Urbanism

Urbanism is the study of how dwellers in towns and cities interact with their environment. Urbanism focuses on the geography, economy, politics and social characteristics of the urban environment, as well as the effects on, and caused by, the built environment.

Theory of Urbanism

Urbanism Theory Writers of the late 20th C.

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modern urbanism writings

Currently many , architects, planners, and sociologists (like Louis Wirth) investigate the way people live in densely populated urban areas from many perspectives including a sociological perspective. In an essay discussing Wirth’s Urbanism as a Way of Life, Michele Girelli states; '[Wirth] argues for the necessity to consider the city 'as a social entity'. 'Urban' is defined as the place, where a specific mode of living and behave take place in contraposition to a rural mode of living. Multiple points of view on the city, by the different disciplines have been proposed but a sociological approach [opposed to an urban planning approach, for example] might call the attention to different types of relations between them. To arrive to an adequate conception of 'urbanism as a mode of life' Wirth says it is necessary to stop 'identify[ing] urbanism with the physical entity of the city' , go 'beyond an arbitrary boundary line' and consider how 'technological developments in transportation and communication have enormously extended the urban mode of living beyond the confines of the city itself.'

Witold Rybczynski, an architect, professor, author and critic supports Wirth’s ideas of the urban way of life as freed from the boundaries of city limits. Urban habits and mindsets, for example, leak out from cities, urban centers, and urbanized areas into more suburban and rural areas due in part to the ease of cultural diffusion in the twenty first century.

In contemporary urbanism, also known as urban design in many parts of the world, there are as many different ways of framing the practice as there are cities in the world. According to American architect and planner Jonathan Barnett the approach of defining all the different ‘urbanisms’ in the world is an endless one. In his essay ‘A Short Guide to 60 of the Newest Urbanisms’ he acknowledges a list of sixty, but sees it as not particularly useful, because it is just about dividing up a field that strives for a comprehensive approach. In this page, such a division is not being made, though, in order to give a clear view, one has to look with a certain perspective.

Two categories of urbanism practices emerge from the extensive field: the more mainstream forms, ideas, and examples of urbanism, and the more alternative and submissive varieties of urbanism. Both the more mainstream and the more alternative urbanism projects (or urban design projects, as it is referred to in some parts of the world) are analyzed here according to the project’s pragmatic impact of the way of life in the city, rather than analyzed for its architecture, planning components, and social aspects alone. This page will examine in a new way, already well known urban projects as well as highlight projects which often fall below the radar of wide media attention, but are noteworthy for their strategy, impact, boldness, or ingenuity.

Mainstream Urbanism

Mainstream contemporary urbanism recognizes several trends In the book "Cities and Design," Paul Knox refers to one trend as the ‘aestheticization of everyday life’. He says that from the 1980's on, people develop the ability to identify their lifestyles through consumption. 'The result was the aestheticization of everyday life, with design implicated in production and consumption at every level. The design of the built environment has become intimately involved with many aspects of consumption,...'

In the mainstream urbanism of today this development comes forward in the general accent on the shape of the city, the physical urban form and a technical perception of the flows and activities in a city.

Alternative Urbanism

The alternative option to mainstream urbanism is called alternative urbanism. Alternative urbanism focuses on the many processes that define cities and urban life. Social, political and economical processes are significant factors in this type of urban design and planning. This multidisciplinary approach addresses issues by looking at problems from bigger perspectives, without ‘narrowed’ views that might come from specialization in specific fields. Jane Jacobs is often associated with using this transdisciplinary approach in the urban practice. Without any background in urban design, she wrote a notable critique on the urban renewal proposals of the United States in the 1950s, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Urbanism in Practice

The practice of urbanism refers to the act of designing spaces, infrastructure, social systems, or political actions that address issues of urban dwellers. Contemporary urbanism practitioners engage in variety of interventions in many types of urban dwellings with the purpose of creating positive change.

Instead of defining urbanism as a discipline, we could name three core attributes of contemporary urban areas that urbanism practitioners should understand; 'city as flux', 'consequences of design', and 'design as a creative political act'. The more extensive descriptions of these three core attributes and examples from the urban practice are to be found further on this page.

American cities were planned with the car in mind as the standard for transportation. Today’s urban developments are designed around and for car travel. Increasing mobility and connectivity between cities and rural areas blurs the lines between urban and non-urban ways of life, with suburban as an intermediate between the two. Urban designer and architect Witold Rybczynski states that there is no clear difference between rural and urban today, since the quality of life and available resources are the same and the fact that, due to developments in information technology, everyone can connect with the digital world anywhere: “Since the cultural difference [between rural and urban life] is no longer huge, the geographic, where you live, does not matter. And that means that urbanism [in America] is strictly about ‘do you live New York or not?’ [for example], but it does not make you any different.” The challenge American cities face today, he states, is to increase densification, to counter the sprawl that is detrimental to ecology, economics and efficiency. Coping with the city in regards to its borders is no longer the obstacle.

Or, as Louis Wirth put it; 'Emerging communication system and production and distribution of technology' but even more interesting he points out that as urbanist/social researchers we 'must look for the symptoms of which will indicate the probable future development of urbanism as a mode of social life'. Because of the technological advancements in our world, most urbanized areas face these developments and one can ask what will become the urban life of the future.

Concepts of Urbanism

Pragmatism

The pragmatic approach to urbanism promotes action above reflection. Pragmatism emphasizes a culture of inclusion within cities where contradiction and disagreement work to build stronger truths. The essence of pragmatism remains in contemporary daily life in urban area as main philosophical ingredient. Although the expression has used for over a century, it is not a fixed concept. While the world that the movement is rooted in has had many changes, as a frame to perceive the world, pragmatism also has experienced different levels of modifications. Those changes are very relevant to the development of cities and basic themes of pragmatism can be applied to the urbanism even more strongly.

In a lecture at The New School University, Richard Bernstein mentioned six themes that can be found from the acknowledged pragmatists: anti-foundationalism, fallibilism, community as inquirers, questioning the sharp distinction between theory and practice, pluralism and democracy. Moreover, from the following interview, he re-emphasized that “everything” of those themes are useful for re-conceptualizing urbanism and re-thinking urban practice so that they have much great impact on the city and its citizens.

Anti-foundationalism and fallibilism closely connect to each other. In the same context of these two, the concept of cities is provisional and never absolute or certain, and pragmatists argue that the idea of space needs to be pliable and adaptable and able to cope with unpredictability and change. The notion of a community as inquirers is a continuing process of self-correction and spatial legitimacy is determined from the larger community in which they are presented, in this sense the idea of place will be sustained only as long as there is a community to support it. William James’s engaged pluralism encourages people to actively reach out to the points of intersection where people can critically engage with others. Under pragmatism there cannot be a platonic ideal of “placeless” or an essential definition of place because the place is defined throughout continuous interactions with its dwellers.

John Dewey believed that the personification of knowledge in everyday practices was essential and the proactive question about the relationship between theory and practice connects to the idea of social responsibility. The theme of democracy was central to Dewey’s version of pragmatism. He believed that in a democratic society, every sovereign citizen is capable of achieving personality. He argued that the concept of place should be open to experimentation for the hope of realizing a better world.

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"Good thought, good action." John Dewey at the University of Vermont (center)

According to Bernstein, “these themes are also basic applications of urbanism.” As pragmatism shares a history of development with modern cities, both pragmatists and urban practitioners have influenced each other. Dewey said that the interaction is human experience: 'For life is no uniform uninterrupted march or flow. It is a thing of histories, each with its own plot, its own inception and movement toward its close, each having its own particular rhythmic movement; each with its own unrepeated quality pervading it throughout.’

Beyond the object: City as flux

Pragmatism and City as Flux

In different way Pragmatism is connected to general idea of the reality as flux and more specific to the city as flux. First of all, “anti-foundationalist”, the attitude of Pragmatism was looking away from principles and category and of looking towards consequences, and facts. If “categories” by definition are fix structure of thought on the contrary ideas did not exist as pre-existing perfect form but emerge contingently and experimentally in response to the particular needs and practices of communities that lives in a given place and time: here emerge the idea of flux as collective process of construction of meanings. In this sense William James, since his lecture at Berkeley, supported the idea that the effective meaning of any philosophic preposition can always be brought down to some practical consequence and also that what makes any belief true it’s not its rational self-sufficiency or its ability to resist logical scrutiny, but the fact that the belief leads us into more useful relations with the world. Here the flux is the relation between a permanent idea of “Truth” and the immanent reality. As a jurist, Holmes in his most famous sentence “the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience” reassert the idea that law is not merely a system of abstract doctrines but a response to changing conditions, and to the constant flux of reality. The educational philosophy developed by John Dewey beyond the classic idea of “the knowledge for its own sake” where a distinction between “facts” and “values” is rigorously observed. For John Dewey, admirer of Holmes; and psychologist, philosopher and political activist; knowing and doing were indivisible aspects of the same process, which is the business of adaptation. This process of adaptation was conceived as a learning process and a collaborative activity. Knowledge in this sense emerges as an instrument for action.

Flux of temporalities

City as flux is a City in motion and motion refer to the notion of time, and time is central in William James’s discourse on Bergson and his critique of intellectualism. The proposed text appeared as one of a series of lectures collected in the book. The concept of the city as flux in that sense is a matter of the “perception of the city” and is related to the notion of “pure experience” as the most basic ontological experience.

In his book “A pluralistic universe”, James refers to Zeno’s paradox of the “tortois and achille”, in the renowned “Greek’s tale”, emerges the idea of time as infinitely divisible substance but also the idea of motion as conceived by mathematicians as the occupancy of serially successive points of space at serially successive instants of time.

James introduce the philosophy of Bergson from which emerge, indeed, the idea of motion as “turbine sensation” or as “vertigo”, and is conceived as the process “of gradually learn to coordinate felt motion”. In that sense is understandable James’ admiration of Bergson if you relate for example to the idea that “What really exist are not things made but things in the making, yourself in the making by a stroke of intuitive sympathy with the things and the whole range of possible decompositions.” In that sense it’s interesting to look at the different conception of time always dating from the days of ancient Greece, and what I mean is looking at the Stoic dual theory of time: on the one hand there is aiôn, comprising an infinite past and future; on the other there is chronos, the extended present. Under aiôn, the relationship between the present on the one hand and the past and future on the other is reversed. Instead of a present that can expand and absorb the past and future, under aiôn the extended present evaporates in a process of subdivision into part of the past and part of the future. Aiôn is the idea of an extended present with a certain temporal extension or duration is incompatible with the idea of a present defined as an abstract mathematical limit. The extended present is replaced by the instant, a mathematical limit without thickness or extension that stands between past and future.

