urban living on the edge

Team #Living on the Edge

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century Leuphana Digital School Assignment Phase 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage March 2, 2013

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century

Assignment 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage

Urban Living on the Edge

"... Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." Older Norman, A River Runs through It (Movies, 1992) (imdb.com [2013]).

The Setting
What makes a city? People have been trying to answer this question for a long time. It is interesting that many of the observations of the so-called state of chaos and disorder, contained in the Athens Charter (Le Corbusier 1942/1973: 93) are still relevant for today's cities. The problems identified have still not been fully resolved. Professor Bart Brands suggest that "any city attempts to resolve the crisis of its time" (Brands 2013), which implies there are always external forces that shape the city as well as the needs of the community. The crisis of our time is clearly the threat of global warming, and the consequential rise in sea level. Equally challenging is the present rapid urbanization and growth of the global population. It is suggested in the article "The World Goes to Town" that the United Nations forecasts today's urban population of 3.2 billion will leap to nearly 5 billion by 2030 (The Economist 2007: 5), which in turn results in an increasing numbers of urban crises, such as overcrowding, pollution, energy, etc. (ibid.: 12-4). There are two basis of urban planning. The first is the analysis of local conditions, and the second is the vision of urban future (LeGates and Stout (eds.) 2003: 339). Starting with the local urban conditions, the city always needs water both for itself and for its people. As the urban environment, on the one hand, we have lived with both clean and polluted rivers, sewage disposal, and many hydro-logical disasters (floods, storm surge, tsunami, etc.). As the infrastructure, on the other hand, we have fought for human uses, such as the potable water supply and distribution, transportation, and recreation. The urban water determines the city living as well as the city manipulates it vice versa. Society is defined as a group of people living in a community in a particular geographical location subject to the same political authority, with shared customs, laws and ethics. Clearly, it is the people

Urban Living on the Edge

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Team#Living on the Edge

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century

Assignment 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage

that define the nature of the city. And the people, who make the city, the buildings, the infrastructures, the urban design, and even the environment, simplify and adapt the setting or stage for their own act of life. If we have a clear understanding of how we live and interact, what our goals and desires are, then the city design becomes a reflection of this social and political structure. Le Corbusier (1923/2010: 102) proposed that "when a problem is properly stated, in our epoch, it inevitably finds its solution." "Why have cities not, long since, been identified, understood and treated as problems of organized complexity?" (Jacobs 1961, 434). As we know, "cities happen to be problems in organized complexity" (ibid., 433). First of all the central issue of to design an ideal city is to understand that the city is a complex system. As a system, it means that is integrated and interconnected like a huge pattern weave. That is the reason that we needn't to start thinking the city as a number of variables which we have to calculate. But we need to imagine the city as the weaving pattern by full of relations between the citizen, buildings, water issue, sustainability, and so on.

The Declaration of the People

i. Self-governing city The city should be able to grow an reinvent itself over time, in a self-governing manner. However, like any natural organism there needs to be rules for the pattern of growth, to help provide structure and legibility to the city's development, both physically and psychologically (or politically). ii. Collective collaboration The city should be governed as a collective collaboration. As Professor Libeskind suggests, "cities depend more on the citizens than it's walls" and if there is "no citizen participation, there is no meaningful future." We all need to take part in the political, social and economic development of our cities rather than delegate that responsibility to a few people that we have no real or meaningful contact with. "The mayor needs to know his people" (Libeskind 2013). iii. Survival and nourishment Like any organism the city needs to grow to survive and to survive it needs to be nourished. It is about the culture and the arts that nourish the thoughts and well-being of the people, and this type of development should be encourage in the ideal city. iv. Connection to nature Our ideal city will bring back the connection to nature - the natural environment - water is essential for life. Space in the city in under constant pressure for development, as in the US (Jacobs 1961), even parks are open to consideration under the constant need for space. Bodies of water are a means at present of ensuring open space, visually at least.

Urban Living on the Edge

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Team#Living on the Edge

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century

Assignment 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage

v. Communal space "The future of cities rests on the centrality of the public space, the common purpose or space that links the citizen and structure, the poet, the politician, and the architect." In Canberra, Australia a new museum was the catalyst for community interaction. It is a museum where people are able add their own text to the fabric of the city life. It is a more active participation in a communal space than just a park. and not a museum in the old sense but a museum up to the minute since yesterday was history. In ancient Greece, it was the Agora in roman time the forum, and now its public spaces. vi. Structure Our Vision is a collection of small cells in the order of 800 x 800 m. each containing being almost self-sufficient, with the cells arranged around communal spaces. These do not necessarily have to be laid out on one plane, other community groups could be tacked above others. The key is allowing all access to direct light. Dunbar's number is a suggested optimal size for a group of people in which they can maintain stable social relationships. This ideal community size is in the order of 100 to 230 people, from which Dunbar derived the mean number of 150 people. The ideal city would be based on this basic cell and allow to duplicate in an organic manner. vii. Transportation Because of the cell structure daily movements are reduced to a distance that can be traveled on foot, or bike, or even wheel chair. It is only the need for goods, services or other commodities that need to be transported by vehicle. And the water transportation should play more role than the long distance shipping.

vii. Future-ready The city allows for inherent change. Kotter's business theory of "8 steps of change management," states that the instigator of change is a crisis. The present environmental crisis is the ideal place to start, as a motive for change. The solution or methodology of change is the interaction of the people. Initially allowing them the feel success even if at a minor level, which is then encourages interaction and a successful working system. A fundamental principle of our future city is the encouragement of social, political and economic interaction within the city. As Lord May, Baron of Oxford and the chief scientist in the UK suggests it is the social science that need to be studied to solve the environmental issues the world is facing - it is the way the people behave that needs to change. People as well as the city should prepare for potential natural disasters and other risks.

