Questions about Governance and SocialUrbanism Maria Clara Restrepo Governo del territorio Prof. Pier Carlo Palermo Urban planning and policy design, POLIMI February 4 – 2009
TENDENCIES ON REALcities The new cities of advanced services The mass consuption of the city The architecture of the space of flows ::: shallow and superfluous +++ the case of Milano – Dubai – Los Angeles .... and the rest...
Which one is the architects and planners role in the new ways construction of the city, if the communities does not exist on the physical sphere, but have new spaces on the communicational flows? If the face to face contact and the trust NEED to be proved on the physical sphere, is the public space the only real space there would be in the future? The new ways of urbanism : the reality Vs the dream. We were told that our generation is in charge of the switch from a predator model of consumption to a sustainable aproach to the “products” available, but is it true that we are so tired of the shallow architecture, or the AUTHOR DESIGN? is the Greenpeace – vegetarian – slow food – stop global warming - sustainable development, just another fashion to expand markets ? Wich are the new challenges :: from the dreams to the reality:: how many forces involved :: the €€€ $$$$ vs the future as the end of the world THE NEED OF THE REALITY OF QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS TO MEASURE THE DREAMS AND THEIR IMPACT
The everyday growing tendency of the city to become a tempo-artificial object that commerce, and the rest of the economical forces, use just for the time they need, and forget about her when they go home to the suburbs to sleep [TEMPORARY CITY] Are a force that urbanist, planners and neither architects, can forget about. The planning theories and the approach to the Urban issues can not be the same from 15 years ago, because in the last decade the production process, the technological devices and globalization process (and more) leaded the cities to a different understanding of space, society and dynamics. The complex organizational relations between individuals and urbanism, space and time, must force the planners, architects and citizens to Rethink the cities and their roles, as much as the techniques to approach to them .
“The suburbs have three destinies, none of them exclusive: as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins.” Jim Kunstler The tendencies in the new century for governing and urbanism must tend to the collective creation of conscience on the public domains, and off course, it´s first creation: the city. Obama is well known for his understanding of the Polarization from Below, and one of the most important issues in his campaign is the creation of the first-ever White House Office on Urban Policy, besides his current calls to the citizenship. He understands that city is a complex and alive organism who does not create crime and chaos by her self, but is a reflection of the actions of all the insiders, and the biggest problems of the American cities on the XXI century are based on the neglection and rejection of urban public areas in national policies on the half past century. “Yes, we need to fight poverty,… fight crime… But we also need to stop seeing our cities as the problem and start seeing them as the solution. Because strong cities are the building blocks of strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America.” Obama, 2008
Experiences towards real changes on the UrbanScience and planning theories Teddy Cruz and his Trans Border Urbanism Since the last decades there has been an improvement on the conscience about the natural reserves, energy saving, public domains … but , the policies of the biggest cities are not evolving with the publicity and theories … How to manage the private interest and public wills into a real ecological and integrative city of the future? Anyhow, in the academic and research environments are experiences that have proved the success of the investment on social and mentality changes, as a catalyst of real urban renovations: from the heart to the body. STRATEGIC VISION FOR THE GLOBALIZED MEGACITY REGIONS ????
NEW URBANISM "Giving people many choices for living an urban lifestyle in sustainable, convenient and enjoyable places, while providing the solutions to peak oil, global warming, and climate change"
“...Academics have criticized New Urbanism as retrograde, bordering on fascist. Some uninformed environmentalists[who?] decry new urbanism as nothing more than conventional sprawl dressed up with superficial stylistic cues. Some activists argue that the New Urbanism is too dense, with too much mixed use and around-the-clock activity...”
PortaPalazzo Experience THE GATE project Living, not leaving TORINO Methodology and strategic lines: 1. Community work 2. the active citizenship 3. Research and action 4. the NET – WORK
+ Intervention on an area with great importance for the identity [local and globally] + Neuralgic zone for the space and society of Torino. + inclusion of the people and the space on the city dynamics, giving the real importance of a downgraded area, convergence point for the construction of citizenship and cosmopolitan city. ARCHITECTS – PLANNERS – SOCIOLOGIST (and others...) WORKING TOGHETER ON A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INITIATIVE TO SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS
PLANNING IN “DEVELOPING CITIES” How much can public investment on infrastructure, influence the behavior of the most vulnerable communities on urban spaces?
1980. a historically rooted on fear and violence city, with no more prospective than growing private unequal development, and corrupt public administration. Low index of public spaces, near no public investment and no state intervention on development.
PLANNING AS A WAY TO FIND BLURRY IDENTITIES 2008. Everyday safer city, growing tourism and foreign investment. Improvement of the quality of educational, health and recreational spaces for the most vulnerable communities : recognition of them selves on the public spaces, re qualified by the municipality, with national support on policies and investment. ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM AS A TOOL FOR A DEEP SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION, AND A SYSTEM TO FEEDBACK AN ENTIRE SOCIETY
The global cities need the work of groups : networks full of tolerance, interdisciplinary groups and inter-cultural exchange to understand the every day increasing cosmopolitan condensed poles The real changes towards a better future, a sustainable city : equal and efficient, justice and opportunities for all the members of the communities [even when we all know its impossible and would be a mistake to look for it] a real urban development, has to based on a territorial improvement leaded by the community : a social change has to initiate the physical changes. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES SHOULD NOT RELY ONLY ON THE PRIVATE OR ONLY ON THE PUBLIC ACTORS, BUT ON A COMPACT SYNERGY BETWEEN THEM AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL FROM THE COMMUNITY INVOLVED. THE SUPPORT OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND THE CREATION OF NATIONAL FRAMEWORKS ON POLICIES, GUARANTEE THE AT LEAST, LEGAL AND EQUAL GROWTH OF THE CITY WHICH IS NECESARY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE INCLUSIVE AND INTEGRATIVE CITY OF THE FUTURE.
The role of the public space The continuity of the condensed city Center Vs periphery Physical and social transformations Planning and architecture Operations and visioning Spatial cohesion and social cohesion Can urbanism and architecture help to close the gap between the poles of the social classes? help to build peace in developing countries ? Create equality ?