Flux of Images

The city is not an end, but it is a mean, a tool. As time passes, the formations of concepts continue and become physical drops of time. Time causes a constant change, which means that there is never a complete image of a city, community or person, but instead that there is an endless line of variations of them. [5]

The city is an always changing organism. City as Flux means that cities are never static but that they are always changing, that is not to me the main and most important idea of “The city as a flux”. The “thing” called a “city” is the outcome of a historical “process” called “urbanization.” In that sense we can argue to support our thesis that processes are more fundamental than things, processes are always mediated through the things they produce, sustain and dissolve, the permanencies produced frequently function as the solid and immoveable bases of daily material existence. As argued by David Harvey: “Free-flowing processes become instantiated in structures, in institutional, social, cultural and physical realities that acquire a relative permanence, fixity and immovability” In this sense it’s important first to recognize that as a physical artifact, the contemporary city has many layers. It forms what we might call a palimpsest, a composite landscape made up of different built forms superimposed upon each other with the passing of time. “Most urban design is devoted to assuring stability, coherence and predictability of urban settings. Design guidelines and zoning rules limit changes to the streetscape, and enforce a degree of conventionality on what gets built. At the same time, many of the most interesting places in cities are just the opposite: disordered, unpredictable, changing at a rapid pace, and open to individual initiatives that constantly reshape them.” [7] We can say in fact that the city, however perfect its initial shape, is never complete, never at rest.

Urban Designer in the Flux

Since cities possess complexity, constant change, and difficult tradeoffs, urban design is more of an ambiguous grey area, rather than the overly simplistic notion of black-and-white choices or right-or-wrong decisions. What emerge from the text of Aseem Inam; “Navigating Ambiguity: Comedy Improvisation as a Tool for Urban Design Pedagogy and Practice”; as the improvisation in the theater, the design process, on the one hand, is the ability to build tools, methods and disciplinary strategies and on the other hand, finds its validity in the deeper ability to adapt, crack and questioning in considering the complexity of different reality. The design as “verb” as it is suggested “denotes engaging with the city as an ongoing process, from conception of an urban design initiative, to multiple alternatives and iterations, to an agreed upon strategy to refinement, to acceptance, to implementation, to modification, and beyond”.

The Olympic Village, Barcelona

The Olimpic Village is one of the urban interventions realized in Barcelona in occasion of the Olympic Games in 1992. Primary aims of the intervention were the renewal of the area and the realization of the residential facilities required for the participants of the games. In the framework of city as flux, the following presentation wants to situate the project of the Olympic Village as a sequence within longer processes characterizing and structuring the development of the city both in social and in a spatial sense, as part of continuous transformation. A scheme of conditions is thus traced as unavoidable premise for a full comprehension of the intervention, possibly expressing the traits of what we recognize as the anthropological identity of a specific context. In this perspective the intentions of the project can be better understood, as well as its role in creating the premises for the future development of the city.

Realm of conditions

As part of an uninterrupted urban evolution the Olympic Village in Barcelona is a chapter of many interweaving longer narratives, which reveal the historical and environmental conditions of a unique, specific urban flux. Each of these conditions can thus be imagined as the lines of an invisible structure that this project – as any other – crystallizes, not being the result of an abstract, sudden process. Each of these conditions specifies a perspective / frame from which the project can be considered thus throwing a different light on the same spatial artifact, figuring the realm of trades off within which the intervention is embedded.

Historical and political premises: the Catalan left in the framework of globalization.

In terms of political orientation, given its economical development “Barcelona’s place as one of the key cities in European socialist history is undisputed, given its strong anarchist and workers movements in the early parts of the 20th century, its centrality in the antifascist struggle before and during the Spanish civil war and its determined resistance to dictatorship from the 1950s to the 1970s…and its architects, planners and radical economists played a major role in fusing political with urban transformation. ( Mc Neill, 2003 ).The occasion of the Olympic Games – the first non boycotted - and the consequent choices in terms of urban interventions and economical strategies more than suggesting any definition about the political orientation of the city, should lead to reframe the role and the ambitions of the left at a municipal level in the years of political and economical transformation of the post-fordist Spain after the dictatorship. “..through its pragmatism, the council has retained the opportunity to pursue policies that many on the left would find laudable – an active internationalism, a strong commitment to public space, an inclusive stance vis-à-vis immigrants and general attempt to at least mitigate and at best limit the excess of speculative property development” ( Mc Neill 2003 ). The decision to candidate Barcelona at the games of 1992 came in summer 1980, “when the city was suffering a cultural crisis, a lack of projects, the misery of a fierce economic crisis and it was made public in 1981, just after the attempted coup of 23F, so we were very aware of the need to generate enthusiasm, to set some tangible goals that the population could see” ( Narcis Serra, mayor of Barcelona 1979-1982 ). The narratives concerning identity, pride and the challenge of the event converged and reinforced reciprocally, thus explaining the strength of motivations and involvement pushing the city towards unprecedented efforts. “Barcelona projected itself into the world, skillfully using the 1992 Summer Olympic Games to emerge internationally as a major metropolitan center, linking historical identity with informational modernity.” ( Castells, 1997 )

Identity process I.

Claiming a global positioning The big event is an occasion to build narratives of growth, providing reasons and pretexts to concentrate economical resources and other energies towards a unique, spectacular effort. Issues of sustainability are in parallel suggested among the main concerns, given the extraordinary level of the interventions produced. The underlying question concerns the actual beneficiaries of the growth, its costs and its real sustainability, especially in the long term. Developers stress the redistributive effects deriving from a better performing urban infrastructure and from successful emergence of cultural-historical identity. As any other product in the market, the city needs to be labeled with a claim, sold through images, be able to maintain the promises done to the interested investors. The design of the waterfront and the realization of the Rondas in occasion of the Olympic Games are the translation of a corporate attitude in the management of the city, meaning attraction of investments and satisfaction of stakeholders.

Identity process II.

Introvert narratives An effective corporate policy requires not only attraction of investors, but also a good internal cohesion, which can only be achieved through an intense communication, building and reinforcing the relational realm among/ with the citizens. Involving citizens in the narration and in the effort of growth that big events artificially accelerate requires a capillary work of communication and deep motivation. The advertising campaign Barcelona posat’ guapa was conceived to inform about the transformations happening in the city in parallel to the realization of the big architectural objects specifically required for the competitions and the infrastructural interventions at that time comparable just with the Big Dig in Boston. The design of the campaign was promoted by the Ajuntament de Barcelona in order to develop a constant communication with the citizens, in occasion of any transformation of the city . This can be seen as another sign of a progressively reinforcing trend, the hybridization of urban policies with corporate logics, fueled on one hand by the scheme of urban marketing implied in the competition among global cities; on the other required on the side of an increasing number of public-private partnerships developed by the city to economically support its process of growth. An effort of mediation between the impact of the event and the realm of the daily lives of citizens can be recognized also in the efforts deployed at a smaller scale of urban design: a number of spatial devices were conceived to interface the impact of the infrastructures, at the same time multiplying and rescaling the effects of the transformed urban space. Along the Ronda da Dalt, the Ronda Litoral and the Ronda dal Mig for example different tactics have been used in order to modulate the fracture produced by the big scale of the infrastructure. More than this, the design of these devices of mediation, made of parks, new public spaces, constellated by artifacts of public art, provided the conditions to multiply and engender new sense of place, structuring new narratives centered on identity, thus blurring the massive restructuring of the city. Parc Nus de la Trinitat, Barcelona, 1993 by Joan Roig & Enric Batlle...is in north east Barcelona, inside a circular motorway junction. The work of public art of Rebecca Horn, Estel Ferit, 1992 honors the vending stands characterizing the Barceloneta area before the interventions for the Olympic Games.

The Olympic village in the framework of Barcelona planning policies.

Fixing the general direction of development for bronwfields in terms of renewal, the Olympic Village is an example of a planning approach further developed in the following years. Three main traits can be recognized, more as recurrent elements than as structuring elements of a planning model. The first is a transcalar spatialization, which means a constant dialectical movement from the scale of daily rhythms to the regional scale of the big infrastructures. The second is the urban characterization of the interventions, leading to a higher density. The third trait is the political character of planning. In the case of the Olympic Village as part of the wider set of interventions realized for the Games political reasons overlapped with economical interests. A reinforced geopolitical role of Barcelona and Catalonia and an enhanced attractiveness for investors found on the discourse on identity a strong socio-cultural belief and in the Olympic Games an unrepeatable occasion of growth. The strategic planning of the Nineties was mainly economically driven, more precisely it was an “urban corporate planning around a core of economic development goals with certain social and environmental aims attached” ( Marshall, 2000 ). Especially considering the interventions of the following years, this explains the progressively increasing interest for the regional scale, the identification of key sectors such as universities, health, tourism; the success of the infrastructural improvements; the unfulfilled environmental policies or social housing programs.

Realm of intentions

As for the other areas of intervention, also the Olympic Village was supposed to realize aims going beyond the temporary episode of the games, thus providing further motivations for the urban interventions intensively affecting the city on many different levels: from the economical investments to the daily rhythms of the inhabitants, from the reshaped spatial identity to the lives of the displaced local residents. Defining a realm of intentionality the following categories identify larger urban processes in which the project of the Olympic Village can be inscribed.

Urban renewal.

The urban interventions for the Olympic Games identified Poble Nou as a new core, redesigning it as an attractive touristic and residential area, radically changing the sense and the value of the place, through the years leading to the emergence of a new neighborhood. The project of Nova Icaria – the name evocating the image and the possibility of a new future – implied the demolition of all the preexisting buildings, the removal of the railway track, and the relocation of the affected residents. This, as other similar processes of urban renewal, is situated in a realm of conflicting interests and discourses/policies concerning global cities. They mainly result in conditions of socio-spatial unevenness, more often referable as gentrification. Nova Icaria is an example: the area evolved according to post-fordist dynamics: a city of knowledge participating to the space of flows with 22@bcn , a district for the strategic concentration of intensive knowledge-based activities.

The waterfront: the foundations of the future Barcelona.

The project of the Parc da Mar within which the Olympic Village was included was meant to give accessibility to 5 km of coast line. The precedents for this town planning project go back to December 1981: coinciding with the projects which RENFE was drafting to rationalize and modernize the Barcelona train services . In February 1985 a crucial decision was taken: to place the railway line between the Estació de França and the Plaça de les Glòries underground. This created the premises to reorganize the metabolism of the city, thus defining its future: that decision in fact implied and opened the way to the realization of a new residential area, the reorganization of the road system, the redesign of the waterfront as an asset to attract tourism and new investors.

