any case, it is hard to foresee how the city will ever prosper due to the centrally planned environment, car-dependent mobility without any mass public transport, connecting the town to the capital. Furthermore, the lack of basic amenities such as local shopping and gathering places seem to doom the developFigure 1. Nova Cidade De Kilamba © www.architizer.com

ment to the scrap heap.

Michigan Central Station, Detroit, United States While discussing urban planning mistakes we cannot skip Detroit, Michigan in USA. An emblematic landmark that represents the past grandeur and the current bad condition of Detroit is the city’s Michigan Central Station.

It was originally built as a majestic monument in 1913 e.g. the tallest rail station in the world at the time of its construction. It was planned as part of a large infrastructural project that included the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel below the Detroit River for freight and passengers. At the peak of rail transport in USA before the Second World War more than two hundred trains and four thousand passengers utilized the station each day. However, the success of the station had gradually declined and in 1988 Michigan Central including the railway tracks were closed down. Since then lots of initiatives have been taken in order to revive the use of this monumental area but already 25 years the station has remained a derelict urban site, with a controversial future. The City of Detroit considered the building a “Priority Cultural Site” in 2006, but after three years the same City Council passed a resolution aimed at the demolition of the Depot. Seven days later, Detroit resident Stanley Christmas sued the city of Detroit to stop the demolition Figure 2. Michigan Central Station today © www.personal.

16

effort, citing the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The future of the building remains undetermined.

Kasteel Almere, Netherlands The Kasteel Almere is a castle under construction near Almere in Flevoland, the Netherlands. The design of the castle is based on the 13th-century Belgian castle in Jemeppe Hargimont. The construction started in September 15, 2000. The cost of the castle was initially estimated at 27 million euros, but later it almost doubled to more than 50 million euros. Due to financial difficulties, the construction project ultimately failed and halted in 2002.

Abandoned for a decade, the building has now become a contemporary ruin and failure to find a new investor means it will probably remain so. In its Figure 3. Kaastel Almere © http://straatkaart.nl

unfinished state, the gloomy structure has the look of an abandoned industrial complex rather than its intended glamorous appearance.

Stuttgart 21, Germany

Stuttgart 21 is a large railway and urban development project in Stuttgart (Germany) including the construction of 57 km new railways, 30 km tunnels and 25 km of high-speed railway lines. The project has been a highly controversial issue among politicians and locals since the idea of a throughstation for long-distance trains - running under the existing station - was first noted in the mid-1980s. The major issue was provoked by the fact that the construction of the new transport infrastructure requires demolition of the existing central railway station and parts of the widely cherished green space Schlossgarten (Palace Park) that connects the inner city with the banks of the Neckar river. Since 2009 numerous protests against the disputed project have taken place. On 30 September 2010, hundreds of demonstrators were injured when the police used water cannons, pepper spray and batons against protestors. On the next day, the biggest protest so far took place with an estimated 100,000 people taking part in the demonstration against the project. Today the construction works are in progress but various concerns including the relative financial costs and benefits, geological and environmental values, as well as performance issues remain.

Only the time will show if this project will be characterized as a planning Figure 4. Protest agains Stuttgart 21 Project © http://commons.wikimedia.

mistake or success in the future but so far considering the provoked public seditions and political tension it can be seen as a civil failure.

“Manhattan” in Tianjin, China

In the recent years numerous Chinese metropolises have developed massive business districts to create jobs and earn money from land sales.

The city of Tianjin, located approximately 160 km. southeast of Beijing, tried this as well. It is a deeply indebted city, which relied heavily on land sales to developers to shore up GDP and is currently building 47 new skyscrapers on its coastal salt flats, barely above sea level. This vast new Yujiapu financial district is nicknamed “China’s Manhattan”. According to early reports of the project it was set to be a facsimile of New York, with a Rockefeller Center and even some Twin Towers. However, the area where this massive project is taking place is extremely vulnerable to the threat of global warming infused sea level rise and typhoon flooding. Whereas the real Manhattan is an established home for investment banks and law firms, Tianjin is unlikely to become one. Its first dozen skyscrapers will flood the city with new office space equal to the size of four Empire State Buildings, Figure 5. Yujiapu Central Business District © http://www.skyscrapercity.

a capacity that probably will never be fully utilized. Tianjin is offering private equity firms tax breaks to lease office space in the city, which has shown

17

The Parallel Lives of a Modernist Imagination The Urban Legacy of the Bata Shoe Company Satellite Towns

victor munoz sanz architect and urban designer victor@sanz-serif.com

In the 1930s, the Bata Shoe Company grew to form a huge complex with comprehensive worldwide operations. The company followed a strategy of decentralization that went beyond footwear export. Capital, technology, welfare and expertise were exported to other industrialized countries, and to others in an early stage of development. In an expansion of unprecedented scope, the system experimented in Zlín was intensively replicated in satellite cities all over the world, building a network of production that used the agency of modern planning and design as means of both production and communication of a image of modernity. Company towns designed in Zlín by the Bata planning office were deployed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, England, France, India, Pakistan, the United States, Canada, and Brazil. The undertaking of Tomas Bata gave a new scale to modernity, replicating a model of Fordist urbanism at a global scale. Today, the 83 years that have passed since the establishment of the first of those towns and their wide geographical dispersion are the perfect conditions to observe, evaluate, and extract lessons from the legacy of the Bata project.

• The Bata Shoe Company

• The Bata Satellite Cities: une réseau industrielle

The case of the Bata Shoe Company is a paradigmatic and extreme example of the role of the industrial sponsor as the link between engineering and scientific management that, as Mauro Guillén argues in his book The Taylorized Beauty of the Mechanica, helps explaining the emergence of modernist architecture. After some periods of time living and working in the shoe industry in Lynn, Massachusetts in the early 20th century, Tomas Bata, a Czech shoemaker, embraced scientific management and fostered the experimentation with new spatial and organizational ideas in his hometown, Zlín, and beyond.

This trip of Tomas Bata to America is the key to understanding the uniqueness of the Bata model. The hybridization of the American thought with an utopian-socialist sensibility to the problems of industrialization (lack of hygiene and health, inadequate housing, all rooted in the ‘old city’) lead to the creation of an original system of management based on the idea that the most productive, efficient and profitable company was the one rewarding individual drive for the common good.

To this end, Bata put in place a system of competing self-managed workshops in which corporate divisions and individuals were accountable for all aspects of their production and profit (Bata, 1934; Cohen, 1997). To compensate for the low wages, the company provided its workers with subsidized housing and commodities. The spectacular growth of the company gradually transformed Zlín into a total environment where new spatial and organizational ideas were experimented. Bata not only promoted in the construction of factories and residences, but also the development of the cultural, educational and social aspects of the city. Most importantly, it embraced the zeitgeist of radical modernism flying over Europe in those days, objectifying a vision in which social conflict was eliminated in favour of technological and scientific imperatives.

Followed to the success of the company in the 20s, Bata opportunistically took advantage of the geopolitical situation after the depression of the 1930s. In a relatively uniform urbanization effort of unprecedented scope in modernity, the system experimented in Zlín was intensively replicated in satellite cities all over Europe. By doing so, the enterprise would also find the road to investing its surplus of capital and expanding operations globally; at the same time, its structure would continue decentralizing and becoming more resilient to the economic instability and increasing custom barriers that came out after the crash of 1929.

Emulating concepts by Ebenezer Howard, the Garden City movement became a guide for planning and implementation of the Bata satellite towns: they were conceived as complete cities, set in a bucolic landscape in the hinterland. However, inter-regionality à la Tony Garnier’s Cité Industrielle was the differential element: each city was to represent one of a federation of cities, among which a bond would be created through emphasis on communication and exchange of goods. The Bata Shoe Company built a network of production that used the agency of high modern planning as the way to achieve more efficient working and living conditions (Scott, 1998), pursuing an image of modernity that went beyond economic considerations, and leading to the formulation of an aesthetic based on order, efficiency, and on technical virtuosity (Guillen , 2008). The result of this process was an intricate combination of the interests of the company with a sense of responsibility for the strategic development of the regions where its towns were located, community building, and social transformation.

The cities were based on the same ideal industrial town and used the same building typologies. They were divided in functional zones: residential, civic, and manufacturing; more importantly, the ideal plans included variations for different geographies and climatic needs.

18

Figure 1. Batanagar Officers colony and high rise under construction © Victor M. Sanz

The towns were near rivers, roads and rail lines, with access to telephone and telegraph, ensuring the connectivity to the global network of production and distribution.

These models were then deployed in four continents, replicating a utopian model of Fordist urbanism at a global scale.

The following three narratives, describing the cases of Belcamp (USA), Batanagar (India), and Batawa (Canada), will manifest the different lives (and deaths) of this modernist imagination. By exposing the persistent and differentiating features that have come to existence as a result of the isolated evolution of the same urban diagram in disparate geographies, the multiple dimensions of this complex legacy will become apparent.

• Belcamp: the persistence of the logo

The need to enter the American market was a persistent thought in the mind of the Bata administration during the 1930s due to the importance of its market and the restrictions in imports suffered by some of the towns in Europe after the crisis (Bata & Sinclair, 1990).

The Bata Company decided to buy 2,000 acres of land in Belcamp, Maryland, forty kilometres away from Baltimore, where a new town, a mirror image of Zlín, would be build.

Belcamp, just as the other Satellite towns, was to be somewhat self-sufficient, and provide a totalizing economic, social and physical environment for the employees. Designed to be the headquarters for one of the largest markets in the world, it completely failed in gaining acceptance in the United States.

The radical ideas and modern physical form helped raise suspicions among government leaders, labour unions, and others in the community. Most of the American workers refused to live in Belcamp (Jenkins, 1998).

The total environment and the social structure formed by the Bata employeemanager relationship, reminiscent of both older American examples and socialist utopias, were not accepted anymore in America. Almost 60 years earlier, in Pullman, Illinois, as soon as workers could afford to, they left and moved to communities around the company town, where, although they lacked “welfare”, they were free from Pullman’s control. In the modern America that the Bata Shoe Company encountered, industrialists had increasingly abandoned older models of paternalism in favour of modernized bureaucratic methods (Crawford, 1995).

Whereas the factory maintained operations, the town and other architectures were underused. Finally, in the 2000s, the Bata

Shoe Co. sold the land, and, in spite of being listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the complex was later demolished and transformed into a gated community and other commercial buildings in a development named “Water’s Edge”.

The community welcomed “Water’s Edge” as it marked the end of an era, and the rebirth of a depressed county. The only remain that brings alive the memory of the place is a “landscape memorial” to commemorate the old town (The Baltimore Sun, 2004).

The memorial basically consists on the Bata logo—which stood in the old water tower of the factory—now transformed in a postmodern monument standing on a lawn, somewhat hidden behind the new buildings.

• Batanagar:

The

persistence

of

infrastructure

India was a perfect breeding ground for a high modern utopia such as Bata’s. Colonial regimes were systems where “welfare colonialism” and authoritarian power encouraged experiments to remake native societies through social engineering (Scott, 1998). The site chosen for the establishment in 1934 of Batanagar—the Bata town in India—was on floodable plain about a mile and a half long and three-quarters of a mile wide in one of the many meanders of the 19

Bata employees are re-housed free of cost in a more compact medium-rise development on site. Contestation with the existing and surrounding population is prevented with the preservation of the social infrastructure: the relocation of street vendors in a transportation hub by the rail station, the provision and access to public space for community use and festivals, and the preservation of the Bata schools and temples (Shatkin, 2011).

In Riverside, the build form is organized along the structuring axes of old Batanagar, since still operational electrical, water, and sanitation infrastructure run below those roads. Furthermore, its design is heavily determined by the existing (and manmade) ecological infrastructure: environmental laws in Kolkata enforce the conservation or transplantation of trees on site, and the preservation in area of the current water bodies. On the other hand, the architectures of the living colonies will not be preserved at all.

• Batawa: The persistence of a community

Figure 2. Plan of Batanagar © Victor M Sanz

Hooghly River, near Kolkata.

The plans for the living colonies differed to the ones in Zlín and adapted to a new, “tropical”, condition: the managers (mainly Czechs) lived segregated in a colony of early modern style European villas and apartment buildings, with their own social facilities; Indians lived in more radical and abstract communal low-rise buildings placed on a neutral green field following a checkerboard pattern. A dustless environment, schools, hospitals, a sports club, library, cinema, temples, a Public Health Department, and an extensive network of water, sewage and electrical infrastructure allowed maintaining the “conditions necessary for happy, healthy and clean living” that every one of the 10,000 workers living at Batanagar needed to be productive.

In spite of the new sociopolitical scene brought by independence and partition, economic ups and downs, ever-increasing trouble with worker’s unions, and strikes, the Batanagar factory managed to remain 20

in operation with relative success. Economic liberalization in the 1990s and a failed marketing strategy put the company in the red for the first time. The Bata Shoe Organization took control of its Indian branch and began the radical financial turnaround of Bata India (Economic and Political Weekly, 1996 & 1999). In 1999, the Bata management decided that the operating expenses of Batanagar were unacceptable for the company. New austerity measures included the phasing out of management subsidies, canteen facilities, electricity, health care, and township maintenance (The Hindu Business, 2000).

In 2005, Bata India decided to redevelop the site as an integrated new town named ‘Calcutta Riverside’. Riverside has the typical elements of an up-scale development in Asia: high-rise condominiums, villas, golf course, shopping mall, convention centre, hospital, school, and riverfront promenade, all for a population of 30,000. The project keeps the Bata factory in operation and all

The Nazi occupation of Zlín during the World War II provoked the breakage of the existing system, and the Bata’s immigrated to Canada with the aim of rebuilding the empire from the New World. The company bought a well-connected piece of land in Southern Ontario; there, the town that was to replace Zlín as capital, Batawa, began to be built.

Since Batawa was founded and build in wartime, the company had not enough resources to build the modern serial brick houses that characterized the Bata towns since Zlín. By shifting the production to warfare materials for the allies, Bata managed to maintain operations, and became eligible to apply to an existing program of wartime housing of the Canadian government to supply homes for his workers.

After the war, workers began to move from the company town to other surrounding areas in search of better housing. At that moment, the company offered the possibility to the workers of acquiring larger plots—the result of amalgamating two of the existing ones—to build their own homes. Many workers decided to stay; in the context of isolation and extreme winter weather, it was very convenient to live there: the company supplied all the utilities, the community feeling was strong, and work was walking distance from home.

Looking for new ways of recreation, a group of factory workers cleared part of a hill right behind the manager’s housing, overlooking the town, and installed a primitive towrope that transformed it into a ski hill. The work and determination of these people was an act of community building that became part of the town, went beyond the life of factory, and that today is the main attraction, social centre and economic engine of Batawa.

Now, the community keeps strong and actively participates with the Batawa Development Corporation, run by the Bata family, in the redeveloping of the township under “Smart Growth” principles, and keeping the factory building as an icon of the new development, while converting it into a mixed-use condominium building.

consumption, replacement and oblivion? Observing the evolution and heritage of the Bata Company towns shows us that the scope of its project and expected legacy was not based on the permanence of architecture, but it entailed the construction of a vision that considered people as the main asset in an environment in constant change and adaptation. Shifting from the univocal understanding of heritage as preserved physical remains to a more fertile discussion about the multiplicity of forms in which legacy can prevail and coexist with alternative futures in a successive palimpsest, is a lesson that opens a new field of action and relevance for designers and policy makers.

Bata, T. (1934): How I began, East Tilbury.

• Considering the multiple faces of legacy

Bata, TJ. & Sinclair, S. (1990): Bata: Shoemaker to the World.

More than 80 years after the establishment of the first of these towns, the state of the legacy of the Bata urban legacy is uneven and somewhat problematic. The contemplation of the transformation, decay or ruins of the legacy of the Bata Shoe Company now inevitably causes nostalgia. However, this destiny is totally consistent to the Bata creed; Tomas Bata’s position to architecture was ahistorical, and embraced continuous transformation and adaptation to new social and economical conditions, and he criticized the opposite in his autobiography: “[We still] build our houses so as to last 500 years and inconvenience the future generations in the same way as the houses built by our ancestors put us in difficulties." (Bata, 1934)Bata architecture’s functional specificity, its standardized construction methods, and materials were thought for quick construction and immediate use, not for lasting. In addition, the rigidity and selfcontainment of the ideal urban form, inherent to the lack of economic and social diversification, did not allow for integral and selfsustainable futures within the same environment.

In “Preservation is overtaking us”, Rem Koolhaas (2004) argues for considering preservation as a prospective activity, one that must anticipate what will be built for posterity or not—as Bata proposed. If that is the way to follow, in the context of rapid change and continuous transformation of an urbanizing world, could all this mean that our work as designers of urban environments is condemned to fast

Cohen, J.L. (1997): Zlín: An Industrial Republic. Rassegna, 19(70).

Crawford, M. (1995): Building the Workingman’s Paradise: The Design of American Company Towns. London & New York.

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 31, No. 27 (Jul. 6, 1996): “Restructuring Programme”.

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 34, No. 26 (Jun. 26-Jul. 2, 1999): “Stepping out”.

Guillen, M.F. (2008): The Taylorized beauty of the mechanical: scientific management and the rise of modernist architecture, Princeton University Press.

Jenkins, E.J. (1998): Bata Colonies: constructing a global identity. In 86th ACSA meeting and technology conference.

Koolhaas, R. (2004): “Preservation is overtaking us”, in Future Anterior, Volume 1, Number 2, pp. 1–4.

Scott, J. (1998): Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed.

Shatkin, G. (2011): “Planning Privatopolis”, in Ananya Roy & Aihwa Ong, eds., Worlding Cities: Asian Experiments in the Art of Being Global, pp.

77-94.

The Baltimore Sun (Oct. 31, 2004): “Hartford Week”. Accessed at: http:// articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-10-31/news/0410310166_1_bata-shoeharford-county-vaccine The Hindu Business, Line Internet Edition (Jan. 7, 2000).

21 Figure 3. Batawa Ice rink and factory © Victor M Sanz

Definition BOX Globalization, modernism, liberalism and nationalism. These are all terms people from the urbanism department mindlessly use, but when it comes to think of them, these are actually terms people define differently. In this Considering Legacy issue these words were used constantly and in a response to this we approached three different specialists to ask them how they define

Globolization

aforementioned terms.

Laglas: Increased contacts around the globe resulting in more exchange between people and institutions around the world and increased flow of information, good and ideas.

