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Revolution at the V&A (p6)
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world” This quote from the nineteen-sixties by Margaret Mead was greeting visitors to the Revolution exhibition, currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is an encouraging thought in our times of globalisation, dominated by corporations with turnovers well above […]
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OC 59: “Planning Times”
this post is about the CORP conference 2013. It took place in Rome, in alternance with conferences in Vienna and its surroundings from CORP had been initiated in the 1990s. About CORP CORP (Competence Center of Urban and Regional Planning http://www.corp.at/index.php?id=18) has both staying power and innovative drive. Started at the Technical University of Vienna […]
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OC 52: London World City: Sustainable Growth?
Open to the world or open to all its citizens? Despite double dip recession, or perhaps because of it, the development industry is lobbying hard to obtain government assistance – read tax payers’ money – to continue expanding macro-infrastructure, however much contested by many ordinary citizens. Conventional wisdom points out that London is living on […]
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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 […]
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OC 48: About the ‘City Makers’
This is about the unsung ‘makers of the city’: the builders who are erecting the visions of designers for lucrative earnings of investors and developers; those who are producing more or less open spaces for eventual users. ProBE The Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment (ProBE) has been set up […]
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OC 47: City Open to Olympics
The Games have arrived It is not possible to live in London and ignore the Olympic Games 2012. Even less not to have an opinion about them and what they do to London as a place to live, work and play. As usual, officialdom claims that it is either too early or too late and […]
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OC 44: The Street: Bastion of Open Cities?
What is an open city? How does it manifest itself? When people walk through the city they experience it through its ground floor: the street, the pavement, the green, but also how buildings relate to these spaces. Within a stone throw, a city can send many contradictory messages to passers by from its ground floor. […]
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Open Cities 23 Public Realm – Civic Behaviour
A lot has been written about how to design the public realm to contribute to city openness with more or less environmental determinism in mind. CABE’s work belongs to this knowledge base. It ranges from the very physical “Adapting Public Places to Climate Change” to “Open Spaces Strategies” with focus on green spaces for deprived […]
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Open Cities 17 Mixed Communities – Openness or Myth?
Mixed communities could be construed as an indicator of an open city. This presumes a definition of mixed communities. The Future of London’s Social Housing was discussed at a seminar held at the London School of Economics on 19 February 2010. This offers an opportunity to explore the contribution of social housing to mixed communities […]
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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 […]