Under-Urbanized

This little two-worder really struck me when I read it recently. It's a wonderful phrase to ensapsulate analysis of urban neighbourhoods. Rather than concentrating on measures such as density, it frees us to think in terms of qualities good neighbourhoods have: the services, social services, employers, attractions/ entertainments, spaces, architecture, street life, education, residential availability (tenure and typologies), cross-sections of society, retailers etc. Pretty soon we come to realize that most urban neighbourhoods are under-urbanized. It is this lack of diversity that affects good neighbourhoods, rather than a magical plot ratio, or even a 'cafe-culture'. The really interesting thing is that is takes a huge number of people, interests, developers and businesses to fill so many gaps. The great thing is that with all these gaps in under-urbanized urban areas, there are multiple opportunities for multiple organisations. The challenge is to create the framework in terms of governance, culture and legally to enable change. This is the true meaning of the smart city, or the entrepreneurial city..... I suggest;-) This post is inspired by an interview with Arturo Mier y Terán, an architect and urban planner in Mexico City, from "Handmade Urbanism: From community initiatives to participatory models" by Rosa and Weiland.

'Future Traditional'. Really like this design for the Ideal Homes Show by the Prince's Foundation. The design is a collaboration between Douglas Ardern, Jamie Wallace and Ruaridh Inverarity, features a pronounced double-gabled front and was inspired by traditional vernacular buildings. The design is winner of competition to respond to an architectural design brief reflecting the Foundation's ethos of sustainability, practicality, durability, beauty and comfort in modern living. http://www.princes-foundation.org/content/unveiling-princes-house-ideal-home-show-2013

The Gathering - what about diversity, multi-culturalism & pluralism?

"The Gathering" is a marketing campaign aimed at the "Irish Diaspora", and is Failte Ireland's (the Irish Tourist Board's) major initiative for 2013 (http://www.thegatheringireland.com/). Most countries engage in marketing campaigns to promote tourism. This is different in the sense that it seeks to connect Irish communities to a world wide network of Irish descent. So they're spending an awful lot of public money on marketing at home and abroad on this concept. Google images of'The Gathering' and see what you get. Try and get past the bad Arann jumpers and you get a clear message - You're welcome if you're white. It plays to an false-nostalgia image of 1950s Ireland best associated with small-town minds, catholicism, ethnic and cultural homogeneity. You're welcome if you're middle to old aged, got spending money (while at the same time a generation emigrates on the back of the same government's austerity to become the new diaspora!). "The Gathering" is symtomatic of a national blind-spot to the country Ireland has become.. It ignores the large Brazilian, Polish, Pakistani, Chinese and other populations that are now Irish; also the multi-national workforces companies like Facebook and Google who need access to 20+ different languages to be found in a place like Dublin. Who Will Remember Us? Memorialising the Multicultural City is an inciteful chapter by Katrina Goldstone On Ethnic Legagy in Dublin's Future, New Visions for Ireland's Capital City (Ed. Lorcan Sirr). She carefully documents how the Jewish community (Ireland's longest established racialised minority) came to, and played a highly visible and important role in Dublin in C19 and C20. She makes the point that this ethnic group has been largely whitewashed from our history, and our view of what Irishness is. She qutoes Iain Sinclair ... "We excavate the history we need, bend the past to colize the present". "The Gathering" marketing team need to have a good look at their own age and cultural profile. Are they in touch with Ireland as it is now, or as it was then. The Irish diaspora isn't just about Boston or Sydney any more. Its a global network that extends to Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Gdansk and Karachi. It is really important to get the message across home and abroad that Ireland is (or can be) a pluralist, diverve country. Failte Ireland has a lot of good & smart people; its time for "the gathering" to reflect this.

Amid the squalid store-fronts of Thomas St, the smart facade of Mannings bakery shines forth like a beacon, a welcoming refuge from the hatchet-faced hawkers outside LeCool Dublin's review of Mannings on Thomas Street, D8, telling it how it is. http://dublin.lecool.com/dublin/en/41462

The Ministry of Festivals instructs towns to hold as many random events possible

Festivalisation (or Festivalization US spelling): the propogation of events of tenuous and vague social and communitarian meaning, in the interest of meaningless continuous amusement of adults.

There must be a Ministry (it sounds much more Orwellian than Department) at the heart of government, and there must have been an instruction (lets say Order #28X for a bit of drama)made about 3 years ago. How else can it be explained that local authorities (in Ireland anyway) have taken on the role of organising events to keep the populus amused. The only jobs being advertised on e-tenders these days are for events animators (apparently it has nothing to do with cartoons). So.. one day they're getting the Guards (Irish police) to batter anybody who wanted to sit down on the street for an old protest or slow down traffic, and next thing they're the biggest, funnest, sociable thing in town. But festivals are good right? They bring people into the town, they promote place and build community spirit. Who could not be for festivals? Why do local authorities now see themselves as festival promoters, and are allowed to spend significant public funds on events? Is the proportion of festivals we have to endure proportional to rises in unemployment and poverty? If and event is hosted in a public park area, it is the council who gets the rent, and the retailer who suffers from loss of business, because all their customers are in the fancy farmers market. So its a win-win for the Council: they get the PR and the money. So am I the most miserable person on the planet, that can't even like a festival? Well possibly, but the Ukulele Hooley in the People's Park was the last straw for me. I'm a greater admirer of people like David Engwicht... https://www.creative-communities.com, and Fred Kent at Project for Public Spaces www.pps.org. I'm fortunate enough to have heard both speak. Its also a different animal from "Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good" (U.S. Pavilion at this years 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale see urb.ie) to me these focus on the capacity and resiliance of communities, and the capacity to capture talent through projects and interventions in public space. This does involve partnership with Local Authorities. However, the whole point is that people working in partnership from the bottom-up can challenge establishments like roads departments about how we use our towns. And will also challenge how we live in our towns. If a festival becomes a symbol of corporate power or branding, who benefits? When Dublin City Centre was handed over to racing cars this year for a day, nobody could move around, and nobody did any business. By all means lets have events in urban areas, but lets let community groups and business associations have access to, or compete for the same funds local authorities get to do things their own way.

Projects without architects steal the show

You might partly describe the “Common Ground” title as a bid to imply some curatorial shift from architecture’s makers to users, but in the event that shift often becomes just another excuse for the usual hagiography

A pretty savage review of the architecture Venice biennale’s http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/arts/design/13th-venice-architecture-biennale-the-usual-hagiography.html?ref=arts

20 Things you can do on the High Street without shoppping

I really like this simple little presentation by Julian Dobson at Urban Pollinators (www.urbanpollinators.co.uk).

20 things you can do on the high street without shopping from Julian Dobson