Wagenaar: A political, not an economic term (already in the 17th century, the Republic of the Netherlands operated at a global scale). It refers to the idea, some say the fact, that national governments can no longer hope to control the economic affairs within the territory they govern, since economic forces have escaped the scale of even the largest nation states. Often, the implication is that governments should not even try - commentators who promote this view usually support the theories of neo-liberalism.

Doevendans: An extremely long term process of cosmopolitanization, in which the balance between universal and differentiation and contradictions is explored. Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk identified three phases of globalization, all key points in the science of urbanism. Greek philosophy constructed the metaphysical cosmos in order to give place to the 'contingency' of the random place of birth. Renaissance discovered the world, traveled it and mapped it. Currently, many of our cities wish to participate in the global economy and rank themselves. Others see it, more

Modernism

nuanced, as a process of glocalization or glurbanization.

Karin Laglas Dean Faculty of Architecture

Laglas: Movement linked to the rapid mass industrialization in the early 20th century, contrasting new possibilities and new ways of doing with "traditional" or old (fashioned) solutions, things and ways of doing.

Wagenaar: The way of thinking that wishes to break away from tradition, convention and religiously or ideologically biased ways of doing things, which should be replaced by a rational, scientific approach. One of the characteristics of such an approach is the elimination of everything that has no rationale and is, therefore, superfluous. In art and architecture, this way of thinking usually leads to abstractionism.

Doevendans: Concept mainly used for a 20th century phase of modernity, when architecture and urbanism developed a certain style and method. However, modernity is a long term process of continuous reorientation on accomplishments reached. Permanently we have to find out ‘what is modern again’? Modernity knows many beginnings and has many geographical identities. The traditional dichotomy of modernism versus traditionalism therefore is a caricature. Typical for the 20th century modernity is a desire for neutrality and objectivity in order to accomplish the generic city, in which we should all feel home, despite our different back grounds.

Cor Wagenaar

Liberalism

Assistant Professor Laglas: Political ideology that stands for minimization of state interference, free and equal rights for every man and personal responsibility for the individual.

Wagenaar: Began as a philosophy that maintained that all people, irrespective of income and social status, should enjoy equal rights, which implied that all political and economic structures that prevented this should be abolished and replaced them by policies that did. Since the mid-nineteenth century, it developed into a doctrine that rejected all forms of government intervention in the economy. Liberalism has been an ambivalent term ever since.

Doevendans: Way of thinking and acting aiming at growth, welfare, production and consumption, and in the city leading to a form of economic violence and social exclusion, when not balanced by reciprocity (i.e. civil society) and

Nationalism

redistribution (i.e. government).

Laglas: Strong identification with the nation state as the prime organizing principle for a country Wagenaar: Nationalism extends equal political rights to all inhabitants of a nation and rejects foreign interventions in national affairs. Originally, it was an inclusive doctrine; but influenced by Darwinism, it developed variants that, by

Kees Doevendans

equaling the nation with the ethnic qualities of the population, were sometimes brutally exclusive. The original form

Associate Professor

of liberalism and nationalism turned out to be perfectly compatible with each other and with democracy. But by

Architectural Urban Design and

promoting inequality, whether in a social or in an other way, the later versions are hard to reconcile with the essence

Engineering - TU/e

of democratic government – exclusive nationalism normally leads to its opposite: totalitarianism.

Doevendans: In the disciplines of architecture and urbanism nationalism could be the attempt to construct a framework of national heritage, a landscape of monuments with its own genius and tradition, style and shape. This is seen as an anchor point to determine a position in the process of globalization and cosmopolitanization.

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A Closer Observation Interaction between people and the build environment

Report

dries zimmerman msc 3 urbanism student

On a warm and sunny day, Polis went to Amsterdam for an excursion on observing and understanding processes in the city.

We were guided by Jos Gadet, an social geographer, and Joren van Dijk, an environmental psychologist.

We met our guides at “Theatercafé Mozaiek”, located at the Bos en Lommerweg. Here, Gadet explained us, the organically initiated gentrification process of this formerly “bad” street started. As the rents were low in the neighbourhood because of the bad reputation, students and starters moved in; an influx caused by the cheap rents and the proximity of the city centre.

The owner of the Theatercafé was one of the first to notice the renewed composition of the residents, and started his café. After this, more and more entrepreneurs followed his lead. The municipality also joined in, as they saw a chance to strengthen the existing developments by renovating the public space.

Today, Bos en Lommer is a vibrant and vital neighbourhood.

While Gadet focused more on the economic, social and spatial processes on the city-scale, Van Dijk zoomed in even closer. He explains his job as an environmental psychologist as “someone who participates in a design process protecting the interests of the user”.

This means he looks at the exact needs of the end-users, and tries to secure that those needs are translated into the design. For example, he provided us with a nice metaphor for indicators that the neighbourhood is deteriorating; miners used to take a bird with them into the mines. When the bird died and fell down, the miners knew that a dangerous gas was present and they had to get out as quickly as possible. In a neighbourhood, families with young children are like that bird; when they move out, you can bet the neighbourhood is no longer safe.

After the Bos en Lommerweg our journey continued by taking a tram to the Mercatorplein. This square was also transformed. At this former no-go area, the gentrification process had again happened organically and resulted in a lively city square. Van Dijk explained that one of the

reasons that the square worked so well, was that the companies appropriated the space in front of their shops.

We then walked along the Jan Evertsenstraat, a vibrant shopping street, that abruptly ends, and some hundred meters further starts again. This gap is caused by the unsafe Rembrandtpark, marking the edge of the inner city of Amsterdam and by the ring road of Amsterdam. The rents drop, and an uncomfortable feeling sneaks up on you.

There is no activity anymore, just residential blocks and apartments combined with a lot of underused public space. Here, Gadet tells us, needs something to change; he believes a strategy of mixing functions will help this neighbourhood to become lively.

We ended our trip with a drink at the café “De Oostoever” at the Sloterplas.

Gadet explains us that from the heart of Amsterdam it is only a 30 minute walk to the Sloterplas, a grand lake with an attractive park. However, while it was extensively used in the ’70s and ‘80s, it has now become desolate, with just a few visitors on this sunny day. After some last questions and drinks the participants and the guides take off. It had been a fruitful day in terms of ideas and knowledge as well as in terms of fun and enjoyment. A big thanks to all of the participants and to our guides!

On Tuesday the 23rd of April, Polis went to Amsterdam for an excursion to get an insight on how an environmental psychologist and a social geographer look at the city and its processes. The group of approximately 15 people, including guides, walked through the Bos en Lommer area, as well as the Jan Evertsenstraat, to observe the city.

The trip ended with a discussion and some drinks at the café the Oostoever.

Figure 1. Improved public space at the Bos en Lommerweg © Arjan Smits

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The Bijlmer and beyond Interview with Frank Wassenberg frank wassenberg otb research institute platform 31

The Bijlmermeer, the well-known high-rise housing district in Amsterdam Southeast, is a location with many traces of urban planning history. The area has been influenced by a lot of different legacies. Frank Wassenberg recently completed his post-graduate about the Bijlmermeer (or simply Bijlmer): Large housing estates: ideas, rise, fall and recovery: The Bijlmermeer and beyond (2013). Frank is a social geographer and urban planner and works at the OTB Research institute of the TU Delft and Platform 31, an institute that connects science with cities, departments and other parties. We visited him to learn more about the Bijlmermeer and its legacy.

Why has the Bijlmer been built?

The attitude of Amsterdam was: We are the biggest city of the country and we want to be an example to the world, like we did in the past with our famous canal system, the extension plan of Berlage in Amsterdam South (the ‘AUP’), the extension plan of Van Eesteren and the Amsterdam Western garden cities. In the sixties the population forecasts were enormous, so they had to build new houses to meet the requirements. The municipal government came up with the idea of the Bijlmermeerpolder on a separate plot outside the city, where a kind of “new town” should be built. The design should be a single entity, so the characteristic of a polder was perfectly suitable for this plan.

At first there was a focus on the governmental aspect. Amsterdam wanted to start building as fast as possible, but the polder was still property of the municipality of Weesperkaspel and had to be annexed.

The national Christian parties in the Netherlands were against annexation, while the socialists were in favour. It took them so long to reach a decision that they just started building.

Can you tell us about the ideology which lies behind the Bijlmer concept?

In the sixties the inner city was dirty, musty, small and crowded, with tiny stuffy houses and traffic everywhere. The context was really different; now many people prefer to live in the inner city, but then, people longed for space in the suburbs. The policy was to clear the poor inner city slums and make the city future-proof by large city breakthroughs, modern housing and high-rise constructions. Because of the great growth of the population and the small and crowded country, there was no space for big, spatial suburbs. So the municipality chose for high-rise following the example of Le Corbusier and the CIAM, which is a rational way of building. The plan for the Bijlmer had a lot of public space and greens (only 10% was built up land by the high-rise blocks), but nobody had their own garden. It was like Le 24

Corbusier said: “Everyone has their own park, you only have to share it with other people”.

How did they decide on the buildings that were to be constructed?

They experimented with the optimal space and division for houses, the size of the kitchen etc. and built the outcome of this experiment 13.000 times. From a technical perspective it was the first time they were able to construct buildings with ten floors on a large scale. The farmer land in the polder was seen as a tabula rasa, where the new technical achievements should be allowed without old structures intervening with the plan.

In that time three types of buildings were common: low rise, middle rise and high rise. The influential commission “hoog of laag bouwen” explored the benefits of different building heights in the early 1960s.

Low-rise was good for families, but when the large population forecasts had to be housed like they did in those days in a city like Los Angeles. It would cost a tremendous amount of space, which was not available in the big cities. Middle-rise was considered neither fish nor flesh. High-rise was, according to the commission, very promising and should be explored in practice. They decided to use high-rises in all of the Bijlmer. Building in straight lines was the easiest and cheapest way, so they started with straight lines in the first four blocks. Later they realised that you could make a bend, as seen in Sheffield and Toulouse. This ‘honey comb structure’ was better for privacy reasons and it made the design less boring. By doing so, you could create a kind of courtyards that are still open. The remaining 26 blocks are built this way.

In spite of the beautiful ideas the concept turned out to be a failure, how could this have happened?

I think it depends on whom you ask. Some people embraced the concept and they were excited that finally the ideas of the CIAM were

properly being used. A big city should have big buildings. Still, there were opponents who claimed that using a mix of buildings was more desirable. The designers did not want to ruin the design with 1 or 2 storey buildings in between.

Because of the great housing shortage people had already been waiting for a residence for over ten years. They were very anxious to move to the Bijlmer and some of them still live there. Unfortunately there were not 13.000 people interested in a house in the Bijlmer.

In one of your articles you talk about three types of problems, could you tell us more about this?

You can divide the problems into three main categories: 1. It has not been completely finished.

Because of cuts in the budget, the plans have not been carried out properly. They narrowed the big corridors designed for delivery by the milkman, less (expensive) elevators were built, less money was spend on of the environment, the parking etc.

The metro that had to connect the Bijlmer to the inner city of Amsterdam was built years later. I think that in every urban

design things are left out, but in case of the Bijlmermeer, that it is designed as a single entity, it is more vulnerable if you leave out certain parts.

2. Demand and supply on the housing market. The houses in the Bijlmer were, on average, two times as big but also two times more expensive than the houses in the rest of Amsterdam. You also had to pay for parking, in contrast with the rest of Amsterdam. The houses were originally built for families, but then places like Purmerend, Hoorn and the Haarlemmermeer began to build houses for families as well. These houses however, had gardens and private, free parking places.

People preferred these single-family housing, which was not offered by Amsterdam.

Because of the competition, Amsterdam families moved out of the Bijlmer, or did not arrive at all.

3. Liveability problems. 16 housing corporations managed the Bijlmer.

Every corporation owned averagely two apartment buildings, but one party owned occasionally half a building. The quality of the management was really depending on the housing cooperation. Some of them did not put enough effort in housing allocation, control and maintenance, which resulted in

a poor position of their property. There were many refusals, vacancies rose, and mainly people arrived as a second choice. Crime, pollution, vandalism, non social behaviour rose to record heights, which made people who already lived there to leave as soon as possible.

How did the independence of Surinam effect the Bijlmer?

A third of the Surinamese people migrated to the Netherlands just before the independence of Surinam. There were enough vacant dwellings in the Bijlmer for them and so their relatives moved to the Bijlmer as well.

Because of cultural differences liveability problems arose.

Was the Bijlmer the worst neighbourhood of Europe?

It must be said that you should see the problems in their perspective. From the Dutch point of view the Bijlmer was by far the biggest problem area in the country, but compared to problem areas in Detroit, Chicago or some of the suburbs of France, it was not that bad at all.

Figure 1. F "buurt" area: new one- family housing between remaining high-rise flats Š Frank Wassenberg

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Why did they keep on building, in spite of the problems?

In the seventies it became clear that the people did not want these kinds of houses. Although the government expected enthousiastic people. However, it turned out to be a failure except to a few people - the believers - that stayed enthousiastic.

However, Amsterdam continued building, because of the promised considerable subsidies. This was understandable because of the still existing housing shortages. The municipality thought it was the job of the housing cooperation to fill the houses.

However, the people’s choice was different.

In your thesis you said there was a countermovement?

Well, as a reaction to large-scale developments like the Bijlmer, a countermovement started in the early 1970s, in line with worldwide changes. This movement was against topdown planning and the tabula rasa method.

Their motto was: “small is beautiful�. They wanted more participation, and maintain the old derelict inner city housing in low rents.

In the high-rise graph (fig. 1), you see that before the peak they could not build that high, and after the peak, as a result of this countermovement, they did not want to build that high.

What has been changed to the urban design?

Figure 2. Map of the Bijlmermeer before (top) and after the renewal (bottom)

Figure 3. The high-rise wave in the Netherlands: dwellings in high-rise (over five storeys) as a percentage of all social sector flats

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When the last part of the Bijlmer was built in 1975 the building association retraced their steps because the concept was not working.

The new approach was no more experiments with extreme concepts. Later on, the Surinamese started to earn more money and they preferred an one-family house for example in Almere. To prevent the successful people from moving, family houses were built in the Bijlmer too. By now, 7.000 of the original 13.000 high-rise apartments have been demolished and replaced by singlefamily houses and low-rise flats, both in owner occupancy and the rented sector.

In the original design all the roads in the Bijlmer were elevated five meters for car traffic, with viaducts for cyclists and pedestrians on the ground floor. Now they brought them back to ground level again.

They smartened up the park, and they created extra services, like a sports centre.

The three shopping areas disappeared, because they were unsafe places. It was too dark and with too many curves and corners,

it was a perfect place for junks to stay.

The first adjustments were made already in the 1980s. These were good improvements, but too small scaled. The green was cut back to make it safer and the residents no longer had to pay for their parking places. By making compartments and extra elevators (which were left out during initial construction), accessibility was limited for thieves and junks. The changes were mainly physical and soon they realised the changes should also be social and economic. The maintenance, liveability and image of the Bijlmer gradually changed.

With the redistribution of the police forces, Amsterdam luckily got more officers for the Bijlmermeer. The main changes came when an integrated renewal approach was started in the 1990s, containing physical renewal, a social- economic approach, and improvement of the poor liveability situation.

it would have a reflection on the surrounding area. This was not the case, the quality of surrounding areas only decreased more quickly. The inhabitants of the demolished buildings simply moved to the next apartment building. This way the problem moved around instead of being fixed; the so-called waterbed effect. I think that with every approach you will move a part of the problem, but with a good approach you can also solve a major part of the problems. For instance: you could help “special� inhabitants to settle in their new homes and this will decrease the problems.

As a result of this view, halfway the process they came up with the idea of a big final plan, to prevent those negative spill over effects.

People in the reaming blocks, some 5.000, were interviewed and 80% of them responded, which was extremely high. The majority of the inhabitants indicated that their apartment buildings had to be demolished and new family houses should be built.

How did they try to improve the image of the Bijlmer?

Well, there is a saying: A good image arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. For a lot of the Dutch the Bijlmer will never be an attractive neighbourhood any more, but since the last decade or so the situation really is improved for many others. An intervention that was not successful was an attempt to change the name into Amsterdam South East to improve the image, but nobody bought it. The new name actually infected the image of entire Amsterdam South East area instead of only the Bijlmer area. Now, they nourish the name Bijlmermeer. The main train station is called Bijlmer-Arena.

Things that helped to improve the image of the Bijlmer were the construction of the Academic hospital in the neighbourhood, the ArenA stadion, the Ziggo dome, the Heineken music hall, and the large office centre Amstel III. When the Bijlmermeer with its Surinam-Caribbean character started to prosper, the image changed from scary and strange to nice and cosy.

In your thesis you describe the waterbed effect, how does this phenomenon relate to the Bijlmer?

When they started the regeneration of the Bijlmer in the midnineties, it started in the middle of the area, because they thought

What do you think of the current developments?

Most of the renewal was organised by the housing association and the municipality, but because of the current economic circumstances their capacities are very limited. I think the do-it-yourself houses are a good initiative, originally a Rotterdam initiative.. A do-it-yourself house is a dilapidated house that you can smarten up yourself. The last block in the Bijlmermeer, Kleiburg, is offered for do-it-yourselfrenewal. The outside of the block and the shared services are taken care of. The owners themselves can make all the other decisions.

With these do-it-yourself houses you expect a lot of commitment from the residents. The houses are rather dilapidated and worn out because of the many people who have already lived there. The dwellings suffered overcrowding and sometimes squatters or junks have inhabited them.

I think the Bijlmer has always been very extreme. It had been built following an extreme concept, the problems were extreme and after that it has been the district with extreme regeneration plans for the Bijlmer. So, one can say the Bijlmer is three times extreme. This extreme legacy makes the Bijlmer an interesting area for research.

Jet van der Hee

Figure 4. High-rise is massive, impressive and dominating, but also impersonal, anonymous and monotonous.

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The Anti-urbanity of the Post War City Expansion

dr. j. gadet senior urban planner at the municipality of amsterdam

There are many ways to determine the quality or success of a neighbourhood of a city.

Unemployment statistics, level of education, high school dropouts are

some of the examples. Nonetheless the sole powerful parameter that expresses a neighbourhood’s success or quality is the price per square meter (m2) of the dwellings in a particular neighbourhood. These prices simply express what the (potential) inhabitants are willing to pay to live in a particular neighbourhood. This rests on the fundamentals of economy of demand and supply.

