Contest: Revitalization of Oporto River Front

This is a very interesting international contest.
Get further information here: http://www.portovivosru.pt/concursos/

we moved back!

we have merged all the blogs into one.
check urbanistika.ee

COMPETITION: Design For The New Centre Of Riga

The subject of the Competition is an urban construction and architectural idea which graphically and textually describes integrated development of the Competition Site. The urban construction and architectural idea and the explanatory note should include an urban design for the New Centre of Riga in Tornakalns and an architectural solution for the Riga City Council and the public administrative complex in line with the Assignment of the Competition.

The registration and submission deadline is 3rd September 2007.

Visit the website for further information: http://www.rdpad.lv/en/rcnc/

Rotterdam Architecture Biennale STARTS

We already warn it, but it's always interesting to remind important events.
TODAY starts the Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, whose main theme for this edition is THE CITY and its future.
Activities will run till 2nd September.
Rotterdam is also the "City of Architecture" in 2007. It seems a scape to The Netherlands is worth. Did you already plan your holidays?

Info:
http://www.biennalerotterdam.nl
http://www.rotterdam2007.nl

Continuity and Change in Cities

May 23, 2007 - May 25, 2007 / Alkmaar, Netherlands
2nd Meeting IFHP Working Party Continuity and Change in Cities
Theme: Continuity and Change in Cities: A Game with Many Players
www.alkmaar.nl/workingparty

Towards Carfree Cities VII conference, Istanbul August 27-31, 2007

Towards Carfree Cities VII - Istanbul, Turkey

- 2007 Conference - Registration - Call for Proposals - Draft Programme - Accommodation - Payment Options

Istanbul, Turkey will be hosting Towards Carfree Cities VII from August 27-31, 2007. Our local hosts this year are the Turkish Traffic Safety Association, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and Istanbul's City and Regional Planning Department. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of World Carfree Network will take place on the last day, August 31. There will be optional excursions on the weekend after.

Theme

This year's conference theme "Building a Livable Future in a Changing Climate" emphasises the positive potential and urgency of addressing global climate change through the creation of high-quality, carfree human habitats. We will be looking at how proximity can reduce our dependence on mobility - how cities can be transformed into a compact, space-efficient urban settlement pattern in which one's daily wants and needs can be met within walking distance. We will focus on how an urban environment transformed in this way can increase people's quality of life.

On another level, the theme hints at the growing potential for change in the social and political climate. For example, walkable communities are increasingly seen as a solution to various negative global health trends, ecological building methods are rapidly gaining in popularity, and public opinion on global climate change has shifted rapidly towards universal recognition of this pressing global problem.

Based on the insights of experiencing Istanbul's world-class carfree areas, the conference will bring these concepts together into a coherent recipe to be adopted and adapted by cities worldwide.

See our call for proposals for programme content (presentations, workshops, activities, etc.). The deadline to submit a proposal is April 30.

http://www.worldcarfree.net/conference/

3rd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam

From 24th May till 2nd September and under the theme "Power: Producing the Contemporary City" will take place the 3rd Rotterdam Architecture Biennale.

The programm contais different exhibitions, conferences, a PowerLounge, an international master class and other activities.

"Who and what will define the future of our cities and what role can architects play in this?"

Seems interesting, right?

Get further info: http://www.iabr.nl/page/Home

4th International Congress on Virtual City and Territory "Re-Think the City"

To be held in Guadalajara, Mexico from October 1st to 3rd, 2007

Website: http://www.ctv2007.udg.mx/index.php
Information: info@ctv2007.udg.mx

Conference Overview:

The challenge of renewing the conceptual structures and the technical
applications to the complex problem of human development, the active
metropolization, the accelerated occupation of territory and, all the
accumulated consequences throughout modern history worsened with
Globalization's dynamic process, have been the fundamental approach of the
"City and Virtual Territory" International Congresses, fulfilled in
Barcelona (2004), Concepcion (2005) and Bilbao (2006). During these, ideas,
studies and projects have been struggled and displayed, under the optic of
contribution to knowledge by the new computer science technologies, concrete
proposals and achieved actions by an interesting group of scientific
investigators, enterprises and prestigious institutions.

In this perspective, we propose to continue this joint effort and generate
an ample space for meeting all those who search for solutions to the
urban/territorial development with social equity, the preservation of
natural environment, the impulse of a citizen's participation culture, its
democratic consequences and the possibility to find out better ways to trace
a qualitative horizon to our cities' development; as well all those that
contributes positively to face the territorial-entail challenge and the XXI
century's imaginaries.