A new residential tissue

“Barcelona en esta área se transformó físicamente, pero demasiado rápidamente – destruyendo patrimonio. El valor del terreno y de los inmuebles se ha disparado, inalcanzable para los vecinos. La Vila Olímpica se tenía que haber convertido en vivienda social, pero fue entregada a los promotores privados. La planificación olímpica no ha incorporado soluciones a los problemas sociales, que eran prioridad” The Olympic Village was supposed to organize facilities and residential structures for the athletes and other guests participating of the Games. A maximum of 15.000 athletes was expected and the preliminary project suggested to divide the different categories: journalist, athletes, arbiters. Beginning a phase of housing development, the intervention was realized with the support of private developers, thus leading to an increase of the prices. The initial intention to create residential settlements accessible to low income inhabitants thus was not realized.

Realm of consequences

Probably one of the most relevant, long term consequences of the urban interventions realized in occasion of the Olympic Games of the 1992 can be identified in terms of modeling the development of the city, establishing the priority of a global role. In Barcelona as in other cities the urban changes related to these ambitions are revealing the contradictions of the neoliberal policies and the resulting state of urban unevenness.

The Strategy of big events.

Continuing the formula of corporate planning, learning from the successful experience of the urban interventions realized for the Olympic Games, twelve years later in occasion of Forum de las Culturas the City tried to repeat the experience, this time combining the pretext of environmental concerns – in particular the treatment of polluted waters at the mouth of Besos - with the rhetoric about the values of culture and cosmopolitism celebrated by another big international event. The tradition of big events as peak moments for the spectacularization of the city and its economical and technological levels of performance is not something for Barcelona: the city hosted an International exposition in 1929. But the economical, social and technological conditions of the contemporary conjuncture are substantially different, structurally affecting the opportunities and strategies for the mobility of capitals and the related speculative dynamics. The need to sustain an uninterrupted investment of surplus – as one of the main logics of capitalism - without necessarily responding to real needs of the interested environment highlights a structurally unbalanced approach in the distribution of resources and in the conception of economic growth. After the Forum of 2004, the buildings realized at the end of La Diagonal have rarely demonstrated to be the answer to real needs of the city: expensive objects deprived of any spectacular function, which do not even seem to provide an enjoyable open space, as the scarce number of visitors highlights.

Losing the sense of identity.

In the framework of global cities competing to attract investors, the strategy to redefine and project the urban identity, according to corporate logics and narratives, is a crucial domain of design, involving both the quality of the physical space and more historically founded discourses on identity and culture. The emulation of successful cases/landscapes accelerated by the intense circulation of images as synthetic simplification of urban complexities and specificities, hiding problematic issues, depicting a landscape of productive consumption is finally producing a pervading homogenization. City centers are more and more repetitive branches of the same open air urban mall, reassuring the tourists and visitors with the same schemes of entertainment and distraction from the otherness: the problematic, the diverse, the poor, the political, the authentic. The dysneification in course highlights one of the many contradictions of the neoliberal practices. Competing at a global scale in order to attract investors, cities should try to valorize their cultural, social and spatial specificities: but the logic of emulation as reassuring guarantee of success is definitely jeopardizing the unique value of any historical center, blurring the traces of authentic identity processes in the mirroring effects of analogous places of consumption. “But Barcelona's initial success appears headed deep into the first contradiction. As opportunities to pocket monopoly rents galore present themselves on the basis of the collective symbolic capital of Barcelona as a city (property prices have skyrocketed as the Royal Institute of British Architects awards the whole city its medal for architectural accomplishments), so their irresistible lure draws more and more homogenizing multinational commodification in its wake. The later phases of waterfront development look exactly like every other in the western world, the stupefying congestion of the traffic leads to pressures to put boulevards through parts of the old city, multinational stores replace local shops, gentrification removes long-term residential populations and destroys older urban fabric, and Barcelona loses some of its marks of distinction.” ( Harvey, 2002)

Al-Azhar Park

Azharpark haddara

Al-Azhar Park is a great example of urbanism designed in the flux of a city. Cairo was once renowned for being the city of great parks and gardens. In fact when the city of Al-Qahira (the victorious in arabic) was founded in 969 AD under Jawhar, it was built around a garden called a “bustan”. Again, in the nineteenth century, when extensions were brought to the old city, the Khedives plan was articulated around a massive garden, the Azbakiyya Garden, designed as a link between the old and the new districts of Cairo. Unfortunately, demographic pressures, technological progress and urban development drastically changed the landscape with time. The city limits were pushed countless times as sprawl persevered its progress. In the late 80s the area of green space per habitant had drastically dropped, Cairo had become an overpopulated and insalubrious desert, “the amount of green space per resident was only about 350 square centimeters—the area of a man’s footprint.” The hectic urbanization had interrupted bluntly the flux of greenery, bringing the victorious city down on its knees. The area of Darb-al-Ahmar is located right outside of the southern walls of the Fatimid palace-city. At the east of it is the great wall of the Ayyubid era. For lack of better option, the city dumpster was improvised over the wall, on the other side of it. About 500 years later the rubble had mounted into what was called the Darassa Hills and Darb-al-Ahmar was the “area that is a sort of no-man’s land where no-one lives and which becomes ever more rundown”. The natural flux of that area had somehow collapsed under the burden of rubbish and took a downhill path from there. In 1984, Aga Khan IV was visiting Cairo on a conference. From his hotel balcony Al-Darassa hill was visible. He decided to intervene and offer the city of his ancestors the much-needed gift of an oasis in this urban desert. 30 million dollars were allocated to the project and put in the qualified hand of a local architecture and urbanism office: Sites International. The site posed several technical challenges; half a millennium of debris was at hand. Works of excavation, grading and replacement with appropriate fill began in 1992. "Over 765,000 m3 was taken out of the Park and 160,000 m3 was used as fill elsewhere on site. A further 605,000 m3 was subjected to geotechnical treatment (sieving, washing, etc.) and mixed with 60,000 m3 of special sand and topsoil to enable the site to be covered with a layer of “good” soil from 0.5 to 2.0 meters deep. A total of 1.5 million cubic meters of rubble and soil were moved, which represents over 80,000 truckloads." While the designers grappled with the technical difficulties at hand posed by the terrain and soil the government introduces an additional unexpected constraint at halfway through the process: three cisterns were to be integrated into the terrain to improve the supply of potable water to the city of Cairo. Works had to be interrupted and the design revised to integrate the new three elements.

The Ayyubid wall and Darb-al-Ahmar

Ayyubid Wall Al-Azhar Park Cairo 01-2006

As the works began to resume in the late 90s, a treasure was uncovered: a wall to a depth of 15 meters and a 1.5 kilometers section. The forgotten historic Ayyubid Wall and towers were revealed in their entire splendor. It quickly became evident that the new uncovered gem was inseparable from the park project. Buried during centuries, the stone wall presented different forms of deterioration such as flaking and disaggregation that needed restoration. The uncovering of the Ayyubid wall shed the light on the neighboring area of Darb-al-Ahmar. The population of the area, one of the poorest in Cairo, was lacking adequate sanitation and rubbish-collection services due to their adjacent location to the old city dumpster. Along with deficits and troubles on several levels: Lack of education, sanitation, and hygiene, insalubrious living conditions and extreme poverty were some of the deeper problems. With the new improvement brought to the area by the park, the neighborhood of Darb-al-Ahmar was now in the prominent danger of gentrification causing the dislocation of its inhabitants by new luxury projects. As the Aga Khan Foundation lacked funding to encompass this new chapter of the project, new foundations providing supplemental funding (such as Egyptian-Swiss Development Fund and Ford Foundation) were approached to start an invigoration program of the area of Darb-al-Ahmar and continue the flux of the program. The rehabilitation program affected the area on two levels: On one hand the physical aspect, thus endangered historical monuments were rehabilitated and restored: Khayerbek Complex (mamluk and ottoman monument), the Darb Shoghlan School restored to be used as the headquarters for the community development company and Umm Al-Sultan Shaaban Complex were just the beginning. Later it extended to encompass more buildings and public spaces. On another hand, the non-physical aspect, a more sustainable project affecting the residents was also introduced to induce socio-economic growth. Small family businesses, including carpentry, tile making, and other small crafts, continued to provide a portion of the local population with a living. Those resources were utilized and amplified by the program introduced: training workshops were offered and some long lost crafts were re-instated (such as arabesque wood carving techniques). The project also generated many working opportunities for instance the ayyubid wall restoration project was transformed into a mass employment opportunities as all the working force was hired from darb-al-ahmar and special training workshops were provided. The Carpentry skills were also utilized to produce furniture for the Al-Azhar park. And finally to complete the socio-economic development long term, micro-credits have been offered to more than 400 individuals to help evolve their businesses.

This project is an example of city as flux, as a consequence of urbanism, since the project has managed to find its own flux. The original program only encompassed the park and then as new variable were revealed the project gradually transformed into a community project and then an invigorating catalyst for the city of Cairo. Al-Azhar Park has managed to bring back to Cairo the flux of greenery but also the flux of prosperity. In fact, the impact of the Al-Azhar Park project will most certainly fulfill some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set forth by the UN at the turn of the century. "the integrated project [realized] three of the MDGs: […] the eradication of extreme poverty through the extension of micro-credit and employment generation; ensuring environmental sustainability through the rehabilitation, and raising the awareness, of cultural and natural assets; and finally, the promotion of global/local partnerships and networks by pooling the resources of contributors."

Rural Habitat Development Program

The Rural Habitat Development Program started out as a project to design housing for the rural villages of the state Gujarat in India. But due to its approach of on site Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), the program is able to adapt to place based needs. This shift of the objectives and aims of the project came through critical self-assessment, which later on was addressed to pragmatist thoughts. And nowadays the program has become a good example and a model according to pragmatist attitude. The program’s ideas can be reflected back to Barnes' theories due to its notions of the social character of knowledge, pragmatist idea of pluralism of place, its radical contingency and experimentation, democracy and hope.

One main principle derived from the first ‘project proposal’ by Aseem Inam we learn that the objectives are to address the poverty affecting rural areas of India, by actively encourage the development of local resources through a process of people’s participation. Objectives are built in a short (1 year), medium (3years) and long term (5years), and consist of evolving a framework for ‘desirable rural habitat’ through the development of effective local infrastructure and the promotion of an active awareness of the built environment.