In the Netherlands these m2 prices are the highest in Amsterdam.

This has everything to do with the knowledge economy that has an urban focus. A knowledge economy builds on the human capital that is being cashed by interaction in a diverse and mixed urban environment (Gadet, 2011, Glaeser 2011, Marlet 2009, Manshanden et al 2005, Florida 2002). However, these m2-prices are not everywhere the same in Amsterdam. In the inner city and large parts of Amsterdam Zuid the value of dwellings per square meter is the highest and decreases in a slight gradient towards the 19th century belt in the north. The value drops drastically north of the river ‘IJ’ and behind the high way, the Ring A10. This low value of dwellings per square meter has everything to do with the different types of urban environment inside opposed to outside the Ring (Gadet et al, 2012).

The anti-urban idea of Le Corbusier on the other hand is rather pathological. The man hated the city and the traditional roads with facades. Le Corbusier expressed his anti-urban emotions with his famous Ville Radieuse (The Radient City), which is a design for a green city with separate functions and highways instead of the roads that are common to cities. Le Corbusier’s designs were so innovative, or rather alienated, that they only could be realised under the responsibility of an omnipotent dictator (Hulsman, 2006).

Hulsman writes on Le Corbusier’s psychotic aversion to the city and his passion for the ‘new man’ that sprouted from this enmity lead to an active affection for National Socialism and subsequently to Stalinist communism. Just as Stalin and Hitler despised their subjects, so despised Le Corbusier the inhabitants of his urban design plans. The ‘new man’ ought to behave as the great architect pleased even in his leisure (Dalrymple, 2009). The most essential critique on Le Corbusier is that he allowed the inhabitants no choices on how to live in his totalitarian plans. This is not only inhuman, but in these times of quantity of choices, optimal freedom of choice and most excessive possibilities of choice also inadequate, frustrating and exceptionally suppressing. Neighbourhoods that are based on Le Corbusier’s body of thought are currently facing many problems. These neighbourhoods accommodate black schools, have a high unemployment rate and inhabitants with low wages and a low education level. The square meter price of the houses would be low and the neighbourhoods know riots and fires. People who can afford not to live in the legacy neighbourhoods of Le Corbusier will settle somewhere better and therefore the m2 prices in these type of neighbourhoods are relatively the lowest.

"The anti-urban idea of Le Corbusier on the other hand is rather pathological. (...) Just as Stalin and Hitler despised their subjects, so despised Le Corbusier the inhabitants of his urban design plans."

Inside the Ring mingling of functions characterises the urban fabric opposed to the separation of functions outside of the Ring. This separation of functions is the ground principle of Functionalism, dominant after the Second World War. The founding father of this movement would be Le Corbusier. He took on the legacy which Ebenezer Howard gave urban planning with the concepts of the Garden City Movement. The Garden City Movement gave rise to the attention for green in the city at the end of the 19th century. It can be described as an anti-urban movement in response to the miserable quality of life in the cities due to industrialisation. The air in cities should be purified and preferably with the implementation of green. When one envisions the terrible hygienic situation in most cities at the end of the 19th century the characteristic of the anti-urban idea of the Garden City Movement is easy to understand.

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Figure 1. Extention plan for Amsterdam by Van Eesteren, 1934 © Flickr

Figure 2. Price of apartments in Amsterdam, 2011 © Municipality of Amsterdam

Figure 3. Price of single-familiy homes in Amsterdam, 2011 © Municipality of Amsterdam

29

Aside from the frustrating dynamics of the separation of functions in the current economy, there is also a break with the tradition of Dutch urban planning,. The post war expansion areas of the AUP [red. Algemeen UitbreidingsPlan/General ExpansionPlan] are the neighbourhoods marking the final end of the concentric city expansion which has been taking place for centuries. The functional city is disconnected from the organically grown city. This disconnection is the most apparent on the crossing of the Jan Evertsenstraat and the Orteliuskade in Amsterdam. Directe your view from the Orteliuskade towards the Mercatorplein and you see a relatively vivid part of the Dutch capital city with shops in the plinths and varied development.

When you turn 180 degrees on that same spot, this vivid scene is immediately over.

The profile of ‘street living room’ of the urban fabric, closed building blocks with facades of different amenities in the plinths evaporise in one second. Instead a sea of partly asphalted, partly green spaces without clear function appear in sight. There are no other people except for some passers-by.

These so called 180°-places are plenty in The Netherlands. They mark an abrupt junction, more specifically a abrupt disconnection of the functional city with the belt of the 1920s-1940s as the final termination of the ‘organically’ grown concentric city.

The Amsterdam Bijlmer (a pars pro toto for the city district Zuidoost) is a horrific example of functionalism. Notorious are its honeycomb apartment buildings from the architect Siegfried Nassuth. This pupil of Van Eesteren was very strongly inspired

by Le Corbusier’s ideas. Nassuth adheres to these ideas so strongly that even Van Eesteren called into question the scale of the new plan for the Bijlmer and the height of its apartment buildings. Nassuth however got permission to build his futuristic green neighbourhood characterised by a strict separation between living, working and traffic. The Bijlmer is the purest Dutch spot of the legacy of Le Corbusier.

In 1968 the first dwellings were completed, but the expected pioneers, the first generation of inhabitants of the large-scale modernistic new development did not arrive.

One expected the first generation to be motivated and enter the new neighbourhood 30

Figure 4. Functions around crossing of the Jan Evertsenstraat and the Orteliuskade © J. Gadet

Figure 5. View towards AUP © Google maps

with zest, being content with their new, spacious and modern apartments. However it were the Surinamese who did enter the Bijlmer, chosing for Amsterdam after the declaration of independence of Suriname in 1975. They ended up living in the Bijlmer.

The degradation of the neighbourhood that is inherent to this type of urban design was amplified (Gadet, 2011).

The Bijlmer was immediately known for its high unemployment rate, drug nuisance, degradation and criminality. Although the failure of large-scale monotone development generally manifests after the first generation, the Bijlmer was already known as such in the 70s. Modernists, urban planners and social scientists have reproached the Surinamese influx for the failure of the Bijlmer. Since

the migrants form Mahgreb were to blame for the failure of the French banlieues and the problems of the Berlin neighbourhoods Gropiusstadt and Märkisches Viertel could be explained by the asocial behaviour of the inhabitants. Nonsense! Pauperised alien cultured Surinamese, underprivileged immigrants from North Africa and ‘white trash’ from the home country do not end up in neighbourhoods where no one else wants to live, far away, from the city for no reason. After the Bijlmer experienced much impoverishment, a bad image that lingers up to this day and considerable restructuring, Nassuth was rewarded in 1998 with the oeuvre price of the Fonds for ‘Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst’. In 1998!

Finally, the destruction of some honeycomb flats and replacement by suburban low-rise that has been executed in the last decade has not been the regeneration success that one had hoped for. A part of the original inhabitants were removed to other places in the city and replaced by ’repentista’s’ who exchanged their apartment in the Bijlmer for a dwelling in Almere or some other former growth nucleus in the years before.

On the measurement scale for success of a city neighbourhood this renovation project had no impact. The square meter prices remained invariably low (Gadet et al, 2012).

Urban planners and designers and policy makers who still do not understand that urban regeneration and urban expansion should be accompanied by mixing of functions and intensifying are unworldly, 50 years after the book of 'Death and Life of Great American Cities' from Jane Jacobs was published, 30 years after the honeycombs from Nassuth and in the contemporary situation of growing cities because of people's desire for interactive environments.

Are these policy makers and urban planners isolated, or maybe without scruples?

DALRYMPLE, Th. (2009), The Architect as Totalitarian. Le Corbusier’s baleful influence. In: City Journal, Vol. 19, No. 4.

FLORIDA, R. (2002), The Rise of the Creative Class, and how it is Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. New York.

GADET, J., K. VAN ZANEN & E. BUURSINK (2012), Grensvlakken: de ontbrekende schakel tussen Amsterdams voor- en naoorlogse Figure 6. View towards Mercatorplein © Google maps

stadsdelen. In: Geografie Jrg. 21 nr. 4.

GADET, J. (2011), Terug naar de stad.

The Bijlmer is an exclave in the city of Amsterdam and lies far from the vibrant city, where many different people are present on different times of the day for different reasons (Gadet 2011, Jacobs 1961).

The ‘Bijlmer’ is a term also including the neighbourhood Venserpolder. A monotonous, ugly and hideous concrete container between Duivendrecht and the real Bijlmer. A notorious urban ‘drain’.

Holendrecht is a neighbourhood just on the south of Venserpolder and is the worst case of the modern post war neighbourhoods.

Where the original Bijlmer has architectonic grandeur on a sunny day, Holendrecht is inhuman urban design at its worst. It is located unbelievable remote from the organic city and has strongly

accented green thin zones that function as a filter. These zones make the neighbourhood Holendrecht impenetrable and shield its public spaces from the different, new and inspiring thoughts from the city that cannot arrive in this Dutch banlieue. Holendrecht is the result of hopeless planning. The return of the futuristic doctrine with its honeycomb templates of flats transformation to a ‘human scale’ does not solve the fundamental problem of the garden city urban development. The fundamental problem is the separation of functions. Holendrecht remains an endless green sea containing 80s row housing with no identity. Also in this neighbourhood there are no functional plinths. The square meter prices of Holendrecht are the lowest in all Amsterdam.

Geografisch portret van Amsterdam.

Amsterdam: SUN Trancity.

GLAESER, E. (2011), Triumph of the City.

How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. New York: The Penguin Press.

HULSMAN, B. (2006), Afscheid van Le Corbusier, In: NRC Handelsblad 25 januari 2006.

JACOBS, J. (1961), Death and Life of Great American Cities. The Failure of Town Planning.

New York: Vintage Books.

MANSHANDEN, W. & W. JONKHOFF (2005), Creativiteit komt met concentratie. In: ESB 15-7-2005.

MARLET, G. (2009), De aantrekkelijke stad. Moderne locatietheorieën en de aantrekkingskracht van Nederlandse steden.

Nijmegen: VOC Uitgevers.

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China Merchants Tower

Hopeful Tourists Depart for Casino

Shun Tak Centre & Sheung Wan Ferry to Macau Helicopter to Macau Destitute Tourists Return from Casino Macau Ferry Terminal

Jostling Passengers Shun Tak Heliport

Ferry to Mainland

Travel Agent Convergence

McDonald's Mainland Tourist Convergence

D

West Tower Diamond Square Large Electronics

Small Electronics

Home Appliances

...Shun Tak Centre connects trains, ferries, helicopters, buses and taxis with one another, and with a neighbourhood of dried seafood shops...

$

2, 109, 111, 111P, 115, 115P, 182, 182P, 619, 619P, 619X, 641, 680X, 720, 788

3A, 4, 4X, 7, 37B, 37X, 43X, 71, 71P, 90B, 91, 94, 94X, 373A, 905

Fabric Bazaar

Sheung Wan Gala Point

Western Market Jockey Club

$ Yardley Commercial Building Sitting Out Area

1, 5B, 5S, 18, 26, 71, 113, 905,

Honeymoon Dessert

Transit Hobby Shop Delivery Boys on Overloaded Bicycles 001

Tourist Convergence Skin-Conscious Local Ladies

Dried Sea Slugs

Dried Shrimp 36 32

N

Black Moss Dried Oyster

Housewives Haggle Over Preserved Sausages

University of Hong Kong p. 60

Conpoy

Fish Maw Dried Abalone

Island Line to Sai Ying Pun

IFC & Exchange Square p. 38 Rumsey Street Multi-Story Car Park

“Save the Children� Activists

KFC

Furniture

Macau Jockey Club Central p. 40 Apparel Vicwood Plaza

E

Luggage Shun Tak Centre

Island Line to Central Grand Millennium Plaza

Giant Newscast

C Sheung Wan Station B

Businessman Convergence

A Central Market p. 42 Graham Street & Soho p.44

1887 Coastline Approx. 300 m to Current Coastline

Cities without Ground Cities Without Ground aimes to make Hong Kong's unique qualities and complexity legible, yielding at once a spatial guide and cultural record. Many hours of on-site research went into each drawing. To ensure clarity, the vertical axis of the drawings has been elongated at different Sheung Wan Municipal Services Building scales and only the areas publicly accessible by pedestrians are shown. In areas of the city

adam frampton jonathan solomon clara wong authors of cities without ground: a hong kong guidebook

currently under construction, the completion of some major projects is anticipated based on publicly available information. Others are shown as construction sites. The activities noted in labels are compiled from multiple visits, in some cases over several years, and are intended to form a narrative not only in space but also in time. No single drawing should be understood to be a representation of the city at any given moment. Rather, the whole should be taken to reflect the urbanism of a city without ground...

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Urban Impression – Hong Kong tang cheong fai (terry) dentist in hong kong

Hello! My name is Tang Cheong Fai, Tang is my family name and Cheong Fai is my given name. You may also call me Terry.

As a tradition inherited from colonial ages of Hong Kong, almost all people in Hong Kong have a name other than our Chinese name. Some people have an English name which is pronounced similar to their Chinese name, while very often they can be of no relation at all. Unlike our Chinese name, which is written on our ID card, the English name could be changed very casually like changing a nickname.

I am a young citizen who was born in Hong Kong in the 1980s, before the Handover of Hong Kong to China. That was the time where new satellite towns were developed in the New Territories, and a lot of people were moved from temporary housing area to brand new public housing estates. I was one

34

of them who started my life in these 35-floortall concrete buildings.

I grew up in the era of great economic surge, educated and trained to become a dentist.

Now I am working in the Central district with my dental office located on 7th floor of a 15-storey commercial building, with adjacent buildings packed side-by-side.

Buildings are built against each other with literally no gaps between them. Central is a place where the most international financial companies locate their Hong Kong Headquarters. During the rush hours and lunch hours, the roads are packed with cars and streets are filled up with white collars walking quickly, crowding through each other.

My day starts at 7:30am, dressing up quickly and grabbing a piece of bread before leaving

home. As we have 18 families living on the same floor, I often meet my neighbours waiting for elevator together. We often greet each other with a smile and have a short discussion of the weather today. Usually, we meet more people descending from 34/F but most of the time we do not really know many of them, although the faces are always familiar. Then I walk to the minibus stop for the minibus to the MTR station. It is always a long queue of more than 30 people, though the minibuses come every 5 minutes.

The railway of Hong Kong has always been one of the top-class public transport systems of the world. To achieve a daily capacity of 2.3 million passengers, there are trains every 3 minutes during rush hour. We have to squeeze into every space of the train cabin

Figure 1. Mindmap of Cheong Fai's daily living

to let as many people on board as possible, and there are platform assistants helping to maintaine the order. Inside the train it is often quite silent because people are still very sleepy and of course people love to play with their smartphone. When people get off the train to switch to another line, they always run across the platform for fear that they lost their position to get onto the other train. We can see the same when people arrive at their destination because it is almost a sin to lose any single second getting back to work. With the most effective transport system on earth, although people push against each other, I get to Hong Kong Island from the New Territories in less than 30 minutes.

It is another rush hour during lunch time.

I always have long queue with people in nicely ironed shirts and trousers in front of a popular chain fast food restaurant just to grab a takeaway sandwich or bowl noodle, because many feel that siting down to eat in the restaurant is still wasting time. Meal delivery is also another favourite for people who think it is too tiring to queue in front of the restaurant.

There are all kinds of activities we can do after work. Crowded routes bring us large shopping arcade within walking distance.

The cinema always has the program right after working hours fully booked. Fitness centres are always full of people, too. I personally love to enjoy the happy hour with my friends in the Lan Kwai Fong, which is also conveniently located in the centre of the Central district. Cuisines do not close until late at night because there is always overnight transport, aside from the taxi, available for people who like to stay late into the night.

And another day is finished like every other day. Although I live in a place that seems to be overcrowded, I am proud of the convenience brought by the hard working people of Hong Kong. It may not be the most enjoyable lifestyle that we would like, but we already adapted to it.

Figure 2. Map of the Hong Kong Shenzhen region Š Openstreetmap Figure 3. Impression of streerlife in Hong Kong Š Cheong Fai

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region in the south of China. The former British colony has just over 7.000.000 inhabitants.

Althought the city has less inhabitants than other metropolises such as London or Paris, the built-up area of the city is much smaller, making Hong Kong one of the densest, most vibrant places on earth.

Across the border with China lies the city of Shenzhen with more than double the inhabitants. The relation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen is often described as 'front shop, back factory'.

35

The legacy of Shenzhen Interview with Tat Lam and Travis Bunt

Shenzhen is a Chinese city of approximately 14 million inhabitants a couple of miles north of Hong Kong. Although most Westerners have never heard of the city, it is known as the global factory, responsible for a major share of the global production of consumer goods. Founded in 1978 as a special economic zone, the Shenzhen area

tat lam director and founder of urb, shenzhen travis bunt director at urbanus, hong kong

was turned from a rural backwater to one of the richest cities in China. But what is the legacy of the rapid economic, demographic and urban growth of the city? To discuss this question Atlantis arranged to speak with Tat Lam and Travis Bunt, both working at the architecture office of Urbanus and teaching at the City University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

Can you describe the political and economic condition of Shenzhen in the first years of its foundation and how these conditions shaped the emergence of the urban village?

Tata explains that “when Mao reinstitutionalized China, he put the country land into two categories. The urban land for industrialization was to be managed by the municipal government, while the rural land for agriculture was collectively owned and managed by the villagers. However, when the city size expanded it eventually took all farmland for development and the villages that were originally located there were enclaved by the city. The people that settled

36

in the village where mostly migrants without a hukou (permanent residence permit). The municipal government cannot control the space of the village, because it belongs to another political system.”

Urbanus Research Bureau (URB) is an urban design and research studio within URBANUS Architecture & Design. URB was founded in 2010 and has office in Shenzhen, China.

What can you say about the relation between the urban villages and the formal city that surrounds them?

“The villages are not planned by the official planning office and in the eyes of the government represent an uncontrollable informal development”, says Tat. “The new formal developments, particularly those of the early 1990s, did not respect the original urban fabric of the urban villages. It was

Figure 1. Baishizhou Street Market © Travis Bunt

conceived as a tabula rasa, similar to the Haussmannization of Paris.

However, due to the different political systems, many planning ideas cannot be implemented. Therefore, I do not think there are any conflicts, because it is always the duality of action and reaction.”

How were the urban villages planned and what ideology underlies them?

