-
OC 60: Creative Spaces for Creation
Footholder value creation A space under East London railway arches has become a hands-on workspace of an international avant-garde landscape architecture practice. http://www.vogt-la.com/en Ten minutes walk from the main office situated in the sphere of influence of London’s silicon roundabout this space is designed to experiment with the transformation of urban landscapes into spaces fit […]
-
OC 57: Munich observed afresh
Imperial traces No matter how long ago and for how long a city has been a seat of domination, no matter how often its power has waxed and waned, a presence of its historic glory remains unmistaken. Munich is one such historic seat of power, wealth and might. The biased eyes of an urbanist will […]
-
OC 51: Localism Explained
Bottom up aspirations Demand for local control over local affairs is not new, so the recent Localism Act (2011) should be welcome by those who care for their neighbourhoods. Land and its use is one of the key areas which matters to local people who live, work and play there. It may surprise that a […]
-
OC 50: East London Transformations
After the games Now that the London Olympic Games have closed their doors and a fence has been re-erected around the whole site it may be a good time to reflect on what urban transformations lie in stall for the East End. The third European Urban Summer School (EUSS), initiated by the Association of European […]
-
OC 46: Are Cities Open for Age?
Fear of Age A major scare story reinforced by the lack of recovery from the banking disaster is built around the fact that societies in the developed world are aging. The England and Wales 2011 census data just published confirms that people are living longer and they start to make more babies. Migration is the […]
-
OC 43: Forgotten Spaces
Transformed Somerset House In 1997 the Somerset House Trust has taken over the 18th century Somerset House building designed by Sir William Chambers to conserve and develop it. http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/ Somerset House has become one of London’s most vibrant cultural spaces. In its function of creative hub it hosts the Courtauld Gallery and a wide range […]
-
Open Cities 35 Open Cities – Open Minds
Diversity: driver of openness Have a look at the EU map. It is almost entirely ‘blue’ and the remainders, e.g. Spain and Portugal, are bound to follow in that direction after elections. This has never happened before even when the EU was a small community with only a handful of member states. The emergence of […]
-
Open Cities 33 Gentrification and Openness
Cities are changing all the time but who is benefiting from such change and how does it relate to city openness? Regeneration is a widespread means to transforming specific parts of cities where places tend to lose value. For our purpose the question is whether this process is making cities more open or more closed. […]
-
Open Cities 29 Too Much Openness?
How open is good open? The premise of Open Cities is that openness is offering a better quality of life, ideally to all those who live, work and play in the city. In the light of so many closures, so much existing spatial segregation in cities, this premise seems a worthy aspiration. The British Council […]
-
Open Cities 25 “IABR Open City”
“Open City” seems to have entered public consciousness as this name tag has been adopted for many diverse purposes. One example is the UK opencity website which invites everyone to chat about their city, initiate exchanges, participate in discussion forums, look for jobs, accommodation as well as any other goods, communicate among students or obtain […]
-
Open Cities 11 Open-Closed-Divided-Stitched Up
All the posts under ‘Open Cities’ have been written for the British Council Open Cities project and published on its website. http://opencities.britishcouncil.org/web/index.php?home_en The reason why they are reproduced on the Urban Thinker website is that there is not enough space for all the illustrations which go with the posts on the British Council Open Cities […]
-
Open Cities 5 About intercultural coexistence
Open Cities 5 About intercultural coexistence OpenCities Spot Check Among the OpenCities partners Dublin is holding a festival of world cultures and Bukarest is providing more equal opportunities for its Roma population. Madrid has celebrated World Day for Cultural Diversity and Dialogue and Development, supports its multicultural character and is fostering its social and intercultural […]
-
Open Cities 4 Openness and Closure
Open Cities 4 Openness and Closure Welcome to open cities Bright sunshine, holiday time. Many of us plan to take off somewhere to the beach, the mountains, the countryside. Yet, many city dwellers choose to visit other cities. They enjoy to displace themselves for a short while, physically and mentally, to experience another place, immerse […]
-
Open Cities 3 The Case of London
Open Cities 3 The Case of London Openness or diversity? London is by far the largest city of the European Union and arguably the most diverse in terms of its population, economy and cultural characteristics. How does London fare with openness though? A diverse city does not necessarily mean an open city The Open Cities […]