Temporary use and the onto-politics of ‘public’ space

This paper is situated amidst concerns that public spaces are diminishing in both quantity and quality (Low & Smith, 2006), with this trend exacerbated by the excising of state budgets for their provision, maintenance or development, their privatisation and/or devolution of their management to corporate interests. Here we interrogate what ‘public space’ is using the lens of temporary use projects undertaken on privately-owned land. As a distinct form of DIY urbanism, it could be argued that temporary use projects might be least likely to promote enduring change but, in this paper, we demonstrate that it is their very transience that enables the interstices between the actual and the possible to be exploited in innovative ways. We explore how a distinctive methodology associated with temporary use projects, and a reconceptualisation of what public space is, creates new opportunities to restore the emancipatory potential of (increasingly) emaciated public places.     

How to create a space for stakeholders’ involvement in construction

The aim is to investigate how stakeholders can participate in the early phases of construction projects and how relevant insights can be gathered from stakeholders with very different backgrounds and interests. To gain these insights, it is important to understand how a space can be created to facilitate communication between professionals and stakeholders. The research draws on the literature of design and user-driven innovation in order to get a richer understanding of stakeholders’ involvement in construction. The method applied is research based on three stakeholder workshops, interviews and observations from a single case study. The findings provide valuable information on six aspects of who the stakeholders are in construction, what these stakeholders can do in construction when involved, how to involve these stakeholders in a construction project, how a space can be staged and facilitated for the meeting of stakeholders, and what kind of information can be collected from the stakeholders to influence the development process. The findings show how creating and facilitating a workshop as a socio-technical space across boundaries can overcome barriers and improve stakeholders’ involvement and thus provide better insights into their needs, values and concerns.     

Activating sacred objects in public space: Bernini’s angels on the ponte sant’angelo in early modern Rome

ABSTRACT

In 1667, Pope Clement IX commissioned Gian Lorenzo Bernini to design 10 sculptures of angels to decorate the Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome. Contemporary accounts record that the faithful experienced Bernini’s statues as animated celestial figures at the heart of the city. The ability of the marble angels to persuasively move beholders fulfilled the aims of the papal commission to expand the reach of the Church into the urban space of Rome. This paper examines how these religious objects were activated in a public space, a setting composed of sacred and profane elements. In the early modern era, the Ponte Sant’Angelo connected Rome’s city center to St. Peter’s Basilica while also serving as a setting for civic processions, spectacular fireworks displays, and public executions. While angels were ubiquitous in the city’s sacred spaces, like church interiors, Bernini’s sculptures materialized a flock of angels at an outdoor, urban nexus of theology, spectacle, and justice. Drawing on theories of performance that conceptualize the profound religious encounter that can result from the simultaneous juxtaposition of sacred and profane elements, this paper argues that the public setting activated Bernini’s marble statues so that they were experienced as lively celestial figures by the faithful.     

Shaping Seoul’s memories: the co-evolution of memorials,national identity,democracy and urban space in South Korea’s capital city

This paper examines the evolving subjects, forms, symbolism, and spatial constellation of the diverse memorials erected in Seoul since 1953. It explores how these memorials have expressed shifts in national identity towards democracy since the end of dictatorship in 1987. It illustrates how commemorative intentions in this massive, rapidly-changing metropolis have intersected with other urban design aims and pressures. The analysis reveals an evolutionary progression in memorial themes, from heroic statues that re-establish roots of Korean national identity and independence, to marginal grassroots memorials and wider themed precincts that present more inclusive, democratic, complex narratives of identity and history.     

Green space context and vegetation complexity shape people’s preferences for urban public parks and residential gardens

Landscape preferences shape decision-making and drive the ecological outcomes of urban landscapes. We investigate how people’s landscape preferences are shaped by the green space context (public park vs private residential garden landscapes) and by physical features such as vegetation complexity. A postal questionnaire was sent to households near seven urban parks in Melbourne, Australia. Results showed that landscapes were grouped into four categories based on patterns of preference response. Landscapes with moderate vegetation complexity were placed in separate categories distinguished by green space context (parks vs gardens), while very simple and very complex landscapes were placed in different categories irrespective of green space context. Surprisingly, dense vegetation was highly preferred by respondents. As areas of dense vegetation also provide complex habitats for wildlife, this highlights the possibility of developing policies and designing landscapes that can benefit both people and nature.     

Infrastructures for disorder. Applying Sennett’s notion of disorder to the public space of social housing neighbourhoods

This paper contributes to the debate on whether introducing too much order into urban regeneration processes hinders social life and interaction in the public space. It engages with Sennett’s call for introducing certain kinds of disorder into city life. While this debate has been addressed in urban literature, many urban regeneration processes in social housing neighbourhoods have attempted to remove all kinds of disorder from the city, thus removing urban life from the streets. This paper proposes ‘infrastructures for disorder’: strategies for intervention that create conditions for the unplanned use of the public realm in social housing estates.     

Fictional Inquiry—design collaboration in a shared narrative space

In this paper we present Fictional Inquiry, a collaborative Participatory Design technique that provides an approach that allows designers to shape the context of collaborative design activities. Fictional Inquiry allows designers to address specific issues when inquiring into existing use practices, or exploring the future in the collaborative design process. Fictional Inquiry entails bypassing existing socio-cultural structures by creating partially fictional situations, artifacts, and narratives that mediate collaborative design activities. In this paper we present the Fictional Inquiry technique through three cases that highlight the applicability of the technique when staging the design situation, evoking ideas for possible futures, and initiating organizational change. We present a general framework for understanding and staging Fictional Inquiry, and provide an account of how Fictional Inquiry was used in three quite different design situations.     