“The newly planned urban villages actually are not really following any traditional Chinese planning strategy”, says Tat.”It is a very simple way of parceling the block into equal land allocation for all landlords of the village. Therefore it is always about a grid system.

I think if we try to understand the planning ideology of the urban village, we can think of a very classic representation of post-critical modernist urbanism. Therefore, we are looking for historical traces of villages, such as old houses, and historical streets.”

How would you describe these urban villages?

Until today urban villages very much resemble the characteristics of the rural Chinese lifestyle . Tat says that “in the current form the villages counteract the monolithic conduct of the modern city. I tried to ask an urban villager about his life in an urban village. His answer surprised me because he was not familiar with the urban village as a term. He thinks of himself to be living in a city. From the human everyday life perspective, the urban village does not exist because it is part of a city”. Travis stresses here one of Meng Yan’s important points about the Urban Village—“from the perspective of the villager, they are a Shenzhen residents like anyone else. The idea of the Urban Village is an external construct.”

Figure 2. Satelite picture Baishizhou urban village

What would you describe as the main challenge for these urban villages and their inhabitants?

According to Travis the urban villages in many ways represent the classic gentrification problem—“how can you improve the livelihoods and living conditions of the residents, without displacing those same people? Only here, it is not just about pricing out, but the logistical difficulty of improving the area without having to knock it down and start over. The complications of land ownership and policy in many ways prevent in-situ improvements and force whole-scale redevelopment. Therefore, we have to look for alternative ways of upgrading the urban village as incubator for the urban and social development of the next generation.”

Do the villages have any historical qualities that should be preserved?

Tat explains that “95% of the architecture in the Urban Village only has a five to ten year history. The Shenzhen experiment is barely a blip on China’s timeline. We are discussing what are essentially temporary structures in a country that recounts its history in terms of millennia. When we talk about the Urban Village, we do not want to fall into the trap of historical nostalgia, because it is really not about the history. I think this is the difference between the western notion of history and the Urban Village’s notion about compensating an insufficient city system. I argue that the essence of the Urban Village lies in its functionality rather than its historical meaning. Therefore, a preservation strategy is not addressing the core nature of the Urban Village. Travis added, “If anything, I think how do you convince such a deep-rooted culture that this evanescent blink is worth such attention?”

Figure 3. Baishizhou Street Market © Travis Bunt

37

So if it is not the architecture, what historical features should we pay attention to?

“We need to be careful not to conflate Shenzhen’s urban villages with the Hutongs of Beijing, or the Lilong houses”, says Travis. “With very few exceptions, it is absolutely not the architecture that is historic (or even nominally valuable), it is rather the lines underneath the buildings that are important. The buildings you see today are simply extrusions, the physical manifestation of the only privately owned land in China. That dynamic is what is critical to history”.

The ‘new urbanism’ school propagates many of the features that we find in the urban village such as high density, mixed use, pedestrian scale, public transport orientation, etc. What can you say about this parallel?

Travis warns that “applying new urbanist terminology is problematic, and despite being able to check certain boxes on a list, I doubt Leon Krier would approve of the layout. The valuable lessons of the Urban Village are not in extrapolating design criteria, but in understanding the ramifications of land rights and economic policy on the urban fabric”. Tat continues to say that “in a large scale city such as Shenzhen, the urban villages provide the necessary low scale contrast which helps Chinese cities to be more inclusive. A multi scalar city is the key, which might also be a lesson for western cities. Being small is not always good, but we need to have a spectrum of choice. I think that also follows the idea of democracy and freedom”.

How would you describe the role of the villages in the economy of Shenzhen?

According to Travis “the primary function of the Urban Villages regarding Shenzhen’s economy lies is in providing affordable housing for critical migrant and service-class workers within the city, as they are otherwise effectively priced out of the “proper” housing market.

This condition allows the urban village to become incubators for future entrepreneurs and young creatives. Urban Villages enables the work-force to live near their employment, unlike many other cities which force their underclasses to the periphery. Its been argued that this has been a hidden factor in Shenzhen’s success (and probably also a reason why the city isn’t yet choked by the traffic jams of Beijing and Shanghai).”

In Douglas Saunders book, the Arrival City, he describes Shenzhen as an example of a failed arrival city because migrants are not integrated in the city, but kept in marginalisation. Do you agree with him?

On this question Tat and Travis disagree. Tat thinks te statement

by Saunders is right by referring back to the construct of the urban village, “from the human everyday life perspective, the urban village does not exist because it is part of a city. Therefore, urban village is a label, which separates us from others. The perception is that those in urban villages are migrants and they are not from the city. Therefore, I think the definition of urban village implies the segregation of socioeconomic groups.”

Travis disagrees and says that: “Shenzhen’s population consists almost entirely of migrants, and as Tat mentioned earlier, many of them have a higher education and stay for longer periods or even permanently.

Are we ignoring all these migrants that constitue the structure of the city, or are they disregarded because they’ve already integrated? Many 38

Figure 4. The location of urban villages in Shenzhen © Travis Bunt

of the rich and powerful in the city do not hold a Shenzhen hukou, are they being kept in marginalization? On the other hand, I’m not sure what it is that migrants are expected to integrate into--it is a constantly changing and fluid city. I posit instead that Shenzhen is an incredibly successful Transient City.”

Are you a Shenzhener?

Figure 5. Baishizhou Alleyway © Travis Bunt

Tat, working in Shenzhen since 2010, does not think of himself as a Shenzhener. “I think there is a tendency for people to have more sense of belonging. And Shenzhen only has a history of 20 years. The first generation people came to Shenzhen in late 1980s, have a lot of sense of belongings. I also think many of the labels applied to Shenzhen are very superficial, such as ‘a city without history’, ‘a city of migrants’ and so on. The identity of Shenzhen is of course given by Deng Xiaoping about its experimentalism and pragmatism. In this sense, if Shenzhen stops experiencing new things, it would have lost its identity. Therefore people and ideas need to fluctate. Moreover, if you look into the migration data, there is an obvious trend that Shenzhen migrants tend to be more educated, professional and are willing to stay a lot longer than ten years ago.”

Recently, the municipal governments of

the complexity before diving in”, says Travis.

“We’ve tried to simplify by having each student approach it from the perspective of a different stake holder, then reconnect the group for debate and negotiations. This seems to help communicate the messiness. We tried to train the students an understanding of the consequences of the proposals they were making. However, it is this extreme complexity that seems to prevent new ideas from fomenting, simply because it takes so long just to get one’s head around the situation.

Urbanus has worked with urban villages in a number of projects. Can you describe what kind of interventions Urbanus proposed for these projects?

“We like to approach the urban village from a professional perspective, or to think about it from the city perspective, not representing either one private or even a public entity. In the case of the Hubei village, we proposed to maintain the old row houses for alternative use. The proposal was sent both to the government and the developer. The intention of the design is to push both public and private entities to rethink their development model.

Rather than using a generic approach, when dealing with a complicated problem, we need very specific development solutions.”

Shenzhen and Guangzhou have been discussing to incorporate the urban

What recommendations for future

villages in their social housing policies.

research on the urban village would you

What do you think will change with this

give?

new approach?

react to that?

Travis emphasizes to avoid fetishizing.

“I would like to suggest focusing on the aftermath of urban village developments, instead of falling into the trap of nostalgia.

We need to engage more actively into what is happening right now, politically, socially and architecturally”. Tat agrees with Travis by saying that “Too much energy is being wasted on trying to “save” the Urban Village. What you see now will not survive, it cannot be saved in a jar for posterity. We are interested in how the Urban Village can evolve with the city. Is it possible to balance the long and short term needs of the city, developers, and villagers--without continuing large-scale demolition? There is extensive knowledge and research about their social and economic role today, but what will happen tomorrow on these sites?”

“It seems to be a popular topic among our students, though I think they underestimate

Matthijs van Oostrum

Travis says “it is a bit as if one would announce to consider the city’s existing roads as part of the new automotive circulation plan while actively tearing them up”. Tat continues “the urban village is fundamentally a low income housing area and it is a paradox to take a specific type which is already working and replacing it with generic housing schemes. I do not think that generic housing typologies can solve the housing problem. More research needs to done on how to make the social housing schemes in China more specific.

You both work with students from the City University of Hong Kong. How do you introduce them to the topic of the urban village and how do the students

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Lost Juan Cun in Taiwanese Cities Interview with Liling Huang liling huang associate professor and director, graduate institute of building and planning, national taiwan university Juan Cun (Chinese: 眷村), or a military dependents’ village, is a type of community built in Taiwan between the 1950s and the 1960s to accommodate soldiers and their dependents from mainland China, after the KMT (Chinese Nationalist Party) retreated to Taiwan. Rich in culture and spatial characteristics, the Juan Cun became enclaves of mainlanders in Taiwanese cities. Over the years, most Juan Cun were either demolished or transformed into monuments, destroying the existing social network. Urbanists in Taiwan face the challenge of preparing the remaining Juan Cun to a better future.

Figure. 1 The old image of Juan Cun (Zhongxin Village), notice the bamboo fence ©Lo-E Tsao

What is the historical background for the construction of the Juan Cun? What issue did they address? And how were they built?

Losing the Chinese civil war, Chiang Kai-shek, the Chairman of the Republic of China (ROC), moved to Taiwan in 1949, followed by his military and their families. The amount of immigrants was one to two million, around a quarter of the amount of Taiwanese residents at that time. The primary question was housing. However, Chiang Kai-shek planned to return to mainland China instead of settling down. So immigrants mostly lived in temporary housings or housings built during Japan’s colonization. A single family house that used to be the home of a Japanese professor of the Taiwan University may have accommodated 20 to 30 households. The living condition was so poor that the construction of new houses was a must. From the mid1950s on, various kinds of housing, or Juan Cun, were built by the Ministry of Defense or organizations such as the National Women’s League. The housing, mainly one-story buildings, was developed 40

on land taken from the Japanese, predominantly in cities. It can be regarded as the earliest housing officially built by the public sector of Taiwan. At the same time, to reduce the size of the military, some soldiers were decommissioned and had to live a self-sustained life, but were supported by the military to build their houses on nationalized land. Such housing is now called unlicensed Juan Cun and to a great extend considered illegal. Concluding, the Juan Cun can be divided into official ones, which for the most part have been transformed, and unlicensed ones, now considered illegal.

Let us first talk about the official Juan Cun. How were they transformed? What is your standpoint towards the transformation?

As cities grew, the land of the Juan Cun became valuable. Since 1980, the Juan Cun began to be reconstructed according to the Act Governing the Reconstruction of the Juan Cun. The land owner, the Ministry of Defense, also had money, so it was easy for them to reconstruct

Figure. 2 (left) and 3 (right) Si Si Nan Cun, the first preserved Juan Cun in Taiwan, which is transformed into community center and exhibition center.©Jiayao Liu

the Juan Cun. As part of the reconstruction, single-storey houses were replaced by modern high-rise apartments with elevators. Military personnel and their families who lived in the Juan Cun could buy, rather than rent, those apartments with a housing allowance. Thus, although those apartments were intended to be public housing, they eventually entered the housing market through transactions.

Some statistics today still count them as public housing, but actually they are not .

(Editor: public housing is one of the most controversial urban issues of the recent years in Taiwan.)

the population composition in the Juan Cun changed with the development of the society.

In the early years, the unlicensed Juan Cun were mostly populated by military personnel and their families. Later, immigrants from villages and poor people also moved in.

On the other hand, people whose ancestors settled in Taiwan four hundred years ago from Fujian, calling themselves Hoklo people, considered the Juan Cun as an entirely different society from theirs. The two groups had different lifestyles and languages, and were also spatially segregated. Furthermore, they were also divided in lines of work.

Favorable jobs in public sectors were occupied by mainlanders living in the Juan Cun. Many Hoklo people had to start their own business to make a living. In other words, political power was distributed among mainlanders. So in the 1960s and 70s, the conflict between these two groups was very intense.

“ The Juan Cun are highly dynamic in terms of society, culture, population and space (...) which has become an inherent problem for their preservation. ” Built in a particular period, the Juan Cun also carry a special meaning. How do

In the 1990s, awareness of preserving Juan Cun evolved. People began to consider the Juan Cun as part of the history of city development, as the Juan Cun are common to exist in almost every city in Taiwan.

From then on, some settlements have been preserved, yet only a small amount and merely in a physical way. No one lives there now, as former residents all moved to modern apartments. One example is Si Si Nan Cun near Taipei 101, in which only the form of buildings remained, while the function inside totally changed (Fig.2-3).

How about the unlicensed Juan Cun? Did any change happen to them?

As the unlicensed Juan Cun did not fall into the Act Governing the Reconstruction of Juan Cun, many of them remained. But

Taiwanese think of the Juan Cun?

The opinions can be quite diverse, depending on one’s position. For the people who once lived in a Juan Cun, the days spend there are a precious memory to them. They treasure the close social network and cuisine of the Juan Cun very much. In the Juan Cun, courtyards are separated by bamboo fences (fig.1), which were not an absolute division. Activities in courtyards were open to neighbors, representing a sense of community. I have never lived in a Juan Cun, so I learned those facts from novels and dramas. Actually, in the 1990s, the decreasing amount of Juan Cun evoked cultural preservation movements, leading to a great deal of work related to the Juan Cun. However, as time went by, the public attention for the cultural preservation of the Juan Cun dropped, especially recently.

Can you explain more about how the spatial segregation developed? Was there a clear boundary between Hoklo settlements and the Juan Cun?

In fact, the Hoklo settlements and the Juan Cun mingled in the same area. But since the spatial patterns were different, one could identify the two systems easily. Typical Hoklo housing types were townhouses and shophouses, with arcades and shops on the ground floor. And the Hoklo society was less hierarchical than the mainlanders’ society, which was also reflected in the space.

Housing in official Juan Cun stood in rows orderly and seemed to be a system of its own, while the Hoklo housing, usually built individually, would never be so organized.

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Figure.4 Tourist Map of Treasure Hill in Taipei, an informal Juan Cun which was turned into an artists community, attracting workshops and exhibitions. ŠJiayao Liu

Does a segregation between the Hoklo and the mainlanders still exist?

Today, there is a third generation of mainlanders. The division between the Hoklo people and the mainlanders was blurred by education, marriage and urban life in general. In daily life, it no longer makes sense to distinguish mainlanders from Hoklo. This topic is only mentioned during elections or in some specific regions. The new factor that contributes to such a shift is the influence of China. Currently, Taiwanese people are divided by their position on unification or independence. That’s one of the reasons why preservation of the Juan Cun does not attract as much public attention as before.

What do you think should be the value of the Juan Cun today? How can the value be maintained or reinforced?

It should be respected as part of the history of city development. However, the social network and lifestyle, the most important elements of the Juan Cun, are now detached from space. As the residents moved from the Juan Cun to modern housing, the preservation of local culture and physical form simultaneously has become almost impossible. That is the internal contradiction of the Juan Cun preservation. In most cases the processes of preservation do not take the people into consideration. The built structure 42

remains, merely to exhibit urban fabric and history. However, to have an impression of the old days of Juan Cun, novels, movies and stories do better than mere physical buildings. There were several attempts to keep people in the neighborhoods, such as Kong Jun Yi Cun. But they failed because residents were given new housing and left Juan Cun due to the act of reconstruction.

On the contrary, unlicensed Juan Cun, which are out of the act of reconstruction, have the opportunity to preserve the social structure.

Like in Liu Gong Jun (Fig.5), inhabitants have a strong will to continue living in the area, so the culture and social network in the neighborhood can continue and develop through time.

Another internal contradiction is the dynamic population. The people who moved to Juan Cun in the 1950s, are getting old or pass away. Although their offspring still lives in the Juan Cun, they no longer serve in the military, which triggers changes of social class. In this respect, the Juan Cun are highly dynamic in terms of society, culture, population and space. The foundation of their existence is not steady, which has become an inherent problem in preserving the Juan Cun.

putting local people in the center. As a member of the OURs committee, how do you evaluate these projects?

The work of OURs is mostly about recording and documentation. However, besides recording, development is also important, especially for the cultural aspect. Take the Taiwanese aborigines culture for example.

The sustainability of its population and cultural cultivation are based on economic activities such as manufacturing and tourism.

In the Juan Cun, on the contrary, there are hardly any economic activities. Hence it is important to ask which aspects of its culture should be preserved. Why they need to be preserved and how. Should the physical form be the primary concern of preservation?

If yes, which functions should be in those buildings? Without sustainable social conditions, it is really a great challenge. In the 1990s, some Juan Cun were transformed into museums, exhibition centers or community centers, such as Treasure Hill (Fig.4) and Si Si Nan Cun. However, the best time for preservation has gone, as the distinction of the Hoklo people from the mainlanders is no longer the main concern of society. Currently, there are some innovative projects such as in the Zhongxin Village, trying to find a new solution.

OURs is an association focusing on urban spatial issues, which has led

In which way do you think the Juan Cun

several Juan Cun regeneration projects

culture can be passed on?

For the Hoklo people like me, most Juan Cun preservation locations provide a place for us to know and meet the culture. But in my opinion, it is not enough. I may see an exhibition, but it is not a real dialogue between the two groups. Real dialogue is about social interaction, rather than through static built environments.

The ideal way of preservation, in my opinion, is that the people who once lived in the Juan Cun are willing to go back to the places and carry out their own ideas to vitalize the area. One of a few examples is Si Si Nan Cun, where there is an exhibition about the Juan Cun lifestyle, and visitors are guided by volunteers who come from the Juan Cun. Another example is the Rainbow Village in Taichung (Fig.6), where facades of buildings are painted with graffiti by someone who used to live there. It has nothing to do with the public sector, yet it really helps to bring the abandoned housings back to life and turns the place into a popular tourist site. More possibilities like these should be explored to make use of the buildings. Such interventions, however, often cannot be programmed or planned, as they are more likely to appear in a situation of autonomy.

The internal contradictions, I mentioned before, make it difficult.

One example is Liu Gong Jun, an unlicensed Juan Cun in New Taipei.

OURs tried to create some new public spaces, integrate the location in the urban fabric and bring in some shops and workshops as economic support, in addition to the renovation of the buildings. But it was eventually demolished for being illegally constructed. In the case of official Juan Cun, the Ministry of Defense, who owns the land, usually claims back their right of use and totally transforms the landscape.

