PORTFOLIO PUBLIC SPACE AND PRIVATE SPACE
RELATIONSHIPS AND CONNECTIONS
FORFEITURE OF PUBLIC SPACE
HOW CAN WE GIVE SENSE AGAIN TO URBAN SPACES AND TO THE CONCEPT OF CITIZENSHIP?
The city is the result of objective and collective wills. As the time went by, these wills have changed as well as the image of the city and of all the sites in it. On one hand, the uncontrolled growth of the new metro- polis - with new patterns of life-styles and new behaviours models- makes it quite difficult to reach and achieve a balance between the classical models and the new shape of the city, on the other, the human eagerness of keeping on living in a city traditionally shaped, makes us wonder about how we could relate tradition and contemporaneity.
A new concept of public space is a need, where living in places where dialogue and relationships among people are possible: this is the only way to reach harmony betwe- en human beings and the cities. In a city where everything seems to be pervaded by uncertainty, mutability and unpredictability (Bauman, Liquid Modernity), there is an attempt to react providing a vital meaning to the city, which is made by “bodies and relationships between bodies” (Munford).
Nowadays, in the urban realm, there are new figures such as the migrant, the pilgrim, the tourist, the foreigner, the migrant (Bauman 1999) are now present in an urban context. These figures pursuing speed and velocity, are causing the change of social times and rhythms of the city. However, this is not the point we shall linger over. New communication systems and the new global economy market economy change the feeling of the spaces for interpersonal relationships. The Contemporary culture, based on “market rules”, has modified what is meant by the public spaces.
Thus, a number of questions may arise relating to public space in a contemporary city, on the inability to build appropriate public spaces which can be considered as such, on the reasons of the degradation and the dropout, both social and physical, of those sites which were intended to serve as public spaces. These questions directly relate to the concept of public space, whose objective is often misinterpreted. There is a need to carry out an in-depth analysis of this failure.
This is the reason why we need re-considering the new city in a new light. Many people say that public space no longer exists; individuals are not citizens anymore but dwellers passing through meaningless urban spaces.
Therefore, other questions that might arise are the following: is this crisis of public spaces reflected into personals spaces? What is the relationship between personal and public dimension of spaces, which seem to be strongly interrelated and complementary? Do these two dimensions have antithetic meanings or do they compensate each other responding to different needs? What do they mean and which needs do they attend to?
MAKING PLACES
THE SPACE FOR EMOTIONS Public space has two dimensions: a social dimension and a geometrical dimension. These two components are inseparable and complementary, although it is often difficult to find a converging point between the two - social/anthropological and the geometrical planning - aspects, so that result is often unsatisfactory. While social studies are based on considerations related to citizens’ behaviours and their relationship with the city, the objectives of the urban disciplines are linked to the physical shape of places sites in relation with morpholo- gical and functional aspects. There is a need to find a new interdisciplinary approach that could satisfy different goals. “Interdisciplinary work, so much discussed these days, is not about confronting already constituted disciplines (none of which, in fact, is willing to let itself go). To do something interdisciplinary it is not enough to choose a “subject” (a theme) and gather around it two or three sciences. Interdisciplinarity consists in creating a new object that belongs to no one.” (Roland Barthes, Jeunes Chercheurs) Thus, in order to build a functional space, in addition to its geometrical dimension, there is a need to take into consideration the human dimension and the its relatio- nal needs. This new approach may possibly lead to a sustainable social development, joint together with a physical transformation of the city.