Urban Living on the Edge

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Team#Living on the Edge

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century

Assignment 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage

ix. Playing field The city as playing field and setting. The city and his organic behavior need also "unproductive surfaces," runs the definition: play makes its appearance first after thought - marginal to serious activities. Yet this condition does not affect its ability to simulated urban form. The first paradox of an healthy city where the citizen understand the complexity of urban life. x. Safety and security The goal of this society is to reactivate the street, the town square, and waterways, thus bringing more people into the public realm, and by doing this the level of passive surveillance is increased, which in turn improves the safety and security of the community, without barrier. xi. Heritage as a social construction The importance of heritage means the identity of the city. The society has the possibility to understand its own historical process. With that information, the heritage can be converted to the understanding of its own images and pasts. That makes an opportunity for recreating or integrating as a city, as a society. xii. Self-education What might set a limit between architecture and education? "Learning communities" is a way to shared responsibility which bring the education to the new generations. In order to understand the current context, knowledge should be widely distributed and always renew itself. xiii. Flexibility and diversity There must be diversity of both people and their experiences. This is the basic to provide flexibility to the constant unpredictable changes in a city. To achieve in the course of a few generations, something like the healthy system we dream in our ideal city will be required as maximum flexibility. The social flexibility is an important resource as water. It must be handled in the best way for use in the necessary changes.

A Dream of the Future Communities

What do people want in their ideal city? What do they need? These questions have changed over time and they are also different depending on their position in the system of society. We have moved on from the basic needs for survival. There is now a greater need for social interaction and lifestyles. Since 2007, the lifestyle magazine Monocle has published a list of the most livable cities, in a similar manner to Mercers Quality of living survey and The Economist Global Livability Report. The common elements of what constitutes a livable city are: safety/crime, international connectivity, climate/sunshine, quality of architecture, public transportation, tolerance, environmental issues and

Urban Living on the Edge

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Team#Living on the Edge

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century

Assignment 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage

access to nature, urban design, business conditions, pro-active policy developments and medical care (Wikipedia [2013]). The Economist's article (2007), "The world goes to Town," suggests the ideal city needs to be: prosperous; well-governed; with jobs available; and safe. In our ideological view of the city if culture is replacing gods as the binding agent for the community (The Economist 2007: 15-6), things such as shopping, sport, museums/art - galleries & theatres, Opera and concerts all become important. What is happening today go the space for education as socialization? The space however is not simply a void in the city fabric. It is used for public and political gatherings, entertainment and a social educational space. It have become the destination and the anchor for city life. It is the connections not only to the commercial area, but the river (environment) and the cultural areas in the galleries and theatres, the casino and the public transportation hub that all combine to make this a success. We believe about the importance of knowledge and technological skills in today's globalized world creates demands for broad, continuous education that is well beyond the resources of the schools. The new scenario of our ideal city present the need to make education a broader, social task, where different social institutions participate actively. In conclusion, our vision of society is a community that is intellectually free, safe from harm, economically stable because people work together, expressed the culture of the people through art of all forms, and is located in a pleasant environment with a moderate climate and vitally access to water.

Urban Living on the Edge

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Team#Living on the Edge

ThinkTank Ideal City of the 21st Century

Assignment 3: Vision for Society - Setting the Stage

References
Brands, Bart. (2013). Bart Brands 1/8 - Discourse & Ideal City - Leuphana Digital School. Online from: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=J4c7NkE5oVg >. Uploaded January 31, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013. The Economist. (2007). "The World Goes to Town." Special Report on Cities. pp. 3-19. Jacobs, Jane. (1961). The kind of problem a city is, ch. 22, pp. 428-448, in The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage. imdb.com. ([2013]). "Memorable quotes for A River Runs Through It (1992)," story by Norman Maclean , and screenplay by Richard Friedenberg. Online from: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105265/quotes>. Retrieved February 26, 2013. Le Corbusier. (1923/2010). Towards a New Architecture, translated by Frederick Etchells. Architectural Press. Le Corbusier. (1942/1973). Conclusions - Main Points of Doctrine, ch. 3, pp. 91-105, in The Athens Charter, translated by Anthony Eardley. New York: Grossman Publishers. LeGates, Richard T., and Frederic Stout (eds) (2003). Introduction to Part Six: Urban Planning Theory and Practice, pp. 339-341, in The City Reader. Third edition. London: Routledge. Libeskind, Daniel. (2013). Daniel Libeskind 3/8 - Citizens Participation for a Meaningful Future Leuphana Digital School, Online from: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yNW6kcWHbhQ>. . Uploaded January 11, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2013. Wikipedia. ([2013]). World's Most Livable Cities. Online from: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_most_livable_cities>. Retrieved February 26, 2013

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Team#Living on the Edge