Preservation is never considered as one of their options to utilize the area. Almost all the Juan Cun that are preserved and maintained, as far as I know, were protected by citizens from being demolished, some of whom did not even live in a Juan Cun before. They appreciated the historic value of the Juan Cun or unique spatial quality compared to the dense and highly-populated urban environment around. However, those ideas get hardly across to the administrative sectors. It has much to do with the policy on vitalization of government-owned land. The public sector may sell the land to private developers or build new buildings for housing, but they seldom take initiative to preserve the culture and landscape of an area. The system itself restricted possibilities of regeneration on government-owned land.

“ The ideal way of preservation, in my opinion, is that the people who once lived in Juan Cun are willing to go back to the places and carry out their own ideas to revitalize the area.”

Figure. 5 Liu Gong Jun Community ©Jiayao Liu？？

Jiayao Liu

Figure. 6 Rainbaw Village ©Johanna Huang

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Redesigning Juan Cun The Preservation and Renovation of Zhongxin Village

lo-e tsao teacher at department of architecture shih-chien university, taiwan

Currently, Juan Cun are no longer physical shelters, but rather spiritual shelters for mainlanders. The transition was done by demolishing most Juan Cun and leaving a few as symbolic monuments. During the process, residents were forced to move out and relocate themselves in other communities. Juan Cun used to be a multi-culture society, where mutual trust and assistance was the most valuable thing during hard times. Moving residents out of Juan Cun in fact destroyes the spirit of Juan Cun. Therefore, urbanists should rethink the meaning of preservation and think out of the box to revitalize Juan Cun. Zhongxin Village is an innovative project by the author and his team, trying to give a sustainable future to the decaying community.

• Historical background

The Zhongxin Village is located at a hillside in the north of Taipei city. The land of the neighborhood originally belonged to a Taipei military hospital during the Japanese colonial era. Founded at 1898, the hospital was a hot spring sanitarium for wounded soldiers. After the Second World War the Chinese Nationalist army took over the hospital. The staff and their families later started building their temporary homes on the vacant space or in the existing buildings in the west part of the hospital.

Due to increasing need for living space, the National Women’s League funded seven single-storey houses for the neighborhood in 1962. The next year the settlement was officially recognized as a Juan Cun neighborhood and named Zhongxin Village.

Afterwards residences were still able to continue the constructing and restructing of their houses based on their needs. Currently 69 households live in the neighborhood of 1.4 hectare.

According to the Act of Reconstruction of Juan Cun, the residents of Zhongxin Village are supposed to move out by 2014. Therefore the future of this site became an important question both for the residents and scholars of local culture and history. A movement to preserve the neighborhood was organized, which proposed several preservation and renovation projects .

of the project 1. The neighborhood was designated as historical settlement

by Taipei municipality in 2010 2. The preliminary survey and mapping of the building and the basic preservation guidelines are finished. (see Fig.3) 3. The project was exhibited in

The Zhongxin Village has several important characteristics: 1. A variety of housing typologies: All different kinds of Juan Cun houses can be found in this neighborhood, making Zhongxin Village a museum of Juan Cun housing (see Fig. 2).

2. A clear reason for the development of the district: The hot spring was a drive for the development of the district as well as the establishment of the military hospital. From this angle, this Juan Cun neighborhood witnessed an early and very unique development history.

Figure 1. the former hospital administration office as municipal historic building and a very important public space for the local residents, which is recently restored by the author together with his team ©Lo-E Tsao

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The current situation

the Internationale Architectuur Biënnale Rotterdam 2009, in the sector of “Diaspora” of parallel cases.

Figure 2. The distribution of different housing typologies ©Lo-E Tsao

Figure 3. The proposed preservation guidelines ©Lo-E Tsao

3. Typical social structure: Zhongxin Village is one of the few Juan Cun in which the traditional close relationship between neighborhood andmilitary still exists, making it possible to preserve and transform the social structure.

4. Unique Identity: Zhongxin Village is the only Juan Cun in Taiwan which has a public hot spring bathhouse.

5. Land ownership: The land is owned by both the Ministry of Defense and the municipality, which means that it can be easily transformed topublic use.

does not work for Juan Cun preservation. Another problem is the structural and public safety issues related to the high density and the disordered construction in the past. These issues should be considered and handled carefully in the regeneration process.

We think that regeneration of Juan Cun should shout think outside of the box and be more open to different possibilities. Under the current urban planning regulation system, there should be some places for innovative renovation methods.

We purposed the concept of lifepreservation which means that in addition to preserving essential historic buildings, opportunities for future sustainable transformation should be considered.

Contradiction between informal settlements and intervention of public sectors One of the main characteristics of Juan Cun is the dynamic and organic building forms that are adapted to local conditions. However, we learned from the previous practices that for the sake of safety and administrative convenience, public sectors tend to ignore or alter the organic self-renovation system when they implement preservation projects. In order to preserve the identity of Juan Cun, third parties like NGOs should be the main actor to implement Juan Cun regeneration projects, from which it is more likely to achieve balance between administrative and local requirements.

"In addition to preserving historic buildings, opportunities for future sustainable transformation should be considered."

• Reflection about Juan Cun preservation

Before having our goals and strategies, some questions must be studied and answered.

How can Juan Cun be preserved?

When the circumstance under which the Juan Cun developed does not exist anymore, what should be the object and objective of Juan Cun preservation? Buildings, local residents or both?

In our opinion, the spirit of mutual assistance and sharing is the crucial element of Juan Cun. This is hardly seen in other housing typology in Taiwan, and therefore should be maintained. A preservation method which removes local residents destroys the whole social structure, and thus kills the spirit of Juan Cun. To build a sustainable community, new users should be involved and contribute in the planning and design process. Then, the composition of the population can change smoothly and is able to meet new social demands.

The possibility of life-preservation In traditional methods of preservation, the form of historic buildings is maintained accordingly to the style of a certain period. However, buildings in Juan Cun were built, extended and transformed by inhabitants individually and continuously, so one building may have accumulated styles and ideas from different periods. Thus, the attempt to freeze the form of building in one certain period

• Our goals

Unlike other preserved Juan Cun, which were mainly repurposed as museums in Taiwan,the Zhongxin Village preservation project attempts to apply the concept of life -preservation of the site. In our proposal, the housing in the neighborhood will be renovated to be a special type of social housing, of which potential residents are current Jun Cun residents, students from universities nearby, the employees of the hospital and even psychiatric patients (today the neighborhood hospital is the only specialized psychiatric military hospital) .

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A History of Civil Uprising Tahir Square, Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt

mike emmerik research & teaching assistant tu delft

End of January 2011, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered Anti-Mubarak demonstrators erected improvised barricades around on the Tahrir Square, demanding the end of President Hosini the square and within a few hours a camp arose, providing a meeting Mubarak’s regime. The square became a symbol of what we now place and shelter for those who supported the revolution. Tents were know as the Arab Spring; a series of civil uprisings across the Arab put-up for those who stayed overnight to protect the camp, food world demanding more political freedom. Within a couple of days, stalls provided meals, and the toilets of the adjacent construction the square transformed from a busy roundabout into a protesters’ site, became the campsite’s lavatory. Internet activists –who played a crucial role in the revolution – met in the middle of the roundabout campground, including a variety of temporary facilities.

During the eighteen days of protest, the square has been both and an elevated platform was used as a main stage, for speeches, a practical as well as a symbolic location for the anti Mubarak prayers and commemorations for those who died during the movement. Constructed at the end of the 19th century as part of a demonstrations. Also a kindergarten was organised since schools had (Haussmann inspired) project of modernizing the city by Egypt's closed during the protests. A street hospital was erected for injured then ruler, Ismail Pasha, it holds a central position in the history of protestors to have their wounds treated and even the Kentucky Fried Chicken on the square was taken over modern Egypt. It is large enough to and turned into a clinic. accommodate thousands of people, On the 11th of February, after 18 days and is surrounded by some of the most of intense protest, Mubarak finally important buildings in Cairo; the state announced his resignations and TV’s offices, the National Museum the council declared new elections. housed within the characteristic pink Following a night of celebrations, building, and the former headquarters some protesters began to clean up of Mubarak’s NDP party. the square as a symbol of a new Throughout the years, Tahrir square Amr Gharbeia, 2011 on Twitter beginning. It would however not (‘Liberation square’) witnessed many remain calm for long. A few weeks major protests and demonstrations after the fall of Mubarak, again thousands of Egyptians gathered on including the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 and 1952, which overthrew the monarchy and turned Egypt into a republic, the 'Bread Riots' of the square to warn the new Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf to meet 1977, and the March 2003 protests against the American war in Iraq. their demands for political reforms. Nowadays the square is still used Due to the uprising of 2011, Tahrir square became internationally for various demonstrations and will probably remain a turbulent known as a symbol of liberation and revolution in the Middle East place: a place of liberation and democracy. and North Africa.

The revolution in Egypt began at the end of 2010, following a series of events in Tunisia, sparked by the young Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself to fire on 19 December 2010 after the police confiscated the vegetables he was selling from a street stall. During the following days thousands of young Tunisians took the streets to protest against Knell, Y., 2011. Egypt unrest – Tour of Camp. BBC News, [online]. Available from: http://www.bbc. the high unemployment rates, the lack of political freedom and other co.uk/news/world-12434787 social defects. The civil uprising spread to Egypt two days later, when Al Jazeera, 2011. Tahrir Square's historic past. Al Jazeera [online] Available from: http://www. a man also set fire to himself in front of the Egyptian parliament aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121103522508343.html building, demanding the end of Mubarak's 30 years of autocratic Blight, G., Pulham, S. and Torpey,P., 2012. Arab spring: an interactive timeline of Middle East rule. On the 25th of January - known as the "Day of Revolt" - large protests. The Guardian [online] Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2011/ coordinated protests erupted throughout Egypt, with its central point mar/22/middle-east-protest-interactive-timeline on Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“This revolution is the result of someone sending a Facebook invitation to many people... ”

Process

Figure 1. Process elements of the Arab Spring © Mike Emmerik

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Tunisia: Jobless graduate Mohamed Bouazizi, sets himself to fire after police confiscated the vegetables he was selling

Self immolation of a man near the Egyptian parliament

2

Egyptians protest against President Hosni Murabak’s regime

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Tahrir Square is turned into a the protesters' camp

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Hundre thousan people g on the s

CAIRO

Street clinic

Food stalls

tion

ruc onst

Toilet

Site

C

Kindergarten KFC clinic

bloggers

Campsite

main stage

Campsite Pharmacy

Timeline

eds of nds of gather square

Figure2. Birds eye of Tahrir square © Mike Emmerik

Timeline

9 Jan. 2011 Young Tunesians take the street against joblessness and other social ills 13 Jun. 1906. Denshawai Incident: British officers open fire on villagers

17 Jan. Man sets himself on fire near Egyptian parliament 27 Jan. Police uses teargas and violence against protesters

1870 .The ‘Ismailia Square’ is being constructed as part of Cairo’s new downtown district's 'Paris on the Nile'

1 Feb. Hundreds of thousands gather on the square 11 Feb. Mubarak resigns

2 Feb. Violent clashes between antiand pro-Mubarak protesters

The Egyptian Revolution of 1952

1882. British defeat the Egyptian army and take control of the country

25 Feb. 'day of rage' across the Middle East 31 Jan. Army tells demonstrators they won’t fire

1919 Revolution / first women’s demonstration

Antigovernment protesters clash with supporters of Mubarak 6

25 Jan. Mass Protests agains Mubarak at Tahrir Square 17 Dec. 2010 Tunis: Jobless graduate Mohamed Bouazizi, sets himself to fire after police confiscated the vegetables he was selling

Figure 3. Timeline of events © Mike Emmerik

The campsite is becoming more permanent with various improvisedfacilities

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Mubarak resigns

Protest spread further around the Middle East

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47

Tahrir Square Revisited

noheir el gendy phd candidate at milan polytechnic university msc. in landscape architecture and environmental planning

on the roles of public space

this text first apperared in ZAWIA#00:change

The contemporary transformations of the city exhibits a profound redrawing of the contours of public and private spaces. In turn, a vigorous debate has developed among

architects and urbanists regarding

the transformation of public space:

on the one hand discourses that lamented the ‘end of public space’ (e.g. Sorkin 1992) and, on the other, contrasting opinions that advocated new forms of public space located in private spaces for collective use or in alternative spaces such as wastelands or parking lots (e.g. Chase et al.1999).Though the notion of public space has been continuously redefined and reinterpreted, the drastic changes that accompanied the process of ‘occupying squares and streets’ have introduced a new perception of these spaces that mix both private and the public. This requires a revisiting of the term 'public space'.

Tahrir Square is one such space of transformation. The multiweek occupation of the square changed the significance and the role of the space: boundaries were redefined, notions set and values practiced .

The square was turned into a ‘state within the state’, not just as a concept, but also functionally containing the basic components of the civil state. It was a form of a heterotopia with definite boundaries and controlled access points, containing overlapping activities and spaces, and housing people, with their different social, economic and political backgrounds.

The polis,the ideal of the city state,sought the good life by pursuing equilibrium between the public sphere (agora), the private sphere (oikos), and the sacred spheres (acropolis and necropolis). Tahrir Square, during the eighteen days of the revolution and onwards, physically and spiritually embodies these three spheres.

• The public sphere, the Agora

The square became a political platform housing different political views, discussions and debates. Egyptians from different backgrounds were often seen truly interacting with each other for the first time.

The square was divided into different zones of public expression.

Everyone expressed his opinion in his own way, be it through discussions, billboards, paintings, speeches or even sketch comedy . Entry to the square included ceremonial chanting and songs ito encourage the newcomers to join the free Egypt at Tahrir. At the center of the square was a platformdedicated to announcements and speeches, encouraging everyone to join and express his opinion. In addition, the square was filled with galleriesexpressing grief,passion and hope through artand several singers producing new songs that gave expression to new feelings of freedom.

Figure 1 Tahrir Square January 29th, 2011, © Digital Globe. (left) February 11th 2011 © Satelite Imaging Corporation (right)

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Tahrir Square became the locus of self-expression. The process of discussing and sharing ideas in different scales redefined the meaning of the square for many people who were otherwise deprived of practicing democracy for a long time. The square made it possible to be an active member within the society, thus encouraging thousands to take part in this process of decision making and defining the demands.

• The private sphere, the Oikos

The Square also included lots of activities that fall into the private sector of the state. It was turned from a roundabout into a huge campsite to accommodate the demonstrators for days on end. Spurred on by a feeling that the square belonged to them, these temporary inhabitants took to redesigning the square and redefining its borders to suit their needs throughout the sit-in. The square came to serve a diversity of functions. First were the campsites, including tents for sleeping purposes and attached to it food stalls, water tanks and toilets. Secondly, a bloggers' camp formed the media centre of the square, spreading the word and sharing news about the square. In addition, a newspaper wall where people gathered each morning to catch up with the latest news and had discussions and debates. Then there were the makeshift clinics and pharmacies, which served the healthcare needs of the square, due in large part to the continuous confrontations and their related injuries. There was also a kindergarten to look after the children of people who wanted to join the protests, and which organized activities to form a sort of informal education in the square. Finally, there were the flag sellers who formed the basis for a market that quickly extended to include food and drinks.

Each of these different activities were housed in the same space, sometimes overlapping or taking shifts, one after the other. A tour through the square was a tour through a nascent state structure that went beyond the idea of being a public space.

• The Sacred Sphere, the Acropolis and Necropolis

As the Greek polis sacred sphere included the temple (acropolis) and the cemetery (necropolis), so also did the values that the square symbolized to the people assign it a level of sacredness. The square was the embodiment of people's demands and values. The fact that people wanted to protect the square and were prepared to die to keep it, shows that the square was not just the space that housed the revolution, but also a symbol for all the dreams and hopes for the revolutionary Utopia that they sought to create. They hoped that this Utopia, in which they set their new values, would be able then to spread around their country. Even within the square borders they practiced certain ethical values known as the Ethics of the square.

Tahrir Square also became the symbol of liberation. It became the site where hundreds of thousands of Egyptians found personal liberation and practiced the values of equality, integrity, unity and dignity.

"people wanted to protect the square and were prepared to die to keep it"

The occupation of Tahrir Square for eighteen days and subsequent turn into ‘state within the state’, a national model of experimentation, added a new dimension to the discussion on the transformative power of public spaces. And one that should be readdressed.. The square, which had long been an eyewitness on the political, social and economic changes in Egyptian society, now came to play a critical role in its own right. The process of public square occupations has highlighted the relationship between people and their public spaces , and turned these spaces into icons across the world.

Chase J. J., Crawford M. and Kaliski, J. (eds), Everyday Urbanism, The Monacelli Press, New York 1999.

Sorkin, M. (ed.) Variations on a Theme Park, the New American City and the End of Public Space, Hill & Wang, New York 1992.

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Los Angeles

Illuminating the Form of Legacy Fusion

jorick beijer graduated in 2012 at tu delft www.jorickbeijer.nl

This article deals with the (re-)emergence of modernity in the public domain, infrastructure and urban form of Los Angeles. Does legacy mean termination?

Are things really pre- or post-? Reyner Banhams supreme book “Los Angeles: the Architecture of Four Ecologies” (1971) gave rise to the thesis “Los Angeles - the metropolis and five stages of modernity” (MSc Urbanism, TU Delft).

The study

exploits modernity’s history in the formation of the city Los Angeles. It renders a possible future of modernity, positioned in the realm of optimistic utopia. The thesis argues that meaningful places in the city are build on older urban ecologies. And that although our time-space configuration might evolve radically, there remains a human need to be rooted in authentic urban space.

• 2028 Modernity through the sky

In the urban region where the ‘armature’ has been the celebration of expansion for decades, this is also the momentum for inverting the way we treat infrastructure.

The thesis renders the concept of a concentrated, inwards oriented armature.

An urban armature that reveals an ecology of various ecologies. Forecasting a different future, radically provoking reality. Intopia: intense, interpersonal, interconnected. The design project builds on the theoretical

concept of the ‘spatial fix’ (Harvey, 2001), in anticipation of new times of overaccumulation. The designed monorail takes up a possible stroke of intensification in Downtown LA, a better connection and greater microenvironments. It introduces two new paces, that of the Skytrain where the user takes a rapid monorail and that of the skywalk - a place for walking, biking or rollerblading.