Poverty is defined by a sense of helplessness, dependence and lack of opportunities, self-confidence and self-respect on the part of the poor. Indeed, the poor themselves see powerlessness and voicelessness as key aspects of their poverty. New focus on rural areas to prevent shift to urban centers to have better living standards can maybe be an interesting path to walk on. The Rural Habitat Development Programme focuses on this radical shift needed to prevent further migration to the urban areas because of the poor living conditions. This paradigm shift of the global process of planning measures only implemented in urban areas can start to be an attempt to reformulate poverty.

The RHDP main focus is the pier-to-pier exchange of information by building in new roles and moments of exchange or contact. There is a focus on socially isolated or marginalized groups (like women). This relates to the Pragmatist idea of social knowledge generation, since for example with contagious diseases it creates the opportunity to create new social connections. The Program brings more people into the system (simply by making people actors/advocates), thereby allowing for greater numbers of people to contribute which is one of the main features of democracy.

Participatory Rural Appraisal

A reason for the increased attention to ‘participation’ was to have alternatives to top–down planning which where particularly demonstrated by social activists and NGOs such as the Rural Habitat Development Program. PRA can empower local inhabitants but therefore a shift in attitude by the designer needs to be made and time is needed to understand local needs before rushing for an answer, as pragmatist describe as anti-foundationalism, or turning away from a preconceived view on urban transformation. The importance of this is the way we look at development needs in ‘need based’ interventions. The notion and recognition of local inhabitants and questioning yourself is what Barnes describes as a kind of knowledge that “didn’t already exist in perfect form but emerged contingently and experimentally in response to the particular needs and practices of people as they lived out their lives in a given place and time”.

Village Action Plan

The process of community interaction, base line survey, PRA and Gram Panchayats culminates in the preparation of a Village Action Plan. The preparation of a village action plan is essentially an empowerment process, where the entire village is involved in identifying issues, priority areas for action, define solutions, and also generate a collective commitment to work for solutions, and thereby sustain the development process. The main idea is that it can reveal previously overlooked community needs and helps to determine the focus of the program. It might also uncover systems that are already in place, which can be leveraged to support the overall goal of the program. The program’s flexible approach gives the opportunity to be responsive to issues when they arise, and this can only be reached by a research, which is participatory in nature.

Up scaling of the Program

Because of the ‘need based’ adaptability of the program, 4 subprograms where already derived since the startup of the Rural Habitat Development Programme. This recognition of the need for adaptation in the face of unpredictability or the so-called pragmatic ‘radical contingency’ of a project is what brought the program to its success today. As Menand writes, “Pragmatists believe that ideas do not develop according to some inner logic of their own, but are entirely dependent, like germs, on their human carriers and the environment. And they believe that since ideas are provisional responses to particular and irreproducible circumstances, their survival depends not on their immutability but their adaptability.” This flexible structure and participatory process ensures the accomplishment of democratic projects that affect many more people than the original program’s scope.

MIT Experimental Design Studio

The complex flows and movements that configure every day urban experience in cities makes thinking and action in urban practice a difficult task. Based on the concept of city as flux, the focus in urban practice should be more on the process instead of the product. Since the concept of city as flux emphasizes to engage with the city as an ongoing process, design approaches based on a preconceived plan or a preconceived end product, do not correspond with reality. A method compatible to process based designing is the use of (comedy) improvisation as a tool to deal with the unpredictable changes taking place in the city. In comedy improv, also known as improvisational theatre, the process is the product. The performance that results emerges from interaction between multiple actors, a collective creative process constitutes the creative product.

In early 2009, an experimental urban design studio was conducted in Boston to test comedy improvisation as a tool for urban design pedagogy and practice. While comedy improvisation has been studied and applied in fields such as business and management, whit the MIT experimental studio as an exception, there has been no serious attempt to explore its potential as an urban design methodology. The studio took place in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture and Planning and was led by Aseem Inam. The studio explored aspects of creativity through the techniques of comedy improv. The students followed a process between improv exercises and design exercises, which influenced the project for an actual site near Chinatown in Boston.

Comedy improvisation as a tool for urban design pedagogy and practice

The experimental design studio marks a different pedagogical stance regarding how content and social relations are structured in order to facilitate effective learning among students. Normally design studios include systems of hierarchy. Hierarchy obviates the presence of dialog. As an fundamental precondition dialog requires an equality of participants, an equal distribution of power, which by definition is lacking in any system of hierarchy. Trying to create a dialog in the urban realm, the MIT experimental studio was working as a horizontal network, the use of comedy improvisation plays a big role in creating a feeling of equality. As a former MIT student said: ‘Comedy improvisation made us self feel comfortable with each other. Learning the different comedy improvs brought us all to the table on an equal level. We had so many different backgrounds, it helped us to get the conversation started.’

Creative collaboration

Comedy Improv is primarily a social activity like urban design work in that both rely heavily on interdependent structures and practices. In comedy improv, a fundamental belief is that by building on each other’s contributions, more progress is achieved. One of the techniques to learn building on each other ideas is the ‘ Yes, and’ exercise, which is a simple yet powerful technique for creating synergy. The ‘Yes, and’ exercise is performed in pairs in which one persons start with a simple sentence and the other person has to built up on this sentence. The exercise seems obsolete, but it actually helps enforce the rule of agreement and discourages thinking about the downside and the pitfalls in any given project.

Fostering innovation

In comedy improv, improvisers need the skills to generate interesting ideas. Urban designers need to develop skills to create new ideas and methods to stimulate innovative solutions to design problems. An improvisational theater performance is, of necessity, a problem-finding process. At the beginning of an improvisational scene, there is no frame; but within a minute, many parameters are already established. At this point, the actors have created a problem for themselves. In fact, in most creative processes there is a constant balance between finding a problem and solving that problem. However, surprising questions emerge and the most transformative creativity results when a group either thinks of a new way to frame a problem or find a new problem that no one had noticed before. Innovation emerges from the bottom up; improvisational performances are self-organizing, with no director and no script. In the same way, the most innovative urban plans are those that can restructure themselves in response to unexpected shifts in the environment.

Consequences of Design

A pragmatic approach changes how we think of design: Concepts are influenced of previous experiences and the reflection and thoughts. The understanding of a design /object is simultaneously influenced by its concept, and its implementation. The consequences of this implementation, influences the experience and reflection of the object/design again. This process occurs repeatedly throughout a design process and is continued as long as the design exists.

A pragmatic approach to urban transformation values and evaluates the consequences of a design, rather than only considering the initial intentions. According to the pragmatic maxim, an object or conception can only be fully understood through its practical consequences. In an urban context this signifies how the implementation (and its effects) of a concept or design alters the overall understanding of the concept. An example of this is the rent stabilization in New York City where the intention originally was to prevent inflation, which also had the unanticipated consequence of preserving neighborhoods that would have been abolished otherwise. Thus, from a pragmatist’s point of view, the concept of rent stabilization is to be defined by what consequences it has in practice, in addition to the initial intentions behind the concept were.

In 1878 Charles Sanders Peirce formulated what was later going to be referred to as the pragmatic maxim

The intertwined relationship between a concept and its consequences was first introduced in 1878 when Charles Sanders Peirce formulated what was later going to be referred to as the pragmatic maxim:

“It appears, then, that the rule for attaining the third grade of clearness of apprehension is as follows: Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object.”

Traditional discussion and criticism of the pragmatic maxim

The criticism towards the pragmatic maxim has mainly centered on its theoretical concept rather than its practical implementation. John E. Smith points out that Peirce does not explain further how the possible consequences of a concept, the” would-be”, is a totality. Smith also writes that there is no explanation of what kind of reality that is comprehended by a community, a finite group of knowers. In addition, Smith questions how a pragmatic approach leaves room for a presence, for what is.

A critique that has been raised is the risk of Peirce’s idea of fallibilism (which means that our knowledge is impermanent) could be interpreted as general skepticism. Elizabeth F. Cooke argues that this is not the case, but instead that Peirce reconceived knowledge to be dynamic and evolving. In accordance, Richard J Bernstein emphasizes that pragmatism resists nihilism, cynicism and negativism.

Arthur O. Lovejoy argues that there is a problem of understanding the meaning of an object because in order to understand an object clearly we need to be aware of all its sensible qualities. Lovejoy perceives the time-interval between the discovery of the ”effects of an object” and the realization of its ”practical bearings” as a potential problem. In contrast, Richard J. Bernstein claims that there has to be an openness towards that we cannot anticipate all the consequences of a concept. There is no end to the time frame where we should stop to consider the consequences of a concept or project. In addition, Bernstein argues that the pragmatic maxim should be interpreted as an invitation to make concepts clearer and less abstract.

Alternative discussion and criticism of the pragmatic maxim

Today there is a lack of an extensive discussion of the pragmatic maxim in an urban context. The pragmatic maxim indicates that there is no clear boundary between theory and practice. Hence, it may be argued that the pragmatic maxim may not be fully understood without a practical implementation of it.

The word “design” might be better thought of as a verb rather than a noun in the context of urban transformations. In a discussion of design in an urban context Margaret Ollove writes that ”by incorporating our experiences and consequences into the meaning of an idea, “truth” is moved away from the abstract notion of intention, idea and thought and into a reality” . Ollove argues, ”Consequences can only be understood if ideas are acted upon. Once this happens, the effects of consequences can be examined. From this examination, a path forward is clearer because it will be in reaction to what action was carried out. In this way, consequences are a direct feedback loop to an idea in action.” Ollove emphasizes an oscillation between theory and practice as well as continuous reflections and iterations. This means that design should be considered as an ongoing action, rather than a "finished" object.

Vincent di Norcia argues that a pragmatic approach it is a suitable regarding social issues a because it requires a conduct that resolves problems as it continuously assesses the practical consequences of a project. This secures the interest for the stakeholders and Norcia stresses the importance of social and cognitive pluralism. Social pluralism means that we should recognize all stake holder’s interest that are affected by a certain decision, without putting weight on elite political or economic group’s interests. As a complement Norcia also stresses cognitive pluralism, which indicates that one should include all kinds of knowledge that are relevant to a problem.

Elizabeth F. Cooke argues that fallibilism, which is a consequence of the pragmatic maxim, is positive since it advocates openness and questioning of knowledge. As a consequence of fallibilism there is growth of new systems and new applications. The fact that each concept and understanding is fallible indicates that they are subject to review, correction and confirmation. This is an experimental approach where the role of the community is essential.

The pragmatic maxim as framework for urban transformation

Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor. An unintended consequence of the Big Dig in Boston was the transformation of Spectacle Island, from a garbage dump into a public park.