“In my opinion, before being an external place, public space is a mental place, made by people’s emotions, that could materialize through the representation of the external world”. (P. Barcellona) Therefore, the goal of a space planning is the to create of an opportunity for the people to convey their emotions to and in the place. The individuals crossing that particu- lar public place become citizens. The goal of planners is to create a space were citizense feel the pleasure to stop and to stay over, as if it was their own space, the pleasure of feeling they belong there, the pleasure of bringing their personal stories, that in that very place get inter-connected in the sharing with others. De Certeau, in The Practice of Everyday Life, leaves the task of linking the physical dimension with the social dimension to the narration: people living in those spaces, having different traditions, make the urban areas a public space, a vital place where change is possible. “I’m really fascinated by the way open spaces in spite they’ve been so calculated for purposes and uses can be repurposed for other things [...] and one of the things taht does this particularly well is narrative. Narrative is a form that changes public spaces because of its ability to inscribing. So for example if you have a corner of a block... and you know it’s just an intersection where you can cross over from one side of the street to an other...a narrative can change that space it can overlayer it with other kind of purpose, another kind of meaning that just swell that space giving it a kind of form and body that is different from just the physical structure.” (Paula Levine)
THE MENTAL SPACE “The civilization of public spaces, where people find themselves within a physical boundary, where ‘public’ does not refer to a role, but to the ‘being there’ seems faded over”, says Pietro Barcellona about the virtual space which are is the result of the new communication systems and the speeding up of information. Those who reflect upon the changes of the city and its spaces, agree on saying that this is due to the change of time, to the different rhythms, to tempo- rary transits, to new ways of consumption and conflicts. There is a need to find new solutions, new approaches and new architectural practices, to satisfy the unchanged (though never loudly expressed) desire of the human practices to live in the towns. “Somehow, Urban Life guarantees freedom throu- gh the anonymity, because if I meet people in the city, many times I do not always recognize them, as it happens in the a village. However, at the same time, this freedom is felt as loneliness, that is the moment when no one is looking at me. The non-luogo is the space where the price I pay for enjoying my freedom, is the lack of relationships and rise of loneliness” (interview to Franco Cassa- no).
During the Urban Project Lab. 3 (Prof. Arch. V. Palmieri), the site of the case study, a long strip of land in Via della Magliana Nuova, Rome, was characterized by an inappropriate use: several chairs were placed by citizen in a grove of reeds, encircled by a metal fence. This meant that the place was already perceived a public space. The inhabitants felt that space as their own space. There was no a physical space, but a mental space which was to be saved in the planning phase, trying not to distort it. In antithesis, there is the case study related to the project “Architecture of parks and public spaces” (Prof. F. R. Ghio), where the physical dimension was present, but not the social one. A huge urban project was realized in La Rustica, a district in the suburbs of Rome: it included the realization of the railway, that was splitting the district into two separate realities. Arailway was realized and, above it, public plaza was established. Those deserted places, , and were later closed to the public by the local social associations because they were considered dangerous. A physical structure was built, which never became a public space. How to overlay a social space to a merely physical dimension?
METHODOLOGY
APPROACHING SHAOCHONG FUTURE WORKSHOP SHAOCHONG VILLAGE: AN AREA TO PRESERVE AND DEVELOP. Approaching Shaochong Futures workshop took place in February 2014 at Yunnan University Kunming, China and i was organized and moderated by Spacediggers (Gaia Agostini, Duygu Kaban, Tristan Biere) The workshop was in and about Shaochong village, a rural village in the mountain region of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous prefecture in Yunnan Province, China. The village is considered as the cradle of the Nisu Huayao, one of China’s ethnical minorities and a subgroup of Yi-minorities. The living standard and the average annual income in Shanochong is below the National income and infrastructural deficits from roads to water and electricity supply are an issue. The region features remarkable cultural and natural landscape. Touristic development is seen as a poten- tial development in the future in Yunnan. In October 2013, the county level government in Shiping and the Chamber of Commerce in Pu’er signed the invest- ment plans for the “Nisu Huayao Cultural Nation Park” to promote tourism in the region, with some projects that do not take into consideration the economical and social changes that they can bring about.
The workshop “Approaching Shaochong’s Futures” aimed to explore what challenges and opportunities are embedded in possible future developments that range from capital-intensive investments (mainly in the field of tourism) to preservation and heritage efforts to be introduced by local policy-makers. Based on the notion of Cultural Landscape, the workshop targeted outcomes in the field of Strategic Urban Planning. To reach the final outcomes different methology to explore the current issues where used (expert and local people interviews, Brainstorming, Futures scenarios methodology, Role play etc.). The outcome has been published on Spacediggers webpage ( spacedigger.tumblr.com ) and presented by Duygu Kaban in Kamingespräche, Bauhaus University, Weimar. Adittionaly, Spacediggers work has been interviewed by Shanghai Flaneur, which is a Shanghai-based CITY LAB.