Ten stations are the heart of intensification areas, chosen at strategic locations around

vacancy, cultural hotspots and existing infrastructure. The intensification areas introduce a radically new concept in Downtown LA, namely that of the pedestrian area within the block. These zones are connected by a hanging Skytrain with a promenade on top of the structure; the Skywalk that on the fourth floor organizes a new public domain. A reintroduction of former ecologies of walking, cycling and the collective - a glimpse of a future that is durable and exciting.

Figure 1. Rendering Intopia © Jorick Beijer

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Figure 2. Map LA form 2000-1890 © Jorick Beijer

• The stages of modernity

After the 20th century of enclosure, relations are nowadays based on the understanding that everything appears in plural and one understands that we can be multiple people at the same time without being schizophrenic. A person inhabiting a place in a city can be at the same time and without contradiction inhabiting a street, a neighbourhood, a city and a nation. Each of these simultaneous ‘identities’ involves different relations to objects around oneself, especially to transportation technologies and physical networks.

Different ecologies support these different identities who have undeniably changed throughout time. The user of a modern mall will understand that location in relation to ecology formed around the highway, while a person around 1930 in the same spot will reason and understand in relation to the tram, just as someone in 1890 will do so with the perspective of horsetravel.

one could walk. The grain of Downtown LA is rather fine and low dense, we can distinct a small centrality and around that a variety of houses on single plots. The grid is rigid but spacious and allows streets to have wide profiles. Downtown was loosened from its heavy urban ties by orange- and vineyards, radiating out of the fabric. The population of Downtown was already of great mixture. The Sanborn maps show Chinese laundry’s and German schools. The regional maps shows very distinct cities and settlements, connected by long stretches. These roads, possibly even sandy paths, served to facilitate the horse conveyances through what was mainly desert. Needless to say, the city back then was in a pace that nowadays would hardly be recognized. In fact, a pace other than the one given by nature – a man walking, a horse trotting – came into play for the very first time. The specific space / time configuration of the public domain in Downtown LA truly formed a distinct urban ecology.

• 1890 the ecology of walking, tasting modernity

The Angeleno, inhabiting Los Angeles just before the 20th century was interconnected by foot, bicycle and horse conveyance. Modernity was tasted little by little, whereas transnational trains showed a first glimpse of a world that later would virtually become smaller and smaller. In Downtown LA this was anchored by the rail track on Alameda Street and the little cluster of a post-office, bank and some shops. Around this, life was organised and determined by distances

• 1929 Collective modernity, the ecology of the streetcar

Around 1929 the city was ‘fixed’ by two networks of public transit, the Pacific Electric Railway (the red cars) and the Downtown yellow cars. The long lines of the of the Pacific Electric were dialectic to the so called ‘streetcar-suburbs’ as Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank but also to adjacent cities as Santa Monica. The yellow cars were part of an impressive expansion of the heart of Los Angeles city to 51

the south of Downtown. The streetcar was one of the facilitators of this vital expansion, but really was another chapter in the life of Downtowns inhabitants. The grain of Downtown LA was small, some boulevards densely build. Centrality was linear, it was a place of long lines. One could imagine lively boulevards, full of activity and people walking, and masses of people moving together; on electricity.

The modern city of the early 20th century was on the contrary impacted by the development of infrastructures and transportation systems, by movement transforming the static city image into the a city of panorama where the new experience of moving through the city tended to erase the traditional sense of pictorial enclosure as the cityscape was transformed into a series of fleeting impressions and momentary encounters (Boyer, 1994). The German philosopher George Simmel writes about the psychological foundation, upon which the individuality is erected, being the intensification of emotional life due to the swift and continuous shift of external and internal stimuli (Simmel, 1999). Simmel argues that the metropolitan inhabitant, having to cope with a vast amount of impressions, creates a protective organ for itself against the profound disruption of the external milieu threatening it. Instead of reacting emotionally, the metropolitan type reacts primarily in a rational manner. Harvey argues that this kind of movement puts the city in another pace.

Ordinary life speeding up, the stimuli of urbanity became more and more overwhelming (Harvey, 2006).

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• 1970 Autopia; persuasive modernity

The choice for the freeways was a deliberate choice for modernity.

It let a completely new public domain emerge, a domain with the enclosure of the mall and parking garage. The freeway – a product of public capital – became the very last remaining public space.

Reyner Banham labelled the extensive freeway landscape of Los Angeles, Autopia. Collectively the Angelenos in the fifties and sixties renounced the Pacific Electric railway system in favour of the car.

The automobile was comfortable and gave presence to the desire of being independent. But Banham’s Autopia was definitely not only the freeway as piece of infrastructure, it was “a single comprehensible place, a coherent state of mind, a complete way of life” (Banham 1978). The freeways catalysed a last leap of urban sprawl as we see in the regional map. But it also changed the form of downtown. The 1970s centre of the city has got a bigger grain, became less intense and got a noticeable different morphology. It developed a radically different pattern of centrality. David Harvey (2001) understood this phenomena as an expression of the ‘spatial fix’. The spatial fix is literally a fix. A geographical expansion to resolve problems of overaccumalation. It is partly achieved through fixing investments spatially, embedding them in the land and by that creating an entirely new landscape for capital accumulation (Harvey, 2001). A spatial fix does not necessarily have to be a geographical expansion, but in the case of California it often was. The infrastructures of urbanization are crucial to absorb surpluses of capital and labour. The spatial fix every time solves a crisis. Infrastructures as monuments of modernity.

Postmodern urbanism from the 1980’s made cityscapes emerge that assemble historic styles and scenographic allusions, interconnected by various kinds of visible and invisible infrastructures. In the City of Spectacle the collective memory is replaced by a false or at least manipulated historical image, mainly articulating the message of consumerism (Boyer 1994, Sorkin 1992).

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Figure 3. Analysis 1888-1929-1970-2011 © Jorick Beijer

Figure 4. Design for Los Angeles Skywalk © Jorick Beijer

• 2011 An ecology of residual ecologies

Postmodernism is dead and we might never have been modern at all (Brown 1990; Latour 1993). Marc Auge argues a ‘supermodernity’; something that does not communicate the negotiation of narrative and identity, but rather their theatrical multiplication in an avalanche of space, time and event. Not so much the ‘post-’ as an condemnation of the previous, but the multiplication of newer modernities (Auge 1995). Kazys Varnelis draws the historic outline of the spatial development of Los Angeles as a basis for a contemporary state of clustering through evolving infrastructures (Varnelis 2005).

Varnelis analyses that in Los Angeles the condition of sprawl ended and that it slightly began to transform into a ‘cluster city’, being centres and nodes in a formerly diffuse field of urban sprawl. He articulates the idea that some earlier ecologies are starting to reappear as ‘shadows’. The places that matter in 2011 can then be understood in a multiplicative perspective of history. In 2011 we see a stack of infrastructural components in the city that have been of key influence on the perception of the public domain. The pace of the city changed by the mode of transport, from the stagecoach to the car to the airplane. It resulted in a domain of motion,

one of intense stimuli, extreme spectacle and blinding genericness (Koolhaas 1995, Harvey 2006, Simmel 1999). Peter Sloterdijk describes an abolition of the outside world where the public realm becomes an interior, a closed sphere. Sloterdijk sees it in line with a trend that was perfected in the 20th-century: “[...] Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace, erected in London in 1851, is the paradigmatic building. It forms the first hyper-interior that offers a perfect expression of the spatial idea of psychedelic capitalism. It is the prototype of all later theme-park interiors and event architectures” (Sloterdijk 2009).

AUGE, M. (1995) Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. London, Verso BANHAM, R. (1971) Los Angeles: The architecture of four ecologies. NY: Pelican.

BOYER, M. C. (1994) The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments. Cambridge, MIT Press.

HARVEY, D. (2001) ‘Globalization and the “spatial fix”’, Geographische Revue, 2, 23-30.

HARVEY, D. (2006) “The political economy of public space” in: S. Low & N. Smith (eds.) The Politics of Public Space. London; Routledge KOOLHAAS, R. and MAU, B. (1995) S,M,L,XL.

• Discussion

New York, Monacelli Press

In the time since the development’s completion, globalization has produced a plethora of urban centres which are as uniform and sterile as the worst examples of orthodox Modernism - minus the social idealism. What once was called the public realm has become a place of frenzied consumerism monitored by the watchful eyes of thousands of surveillance cameras, often closed off to those who cannot afford the price of membership. In this new world, architecture looks more and more like a form of corporate branding.

We have forgotten how to design authentic places in the city.

LATOUR, B. (1993). We have never been modern. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

BROWN, D. (1990) Urban Concepts: Rise and Fall of Community Architecture. NY: St Martin’s.

SIMMEL, G. (1905). The metropolis and mental life. In G. Bridge and S. Watson (Eds.), The Blackwell city reader 2002 (pp. 11-19).

SLOTERDIJK, P. (2009). Spheres theory: talking to myself about the poetics of space. Harvard Design Magazine. 30, 126-137 SORKIN, M. (1992 ) Variations on a themepark.

New York, Hill and Wang VARNELIS, K. (2005). “Los Angeles: Cluster City”. In S Read, J Rosemann, & J van Eldijk (Eds.), Future city (pp. 174-194). Spon Press.

ZUKIN, S. (2009) Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places. Oxford, Oxford

53

A|rch|natomizing Somalia Zain Abu Seir MSc. Architecture from University of Michigan

land and pirate landscape in the water orces that shape each other’s ecologies this text first apperared in ZAWIA#00:change tability. the pirates traffic idp and even a|rch|natomizing collected work dps either move Somalia awayis alooking forinvestigating safer the use of architectural representation to anatomize a politically charged site, thus exploring the potential towards the pirate setllements for jobs. impact processed/filtered/formatted information has onon the ground realities and [1] due to the liquid nature of media coverage of those settings. Somalia was chosen its boundary, complex organizational structure, and lack of action and attention in first: points of attack of pirates[2] relation to the rapid deterioration of the political, economic, and social aspects of second: expanded boundary matrix causes constant the country. Somalia’s unstablewater political/economic/social shifting and expansion of internally displaced people settlements, refugee camps, gical tracking of pirates points of attack and now expanding pirate territory. These factors not only morph the boundary and creates a new boundary[3] landscape of Somalia, but shake the ecology and dynamics of the country in every ary of sense. somalia expands into the sea to include somali pirate territory The work explores the agency of information Figure 1.1-1.4: internally displaced people (IDP) mapping pirate territoryconventions, and movement taking shape from architectural landscape on land and pirate landscape in the water modes of analysis, and conceptual are becoming forces that shape each other’s ecologies lation theorization. to the The internally displaced people lines, the images, the and somalia’s instability. the pirates traffic idp and nland, text,and themappings relationship between and the are tools working even recruitthe them; the idps either move away looking communicate safer areas and collectively growthandofindividually both toin relation forto oneor move towards the pirate setllements and reassess existing conditions, decode data, for jobs. another.[4][5] reveal the otherwise hidden information, 1.1 points of attack by pirates

54

movement in the sea in relation to the internally displaced people (IDP) movement inland, and the relationship between the overlap, shrinking and growth of both in relation to one another..

area : internally displaced people : controlled

area : pdisplacement + attack

: control

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people pirates captured

pirate suspicious pirate attack

injury possible goods possible ransom possible

pirate attempt

injury possible 0 goods 0 ransom

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people internally displaced people area : pirate territory : control internally displaced people close to pirate control area : internally displaced people : controlled inland risk area : pdisplacement + attack

: control

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people 7 23 2005 7 20 2007

3 16 2008

3 19 2006 10 22 2007 7 9 2006 5 28 2005

pirates captured

7 29 2005

7 18 2005 7 29 20 12 6 2005

12 15 2005 4 22 2008 4 21 2008

4 2 2008

1 21 2006

2

pirate suspicious

6 21 2006

9 20 2007

3 5 2008 3 26 2006

4 12 2008

4 15 2 4 16 2008 3 15 4 5 2008 3 29 20 4 16 200 9 29 2007 3 5 2008 1 2 2006 1 7 2006 2 11 2008 3 8 2005 3 8 2005 4 4 2008 12 11 2007 8 3 2005 4 1 2008 12 11 2005 10 29 2007 4 21 2008 10 29 2002 5 10 2006 5 10 2008 2006 4 2 20085 10 2006 3 316162008

pirate attack 1 7 2005

1 25 2006 8 27 2006 4 17 2006 7 23 2005 7 20 2007

injury possible goods possible ransom possible

pirate attempt

3 19 2006 10 22 2007 7 9 2006 5 28 2005

2 12 2008 7 29 2005

12 15 2005

4 2 2008

injury possible 7 18 2005 7 29 20 12 6 2005 0 goods 4 22 2008 0 ransom 2 25 20 4 21 2008

2

internally people landscape displaced in the water

idp landscape on land and pirate are becoming forces that shape each other’s ecologies and somalia’s instability. the pirates traffic idp and even displaced people close to pirate control recruit them; internally the idps either move away looking for safer areas or move towards the pirate setllements for jobs.

[1] first: points of attack of pirates[2] second: expanded water boundary third: chronological tracking of pirates points of attack creates a new boundary[3] fourth: the boundary of somalia expands into the sea to include somali pirate territory opposite: temporally mapping pirate territory and movement in the sea in relation to the internally displaced people movement inland, and the relationship between the overlap, shrinking and growth of both in relation to one another.[4][5] 9 20 2007

1 21 2006

12 7 2005

9

6 26 2005

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

1 26 2007

7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

1 11 2006

7 28 2005

10 18

5 22 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 2 12 2008 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

time line : pirate attack : years

conditions in the country resulted in 1.46 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), 6,900 asylum-seekers and 1,965 refugees in Somalia [2]. The IDP’s settlements increase in number every year and form a network of their own within the country of Somalia.

The network and shifting boundary of the idp_scape responds to drought, famine, conflict, and now pirates. The increased pirate control and expanding territory started to affect and shift the idp_scape, pulling the IDP boundary in as they attract and recruit

area : pirate territory : control

time line : pirate attack : years

tland turns againstandSomali June and to rationalize spatialize pirates, the settings. BBC, 1.2 : expanded water boundary The three dimensional modeling, GIS 1.3: chronological 2009. tracking of points of attack by mapping and analysis expand the current pirates creates a new boundary 9 TerraMetrics, NASA, Data SIO, NOAA U.S. knowledge and reveal hidden relationships. 1.4: the boundary of Somalia expands into the sea to Navy, NGA, GEBCO The work thereby expands the conversation include somali pirate territory [3] Ibid to include existing effects of public policy, address theHigh humanitarian crisis, and project nited Nations Commissioner for Refugees future spatial solutions and conditions.

The _IDPs_SEP06_to_OCT07, UNHCR’s Population distribution of the work helps in making the ment Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 information more accessible, and the people nited Nations Highinstead Commissioner for Figure Refugees more exposed of being withheld 2: Maps showing the government and pirate _IDPs_SEP06_to_NOV07, UNHCR’s Population from some or all aspects of the situation. controlled territories in Somalia ent Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 border of Somalia has been in flux acementTheseries, UNHCR, Population Movement for hundreds of years, as Somalia lacked a ing Database, UNDP Survey 2004 central government sinceSettlement 1991[1]. Unstable Figure 3: temporal mapping of pirate territory and

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people

5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005

3 13 2007

10 20 2005

2 25 20

2 22 2006

6 1 2007

10 30 2007

4 4 2006

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

1 21 2006 8 23

5 14 2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006

12 10 2006

1

12 1

11 6 2005

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007

2005 12 37 31 2005

10 21 2007

9

6 26 2005

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

1 26 2007

9 26 2005 3 16 2005 4 5 2007

7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

4 20 2008

7 16 2007

1 11 2006

7 29 2007 7 28 2005

10 18

5 22 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

3 13 2007

10 20 2005

2 22 2006

6 1 2007

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

5 14 2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006

12 10 2006

4 4 2006

3 31 2005

[1] Peter Greste, Puntland turns against Somali pirates, BBC, June 2009.