According to Richard J. Bernstein a focus on the future is central to the interpretation of the pragmatic maxim. The future is what we can control and shape. Hence, the encouragement to look towards the consequences of an object should be read as an invitation to learn from the implications of a project and see the possibilities of change.

The pragmatic maxim offers a lens to view urban projects through. Projects such as, the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Big Dig in Boston and the India Habitat Centre all had unintended consequences both in a physical and non-physical sense that alters our understanding and perception of them. The pragmatic maxim, which emphasizes an open time frame, indicates that none of these projects are “finished” but that they are subject for continuous reflection, work and transformation. The relation between the pragmatic maxim and urban transformations is twofold. The pragmatic maxim can influence how we think about urban transformations. In return, urban transformations also influences how we think of, and understand, the pragmatic maxim itself.

Pompidou Center

The Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, also known as Centre Beaubourg, centre Pompidou and Beaubourg is a cultural complex in the center of Paris. The center is situated in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, between the neighborhoods Les Halles and Marais. The monumental complex is one of Paris’ most visited sites and one of the leading cultural centers of the world. The Centre pompidou emerged from France struggling with its identity and the need for Paris to reaffirm itself as a capital and cultural city. A large competition yielded a design that is unique both in its architecture and the way it relates to the city.

The outdoor life of the Center

Paris-Strassentheater-10

Duchêne writes « Beaubourg est dans la continuité de l’espace urbain et en même temps le réorganise. A la croisée de Paris, dans des quartier saturé et vieillis où l’on n’aillait plus guère, se constitue un point d’appel assorti d’un espace ouvert, la place. … Beaubourg sert au rassemblement social. Un public anonyme investit la piazza, le forum, les escalators, les différents départements … » (4)

The Place Beaubourg in front of the Centre Beaubourg and the adjacent square with the Stravinsky Fountain host a great diversity of activity, an essential part the success of the Centre Pompidou. The public spaces were an essential part of the initial design, the proposal was one of the only ones that did not use up the entire site. The square actually has very little designed elements, due to budget constraints and conflict between client and designer the square ended up as a blank slate. The design team was conscious about the importance of the public space in front of the building and throughout the design process suggested a series of lightweight structures and back-up facilities to support activities. “The facade and the piazza were seen as an integrated space where the façade would be used for display and from which things could be hung off to service the piazza activities”, One of the collaborators describes and goes on to explain, “… the client was more keen on having a grand open space from which to view the building from, and we were trying to put as much activity potential as possible.”(1) The sloping plain of the Place Beaubourg is a unique space in the centre of Paris.

The elements that fill the space came from the city, a range of artists occupies the square and form a spectacle every day. With the square remaining empty, an opportunity remained for street artists attracted by the users of the building. “The area behind the Pompidou Centre is a magnet for the crowds who come to watch the street entertainers perform. Their talents range from the very professional to the utterly bizarre.” As described on his blog by Soundlandscapes. (11)

Beaubourg transforming

The activity surrounding the Centre Pompidou have had a thorough impact on the surrounding neighborhood. Before the project the neighborhood had dilapidated, although located in the hearth of Paris, it was a rundown and poor neighborhood. The forbidden expanse of the plateau Beaubourg, as it was referred to, was an area of prostitution with one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in France. Since the clearing of the housing in the 1930’s, the open space had been used as a parking lot serving the nearby food market of Les Halles. (5) A local resident in a news broadcast describes the hope for a better neighborhood and more prosperity with the arrival of the new Centre Pompidou. The complex did change the neighborhood, its success has meant the transformation of Beaubourg into a thriving neighborhood. In another news broadcast of a number of years later the prostitutes are clearly gone and now the area has become the destination of fancy ladies on a daytrip to Paris. Urbanism projects have an impact on the city and we should consider the impact on local people and neighborhoods as well as the city as a whole.

A conscious attempt of revival

The question can be asked if the Centre Pompidou was a lucky coincidence or a conscious approach to change the city. The Competition Brief from 1971 states “The execution of this scheme will endow Paris an architectural and urban complex which will mark our century.”(1) Paris found itself in competition with the world, in a time of a first evolution towards European unity, France wanted to define itself and the Centre Pompidou was a product of this. Although it didn’t reaffirm Paris as cultural capital of the world, the Centre Pompidou has marked Paris.(5) With over 190 million visitors between 1797 and 1997 it has had an effect of revival in Paris, thus also becoming a model for large cultural project as a driver of city development.

India Habitat Center

“The figure depicts the phenomenon of the expanding form, quintessential to the eternal repose, peace and order in the universe… The symbol in its entirety would represent the aim of the India Habitat Centre to resolve and restore at every level - Environmental and Ecological, a balanced, harmonious and improved way of life”

The Central Artery project, also known as the Big Dig project represents an enormous undertaking. As an urban design intervention, it has transformed Boston’s relationship to its waterfront, increased the amount of open space in the city, reconnected neighborhoods that were severed by the highway and facilitated transportation patterns. The project started in 1987 and was scheduled to be completed in 1998, but it was actually completed in 2007. The delay or prolonged time frame was not the only problem of the project. Other obstacles were the escalating costs (from 2,6 billion dollars to 15 billion), design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials. Nowadays we can look back on the project and we can ascertain if the project was well considered and worthwhile. And can we consider this project as one with strong symbolic value and perhaps as model for other cities?

Big Dig, Boston

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The Central Artery project, also known as the Big Dig project represents an enormous undertaking. As an urban design intervention, it has transformed Boston’s relationship to its waterfront, increased the amount of open space in the city, reconnected neighborhoods that were severed by the highway and facilitated transportation patterns. The project started in 1987 and was scheduled to be completed in 1998, but it was actually completed in 2007. The delay or prolonged time frame was not the only problem of the project. Other obstacles were the escalating costs (from 2,6 billion dollars to 15 billion), design flaws, charges of poor execution and use of substandard materials. Nowadays we can look back on the project and we can ascertain if the project was well considered and worthwhile. And can we consider this project as one with strong symbolic value and perhaps as model for other cities?

A project for everyone?

In order to determine if this project was worthwhile we should firstly assess for who this project initial was meant and what the consequences were in practice. David Gamble, principal Gamble Associates and Lecturer Harvard GSD says: “A complimentary benefit was for the direct abutters to the greenway, as land values have increased accordingly.” On the other hand Ricardo Barreto, director Urban Arts Institute, is more critical : “Beyond luxury condominiums, I do not think the housing market has been helped significantly in terms of affordability.” Nowadays we can see these consequences and can consider if these consequences were intended and taken into account before the project started. Most people in Boston are very positive about the project, despite the fact that the conceptual beneficiaries are different from the actual beneficiaries. This could be mentioned as a positive consequence of the project. Beside that the project took 20 years, so there was enough time for the people of Boston to get familiar with it - and to look forward to the completion of the project. Over the course of the project people’s anticipation of completion increased causing a general appreciation of it.

Influence of - and impact on citizens

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has held a number of public forums to plan for the new surface space and it has provided liaisons to neighborhoods affected by the construction.In the first instance the open spaces where not used in an active way. David Gamble: “Citizen participation was limited, by and large, to the design of the park, which have varying degrees of success.” In an effort to further stimulate redevelopment, the City began a Crossroads Initiative. “This has helped to further connect the downtown to the waterfront. Many more people now navigate and understand the city through its open space network” Nowadays the parks are continuing to increase in popularity and use.

What is the biggest change this project made?

The perceived change this project made is different for everyone. When we have a look at the project from an economical point of view, it is clear that more investment in the area, resulted in a better ability to attract jobs and residents. For the immediate abutters the project resulted in more light and air, a better environment and less surface traffic. The city’s residents benefit from public parks and an improved connection to the waterfront. The drivers and commercial truckers have better access to and through the city and the airport. Of course not all consequences of this project are positive. The project cost the city a huge amount of money in a building period of 15 years. Robert Tullis, Vice President - Director of Design GID Urban Development Group : “The debt incurred to finance the project and its expensive maintenance remains.” Is this something that can be noticed as worthwhile and is this considered at the beginning of this project? Aseem Inam says : “There are also unexpected consequences, such as the use of excavated soil to create a new park for people to enjoy and a house built out of recycled materials from the old elevated highway. However, the most significant consequences may be symbolic.”

Symbol of project

Jordi Stals : “The most important expect of the Big Dig is that it introduces a new era for the city within they are realized.” The concept of redesign is not about adding another fragment to the city but to rethink a part of the city. This means that we must know the city and its traps very well. “What happens when the system of innovation that serves us so well provides the very means of hindering creativity and limiting our potential?” That is the process that Jaron Lanier calls “lock-in” , the well-worn path that guides us in certain ways. Helena Kjellgren says about this : “There are two kinds of lock-ins to be discussed here, the lock-in of the physical structure and the lock-in of how to think regarding car traffic.” On the one hand the Big Dig can be seen as a reaction to the highway and on the other hand there does not seem to have been a discussion about ways to decrease or diminish the traffic flow by car. “In addition, the project poses as potential future lock-in.” David Luberoff, co author of Mega-Projects, remarked : “If it works the way it’s supposed to work, it will become part of the fabric of the city in a way that is somewhat invisible. It will just be something you take as a given.” Jordi Stals mentions that ‘the something you take as a given’ can also be seen as a symbol: “The Big Dig may have its flaws, most of them on construction level but still it is a symbol that transformed the city and a symbol of progression. The project changed the mentality of inhabitants and stimulate new types of interaction. It is really a symbol of change.”

Model for other cities?

The question often asked of this is 15-year, $14.6 billion endeavor is: Was it worthwhile? Aseem Inam : “That is clearly an important question to ask in terms of lessons for future infrastructure projects in cities.” Many cities are looking to remove or redesign their highway infrastructure from the 1960s, 70’s and 80’s which continue to deteriorate. When we have a look at the long term strategies of this project, it is important to look at the Big Dig not as a single project with a single benefit, but as a major component of an overall strategy, which is future-proof. Robert Tullis: “The City of Boston has to keep renewing itself as a world class city. People may not think of the offices, hotels, residences, restaurants, museums, convention facilities, and historic rehabs built there over the last ten years and forecast for the next ten years as part of the Big Dig, but they are definitely part of the City’s strategy for constant renewal that the Big Dig facilitated.” Helena Kjellgren says : “The Big Dig symbolizes the dream and transformation over a long period of time of a whole society, going beyond its physicality.” Thus, the Big Dig can continue to be conceptualized as “transformative urbanism,” rather than simply as “transformation infrastructure.”

