Friday, July 3, 2009

The Future of Community: Reports of a Death Greatly Exaggerated

Eds: Martin Earnshaw, Dave Clements, Alastair Donald & Austin Williams (Pluto Press)


We are constantly being told that we are losing a ‘sense of community’. This book shows that the notion of community is actually under threat from the very thing supposed to protect it: relentless government intervention.
The family and collective institutions have certainly suffered in the face of market forces and moralising. But, the authors argue, a far bigger threat to social solidarities comes from the crisis of political confidence. Replacing a political vision for society with instrumental attempts to create ‘community’ has given rise to unelected ‘community leaders’, and formalised community relationships to the detriment of traditional freedoms. This book argues that for genuine communities to flourish we need a space, free from official intervention, where people can confidently negotiate their own relations.

Visit the Future of Community Blog here: http://www.futureofcommunity.org.uk/

Via The Future Cities Project - Publications

Thursday, July 2, 2009

ProstoRož Ljubljana



ProstoRož is an event created by a group of three architects, dedicated to exposing and tackling the weaknesses of public space as it presents itself in Ljubljana. It basically consists of a series of tiny interventions in the city spaces of Ljubljana and its main goal is to bring the state and meaning of public space to general attention.
The project often addresses neglected, remote areas, which are not put to any use, but could be transformed into dynamic and friendly spaces.

Read More:
http://www.rali.boku.ac.at/fileadmin/_/landscape-xperiments/Korenja_Alenka_01.pdf

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Thursday, June 11, 2009

University of Cincinnati Campus - Cincinnati, OH

After thinking about this project for a while, I realized this blog had no other way to get built but one step at a time. Looking from this angle, the departure point is not that important – the steady rhythm of steps is.
The University of Cincinnati campus is as good a place to start as any other. Since I’ve just returned from there with a batch of fresh photos, this will be the first post.
First, a few words about it. In a post-industrial, mid-western struggling city, the UC campus is among the few oases of cosmopolite and progressive vibe where one can escape the neglected car-compliant surroundings. This distinction owes much to the university’s policies and effort to bring in a mottled international crowd and offer exquisite facilities. What we are going to look at is the masterplan that equaled the physical appearance of the university campus to its intellectual ambitions.
The UC masterplan by Hargreaves Associates streamed billions of dollars over a 15-20 year period into the transformation of a collection of non-descript buildings into an integrated, hip looking collection of signature architecture and landscape design, well functioning live-study-work-and-play environment.
In 2006, when one of the last masterplan components, the Main Street, was completed with a Thom Mayne designed Recreation Center, the university organized "A Symposium on the Importance of Place", with Glen Allen (Hargreaves Associates), Frances Halsband (R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects), Thom Mayne (Morphosis), and Buzz Yudell (Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners) – all involved with the design of various pieces of the Campus.
A few students from the Design, Architecture, Art and Planning College (DAAP) were invited to deliver the discussion points, and we did so through a glorifying powerpoint, a critical short movie, and engaging art performances… Since those are too big to upload and it may take a while to shrink them, here's a CET video that offers a good virtual tour of the campus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uItNFaYYJ84