Bottom up culture led regeneration Bristol

by: Robert Grimm - December 5th, 2009   Filed under: Articles & Ressources

From a former POLIS student. Worth to be looked at…

*Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft*: a community organisation that is working to create their area as a cultural quarter:

www.prsc.org.uk

*Tobacco Factory*: the regeneration of this old tobacco factory kickstarted the gentrification process of the South of Bristol. George Ferguson (the guy in the video) also happens to be a director of the Academy of Urbanism

www.academyofurbanism.org.uk & a great patron of cultural regeneration in the city.

www.youtube.com channel of the tobacco factory

*Artspacelifespace*: a collection of artists that have been invited to temporarily take over the old Police Station in the Centre as the developers (Urban Splash) cannot currently afford to develop it & they realise the potential of artists to revitalize areas.

www.artspacelifespace.com

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Social Street Conference Tallinn

by: Robert Grimm - December 4th, 2009   Filed under: Conferences & Calls

The 7th Urban and Landscape Days
Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn
April 22-24, 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS
Abstract deadline February 5, 2010
Notification of inclusion in conference programme February 19, 2010.
Paper deadline April 7, 2010

We warmly invite  research papers and project presentations to the
forthcoming Urban and Landscape Days, to be held in Tallinn, Estonia April
22-24, 2010. The keynotes and paper sessions take place in the historic
Kanuti Guild building in Tallinn’s Old Town, Pikk street 20. Tactical
excursions will be organised to familiarise with grass-roots movements and
new developments in Tallinn and the surrounding region.

This year theme  is ‘social street’. We encourage urban researchers, PhD
students, architects, landscape architects, city officials and urban
activists to send abstracts and synopis of project presentations. The
organising team will select them, creating thematic sessions. The notion
of ‘social street’ may be interpreted in an open and innovative way.
Questions and sub-themes may include, but are not limited to:

Participatory and self-building approaches in vitalising streets
Urban media, links between virtual and real space
Urban design, projects for 21st century street
Street and sustainable urban life
New uses of urban space
Urban conflicts
Dérive
History of streets
Invisible street of infrastructures
Spatial configuration and urban morphology
Representations of street life in art and literature
Methodological developments in urban and spatial analysis
Technological and material innovation in street and public space construction

The conference language is English. The abstracts / synopsis should be
200-300 words, including 2-3 key sources or (for projects) 1-2 images. In
addition to that, we ask short bio (max 100 words) of the author(s),
current affiliation and contact information, which may be published in the
Conference Programme. The material should be sent as word or pdf document
to  urban@artun.ee by Friday February 5, 2010.

The organisers notify the selected authors by mail on February 19, 2010.
By that time, a draft programme will be published in the Urban Studies
site   www.urbanistika.ee Final papers should be sent to the organisers
by April 7, 2010. After the conference, the organisers plan to publish the
papers in the university series ‘Eesti Kunstiakadeemia toimetised’. In
conflicting copyright situations, we are ready to negotiate, possibly
withdrawing the paper from the publication.

Organising team:
Katrin Koov
Panu Lehtovuori
Lilia del Rio
Jüri Soolep

Address:
The Estonian Academy of Arts
Faculty of Architecture
The Chairs of Urban Studies and Urban Landscapes
Pikk tn. 20, 10133 Tallinn
Estonia

Mail    urban@artun.ee

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Swiss NO vote to Minarets

by: Robert Grimm - November 29th, 2009   Filed under: Articles & Ressources

The NO vote forbidding the building of Minarets in Switzerland raises interesting questions. Surely, European liberal democracies can deal with the spatial expressions of inter-multi-cosmo-culturalism. Neither Mohammed caricatures nor Minarets should disappear from the European visual landscapes of the 21st century.

It would be wrong to protect Christian (and neo-liberal) skylines from multi-cultural realities. Every European nation has a substantial Muslim minority with ‘a right to the sky’. However, it is also wrong to assume that the Swiss NO vote was entirely fuelled by reactionary feelings against ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’. Rather, the support of the NO campaign by left leaning intellectuals and feminists points towards an increasing unease with draconian political correctness that has closed debates and curtailed freedoms of expression. A critical perspective on multiculturalism is not bound to be informed by rightwing ideology.

 

Minarete in Switzerland

Minaret in Switzerland

Traditionally, sacred buildings dominated European cities and villages. Church towers presided over and rhythmically regulated the every-day. In modern capitalist space, the chimneys of industrial production and the skyscrapers of corporate capital replaced these. Manchester’s cathedral, for instance, is dwarfed by the CIS tower and even Strangeways Prison has a stronger presence among the city’s rooftops.

In recent years, religious symbols have become increasingly present again in public space. Different faith groups and communities living in our towns and cities have also the right to shape physical urban environments. These demands raised concerns that size does matter. Do dimensions correspond to faith groups? How high is too phallic? When is the call for prayer a form of noise pollution? Are new sacred buildings (and other religious expressions) symbols of political power assuming an increasingly intimidating grip on liberal society?

New Synagogue in Berlin

New Synagogue in Berlin

In the heat of these discussions, one should not lose sight of the aesthetic value of religious architecture and its capacity to create diverse and attractive urban spaces. Historic examples include the New Synagogue in Berlin’s Oranienburger Strasse and La Grande Mosqée de Paris . Both attract thousands of tourists every year. The Great Mosque in Cologne, planned to be Europe’s biggest house of Muslim worship, will combine contemporary architecture with Islamic aesthetics and might rival the Gothic dome as a tourist attraction.

The debate surrounding inter-ethnic city started with considerable delay and the pluralistic European space remains to be put in brick and mortar. The line between threatening and enriching is slippery and height is not its only frontier.

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City bids for ‘music city’ title

by: Robert Grimm - November 26th, 2009   Filed under: Articles & Ressources

The city of Liverpool, which is already a UNESCO World Heritage City, is bidding to become England’s first UNESCO City of Music.

If successful it will become one of only four other cities with the title – including Glasgow.

A four-month long mapping exercise showing where music is made and played in Liverpool will be put together before the bid is handed in next year.

“Music is in Liverpool’s blood,” a city council spokesman said

Source BBC

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A night out in Manchester with Peter Hook

by: Robert Grimm - November 25th, 2009   Filed under: Articles & Ressources

Joy Division, New Order and Haçienda co-founder Peter Hook takes us on a tour of his home town, featuring DJ Luke Unabomber and indie band Delphic

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2009/oct/29/peter-hook-manchester-music-tour

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Former Textile Cities as Comeback Cities: International Symposium and Publication

by: Robert Grimm - February 26th, 2009   Filed under: Conferences & Calls

On 17 and 18 September 2009, an international symposium on the comeback of former textile cities will be organised, as part of the 200 years city rights’ anniversary celebrations of Tilburg. The symposium is intended for politicians and governors of the participating cities, scholars, policy makers, urban planners, property developers and representatives of intermediary organisations. The goal is to contribute to the discussion about the strategies that can be used for the transformation of former textile cities such as Tilburg. Initiator is the mayor of Tilburg, Mr. Ruud Vreeman. Polis students are involved in the project through their research and fieldwork projects (see webpage: The Projects).

Parallel to the symposium, a photo exposition will be organised, which will subsequently make a trip along the participating textile cities. A scientific publication will be published in the framework of the symposium (in Dutch and in English) as well as a catalogue for the (travelling) exhibition.

Place of event: the auditorium of the new entrance building to the Audax Textile Museum Tilburg (maximum number of participants: 120).

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