Design as Creative Political Act

Interventions in the urban realm affect the social processes within it. Designers do not operate in a vacuum and working on a project automatically means working with a context. The relationship between the spatial form and the social processes is therefore something to emphasize when it comes to the role of the designer. The intervention itself often starts with discussion, there are different values coming from different parties and perspectives. In order to come to some form of agreement the aspect of moral choice comes in. Richard Rorty defines this concept as that ““Moral choice is always a matter of compromise between competing goods, rather than it is a choice between the absolutely right and the absolutely wrong.”““ That the pragmatic approach as tool to be considered by the urban practitioner is very valuable and can lead to real urban transformation will be exemplified by the three project below, The Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi, the Vila Viva Program in Belo Horizonte and the Uptown Whittier Specific Plan in Los Angeles. Society experiences constant change, something that Pragmatism acknowledges. The idea to participate in order to evoke improvements in what is already there and always approach an issue with openness and flexibility is believed to lead to more fruitful results. Also analyzing existing systems and adjusting them is more efficient then rejecting them as a whole and that again is something pragmatics really goal for.

Moral Progress

The political aspect of the processes in urban field can lead to a form of Moral Progress. In an aspire to diminish human suffering and increasing human equality, increasing the ability of all human children to start life with an equal chance of happiness and to enable both men and women to build communities in which the necessary opportunities and resources are available for every individual to realize fully his or her particular capacities and powers through participation in political, social and cultural life. the role of the designer is very important.

Participation

The designer is in this usually a more powerful actor than ‘common people’; he is the one who has an education and experience from his practise. This more traditional approach has resulted in many examples that show an imbalance between intensions and consequences. The top-down approach can create an unjust division of goods and lacks the principles of equality and democracy. The meaning of pragmatism for questions in urbanism can be very significant, it’s principles can really lead to major shifts. Pragmatics never go against a system as whole, it leads to more fruitful results when one gets involved and tries to deal with that system in order to change it. Pragmatism believes in more solution-based thinking, how can we improve the things that are not good instead of seeking confrontations. Being creative and imagination are required to look at issues with an open-mind in order to come up with flexible ideas. "Any overall strategy for dealing with urban systems must contain and reconcile policies designed to change the spatial form of the city with policies concerned to affect the social processes which go on in the city. Ideally, we should be able to harmonize these policies to achieve some coherent social objective." David Harvey The urban practitioner can have several roles in the process of a project but will always be in between the spatial context and the social processes inside it. A project reflects the moral choices made by the actors and the urbanist as an influential character should consider his role very carefully in order to evoke transformation within existing systems. Community based design in various forms so far has led to shifts in projects, on the other hand there is a danger of making this the it-thing. The job one takes as an urban practitioner always has a certain load, there will always be examples where the inequality between parties will not lead to moral progress, it will always be a game of politics. Reflection and judgement, considering time and consequence, are other pragmatic values to keep in mind in order to learn from what has been done. The aspiration to reach for perfect equality is a beautiful and noble one, the question is how and will we ever achieve it? Until that time the pragmatic approach is a nice tool that will help us to get there.

Orangi Pilot Project

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Orangi Town Karachi

The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in Orangi Town, Karachi, Pakistan (started in 1980) exemplifies a story of urbanism as a creative political act during a time of rapid urbanization and declining government capacities to respond. Orangi is often known as a peri-urban katchi abadi (non-permanent settlement) settlement area with regularized and non-regularized land and housing. The OPP (a registered NGO) was created as an action research project aiming to understand the technical, financial, construction and management challenges faced by the people of Orangi. It follows the philosophy that engagement and inclusion of community residents in development of their neighborhoods is a more efficient, productive and cost-effective approach to problems in the neighborhoods of Orangi. The OPP developed the component-sharing concept based on the success of its low-cost sanitation model where fifty-percent of the work is carried out by the communities and fifty-percent by the government, when, where and if possible aiming to develop concrete community-government partnerships. It has been suggested that the OPP concept shifted the conventional development paradigm in Karachi, which was technical and reliant on donor and government funding neglecting the role of communities.

““Working with communities requires consistency, flexibility and a low profile. An attitude of mutual respect, sharing and learning is needed. The concept that the community knows all, or that technicians know all – both are equally incorrect. It has to be a combined effort.””

Analysis: Three main features of the OPP’s philosophy and methodology illustrate this, the relationship of the social with the physical infrastructure, scaling up to socio-economic issues, and scaling out of Orangi.

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Women of the community saving group

1. The relationship of the social with the physical infrastructure: One of OPP’s defining features has been the building of social infrastructure (social capital) prior to the physical infrastructure in poor communities. This has also been called ‘social preparation’ where the idea is to prepare the community through training, skills building, information, and organization, i.e. community mobilization before physical development. The OPP’s low-cost sanitation program started out by working on four main barriers constraining Orangi. These included psychological barriers – convincing communities to think of the street and neighborhood not just their house; social barriers – calling on communities to come together; economic barriers - reducing costs; and technical barriers - building capacities within the communities. Based on these, mobilization of communities along with the technical assistance, the OPP aimed at building partnerships with the government for future financing and development of similar programs. However, the OPP has also received an ample share of criticism in terms of political capital. One of the driving critiques is its distance from the political and ethnic violence in Orangi and Karachi in the 1980’s, 1990’s and still today. Critics have argued that the OPP should use its influence and mitigate the violence in Orangi and the city. Though, to this day, the OPP continues to maintain and non-political, non-interfering non-state and non-party role and only focuses on strengthening communities.

"… a totally self-help sanitation program is only partly dependent on technical competence. The crucial component is the sociological input if successful implementation is to be achieved…"

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A cobbler in Orangi supported with micro-credit

2. Scaling up to socio-economic issues: The OPP has developed into four main independent bodies since 1998, namely, the Research and Training Institute (OPP-RTI) responsible for sanitation, housing, education, research an training initiatives; the Orangi Charitable Trust (OPP-OCT) addressing micro-credit schemes and programs and monitoring; the Karachi Health and Social Development Association (KHASDA) addressing health and gender initiatives; and the Rural Development Trust (OPP-RDT) addressing rural credit in Goths (traditional settlements on urban land). The OPP also started working on the flood relief and rehabilitation and the Karachi Water Supply Plan in 2011. Scaling up to other issues and more than one community problem, as was planned in its original mandate, has shifted the role and capacity of the institutions and relationships between them in Orangi and in Karachi. From local issues to issues of socio-economic scale beyond the local has created challenges for the OPP’s design. For example, working with local governments has slowly gained prominence, which was initially missing, though the OPP model has not been integrated with the official systems nor have concrete partnerships with the government been established leading to significant challenges in working with a non-existent local government structure and disintegrated governance system in Karachi. Moreover, on the one hand, the OPP model of self-help has worked quite well in empowering communities and incorporating the role of women and youth in certain socio-economic programs, on the other hand, it has been argued that the voices of the weakest in the community, especially women and ethnic minorities are often not taken into consideration.

"Importantly, and unlike most NGOs, the OPP emphasizes the importance of identifying and dealing with one priority problem in one area before moving on to tackle other problems and extend the program in other areas. (The desire for) quick results can have a damaging effect on the program."

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Rado-Sinjhoro, Sindh: Joint on site review of work

3. Scaling out of Orangi: The OPP sanitation model is now being replicated in 50 other settlements in Karachi by local governments and the Sindh Kachi Abadi Association, 11 other cities in Pakistan and in rural areas by local NGOs, CBOs, and other local governments. One factor leading to replication within and outside Karachi has been OPP’s direct partnership and/or association with NGOs in those areas. However, replication of its approach has many challenges including, the wealth in Karachi’s katchi abadis, which are better off than in other cities in Pakistan; urban topography and community resources of OPP’s model are very specific to Orangi; mobilization of communities, especially women and ethnic minorities in other cities is much harder and OPP’s methodology is not ethnically sensitive nor gender-based; the principle of non-external negotiation, many communities outside of Karachi can not adhere to this strict no-external funding principle and are dependent on donor-funds; and its declining relationship with other NGOs, due to its rigid principles.

From poverty to politics: Numerous well-documented lessons have been learned through the implementation of the OPP models in Orangi and outside. It has been successful in mobilization communities at the grass-roots level even though its models and plans have not yet been integrated into the system of the city of Karachi and are not entirely replicable in other cities. The merit lies in the philosophy of the OPP that shifted the service provision dynamic in the city, and allowed for a transition from monopolized models to more inclusive models of design and transformation at the neighborhood level. The growth of katchi abadis along ethnic and political lines continues more than ever in Karachi. This has increased the unsustainable service provision models adopted by independent/informal (often political) service providers minimizing the role of communities and initiatives like the OPP. Critics and supporters of OPP alike argue that its future lies in transforming the mind sets of decision-makers to think about Karachi as a whole rather than as a place divided and to be designed according to ethnic differences and boundaries. Thus, given the volatility of times today in Karachi, it has been increasing suggested that the solutions to katchi abadis and low-income socio-economic status now are not just technical and sociological; they have become inherently political. For the present and future of Orangi and Karachi it has been suggested that the OPP should take into consideration the evolving political economy of the city and play a role in shifting away with the ill-fitting poverty before politics models of change and growth.

Vila Viva Program

The H3O Park is situated in the center-south part of Belo Horizonte city, in Brazil. H30 Park is part of a larger intervention called Vila Viva Project located on an informal settlement called Aglomerado da Serra. The informal settlement is considered the main informal settlement in the city with a total area of 1.470.483m2. The settlement comprises 14.000 households, with 50.000 inhabitants.

The proposal of the park consisted of seven different thematic squares and a Community Center, which is used regularly for community programs as dancing, learning and festivals. Two of the squares and the community center were actually built from the original proposal.

There are three aspects on the H3O Park in Aglomerado da Serra that configures its design as a creative political act. The first is the fact that the project was done through the Participatory budgeting process. The second was an intervention developed by the prefecture’s urban designers and a biologist to engage the community on the process of restoring the ecosystem that supports the settlement. And the third were the capacitation programs that were developed in partnership with universities and the prefecture to engage the community on creating cooperatives to engage the community. The Community Center is the place were all those activities take place.

