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post 10 Sustainable Approach to Design
RCA exhibition 2017 The Architecture and Interior Design programmes of the Royal College of Art had ventured out from their premises in Kensington Gore to a disaffected fire station in Vauxhall where it staged its end of the year exhibition. The large hall suited the exhibition installation made of blond wood for the stage and […]
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Revolution – Almost But Not Quite
Two aspects came to mind from the conversation between the translator Donald Nicholson-Smith and the art historian Timothy J Clark: one was the challenge of ‘translation’, the other the revival of interest in ’68. Transposition The occasion was Nicholson-Smith’s new English translation – ‘The Revolution of Everyday Life’ – of the “Traite de savoir-vivre a […]
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Money and Music
Festivals, ‘a must’ for cities Festivals have become almost ‘a must’ for cities in their competition for attention and position on global city rank orders. The ‘City of London Festival’ has completed its first half century of existence last year and has established itself firmly as a prominent city festival. (City of London Festival 2013m […]
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OC 55: “Legalities of Space”: from squatting to tolerated occupation
Right to land Controversies over ‘legalities of space’ affect a wide variety of peoples. ‘IdleNoMore’ supports the struggle of first nations for what they believe to be their immutable right to their land and their way of life (see the previous post OC 54). Such controversies take many different forms in diverse circumstances. On […]
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Generation E
The BBC in Europe A rare treat: the BBC is allocating a modest weekly quarter of an hour to European issues. The second Radio 4 series of five programmes is called “Generation E” fronted by Lucy Ash. It deals with the younger generation of fellow Europeans beyond the Channel and how they are “facing up […]
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Open Cities 31 Maintaining Cities Open
A lot has been written about cities and their ties with people. Lineu Castello’s ‘Rethinking the Meaning of Place’ (Ashgate 2010) is one of the most comprehensive literature reviews of how human beings interact with their built environment I have come across (more of that in a later post). He provides the big picture and […]
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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 […]
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Open Cities 18 Openness and Empowerment
Revisiting ‘Empowerment’ Empowerment, now there is a buzz word congenial with politicians. It implies giving power to the powerless, to the disenfranchised, to the silent majority. How can that be achieved and do these targeted groups want it? Do they want the type of power on offer? Often it turns out to be responsibility within […]
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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 […]