Over at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ingra Saffron reviews the recent In the Terrain of Water conference held by the University of Pennsylvania. Also, coincidentally (?) on the same weekend another conference Out of Water occurred at the University of Toronto.
Any Archinecters go and feel like giving a quick report/summary? H/T Mammoth
2 Comments
Attending only the afternoon of the second day of the conference, I got a glimpse of the conference through several talks: one was Felipe Correa's presentation showing projects in Arid lands, from Arizona in the USA to the emirates where water and its accessibility were suggested to generate urban spaces and urban forms. Studies of how this had naturally developed throughout history in the emirates were shown. together with proposals for other cases. Somehow as Felipe later suggested urban design proposals were not only a result of responses to water resources, it was also enriched and informed by "disciplinary knowledge" therefore translation of water resources/scarcity to urban form was not a direct one.
Next was a presentation of a student thesis on urban development in the middle east region, which proposed a multi-centered urbanism throughout a cross boundary region (and that was the heated boundaries of Israel, Palestine and Jordan) around cultivated land in lieu of Dubai-style high density global city. This utopian proposal was supported by a beautifully presented argument about agriculture and planning, while neglecting other economies of urban development and their relationship to housing and density.
The idealist nature of some of the academic projects was further revealed when Byron Stigge from Buro Happold gave a presentation of some of the master planning projects the office was working on in India. Apologizing for their pragmatic and economy-driven nature and explaining how they were better than a non-energy non-resource conscious design, Byron explained that these proposals were rapidly (obviously slowly relative to China) executed, forming real time urbanism.
It seems the gap between academia and real-world development even today in the world of integrated design, is unbridgeable. While some extremely intelligent people are brilliantly envisioning alternative futures for urban development, highly conscious of limited natural resources- in this case water- but ignoring the complexity of the economies behind their execution, others are busy developing instant-money generating yet environmentally responsible forms of urban development, decorated by solar panels and energy saving strategies. Who should be the one apologizing really?
thanks!
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.