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Community Center, Aglomerado da Serra, Vila Viva Park

Participatory Budgeting and the PGE (Global Specific Plan)

In Brazil, the Participatory budgeting emerged in Porto Alegre in 1989, and was adopted in Belo Horizonte, in the Aglomerado da Serra H3O Park as a way to incentivize the population to collaborate and participate on the development of the PGE (Global Specific Plan). The Plano Global Específico (PGE - Global specific Plan) is a document that maps and collects data from the informal settlements willing to be benefited by the Participatory Budgeting. The aim of the PGE is not only to provide information, but also to detect the needs and to help on establishing priorities. On Aglomerado da Serra some of the needs that were detected by the PGE regarded education, violence, environment degradation, lack of basic infrastructure, and lack of access to public transportation. According to URBEL (Companhia Urbanizadora de Belo Horizonte – Urbanization Company of Belo Horizonte), the public institution responsible for the implementation of the Municipal Policy for Low Cost Housing created in 1993 and for the creation of the Global Specific Plans; “At that time, for the first time in the city history, one of the priorities of the government was to provide low cost housing through planning and organization, absorbing the informal settlements to the “formal city”.” The Participatory budgeting is a tool to promote democratic participation and to assure a voice to informal settlements community members on the promotion of their right to the city.

Watersheds and sewage management

The use of brooks as a place for garbage and sewage disposal is a constant issue that public power has to address on informal settlements in Brazil. Water contamination causes diseases and increases the level of child mortality, it also contaminates the watersheds, compromising basic sanitation of a city. The H3O Park was an intervention that transformed the ecology that supports the urban environment. The first step for this transformation to happen was the sewage infrastructure built ; this project was developed by URBEL based on the research done on the Global Specific Plan. Carlos Teixeira one of the designers of the Park describes the challenges and the changes that H3O Park project brought to the area: “There was also a nice project created by the biologist that was leading the team on the department of social assistance, on ornamental saplings donation. The nursery garden was located by the brook’s margins, and everything was well integrated. The community had capacitation classes on how to plant those saplings on the small public areas of the informal settlement.”

Programs on proper garbage disposal were developed in the Community Center in order to protect and maintain the brook and the environmental area that was restored. The project consisted on native plants donation and plantation, it raised awareness on issues related to environmental and watershed protection. A series of interventions on garbage, sewage disposal and environment protection were responsible for the water stock and forest recovery in a large area of Aglomerado da Serra informal settlement.

Building Community Capacity Programs

After the intervention in Aglomerado da Serra the value of properties rose. Local Universities in partnership with the government developed capacity projects inside the H3O Park to empower communities and increase their incomes.

Sewing Cooperative

The aim of the capacity programs is to foster sustainable monetary relations to keep the inhabitants of the informal settlement on the land; they also support community activities to adults and kids minimizing criminality and marginalization.

The H3O Park – Vila Viva – Aglomerado da Serra is an example of design as a creative political act. It engaged and empowered the community, raised awareness and fostered the maintenance of the ecologies that support the urban textile.

Uptown Whittier Specific Plan

The Uptown Specific Whittier plan re-designs the uptown historic retail core of Whittier located on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, south California. This project can be seen as an example in the concept of design as a creative political act. The role of the urban practitioner is questioned.

The Uptown Specific Whittier Plan is driven by private investors but also gained public support. The goal of the plan was to revitalize the uptown part of the town and make it again an appealing and a vibrant part of the city, giving it a strengthened sense of identity. Although there was also a clear economic factor connected to the project.

The plan builds upon the ideas of new urbanism. The Uptown Specific Whittier plan adapts these strategies to create the uptown part of Whittier in the same integrated manner. Further a new kind of coding that deals with the current laws and legislations and can be placed under the heading of the new urbanism ideas. This new Form – based code was an important aspect to implement the desirable changes into to the existing policies.

The area covers approximately 185 acres and 35 city blocks, with each block measuring about 300 feet by 600 feet. The Uptown Specific Whittier plan is developed specifically to preserve the historic character of this “small town” area, the rebuilding of the retail commercial center and to make this uptown part again more appealing and attractive in general. The plan aims to develop mixed-used areas, to restore historic buildings, to develop buildings which complement the existing architectural style and to promote the area’s retail uses. In 2005, the City selected the firm of Moule and Polyzoides, to prepare a comprehensive update and revision of the Uptown Specific Plan. An earlier specific plan was composed in 1989 as a corollary of the earthquake in 1987. This specific plan was amended several times over the years, but had to deal with more and more critics which lead to the composition of the new specific plan. The new specific plan provides in land use regulations, development standards and design guidelines for new development.

BUDGETTING THE PROJECT - A particular aspect of the uptown specific Whittier plan is that the designers gained the control over the budget of the project. They designed the budget even though this was not a part of their expected work at the first place. In this way the architects gained more influence over the projects development. This created new possibilities for them to become a mediator between the government and the inhabitants of uptown Whittier. Through this new twist in the project, the designers managed for example to create a decent number of affordable housing and even more, they managed to incorporate affordable housing as a new regulation into the system.

The Future of Urbanism

Rapid urbanization has led urbanists to re-define the means of the design of cities. Urban transformation could be defined as a change in appearance and character of a place, within a period of time. A change has impact on people's lives and their city perception also can be transformative at both physical and nonphysical levels. Historically major transformations of cities have occurred together with technological and social transformations, often in condition of protest against a state of general dissatisfaction. Here the importance of Democracy becomes clear; to evaluate Democracy it may be useful to again use Pragmatist thought about Democracy: According to John Dewey, democracy is the most desirable form of government because it provides the kinds of freedom necessary for individual self-development and growth including the freedom to exchange ideas and opinions with others, freedom to form associations with others to pursue common goals, and freedom to determine and pursue one's own conception of the good life. Democracy is also a “mode of associated life” in which citizens cooperate with each other to solve their common problems through critical inquiry and experiment. The political institutions of any democracy should be constantly subject to criticism and improvement as historical circumstances and the public interest change. (J.Dewey 1997: p.00)

It' s not easy identify when a transformation is occurring, history often emerges only in retrospective and events become significant only when looked back on#. Hardly transformations can be perceived at the moment that happen, often perceptions of change emerge only ex-post. Generally speaking, (using a pragmatist point of view) we could argue that an urban transformation has occurred when there is a degree of agreement regarding a condition or perception of change. To be able to speak about the future of cities it seems necessary that an agreement on which city we want and which transformations are desired to produce the changes sought. Often an emphasis on the physical aspect of the city and the built environment by urban disciplines, and the reductionism of disciplines, has brought a lack of connections between environment and everyday economic and social life. (FOOTNOTE) City's transformations have traditionally been described in quantitative terms, for example in terms of growth. It is also important to take a qualitative approach; too often we make use of statistical and quantitative measure to describe a change, but it seems there is a lack of measure the transformations in terms of social relations and how changes are perceived by inhabitants (FOOTNOTE).

A pragmatist frame to the professions in urbanism might ask how the variety of personal experience and the intervention of formalized professional practices constitute a feedback loop to the systemic practices of urbanism. The siloing of communities can convolute the understanding of urbanism and there is much to be gained from the lenses of urban sociology and urban geography, Alexander Cuthbert says that, the fact that traditional professions (urban design, architecture, urban planning) in the realm of urbanism do not employ an interdisciplinary, or better yet a transdisciplinary approach that urban design is likely to be less effective. Cuthbert proposes that, perhaps, there is a broader umbrella or discussion that is happening and provides the idea of the Spatial Political Economy as a frame for discussions of urbanism. He says that SPE incorporates the breadth of disciplines and ethical positions needed to have a serious discussion of what it means to design urban artifacts and systems. (FOOTNOTE) To design projects conducive to transformation it’s necessary for the accepted practices of urbanism to first be transformed to a new paradigm with greater horizontality between stakeholders of a project; recognition of the specific situated context of the space at hand; and with greater interdisciplinarity of professional communities involved through a new democratic model.

Transformations as Impact

Urban transformation has been traditionally talked about in terms of growth, spatial growth and quality based on statistical data quantitatively measured. There is a lack of measurement in terms of social relation and how changes are perceived by inhabitants.An over-emphasis on the physical structure of the city transformation, not taking into account change at non physical level, can lead to a relatively superficial understanding of urban environment. Urban transformations have impact on people's lives and their city perception, transformative processes act at both physical and nonphysical level. As described at section....from Pragmatis point of view transformation lead changes in relational sphere and “Ideas...become true just in so far as they help us to get into satisfactory relations with other parts of our experience” (W.James 1904: p.287) The future domain of 'urbanists' should be to design cities taking into account inhabitants behaviors and moving towards a more democratic 'redistribution of resources', 'mode of production' and 'being' according with social and environmental issues in a new vision of Democracy.

Media and communication in general play a fundamental role in the production, promotion and distribution of 'models of life', through visual in fact media and communication, , influence and create expectation regarding 'the form of the city' and use of space in common imaginary.

Is ethical responsibility of 'urban practice' enabling, facilitate and create the condition for the production of different 'collective imaginary', towards the achievement of social and environmental justice. Through design and visual representation urbanist have the possibility to open for a participated debate regarding citizens behaviors, model of life and fulfillment of better 'quality of life' in a more transparent process, playing a mediating role with power structures. 'Urban models' can be different according with geography, culture and social strata. In the last thirty year in western countries, market driven economy, have deeply influenced use of space in the city and also created expectation regarding 'quality of life' producing 'collective imaginary' regarding how cities should appear. Good city transformation examples exist and some models can be taken in consideration for the future of the city facing a deep transformation period. A deep understanding of 'good' models of transformation, in different geographical context can lead to new directions for the future of the city.

How is Transformation Measured and by Whom? Traditional metrics of success are frequently situated in capitalistic models of measurement. These considerations include, but are not limited to, ecology, environmental health, public health, economics, culture, historic meaning, access, agency, monumentalism, and utility. Given the complexity of these systems it might be a better measure of effectiveness of design interventions in qualitative terms than quantitative ones. “The human consequences of any environment are the measure of its quality, and not the form itself.”# The communities, designers, architects, and planners who shape processes, policies, and projects all bring their own beliefs and desires to their work and subsequently the greatest number AND diversity of these groups must be represented and ‘satisfied.’

Until the underlying value systems in which urbanism is measured are shifted, the measures of 'the good' of any design project will unfortunately be biased and exclusionary in nature. This has the effect of making even the most perceptually successful urban projects inherently very good to some, and perhaps very bad for others. (Davis 2003) In the American context, excluded populations in the production of space include those excluded based on physical ability, race, class, gender, or sexuality in manifestations of Gendered Space, Deaf Space as a reaction to ableist spatial designs, and Disproportionate Environmental Health Impacts in which communities of color, or those of low-income, experience the greatest burdens of environmental degradation due to the practices of city making and industrial processes as illustrated by the work of Majora Carter. “The world is characterized not only by its division into sovereign states, but also by the presence within it of a multiplicity of political authorities in different registers, ones that are there for different purposes... Many of these authorities claim that they are not political - only cultural, economic, religious, communal..." Once we recognize the nuance of these systems and acknowledge their power and influence on urbanism it is possible to work with these structures to envision futures that benefit greater varieties of diverse people and perspectives.