URBAN BORDERS: AGORAPHOBIA WORKSHOP VALUE FACTORY ACADEMY
AGORAPHOBIA WORKSHOP
VALUEFACTORY ACADEMYwas set up and carried withing the contect of the 5th Urbanism Architecture BiCity Biennale of Shenzhen, 2013-2014. The old industrial foundation of Shekou, the Value Factory provides new chances for architects and urban panners to investigate, question and re-imagi- ne Shenzhen. The Biennal offered installations, workshops, events, facilitating the interaction betwe- en the disciplines involved and society. The Value Factory was founded : -to test the Value Factory as a permanent institution; - to share the rich content and performative power of the program partners with young designers; -to work on new opportunities for creatives in China. Severals program partners were involved such as OMA, Museum of Finnish Architecture, The Berlage, Studio X, THNK, etc. Participants were challenged to provide creative solutions to imagine future institutions. Not only architectural strategies, but also curatorial, archiving, marketing, event designing and cultural managment strategies were involved. Seminars, workshops and other events took place during the academy period.
Chris Luth and Merve Bedir’s documentary AGORAPHOBIA, which chronicles Turkey’s urban shift, compares a mass housing development to an informal settlement in Ankara. The two architecrs lead a worshop in Value factory based on flaneurie concept. Flaners are people strolling in the city, who have a key role in understanding, partecipating and portraying the city, while being a detached observer. The workshop investigation areas were 3 different Urban villages, a specific and unique concept in Urban China. The workshop led to the realization of different short movies portraying the characteristic of the areas.
INVISIBLE BORDERS https://youtu.be/bnqcBqQ6FEI
HUBEI MARKET BORDERS https://youtu.be/mplapWBNuVwk
URBAN ACUPUNTURE: “NARRATIVE SHANGHAI” Shanghai, the ever-changing economic and cultural powerhouse, can be regarded as a prototype for urban development and modernization. Migrants with different backgrounds and intentions have been moving and the massive influx of population heavily affected the city fabric.New strategies for adaptation have become necessary where local traditions got interwoven with alien influence.Moreover the specu- lation on ground and property, the increasing public awareness of historic structures and heritage, and the growing dissatisfaction with demolition and relocation are the new challenges for urban development. Many of the current development projects, especially when dealing with existing and historic structures, are lacking local consultation and, therefore, fail to meet needs of dwellers. Local participation and the understanding of dwellers’ needs by urban specialists, policy makers and politicians will become increasingly important for successful urban forms and integration of newcomers into existing communities. Several questions have to be addressed: How to solve these ongoing issues of urban development achieving density while providing quality of life? How to fairly balance the conflict between progress and tradition, between transformation and preservation, between global influence and local expression?How to initiate participatory planning with equal stakehol- ders on each side? Flexibility might be the right answer. THE FORMER JEWISH QUARTER Hongkou District with more than 36000 person/km2 is one of the densest areas in Shanghai. Right in its middle, the former Jewish Quarter is located, where several side-effects of development harm the survival of historic structures and cultural heritage.
General issues are: TRAFFIC SYSTEM: historical courtyyard are use as parking lots, wasting the human scale and stoking the shortage of public spaces, due to the high urban density; OUTSTANDING HERITAGE: the urban fabric, the hidden historic buildings and rich street life all around the area have the potential to become an attracting point; CULTURE PROBLEM: the value of the place, full of culture and deep memories, cannot be found and used, beacuse there is no space for dwellers to pass down to new users the values. Due to existing preconditions the former Jewish Quarter makes a perfect testing ground for urban acupuncture, with small-scale interventions and sustainable projects, focused on qualifying urban space, to revitalize the whole by healing the parts. DESIGN CONCEPT Urban acupuncture is applied as a strategy to persue flexibility and re-distribute urban space as a public asset. The actual approach has multiple layers and focuses on following measures: by considering the city as a breathing organism, the space has been remodeled with local treatments and micro-interferring manners to improve its vitality in the public space-system; by collecting residents’ views and recommendations, analyzing the existing and lacking features, the functions of the public space were determinated, as a synergic result of design creativity and of the dwellers’ imagination; by under- standing the rapidly changing characteristics of the city, elastic and temporary functions were conceived in the space thanks to the combination of hardware and software design.