[2]Imagery 2009 TerraMetrics, NASA, Data SIO, NOAA U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO [3] Ibid [4]United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_OCT07, UNHCR’s Population Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_NOV07, UNHCR’s Population Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 3 16 2005

1

12 1

11 6 2005

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007 5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005 10 30 2007

10 21 2007

4 20 2008

9 26 2005 4 5 2007

7 16 2007

sion

on the somali catastrophe

7 29 2007

8 23

2 22 2006

5 14 2007

2 18 2006

time line : pirate attack : years

4 20 2008 7 16 2007

:

2006

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

11 5 2005

1 11 2006

10 18 2007

5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005

8 3 2007

10 16 2005

10 20 2005

3 16 2005

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

9 26 2005 4 5 2007

1 21 2006 8 23 2007

9 26 2005 3 16 2005 4 5 2007

2 14 2006

1 13 2007

11 5 2005

7 29 2007 7 28 2005 10 18 2007

5 22 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

10 18 2007

10 18 2007 12 16 2005

6 13 2007 8 3 2007

11 6 2005

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007 5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005 10 30 2007

11 8 2005 10 26 2005

4 20 2008

7 16 2007

1 11 2006

3 2 2006

1 20 2006 9 30 2005

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

9 26 2005 10 21 2007 4 5 2007

2 18 2006

2005 12 37 31 2005

6 26 2005 1 26 2007

5 18 2007

12 10 2006

3 16 2005

6 1 2007

5 14 2007

10 21 2007

9 17 2007

2 25 2005

2 22 2006

4 4 2006 6 13 2007

3 13 2007 12 16 2005

4 25 2006

5 14 2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006 12 10 2006

10 30 2007 4 4 2006

3 13 2007

10 18 2007

10 18 2007

11 6 2005

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007

7 29 2007

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 4 25 5 22 2007 5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005 30 121010

7 28 2005

5 22 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 2 12 2008 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

9 17 2007

Figure 1.1-1.4: new boundaries by pirate attacks © Zain Abu Seir

time line : pirate attack : years

9 26 2005 3 16 2005 4 5 2007

1 13 2007

9 30 2005

6 26 2005

1 26 2007

8 23 2007

1 20 2006

12 7 2005

11 8 2005

3 2 2006

3 31 2005

10 21 2007

time l

6 1 2007

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006 12 10 2006

10 30 2007 4 4 2006

time line : pirate attack : years

3 13 2007

shrinking 06 _displacement + expansion _pirac

5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005

10 20 2005

2 22 2006

6 1 2007 11 8 2005

7 29 2005

4 21 2008

4 2 2008 9 20 2007

1 21 2006

3 5 2008 3 26 2006

4 16 2006

11 8 2007

1 25 2006

8 27 2006

4 17 2006

3 19 2006 10 22 2007 7 9 2006 5 28 2005

3 15 2005 3 31 2008 005 1 27 2006

4 22 2008

10 26 2005

2 14 2006

1 21 2006

10 18 2007

6 13 2007

8 3 2007

9 17 2007

11 8 2005 10 26 2005

5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005

2 14 2006

3 13 2007

2 18 2006

12 10 2006

1 13 2007

10 21 2007

9 26 2005 3 16 2005 4 5 2007

11 5 2005

2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006

1 20 2006

9 30 2005

10 30 2007 4 4 2006

10 18 2007

10 18 2007

16 2005

11 6 2005

9 17 2007

11 8 2005

2 18 2006

5 18 2007

4 25 2006 12 10 2006

6 1 2007

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

1 21 2006 8 23 2007

2005 12 37 31 2005

:

shrinking + expansion

attack result 06 + _displacement attack _piracy

4 4 2006 3 18 2006 4 20 2008

7 16 2007

1 11 2006

7 29 2007 7 28 2005

10 18 2007

5 22 2005

7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

shrinking 06 _displacement + expansion _piracy

pirate suspicious

11 6 2005 10 20 2005 2 22 2006

5 14 2007 5 14 2007

6 1 2007

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

8 27 2006

pirate attack

10 21 2007

4 20 2008

9 26 2005 3 16 2005 4 5 2007

7 16 2007

7 29 2007

4 17 2006

7 23 2005 7 20 2007

3 19 2006 10 22 2007 7 9 2006 5 28 2005

injury possible 0 goods 0 ransom

2 14 2006

9 20 2007

area : pirate territory : control

7 29 2005

2 25 2007

pirate suspicious

2 27 2007

7 20 2007

2 8 2006 4 14 2008 4 7 2008

4 12 2008 3 7 2006 3 5 2006 4 15 2008 4 8 2008 4 16 2008 2 16 2006 3 15 2005 4 5 2008 3 29 2008 4 16 2008 4 9 2008 9 29 2007

6 26 2005 1 26 2007

: control

6 13 2007

7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

1 11 2006 5 22 2005

pirates captured

inland and water

7 20 2007

10 26 2005

3 2 2006

11 8 2005 10 26 2005

2 14 2006

2 18 2006

5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005

pirate attack

injury possible goods possible ransom possible

3 13 2007

pirate attempt

11 5 2005

internally displaced people 3 16 2005

12 10 2006

5 14 2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006

injury possible 0 goods 0 ransom

1 13 2007

11 5 2005

10 18 2007

6 26 2005

7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

2 25 2005

7 29 2007 7 28 2005

7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

6 13 2007

8 3 2007

3 2 2006

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007 5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005 10 30 2007

11 8 2005

3 13 2007

2 18 2006

5 18 2007

4 25 2006 12 10 2006

3 16 2005

9 26 2005 4 5 2007

4 4 2006

1 20 2006

11 5 2005

10 18 2007

10 18 2007

12 16 2005

6 13 2007 8 3 2007

6 1 2007

8 23 2007

4 20 2008

7 16 2007

1 13 2007

10 20 2005

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

2 14 2006

9 17 2007

2 22 2006

5 14 2007

11 8 2005 10 26 2005

2 18 2006

9 30 2005

11 6 2005

3 31 2005 10 21 2007

3 2 2006

10 18 2007

5 22 2005

10 18 2007

9 17 2007

1 21 2006 8 23 2007

4 20 2008

7 16 2007

1 11 2006

6 13 2007 8 3 2007

6 1 2007

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

1 26 2007

internally displaced people close to pirate control

9 17 2007

12 16 2005

10 16 2005

2005 12 37 31 2005 10 21 2007

9 26 2005 4 5 2007

10 18 2007

10 18 2007

10 20 2005

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

1 13 2007

9 30 2005

7 28 2005

2 22 2006

10 30 2007 4 4 2006

2 14 2006

1 20 2006

11 6 2005

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007

pirate suspicious

injury possible 0 goods 0 ransom

1 21 2006

7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 2 12 2008 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people

pirate attempt

25 2007 10 162 2005

2 25 2005 2 27 2007

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

inland risk

pirate attack

injury possible goods possible ransom possible

3 15 2005 3 31 2008 7 18 2005 7 29 2005 1 27 2006 12 6 2005

12 7 2005

area : internally displaced people : controlled

pirates captured

3 15 2005 3 31 2008 7 18 2005 7 29 2005 1 27 2006 12 6 2005

internally displaced people close to pirate control

1 13 2007

: control

3 16 2005

4 22 2008

4 21 2008

4 2 2008

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people 7 20 2007 internally displaced people 10 26 2005

3 16 2008

3 17 2005 + internally displaced people area : pirate territory

4 16 2006 11 8 2007 3 5 2008 1 2 2006 1 7 2006 internally displaced people 2 11 2008 3 8 2005 4 4 2008 12 11 2007 4 1 2008 8 3 2005 12 11 2005 10 29 2007 4 21 2008 2 1 2008 29 2008 5 10 2006 5 10 10 2 1 2008 2006 4 2 20085 10 2006 2008 3 316162008 3 16 2005 internally displaced people close to pirate control 3 17 2005 2 12 2008 7 29 2005

12 15 2005

pirate attempt

1 20 2006

12 16 2005

8 23 2007

3 31 2005

1 25 2006

injury possible goods possible ransom possible

9 17 2007

10 18 2007

inland risk

:

:

11 8 2007

8 3 2007

9 30 2005

6 26 2005

1 26 2007 7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

area : internally displaced people : controlled

7 29 2007

3 2 2006 2 18 2006

11 8 2005

unhcr satellite pirate attack locationse data 1/2 2008

3 2 2006

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007 5 3 2007 10 29 2007 10 12 2005 10 30 2007 4 4 2006 3 13 2007

2 25 2005

2 22 2006

5 14 2007

12 16 2005

area : pirate territory : control

internally displaced people close to pirate control

1 7 2005

4 16 2006

10 18 2007

10 16 2005

10 20 2005

injury possible 0 goods 0 ransom

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people internally displaced people

unhcr internally displaced people data 1/2 2008

3 2007

6 13 2007 8 3 2007

3 5 2008 3 26 2006

11 5 2005

10 18 2007

pirate attack

injury possible goods possible ransom possible

pirate attempt

unhcr satellite pirate attack locationse data 1/2 2008

3 2 2006

3 2007

10 18 2007

7 21 2005 7 21 2005 7 21 2005 4 10 2005 2 12 2008 4 10 2005 7 26 2005 7 16 2005 11 5 2005

2 26 2006 6 6 2006 4 1 2007 3 20 2006 10 17 2007 5 10 2007 5 22 2007

005

7 28 2005

5 22 2005

9 20 2007

pirates captured

area : pdisplacement + attack

06

10 16 2005

1 11 2006

1 20 2006

9 30 2005

07

16 2005

4 4 2006 3 18 2006

nsion

2007

10 18 2007

2007

6 26 2005

1 26 2007 7 16 2005 11 30 2005 11 7 2005

:

11 5 2005

_dispzlacement + piracy

1 13 2007

9 30 2005

12 7 2005

pirates captured

pirate suspicious

unhcr internally displaced people data 1/2 2008

Greste, Puntland turns against Somali pirates, BBC, June 2009. te control Imagery 2009 TerraMetrics, NASA, Data SIO, NOAA U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO [3] Ibid [4]United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees CR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_OCT07, UNHCR’s Population Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees CR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_NOV07, UNHCR’s Population Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 a-New Displacement series, UNHCR, Population Movement Tracking Database, UNDP Settlement Survey 2004 1 20 2006

:6 21 control 2006

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people

25 2007 10 162 2005

2 25 2005 2 27 2007

4 21 2008

4 2 2008 9 20 2007

7 20 2007

1 21 2006

area : pdisplacement + attack

: control

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people

4 22 2008

4 21 2008

4 2 2008

7 20 2007

3 15 2005 3 31 2008 7 18 2005 7 29 2005 1 27 2006 12 6 2005

12 15 2005

25 2007 10 162 2005

005 2 27 2007

area : pirate territory : control

area : internally displaced people : controlled

:

7 20 2007

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people

Figure 3: Timeline of pirate attacks © Zain Abu Seir 06

7 23 2005

3 19 2006 10 22 2007 7 9 2006 5 28 2005

12 15 2005

3 5 2008 1 2 2006 1 7 2006 2 11 2008 2005 3 38 82005 4 4 2008 12 11 2007 8 3 2005 4 1 2008 12 11 2005 10 29 2007 4 21 2008 2 1 2008 29 2008 5 10 2006 5 10 10 2 1 2008 2006 4 2 20085 10 2006 2008 3 316162008 3 16 2005 3 17 2005 2 12 2008 7 29 2005

:

7 2 1 2008 08 2 1 2008 3 16 2005 3 17 2005 5

attack result + attacke

4 12 2008 3 7 2006 3 5 2006 4 15 2008 4 8 2008 4 16 2008 2 16 2006 3 15 2005 4 5 2008 3 29 2008 4 16 2008 4 9 2008 9 29 2007

1 7 2005

008 08 4 9 2008 7

area : pirate territory : control

2 8 2006 4 14 2008 4 7 2008

3 7 2006 3 5 2006 2008 4 8 2008 2 16 2006 2005

7 23 2005 7 20 2007

area : internally displaced people : controlled

2 27 2007

6 21 2006

7 29 2007

area : pdisplacement + attack

area : pirate territory + internally displaced people

2 25 2007

_displacement + piracy

7 20 2007

2 8 2006 4 14 2008 4 7 2008

7 16 2007

3 16 2005 3 17 2005

4 22 2008

2 27 2007

4 20 2008

9 26 2005 4 5 2007

area : pdisplacement + attack

3 15 2005 3 31 2008 7 18 2005 7 29 2005 1 27 2006 12 6 2005

12 15 2005

2 25 2007

3 31 2005

10 21 2007

attack result 06 + _displacement attack _piracy

7 20 2007

3 15 2005 3 31 2008 005 1 27 2006

2 18 2006

8 23 2007

:

5

3 16 2008

3 19 2006 10 22 2007 7 9 2006 5 28 2005

3 16 2005

5 14 2007

5 18 2007

4 25 2006

12 10 2006

3 2 2006

5 15 2007 5 15 2007

5 14 2007

06 _displacement + piracy attack result + attack

7 23 2005

4 4 2006

3 13 2007

_displacement + piracy

3 16 2005 3 17 2005

06 _displacement + piracy attack result + attack

07

_dispzlacement _piracy

:

shrinking + expansion

idp landscape on land and pirate landscape in the water are becoming forces that shape each other’s ecologies aced people and somalia’s instability. the pirates traffic idp and even recruit them; the idps either move away looking for safer y : control areas or move towards the pirate setllements for jobs.

[1] first: points of attack of pirates[2] controlled second: expanded water boundary third: chronological tracking of pirates points of attack : control creates a new boundary[3] fourth: the boundary of somalia expands into the sea to include somali pirate territory ced people opposite: temporally mapping pirate territory and movement s captured in the sea in relation to the internally displaced people movement inland, and the relationship between the idp landscape on land and pirate landscape in the wateroverlap, shrinking and growth of both in relation to one uspicious are becoming forces that shape each other’s ecologies another.[4][5] and somalia’s instability. the pirates traffic idp and even [1] Peter Greste, Puntland turns against Somali pirates, BBC, June ate attack 2009. recruit them; the idps either move away looking for safer ury possible ods possible areas or move towards the pirate setllements for jobs. [2]Imagery 2009 TerraMetrics, NASA, Data SIO, NOAA U.S. som possible Navy, NGA, GEBCO [1] te attempt [3] Ibid 2006 first: points of attack of pirates[2] ury possible [4]United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 0 goods second: expanded water boundary 0 ransom (UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_OCT07, UNHCR’s Population third: chronological tracking of pirates points of attack Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 aced people ced people United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees creates a new boundary[3] fourth: the boundary of somalia expands into the sea to (UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_NOV07, UNHCR’s Population y : control Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 include somali pirate territory [5]Somalia-New Displacement series, UNHCR, Population Movement te control opposite: temporally mapping pirate territory and movement Tracking Database, UNDP Settlement Survey 2004 in the sea in relation to the internally displaced people controlled movement inland, and the relationship between the nland risk dscape on land and pirate landscape in the wateroverlap, shrinking and growth of both in relation to one : control forces that shape each other’s ecologies becoming another.[4][5] 2007 [1] Peter Greste, Puntland turns against Somali pirates, BBC, June omalia’s instability. the pirates traffic idp and even 2006 2009. them; the idps either move away looking for safer ced people Figure 2 Territory and displacements © Zain Abu Seir s or move towards the pirate setllements for jobs. [2]Imagery 2009 TerraMetrics, NASA, Data SIO, NOAA U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO s captured [1] [3] Ibid first: points of attack of pirates[2] inland [4]United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees inland and water second: expanded water boundary(UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_OCT07, UNHCR’s Population uspicious Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 d: chronological tracking of pirates points of attack United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees creates a new boundary[3] ate attack the boundary of somalia expands into the sea to(UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_NOV07, UNHCR’s Population ury possible Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 ods possible include somali pirate territory som possible [5]Somalia-New Displacement series, UNHCR, Population Movement :tetemporally mapping pirate territory and movement Tracking Database, UNDP Settlement Survey 2004 attempt ury possible e sea in relation to the internally displaced people 2006 0 goods movement 0 ransom inland, and the relationship between the p, shrinking and growth of both in relation to one ced people another.[4][5]

55

and w

*

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* people, and pushing the boundary out as IDPs relocate somewhere safer, morphing the idp_boundary even more.

*

17

idp 06 in risk area

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health and wellness risk level 1

idp 07 in risk area

17

idp + protected areas

idp + protected areas + health and wellness risk area level 3

evel 2 . . .

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*

*

pirate attacks 2005-2007 fisheries

sugar cane

oat

06 idp

food crops cotton

07 idp

idp overlap

sugar cane attacks 2005-2007 Figure 4 pirate Superimposed map of attacks,IDPs and production areas © Zain Abu Seir

[1][unhcr, 2012 unhcr operations profilesomalia, unhcr, http://www.unhcr.org/

*

fisheries

07 idp

oat

06 idp

food crops

idp overlap

cotton

pages/49e483ad6.html] [2]ibid

Figure 5: Proposed aid plan: Areas at highest health and wellness risk, which are also at clan war risk, or water shortage risk

[3]Thalif Deen, Somalia: Rich Maritime

creating a safe zone for aid groups to provide aid. Eliminating areas_at_high_risk, leaving behind areas_at_risk which are

Resources Being Plundered, http://allafrica.

protected by the UN and therefore safe for aid group and somali people. The IDP structure forms its own network, and must be

com/stories/201202220175.html, February 21

analyzed carefully when plotting UN and aid offices. © Zain Abu Seir

2012

enough health and wellness risk level 4

claimed to be protected areas

lp? go? e?”

claimed to be protected areas but are at risk

somaliatime : y

health and wellness risk level 2 . . . health and wellness risk level 1

56

idp 07 in risk area

health and wellness risk level 3 14

17

enough

areas at risk

no aid

14

idp 06 in risk area

aid from wrong group

aid from wrong group

time : y

enough

no aid

evel 3

collect:h2o

enough

irrigate:crops

The unstable political and economic state of Somalia is the cause of the shifting ecologies, landscapes, and boundaries of the IDPs and the pirates of top: Somalia.

The idp_scapes and flood un offices in unsafe areas[clan war areas] proposed aid plan: areas at highest health and wellness risk, which are pirate_scapes complex networks and also at clan war risk, have or water shortage risk creating a safe zone for aid groups to provide aid for forces thathealth_and_wellness_risk_areas. start to create a new Somalia that eliminating areas_at_high_risk, leaving behind areas_at_risk [1] FSAU, `SOMALIA Food Secutiry Phase Classification, Post Gu which arebecomes protected by the un, andmore therefore difficult safe for aid 2005 Projection Through Jan 2006, Food Security Analysis Uniteven to define.

IDP’s fe group and somali people. the idp structure forms its own Somalia, http://www.fsausomali.org, FSAU is managed by FAO, September 2005 network, and must be analyzed carefully when plotting un landscapes onandland, and[1]the pirate landscape [2] FSAU, SOMALIA:Intergraed Food, Nutririon and Livelihood [2] aid offices. opposite: study mapping internally displaced people [idp] Security Analysis, Post Deyr January 2005 Until Gu June 2005, Food Security Analysis Unit-Somalia, http://www.fsausomali.org, water, becoming forcesFSAUthat camps,in naturalthe resources in somalia,are and pirate attacks is managed by FAO, September 2005 locations. idp reside on and around water and food [3] biyokulule.com, Economic and natural resource map of crop shape areas, however they don’t have the ecologies proper tools Somalia. Source, June 2009. each other’s and Somalia’s [4] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and resources to utilize them. the numbers of idp significantly increase every year, and theit camps become (UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_OCT07, UNHCR’s Population instability and shifting boundary.

The Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 hase Classification, more Post a Gu more permanent part of the landscape. some [5]United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ood Security Analysis Unitidp settlements have access to water but lack proper (UNHCR),UNHCR_IDPs_SEP06_to_NOV07, UNHCR’s Population FSAU is managed by FAO, pirates trafficto the IDP even recruit them; tools and filtration processes transport and and purify the Movement Tracking (PMT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 September 2005 contaminated water.

[5] UNHCR, Somalia-New Displacement series, Population od, Nutririon and Livelihood [3] [4] [5] Movement Tracking Database, UNDP Settlement Survey 2004 for safer 2005 Until Gu June the 2005, IDP either move away looking http://www.fsausomali.org,

by FAO, September 2005 areas or move towards the pirate settlements nd natural resource map of omalia. Source, June 2009.

Commissioner for Refugees for jobs.

These are just two of many forces CT07, UNHCR’s Population MT) project, 15 Nov, 2007 Commissioner for Refugees shaping and shifting these landscapes.

