Introduction to the special issue on DIY urbanism

Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2006

A central difficulty faced by the contemporary urban designer is that of giving shape to the formlessness of urban sprawl, creating collective spaces when human interactions are increasingly dispersed across electronic and vehicular communications networks. But until relatively recently it was difficult for the practitioner and student to readily locate literature on the phenomenon untinted by polemic and partisanship. Urban Mutations combines two sorts of essay, one hailing from academic analysis, the other from the architectural studio, which combine to produce a generally calm and considered appraisal of the dilemma faced by cities and their designers. The book originates in a small international symposium organized by the Aarhus School of Architecture in September of 2002, and the Danish editing of the volume retains a northern European and Scandinavian flavor in both its topical approaches (for instance, Poul Baek Pedersen's history of the Danish welfare city) and its somewhat uneven Englishlanguage editing (though credit is owing to the editors for making the selection available to English-language readers). Readers will find in here some statements of belief but no overall clarion call. The volume accepts that the management, through design, of the contemporary urban landscape is a challenge of such magnitude that it is best approached with a cool head: before we do anything, the title of the book tells us, let's step back and plot the mutation of the urban. When did it begin? (The book's short answer: with the relaxation of European and Scandinavian welfare state principles, and the adoption of neoliberal maxims.) What is its scale? (It is regional, national, international-'XL', to borrow architect Rem Koolhaas's shorthand, as several contributors do-but it equally affects small spaces and everyday life, and the welfare state bears a responsibility for increasing the political and physical scale of the urban footprint in the first place.) What is its nature? (Mobility-physical, social, economic-which apparently threatens traditional, fixed, concentrated cities.) Essays by political sociologist Bob Jessop and urban geographer Stephen Graham are notably helpful in getting the lay reader up to speed on these problems. An urban specialist might read the above abstract and contend that these phenomena have been known for a fair time now. Nonetheless, the serious literature on the politics and economics of the city is ever-more vast and dispersed, and there are few formats in which it is concisely connected, as it is here, tentatively, to the problems faced in the studio. When contemporary urban theory and practice are bridged it is usually as a supermodern eruption, headlines converted through CAD into mega-projects. Urban Mutations has dalliances with such projects, though their authors (like Jan Willem van Kuilenburg) will likely be unfamiliar to readers from American conference and publishing circuit, and more importantly, some chapters, like Morten Daugaard's, provide a commendably systematic account of pressing spatial issues (like 'after-sprawl'). Urban Mutations is actually of immediate interest to an architectural historian like the present reviewer. How long, one wonders, will the legacies of three successor waves of avant-garde architects who tackled urban mutations-Team X in the 1950s, Archigram in the 1960s, Rem Koolhaas and the 'Superdutch' school since-provide Views expressed in this section are independent and do not represent the opinion of the editors .

transcript Verlag eBooks, 2019

dkr.dk

The study was conducted by Helle Nørgaard, senior researcher and project manager, and Sølvi Karin Børresen, researcher, from The Danish Building Research Institute. Furthermore, Pernille Arborg, intern, contributed to the study.

Places, 2005

feweb.vu.nl

The green and open space outside a city is no longer regarded as undeveloped space, but as an important asset for sustainable urban living conditions. Current standards of wealth, dynamics, leisure time and mobility that characterize Western metropolises generate the need and the possibilities to enjoy the presence of green open space. In fact, the landscape in metropolitan areas, although not urbanized in a physical sense, has become part of the urban domain in a functional sense; urban claims influence processes of change in the landscape at an increasingly long range. Ironically, the same processes that give rise to the growing importance of the landscape for metropolitan residents endanger that same landscape, for the qualities that we appreciate in the landscape do not have a market value. Because economically more vigorous forms of land use tend to overrule openness, it is a governmental task to safeguard open and green space. The classical Western European mechanisms of spatial planning, however, are not always effective to cope with current challenges. In the Netherlands, for example, planning traditionally is conducted monofunctionally, with institutions for urban and for rural matters. The metropolitan landscape poses planners a complex interrelated sets of actors, with their specific powers and desires, blending rural and urban as well as public and private. In order to achieve effective metropolitan landscape planning, we may have to deconstruct the old institutions and assumptions because they no longer represent the actual forces that are present in the landscape. The formerly coinciding rural interests on the one hand and space under rural land ownership on the other hand, for example, has been replaced by interests that no longer parallel ownership. In addition, the preservation of open space used to be a matter of governmental restrictions, but now improving the financial basis of rural land use is more in line with modern governance. This paper presents an analysis of the essence of the metropolitan landscape planning challenge and in what sense it differs from common spatial planning, This analysis results in an extended conceptual framework, linked to mainstream planning theory, which is intended to be an aid at designing more effective urban landscape planning.

2008

The study was conducted by Helle Nørgaard, senior researcher and project manager, and Sølvi Karin Børresen, researcher, from The Danish Building Research Institute. Furthermore, Pernille Arborg, intern, contributed to the study.

ifou.org

In this paper I argue the new urban question to be an old one for three reasons. First, urban development patterns may have changed over of time but the major question remains: how is urban space (best) used? In this line, I explore contrasting ideological agendas for the use of urban space: black and white vis á vis anti-squat and squatting. Second, the (new) urban question is explicitly an urban question, which conflicts with global capital and national state politics. Third, the proposed new bill to illegalize squatting serves as good example to demonstrate that Dutch future urbanism is likely to be an old, regressive restoration of the past.

2nd Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development _ sustainable urban developmen, 2020

Human migration to urban environments is expected to comprise of more than 68 percent of the world population by 2050, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs new report (UN DESA, 2018). With an increasing urbanization and expected growth of cities, among other demands on the city infrastructure and resources to meet human needs, managing and creating new public spaces presents an additional challenge to sustainable urban development. The need for quality open places that provide safety, accessibility, green areas and services has been especially emphasized during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. New global urban development goals responding to contemporary lifestyle, health, business and recreational habits shift towards the 15-min walkability in cities. The general aim is to provide all citizens with access to public open areas and recreation in a walking distance. The main purpose of this paper is to elucidate hidden potentials and possibilities of large and small urban areas to meet these challenges and to demonstrate how redesigning, rethinking, exploring new meanings and converting existing city spaces can lead to new quality open places. Based on a case study of one of the highest-density cities in the world, this paper is explaining applied legal frameworks, management, contribution of the private sector and communities in the process of redesigning the city space of New York. The paper reflects on the important contribution of quality open public space in designing sustainable and livable cities, but as well as contribution to the economic, social and environmental benefit for the communities. Zbornik radova 2. Konferencija o urbanom planiranju i regionalnom razvoju_ održivi urbani razvoj Proceedings 2nd Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development _ sustainable urban development 309