Narrative Shanghai
MASTERPLAN
PURSUING FLEXIBILITY FROM TOP-DOWN TO BOTTOM-UP In China, most of the projects are designed with a topdown oriented process they could be soon replaced if they do not meet people’s needs. We wanted to persue a flexible bottom-up design, trying to interpretate the changing needs of the people. So we had a lot of questionnaires and interviews with residents, asking them about the most important features and functionalities the space they imagined had and which kind of activities they wished to do there. In this process, people expressed their own wills, and participated in the entire public space improvement plan. We were supposed to plan a place which could shift its functions depending from the time, day or night, working-days or wee-end-days, and from the users. Each usage, even informal, temporary, not expected, contributes to create the soul of the space. So we wanted to find a way to enable this place to carry the biggest variety of activities, from day time to night time, the biggest variety of people, with their different uses, with their diverse imaginations, with their diverse needs. We wanted to attract the biggest heterogeneity to create a lively, energetic, animated place. SOFTWARE APPLICATION AND DRYING RACKS. We chose a combination of hard and soft design: drying racks are the main important component of hard design, and where we placed them is the exact spot where we want this experiment to become real. We chose the drying racks because they are very common in the city, everyone knows their purpose and everyone used them. We “renew” this traditional object, we placed in some specific locations (historical spots, or important places for the community) and, thanks to a projector, it became an
outdoor display device, whose functionts trying to accomodate the ever-changing use of the space. The application enables the dwellers to change their space whenever they need to, it enables tourists to find out the hidden places which reveal the quality and the values in it. The main function of the software “NARRATIVE SHANGHAI” are “navigation”, “exploring”, “information” and “participation”. - Navigation function gives the history of the region, food, transportation and other information, local residents can provide database support to this end; -exploration function is a function of discovery and appreciation of cultural heritage, when people walking in the area, you can give the design of designated routes guidelines, by exploring ways to understand urban space; - Information function is about heritage and cultural explana- tions related the history of the district about some suggestions about and transportation services and food & activities. - Participation function is gaming features. In a limited physical space it offers the possibility to choose the desired function to get the desired effect. It allows the residents to rethink their city, using their own space in a different way every time. CONCLUSION. However, this design is much more a process than a product and thus it is supposed to provide a solution for bottom-up participation in resident-led urban renewal projects. Indeed, the idea is thought to become a worthy model for urban development in Shanghai.
SHENZHEN CREATIVE DESIGN INSTITUTE THE FUTURE OF VALUE FACTORY: EDUCATION
THE CHIMNEY-LANDMARK: The area is on an hill nearby the Shekou Port and it could be seen from really far away. Shekou, with its industrial heritage, represent the core of Shenzhen development. That is the reason why the chimney of the ex-Glass factory emblematize the icon of a new form of education and, as a lighthouse, will be used to attract and guide more people to it. The attractiveness will cross and go beyond the borders of the city, thanks to the relationship with the sea and its boundless feature.
MAKING AWARNESS: CITY TALES exhibition A PHOTOGRAPY EXHIBITION Does a perfect city really exist? Is it like a lover? Can you compare a city to a companion? If someone ask you to describe the perfect city, how would you answer? Would you think about a city that already exists? Or would you combine different features of different cities you’ve been to? Cities respond to our projections. A city might be perfect in a specific period, but it might become a nightmare in another one, with different dreams and fears, other expectations and different life rhythms. Wandering around cities, around spaces and places, my questions keep rising. Reading Calvino, a city wanderer and utopic city researcher, many places I’ve been, came to my mind. While reading, images from my past, beautiful and dramatic, sad and happy, kept arising. These pictures tell stories, my stories, my projections, my expectations. Other eyes and other minds will have their own alternative narration. Pictures and texts are just hints to think aboutYour places, Your spaces. You can label the pictures with other names, or to write down a name of a city or a place, which comes into your mind while reading the texts: “It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear” (Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities)
The photography exhibition brought about the city as the main topic. All the pictures tried to tell a urban story of what I saw and what I witnessed while in China. The partecipants could read the texts from Calvino, Invisible Cities, and overlay some of their stories in the exhibition, labeling my pictures or writing comments about what the texts brought to their mind. Partecipation was the essential key of the exhibition in order to make people think about how important urban stories are in shaping our vision understanding of the world.
BIBLOGRAFIA: Hannah Arendt, Vita Activa, La condizione Umana, Bompiani, 2011 Spazio pubblico: teorie percezioni e modalità di formazione Daniel Innerarity, Il nuovo Spazio Pubblico, Roma, Meltemi Editore, 2008 Zygmunt Bauman, Modernità Liquida, Laterza, 2011 De Certeau M. (1990), L’invenzione del quotidiano, Roma, EdizioniLavoro, 2001 SITOGRAFIA: nexos.cisi.unito.it/joomla/cooperare/images/stories/.../bertone_1.pdf http://www.search-document.com/ doc/1/5/lo-spazio-vissutopubblico-e-privato.html