OV07, UNHCR’s Population

flood

un offices in unsafe areas[clan war areas]

idp + protected areas + health and wellness risk area level 3

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irrigate:crops

enough

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+ food+ water provide locals with means to take advantage of local resources

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no aid

somaliatime : y

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health and wellness risk level 2 . . .

evel 4

provide idp's with durable+ flexible+ functional+ safe shelters

idp clusters isolated, little road connection lack of safety for un lack of efficiency for aid longer travel distances for idps

aid from wrong group

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sn

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gy

health and wellness risk level 3

claimed to be protected areas

gy

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health and wellness risk level 4

areas at risk

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+ food+ water provide locals with means to take advantage of local resources

The Somali pirates emerged when illegal dumping of waste started in the waters of Somalia and fisheries were being used illegally by other countries. Somalia, not having an official government, could not defend itself. The pirates were provoked to step in and defend their waters and what little resources they have. What may have started as defense became a way of life and providing for their families as they started to gain more control and attack passing ships.

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un offices in

How do you envision the future urban legacy of the present time?

Markus Appenzeller

Ermal Kapedani

Bardia Mashoodi

Edyta Wisniewska

Director & Partner

Alumni

PhD candidate

Urban Designer

MLA+

Real Estate and Housing

Urban Design

KuiperCompagnons

Theory & Methods

It is an open question whether

We are at the end of a period

I think it is impossible to discuss

The urban legacy of the present

future generations will perceive

of vanity and extravagance in

the “future” legacies without

time will be characterized by the

what we create today as legacy or

planning and architecture. The

considering the “future” of

common achievement of collective

inherited burden.

economic crisis has quickly and

the “complex” world in which

efforts between planners and

On the down side they will get

starkly exposed the failings of ego

it is embedded. The world is

users of urban space. Urban

vast amounts of new pieces

fueled construction of the past two

complex as a result of numerous

planning needs to be conducted

of city, largely developed in

decades. One can say that the

interactions and information

for and with people to result

rapidly urbanizing Asia and

future legacy of the present time

exchange between individuals,

in livable and lovable places.

Africa. Most of them are faceless

is the rejection of these late forms

institutions and environmental

Strategic planning has to be

environments that were built

of development, a legacy already

elements (agents). In some

based on a comprehensive

quickly, cheaply, opportunistically

in the forming. The post-crisis

cases, such as legacy, agents

understanding of how urban

and in a very short sighted manner.

soul searching, and a severe lack

even interchange information

spaces can facilitate people best.

Regenerating these testing

of financial liquidity, has made

with the individuals, institutions

A joint venture of a wide range of

grounds of unrestrained capitalism

a swing back to more humane

or environment of the future

knowledge experts and expertise,

will be the single largest task for

design priorities possible. Perhaps

(feedforward loops). This is

can channel different wishes

our profession in the future.

more important is the shift towards

why complex systems are path

into one direction to empower

But future generations will also

a more inclusive development

dependent. Agents can further

people and create added values.

receive high quality multi modal

process where future inhabitants

exchange information or matters

The spatial framework for further

infrastructure: road, rail, supply

are directly involved in the decision

independent of location or size.

developments resulting from

networks and data networks.

making and the design of their

Hence a flap of a butterfly’s wing

an integrated approach, just to

Linking them with each other will

future homes and neighborhoods.

in Argentina could result in a

mention one example, leaves a lot

allow organizing life in a smarter

For designers this means that their

tornado in Japan (butterfly effect).

of space for bottom up initiatives

way to achieve enormous savings

client is now a multitude of people,

So what about the future of such

which result in great places loved

of resources.

which is more difficult to manage

a complex world? Is the world

by the present, as much as the

But above all they hopefully will

than a professional developer. For

becoming more complex due to

next generation.

realize that our time has been

the developer this could mean

globalization and fast growing

the moment where paradigms

a complete reassignment of his

tele-communication technologies?

changed. The point in time where

role in the construction process

If so, does this mean that the world

the trend started to move away

as an advisor – development for

will be more path dependent?

from the association of growth with

a fee rather than development

If so, will legacies be free of

quantity only towards growth as

for a profit. The legacy of the

location? Will there come a day

something centered around quality

repudiation of vanity projects

when the colonial legacy of Salta

and happiness.

and democratization of the

affects the urban dynamics in

development process, could be a

Tokyo?

system that makes good design more difficult, but also more likely, to realize.

57

Is integration and empowerment of the excluded needed?

saba golchehr graduated in 2012 at tu delft sabagolchehr.com

Not only in the Netherlands but worldwide the number of non-Western migrants is increasing.

Due to the large differences in economic circumstances between the rich West and the developing countries in Africa and Asia, expectations are justified that the migration pressure from these regions to the European Union will remain high in the foreseeable future (fig. 1).

As a result, in many of the Western countries multicultural coexistence is a fact of life (Melich, 2010: Van Nimwegen and Esveldt, 2006). For example, in the year 2015 half of the citizens of the four major cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) will be migrants. The concentration in these cities is mainly due to the large offer in social rent housing, which is by far the main housing provider for new migrants. This concentration however is generally experienced as negative, because the migrants’ spatial concentration is expected to lead to social segregation. But how can we diminish this with spatial planning and policy? In order to investigate this question, this project offers a review on the socio-spatial integration and empowerment of (arriving) migrants and other disadvantaged groups in urban restructuring plans in the Netherlands.

The Central Bureau for Statistics expects that from the year 2015 the migration to the Netherlands will stabilize at an average of about 125,000 people per year (Van den Broek et al., 2008). So we can conclude that the inflow of migrants will be a constant factor in the future of the Netherlands. The expectation for the future is that the four major cities will remain the major attractors of new migrants and will therefore also experience the largest migration pressure.

• Governmental response

In the year 1997 the Memorandum on Urban Renewal (Nota Stedelijke Vernieuwing) was brought out to bring an end to the undesired development of concentration (Ministerie van VROM, 1997). The main goal was to break-up the monotonous housing stock

Figure 1. Existing situation (top) and design proposal (bottom) for market square © Saba Golchehr

58

in the neighbouhoods with an over-representation of low-priced (social) rent housing. The replacement of the old housing stock by dwellings in the higher price class aimed to attract residents of the middle and higher income households and with that counter spatial segregation and enhance the quality of life in these residential areas (Van Beckhoven and Van Kempen, 2003). However this tendency of policy-makers to counter urban segregation, and its negative consequences, by employing mixing schemes lacks of scientific support on behalf of the planning strategies. According to studies (Smets and den Uyl, 2008) planners have underestimated the complexity, potential and force of inter ethnic dynamics’.

Next to the national policy, there is also a municipal response to the ethnic concentration. In order to control the influx of migrants on a

Figure 2. Project location © Saba Golchehr

1. Mexico 2. India 3. Russia

local level, the municipality of Rotterdam introduced a selective migration policy (Wet Bijzondere Maatregelen Grootstedelijke Problematiek) in the year 2006. The effect of this policy being that arriving migrants are denied access to the housing market of the city and therefore need to find housing elsewhere in the region. However, in these smaller towns they have less access to mobility (public transport) and fewer job opportunities. This eventually puts them in a downward spiral in which there is less chance for integration and emancipation. This resulted in the following problem statement for my research: migration is a key factor of transformation (of the local scale) which is not considered in urban renewal planning.

The aim of this project is to redefine the factor of migration in the planning on a national scale level. And to be able to define a planning framework in order to receive and integrate new and existing migrants socially and spatially in the social sustainable development of the neighbourhood.

• Research and Design context

1. Turkey 2. Suriname 3. Morocco Figure 3. Top migrantion countries worldwide and in het Netherlands © Saba Golchehr

My study case is one of the weakest neighbourhoods in Rotterdam: Afrikaanderwijk (fig. 2). About 80 percent of the total housing in this neighbourhood belongs to the housing corporation Vestia.

Also there is a strong concentration of non-Western migrants living in this neighbourhood, which for the largest part originate from Turkey. Furthermore there is a large urban renewal plan for this area. In this plan the municipality aims to attract high and middle incomes to this neighbourhood to create a social mix.

At the moment the development in this area has stopped, due to internal financial problems of the housing corporation Vestia.

Due to this financial downturn hundreds of projects now are at risk. Particularly the developments in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods are affected by this current retreat. Now the municipality is looking for external realestate developers to finance the projects. However there is no consideration on the social aspect of the development in this new system. While Vestia did not only function as a developer but also invested in the empowerment of the neighbourhoods residents, in this new situation the external developers have no interest other than the development of a project. The interests of

the residents and their empowerment is not considered in the planning anymore once the housing corporation is excluded from the development. In order to fix the position of the residents interests in the neighbourhood development and to develop a social sustainable regeneration, I propose a different planning system. The possibility that another developer will come is always there, however a response is needed to this system, so that any physical intervention will consider the residents and their demands.

Only in this way an equilibrium of power can be achieved in the development of the neighbourhood.

In order to reach this goal an analytical framework is developed to review the migration and a concrete proposal is made for this specific context. For this I developed an instrument in which the integration, needs and potentials of the weakest groups are evaluated. These have become part of an integral perspective which responds to the current societal developments. The proposed instrument is developed in order to reach a progressive integration and empowerment of the migrant residents of the deprived neighbourhood.

• Proposed instrument

The instrument is initiated by an intervention in the morphological structure of the neighbourhood (fig. 3). By creating new connections a new hierarchy arises in the street network of an area. This street network is divided into three orders.

These orders will each have a different guideline for their spatial and functional development. The assemblage of the theory, concepts, analysis and criteria has led to a set of principles for the study area.

These principles are the translation of the aforementioned combination of inputs. For each order a set of principles has been made.

These principles exist of building typologies, street profiles and general and programmatic outputs.

The instrument is built upon several theories. One of these theories is the theory of Rapoport (1977) on housing settlement systems and levels of social mix in urban environments. I used Rapoports theory to demonstrate the different lifestyles of the neighbourhoods inhabitants based on their gender. In the neighbourhood of Afrikaanderwijk there is a strong Islamic 59

Figure 4. Design principles © Saba Golchehr

culture among its residents. Therefore I looked at parallel studies of user patterns of women and men in Muslim towns. There is a strong distinction within the user patterns of the ethnic population of Afrikaanderwijk based on gender. As Rapoports theory shows the female inhabitants have a strong relation with the immediate environment around the dwelling area. The user pattern of the male inhabitants is more spread and is less bound to the housing location. My research on the Afrikaanderwijk confirmed this duality.

In this neighbourhood especially the needs of the female residents is neglected. The women have no communal meeting space outside of their own houses, which is an important component of the empowerment and emancipation of these groups. Therefore I focus on the female users in one of the development proposals.

in the hierarchy. This means that this space should answer to the criteria in the top row of the diagram. The criteria of the first order are used to analyse if the current design and layout of the market-square answer to the earlier set principles. The schemes on the left show the evaluation of the existing square and market.

The design proposal is a scenario of the possible developments. This design is based on the translation of the interests of the involved stakeholders combined with the

emancipation of the ethnic minorities by exposing their cultural lifestyles to the mainstream society and therefore letting the indigenous population get acquaintance with the rich culture of this ethnic enclave in a positive way.

• Participatory planning proposal

The planning proposal is based on the purpose of a progressive integration of the weakest residents in a flexible program.

The proposed instruments are all facilitators for the empowerment of the weakest residents. In order for this empowerment to function and in order for these people to have a physical expression in their habitat, these instruments need to be part of the municipal program so that they become valid. The governmental program is still recognised in this plan, but at the same time the proposal shows that if the transformation is done in this participatory manner the flexibility and potentials of the transformation are higher. The participation of stakeholders in the public space allows another way of transformation. Instead of creating a confrontation area due to the mixing of different groups and with that creating more or less ‘no-go areas’, a space of integration is developed in which the confrontation is given shape by positive interaction between the indigenous and ethnic groups. This mixing typology

"In this neighbourhood especially the needs of the female residents is neglected."

• Development proposal

One of the potential locations in the neighbourhood of Afrikaanderwijk is chosen in order to demonstrate how the proposed system and participatory planning framework are used for the development of this place. The location chosen for this demonstration is the market square of the neighbourhood (fig. 4). The proposed method shows that the market in the Afrikaanderwijk belongs to the first order 60

proposed design principles. Some of the interests incorporated in this design are for instance the Kocapte mosque organisation who wishes a suitable entrance to their building which is located on the square.

The interest of the market stallholders is to have a large number of consumers, that is stable in any weather condition. In this way the interest of all involved stakeholders are reviewed and translated into this design proposal.

In the design a market hall is incorporated, which has an open structure so it can be used at all times for different programs.

The square and market hall will enhance the progressive integration and the

creates a good base for a mixed use program in the area and is also a good base for this kind of participatory planning. Returning to the flexibility of the transformation, which is a key component for a progressive integration in the planning, two scenarios are developed.

These scenarios illustrate that the migrant factor is not a burden in the renewal process. On the contrary: by considering these groups in the planning, the aforementioned confrontation condition and its potentials are used and expressed in a way that is positive for the progressive integration of these groups.

The first example is based on a renewal development in which a high investment is present. This high investment can be interpreted as an external project developer interested in this empty land located in a quite central urban area and interested in the development of a mixed program with the main program of housing. In this case the project developer will approach the municipality for the rights of the land. The municipality will then introduce the project developer to the participatory planning model in which the cooperation with the local stakeholders is facilitated in order to develop a plan for the area. The diagram shows this development process and the potentials this process creates for the emancipation of the existing inhabitants.

The second scenario is based on a situation where there is no large investor, like a project developer, for the development of this empty piece of land and the regeneration of the whole neighbourhood. In this scenario the NGOs, local organizations and the municipality organize themselves together with the inhabitants (the female user groups) in order to develop a flexible and possibly temporary program on the old train yard land.

Figure 5. Left first scenario of development - Right second scenarioŠ Saba Golchehr

MELICH, J. S. 2010. Multiculturalism and Integration: Lessons to Be Learnt from Cases of Canada and EuropeTravelling Concepts. In: LAMMERT, C. & SARKOWSKY, K. (eds.). VS Verlag fĂźr Sozialwissenschaften.

MINISTERIE VAN VROM 1997. Nota Stedelijke Vernieuwing, Den Haag.

RAPOPORT, A. 1977. Human aspects of urban form : towards a man-environment approach to urban form and design, Oxford ; New York, Pergamon Press.

SMETS, P. & DEN UYL, M. 2008. The Complex Role of Ethnicity in Urban Mixing: A Study of Two Deprived Neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. Urban Studies, 45, 14391460.

VAN BECKHOVEN, E. & VAN KEMPEN, R. 2003. Social effects of urban restructuring: a case study in Amsterdam and Utrecht, the Netherlands. Housing Studies, 18, 853875.

VAN DEN BROEK, L., DE JONG, A., VAN DUIN, C., VAN HUIS, M., BOSCHMAN, S. & VAN AGTMAALWOMBA, E. 2008. Regionale bevolkings-, allochtonen- en huishoudensprognose 2007-2025, Den Haag, Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving/Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek.

VAN NIMWEGEN, N. & ESVELDT, I. 2006.

Bevolkingsvraagstukken in Nederland anno 2006; grote steden in demografisch perspectief, Den Haag, Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut.

61

Book review City: a studybook for the urban age

inge van der ploeg msc 2 urbanism

Title: City

‘City’ is a collection of essays on very diverse topics considering the city. The book is divided in to eight sections; Arrival, History, Customs, Where To Stay, Getting Around, Money, Time Out, and Beyond the City. These sections contain essays on a wide range of topics. From downtowns to favelas, , skylines to crime, and street food tosacred sites. The book,, can be explored in the same way one would explore a real city. You can start at any page you want, and wander around, be surprised and discover new things. This gimmick works, and makes the book a pleasant read. Photos, maps and other images are used to illustrate the text.

In the introduction Smith illustrates how important cities are to us, and that they will become even more so in the future. “Today, for the first time in the history of the planet, more than half the population – 3.3 billion people – are city dwellers. (...) By 2050, 75 per cent will be urbanites”. Cities are “our greatest creation”, and you can notice this admiration from the way he has written about all these differed

Author: P.D. Smith Publisher: Bloomsbury ISBN: 978-1-4088-2443-6 € 22,95 Date: 17 aug. 2012 384 pages About the author P.D. Smith is the author of four books of which City is the latest release. Other books are Doomsday man, which he calls “a cultural history of science, superweapons and other strangeloves”, a short biography of Einstein, and a study of science in German literature called “Metaphor and materiality”. But he also writes reviews for the Guardian Review, the Independent, Icon magazine and the Times

“Today, for the first time in the history of the planet, more than half the population – 3.3 billion people – are city dwellers.”

Literary Supplement. Smiths career started as a photographer, but after a few years he returned to education. He studied for a degree in German at the University of Kent at Canterbury. After this he completed a doctorate on science and literature in the German department at University College London, and he did academic research on science in culture. Smith has always had a great interest in how science influences the society and its cultural conditions.

topics considering the city. The book has an encyclopaedia-like feel, and consists of a lot of very interesting facts. The book however is still easy to read and to understand.

The essays describe both origin and future of cities. This happens not chronological but more fragmented, like a journey through an actual city. It is refreshing to be able to start from every point in the book and still get a good picture how urban life changed throughout time.

“City” is a very interesting book. It combines lively and easily readeble stories with great illustrations, while still being very informative.

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Colophon ATLANTIS Magazine by Polis | Platform for Urbanism Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft Volume 23, Number 4, June 2013 Editor in Chief

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Announcements Internships / vacancies If you are searching for interesting internships, have a look at our website. There are a substantial variety of internships on the site that can intrigue you including places at municipalities, offices or summer schools. If you want to place your internship on our website, send us an email.

Urbanism Week 2013: Designing Lifestyles [8-11 October] In a globalized world where everything rapidly changes and transforms, young urbanists as well as more experienced professionals have to find their way into the future. Projects have become more complex and urbanism has become a multidisciplinary practice.

During the last twenty years, we see a trend indicating that market’s influence on spatial and urban planning has increased. Commercial businesses as IKEA, Google and Apple have a great impact on our lifestyles. The way in which real estate is continuously embracing lifestyle, by developing and selling high-end environments, is a domain that has to be explored. This trend has considerable impact on our daily routines and seems to reflect the design of people’s lifestyle. At the same time big companies have increasingly promote possibilities for people to contribute to their products’ development, as a response on the desire of people to be involved in design processes.

In this context, Urbanism Week offers a perspective towards the future by pointing out the new shaping role of urbanists.

Atlantis magazine editors The Atlantis aims to be a magazine linking the student world and the urbanism profession through interesting topics and contributors and is distributed to all Polis members. Do you enjoy writing or interviewing? Do you have lay-out skills? Becoming an editor for Atlantis volume 24 be a great opportunity!

Contact Polis for more information.

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