Money or space? Intergenerational transfers in a comparative perspective

Abstract

The provision of living space as well as financial transfers are important elements of functional solidarity between parents and adult children in contemporary European societies. However, prior research has revealed substantial discrepancies not only within but also between countries. Against this background, this paper investigates the relevance of money and space transfers and the connections between the two forms of support simultaneously using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The empirical results indicate that the needs of adult children as well as the opportunities of their parents are important determinants of support. Furthermore, parents in southern European countries with low levels of public family expenditures predominantly support their adult children by providing living space, whereas parents in northern European countries with more generous welfare states give direct financial support. Differences in country-specific transfer patterns can theoretically and empirically be traced back to welfare state support in general and national housing regimes and markets in particular.     

“绿色’’的室内设计

“绿色”的概念，是一段时间来国内外各界广泛讨论的热点话题，其内容包括环境保护与可持续性发展等。由于环境与生态的急剧恶化，人们愈来愈认识到我们所居住的环境应当作为一个统一的系统来进行考虑，而室内设计业的迅猛发展所引发的各种问题，越来越引起各界的重视，因为它几乎包含和连带人类生活与自然环境关系的全部内容。因此，伴随着建筑的“绿色”时期的到来，室内设计也应同步进入“绿色”时期。     

The ‘People’s City’

The mid-20th-century communist ideal was for cities that were ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. Wang Jun , an editor at Outlook Weekly magazine and author of a best-selling book on the planning of Beijing, describes how the ambition to accommodate public life in urban space is a relatively modern phenomenon that goes against the grain of a long tradition of landownership in China. Given this background, can the original notion of the ‘People's City’ ultimately survive the current wave of property privatisation? Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

’97—’98年室内装饰流行色

据专家预测,1997—1998年的新色彩就是电脑化色彩的理念。其中最大的转变是1997—1998年在色彩的搭配上,已由传统的色彩缤纷转为都市感十足的单一主义配色,以保守性的搭配强调出都市生活的极限。据了解,1997—1998年色彩的流行趋势,共分五个流行主题: 1.现代文明色彩 (粉灰色):人造的都市秩序成为人类生活的重心,资讯控制人类,于是产生出     

城市“自备’’供水井的封闭和转为“公备’’供水井的探讨

“自备”井是计划经济和城市建设落后状况下的产物。随着城市公共财政能力的逐步提高，城市“公共服务”性质的水资源供水日益成为城市供水的主体，在供水条件具备的情况下，“自备”井应逐步让位于城市公共供水体系，转为“公备”。陕西省各大城市“自备”井供水的现象较为普遍，根据对陕西近年来关闭“自备”井的研究，     

熊明’93～’95作品选

熊明’９３～’９５作品选熊明前言１９９３年底我辞去院长职务后，又可以做自己喜爱的工作了。除指导少数院级设计项目外，主要是带领年轻建筑师和研究生进行建筑创作和研究，作了十几个项目的二十多个方案。其中有的已进入实施，有的在申报阶段，也有的因情况改变而作罢...     

宾西法尼亚大学“联系之桥’’

宾西法尼亚大学由本杰明-弗兰克林创办．是美国著名的常青藤学校之一。这所大学的艺术．科学、工商管理．建筑等众多学科都是世界一流的。校长艾米·戈特曼在就职演说中提出她的目标是”让费城和世界都参与进来“。然而．舒库基尔河以及沿河的铁路和快速路却把学校和费城市中心分隔开了。由于没有其他的空间可供学校扩展．[第一段]     

Wind comfort in a public urban space—Case study within Dublin Docklands

Open public spaces provide venues for cultural, recreational events and promote informal social contact between citizens. Successful outdoor spaces promote comfort and invite people to stay outdoors. Provision of thermal comfort outdoors present a challenge, as an extended range of environmental conditions must be dealt with. The present study examines whether climatic characteristics in Dublin facilitate exercising long-term outdoor activities during summer, and investigates the extent to which urban planning and the resulting urban morphology of the built environment influences microclimates created, from the viewpoint of wind environment. Microclimates at Grand Canal Square have been simulated by ENVI-met. Wind velocity has been expressed in relation to that of the ‘‘background’’ climate in order to verify if the site has a wind protecting character or to the contrary, it enhances airflow. The results show for the dominant wind directions (W, SW, S) that 60% higher wind velocity than at Dublin Airport can occur around buildingcornersandatrestrictedflowsections—preventing any kind of long-term outdoor activity during a ‘‘typical’’ day. S and SW winds cause 15%-20% acceleration at the W waterfront area. Windy urban environment can call forth a limited frequentation of urban space.     

I’PARK

正韩国釜山2013海云台佑洞现代I'Park项目位于韩国釜山滨海,占地45 000平方英尺(418 063.68m2),是一座包含3个高层住宅楼、一个34层的酒店以及一座写字楼和一个3层购物商场的综合发展项目。这5栋高层用于塑造和表达出大海极致的美与力量。建筑群的几何曲线,往往衍生自自然的美丽,如波浪般的优雅,每一朵花瓣的独一无二,充满了风的帆,戏谑着传统的韩国建筑概念。