The context of urbanists is thusly manifested in the urban landscape and becomes inseparable from the ecology of cities. Therefore the first step in implementing any strategy might be the “building up of substantial relationships” with community members and governing bodies who all yield power in the process of making cities. The future of urbanism is dependent on the contextual relations between urbanist and development stakeholders being a primary concern for any project.

Participatory Collaborative Practice

Development as a transformative process is a promising yet complex future for urbanism which may include new standards and approaches toward development; with great potential for sustaining transformation in anthropogenic communities and environments. Here there might be a connection to the work of pragmatist William James’ radical empiricism and a correlation to the manifestation of cultural beliefs. Collaborative practices may be key to the development of the future processes of Urbanism. The incorporation of training programs for communities to rehabilitate and restore their own spaces can be an act that can have benefits beyond the understood scope of a development project. As with the case of Al-Azhar Park (LINK TO CASE-STUDY) the inclusion of local tradesmen to train and employ community members is one example of how collaboration is capable of overreaching the socio-economic barriers that often allow suboptimal conditions to persist for marginalized and informal communities. This holds true as well for the original participatory budgeting in the case of the Vila Viva Programme in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (LINK TO SECTION)

The value added from Pragmatism to the urban experience might draw from Richard Rorty’s focus on individual pursuit (or negative liberty) to alter the participatory practices of society and of post-modern city life. Social movements seem to indicate that it is not enough to allow people to pursue what they will in the context of the free-market or neo-liberalism, but to facilitate communities to provide their people with the initiative and where-with-all to pursue continually better collective-visions of their vision of the good life through Democracy. “Ideas...become true just in so far as they help us to get into satisfactory relations with other parts of our experience” (FOOTNOTE) Rorty says, “it is best to think of moral progress as a matter of increasing sensitivity, increasing responsiveness to the needs of a larger variety of people and things”. (R.Rorty 1994: p.81).

Models for Transformation

The experience of urban transformation is important; while it is necessary to extend beyond the physical transformations within urbanism the development of aesthetic and leisure-driven space is important because the value extends beyond the visual and actually reaches to the identity of people and place. Jane Jacobs is one example of how an urbanist without a traditional education in city-making can contribute to urbanism through their uniquely informed lived-experience. Writing on her experiences in New York’s Greenwich Village, Jane Jacobs, greatly influenced thoughts about city life through her “street life” perspective in The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In her analysis the quality of an urban environment is measured by experience in the capability of a place to be conducive to public life.

Protests and urban transformation Traditionally theory and practice of urbanism don't take into account the fundamental transformative role of protest in transformative process in the city even if historically major transformations of cities have occurred in condition of protest. The history of urban-based class struggles in last century is stunning. Long before the recent global protest, modern cities had already become the central sites of revolutionary politics, where the deeper currents of social and political change rise the surface #. In Europe the successive revolutionary movements in Paris from 1789 through 1830 and 1848 to the Commune of 1871 constitute the most obvious nineteenth century example. The African-American Civil Right Movement (1955-1968) aimed at outlawing racial discrimination. In India Mahatma Gandhi lead Indians in protesting the British attempting to practice nonviolence and truth in all situations, advocating that others do the same. In more recent times struggles in the anti-globalization protest of 1999 followed by similar protest in Genoa in 2001. Most recently mass protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Plaza del Sol in Madrid, Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona, Syntagama Square in Athens and liberty Plaza New York. As described the current wave of youth-led movements throughout the world, from Cairo to Madrid to New York suggests there is something political in the city air struggling to be expressed#. Protests generally result in unexpected way in which agreement is based on a refusal rather than a proposal as the recent OWS slogan propose 'I don't know what I want but I know what I don't want' #.and 'We are the 99%' are two of the slogans of OWS movement. Recent 'global protests' take place 'locally' in urban context but impact is often oriented towards global conditions, for example use of natural resources and climate change effects. Recent protest is producing and sharing a body of knowledge as never happened before, different disciplines are converging on the same ground to produce a reflection on the cities in order to produce a deep change for example assembly are moment of open discussion and the occupyuniversity in ny......Recent protest is also a non violent movement, parents of occupy and the role of kids in Tharir Square.

To be successful, the future social and environmental movements must recognize the value of the interstitial space in the urban environment and of the people and ideas that aggregate in urban spaces. Community organizing through the Boggs foundation is envisioning alternative futures for one of the hardest hit cities of the American economic crisis. In a lecture by Grace Lee Boggs on April 22, 2012 at The New School in New York City the following sentiments were gleaned from discussion on her vision for the future in The Next American Revolution and her experiences organizing in contemporary Detroit, MI; that communities need to have human-scale conversations about their needs and wants; a deconstruction of the idea or classification of “other” in the development of cities; recognition that economic systems impact all other systems of human involvement. Perhaps a vision of urbanism informed by the Boggs’ work could serve to generate transformational impacts in post-industrial society similarly to how Slum Dwellers International (SDI) has challenged the normative views about the value of informal communities.

See also

• CASTELLS, EMANUEL[[2]], The power of Identity, Wiley-Blackwell, 1997
• GUÀRDIA JOAN, ENRIC POL, VALERA SERGI, A Study of the Symbolic Aspects of Space Using Nonquantitative Techniques of Analysis, Quality & Quantity Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1998
• HARVEY, DAVID[3], The Art of Rent: Globalisation, Monopoly and the Commodification of Culture in The socialist register, 2002
• MARSHALL, TIM Urban planning and governance: is there a Barcelona Model?, International Planning Studies, vol 5, 2000
• MC NEILL, DONALD, Mapping the European Left: the Barcelona Experience in Antipode, Balckwell Publishing 2003
• MCDONOGH GARY W, Barcelona: forms, images and Conflicts in Journal of Urban History, 2011 37
• OFFICIAL REPORT of the Games of the XXV Olympiad Barcelona 1992, Volume I The challenge COOB'92 From the idea to the nomination, COOB 1992
• ROWE, PETER, Building Barcelona, A second Renaixença, Barcelona Regional ACTAR, 2006
• SABATÉ, JOAQUIM, Rankings, creatividad y urbanismo Casa editrice Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Instituto de Estudios Urbanos, 2008
• TATJER, MERCEDES El patrimonio industrial de Barcelona entre la destrucción y la Conservación, 1999-2008 In Scripta Nova REVISTA ELECTRÓNICA DE GEOGRAFÍA Y CIENCIAS SOCIALES Universidad de Barcelona, 2008
• GUARDIA JOAN , SERGI VALERA, Urban Social Identity and Sustainability : Barcelona's Olympic Village, Environment And Behavior, Vol. 34 No. 1, January 2002
• GDANIEC C. Cultural Industries, Information technology and the regeneratin of post-industrial urban landscapes. Poblemou in Barcelona – a virtual city? in Geo Journal 50, 2000
• HARGREAVES, John, Public opinion, national integration and national identity in Spain: the case of the Barcelona Olympic Games, in Nations and Nationaltim 1997

• Abahlali baseMjondolo
• Ecological urbanism
• Green urbanism
• Landscape architecture
• Landscape urbanism, an urbanism modeled on the disciplines of landscape architecture and ecology.
• Micro-urban
• MONU - magazine on urbanism
• Networked Urbanism
• New urbanism, a response to contemporary problems such as urban sprawl and traffic congestion.
• Unitary urbanism, a critique of urbanism as a technology of power by the situationists.
• Peer-to-peer urbanism, a form of urbanism that promotes participation and design by a city's inhabitants.
• sustainable urbanism
• Tactical urbanism
• Urban Acupuncture
• Urban geography
• Urban design
• Urban planning
• Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
• Urbanate, a living environment envisioned by the Technocracy movement.
• World Urbanism Day.
• Orangi Pilot Project.
• Orangi Town.
• Akhtar Hameed Khan.
• Slum.
• Shehri.

Bibliography

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• Abers, Rebecca. Inventing Local Democracy: Neighborhood Organizing and Participatory Policy-making in Porto Alegre. Porto Alegre: 1997.
• Agostini, Flavio. “Community Engagement in H3O Park-Aglomerado da Serra.” April 17, 2012.
• Avritzer, L. Participatory Institutions in Democratic Brazil. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2009.
• Avritzer, L.; Navarro, Z. A Inovação Democrática no Brasil: o orçamento participativo. São Paulo: Cortez Editora, 2003.
• Bremmer, Jessica; Park Caroline, University of California, School of Public Affairs, 2011. s.v. “Shifting Power: The importance of funding Community Participation.”
• Manuel Castells The Urban Question, Network Society
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• Lewis Mumford, The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects
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• Sales Rosa, Josianne; Almeida Santos, Samantha Isa; de Castro Pereira, Denise. “Garbage disposal in Aglomerado da Serra: a vision on the communities surrounding the Mangabeiras municipal park.” Sinapse Ambiental, Volume 7, December 2010.
• Sassen, Saskia. (1997) The global city: London, New York, Tokyo
• Sayegh, Simone. Citizenship Protection Architecture and Urbanism magazine, April 2012.
• Richard Sennett The Uses of Disorder
• Ed Soja Postmetropolis
• Teixeira, Carlos. “Participatory processes in H3O Park, Aglomerado da Serra” April 13, 2012.
• Westbrook, Robert. John Dewey and American Democracy. New York: Cornell University Press, 1991.
• Wirth, Louis. Urbanism as a way of life. New York:The American Journal of Sociology, volume 44, 1938.
• http://www.witoldrybczynski.com/other-books/
• Scape Magazine 'Scape is the new international magazine for landscape architecture and urbanism.
• Krieger, Alex, editor. Where and How Does Urban Design Happen? (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009), 78-153.

External links

• Congress of New Urbanism
• Hollow city MP3 interview with Rebecca Solnit on the evolution of the US city and contemporary threats to it
• Urbanism, Delft University of Technology
• Landscape Urbanism Program at the Architectural Association
• Programs in Urbanism at The New School, New York Ciy
• MA Theories of Urban Practice program in New York City
• Jane Jacobs about the life and death of American cities
• Jane Jacobs, neighborhoods in action
• The Academy of Urbanism, UK
• Vila Viva Program H3O Park
• The City of Belo Horizonte
• URBEL-Urban Company, The City of Belo Horizonte
• Urban Slums Sourcebook
• NED University Social Responsibility & OPP Conference
• Orangio Riots Video
• World Bank Urban Indicators
• UN-Habitat Urban Indicators
• Orangi Pilot Project
• Urban Resource Center
• OPP-OCT