In order to continue this process, the Art, Architecture and Design Center
of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, accompanied in this effort by an
important group of public and private institutions from several countries,
we CONVOKE public and private organizations, researchers, students,
professionals and all those who may be interested, to the 4th International
Congress on Virtual City and Territory, "Re-Think the City," to be held in
Guadalajara, Mexico from October 1st to 3rd, 2007.

shaman town

the project

WHO: Union of architects, Russia; Union of Moscow architects; A.Asadov Architectural Studio

WHERE: RUSSIA, LAKE BAIKAL, JULY 14-22th 2007

WHAT: The erection of "SHAMAN-TOWN" - haven of ancient gods and places for meditations on wild nature!

DETAILS: Dear friends! We invite you to take part in the international architectural festival “TOWNS”!

The next (fifth) holiday of architecture, beauty and health will take place in one of the most picturesque places of the planet - on Lake Baikal! It is necessary for participants of the festival to build up various arch-objects, suitable for living and meditation. It is possible to use wood (1 cube meter), metal cables for construction and a varnish/paint for exterior. (You can also use other materials after coordination with the organizers).

During the brakes and after the end of the construction of TOWN we plan various sport events for which each command is recommended to have a mountain bicycle and any swimming tool. The organization of horse, pedestrian walks and water rounds is also possible. Living in tents. Each command is given a room in the neighboring tourist hostel.

For participation in the festival it is necessary to build up a team, to fill in an application and to send it to the following address: goroda2007@mail.ru (your sketches of constructions are accepted till June, 20th).

The organizers will appreciate any invitations of sponsors by participants of festival. You can also invite foreign friends and colleagues to participate (the Union of architects will provide support for getting visas), any help in the organization is welcome!

download application form >>> download poster >>>

THE PRELIMINARY PROGRAMM:

13.07 (Friday) - a start from Moscow to Irkutsk

14.07 (Saturday) - road to the TOWN place, distribution of sites

15-18.07 (Sunday-Wednesday) - construction, presentation of TOWN

19-21.07 (Thursday-Saturday) - free time, sports events (the organization of excursions or extreme rounds are possible)

22.07 (Sunday) - departure, excursion in Irkutsk, fly to Moscow.

PRICES:
Air tickets (2-way) ~220-400 euro
Transfer (2-way) ~15-40 euro
Habitation ~4-15 euro/day
This are initial prices. All the reductions depends of sponsors ;)

CONTACTS: goroda2007@mail.ru , ICQ 310548284

UP TO THE MEETING ON BAYKAL!!!

P.S. It is necessary to make a vassination against encephalitis (before 3 month)!

http://www.asadov.ru/2007_gorod-shaman(eng).htm

events

New concepts and approaches for Urban and Regional Policy and Planning?
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
LEUVEN | APRIL 02-03 2007
http://www.planning-and-development.be/

First International Conference of Young Urban Researchers (FICYUrb)
Held at ISCTE, Lisboa, Portugal
June 11 - 12, 2007
https://conferencias.iscte.pt/index.php?cf=3

Kaupunkitutkimuksen päivät 2007 - Talous, kasvu, kulutus
Aika: 3.-4.5.2007
Paikka: Tieteiden talo (Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki)
Järjestäjät: Yhdyskuntasuunnittelun Seura, Alue- ja
Ympäristötutkimuksen Seura sekä Suomen Kaupunkitutkimuksen Seura

--
Teele Pehk
Department of Regional Studies
University of Tampere
teele.pehk@uta.fi
phone: +358 (0)33551 7807
mobile: +358 4565 18948

Another chinese development

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2237937.html

Collapse of Detroit

In the last 50 years the white population of Detroit was reduced enormously.

"such occurs in the history far not for the first time. The corpses of others great it is municipal the earth are buried in the deserts and are effaced from face
by Asian jungle. Some fell thus long ago, which from them did not remain even names. But for those, who there dwelled, the destruction it was not more probable and possible, than it is presented to me the dying of gigantic modern city... "

read the whole story (in russian) and look at the pictures in the original website
http://egland.livejournal.com/93045.html

Monu num.7: Call for papers

Hi!
The very interesting magazine on urbanism, Monu, is prepearing its next number.
The 7th publication of Monu will deal with what they have called "2nd urbanism". Those cities not so known as the A-list of metropolis in the world.
Send your text, photographies or any other material related to the topic.

Further info: http://www.monu.org/call7.htm

Visual planning and urbanism in the mid-twentieth century

Town and Townscape, School of Architecture, planning and landscape; Newcastle University Library

13-15 September 2007

The early to mid-twentieth century was a time of intense debate over the future of cities and the form and appearance that they might take. In the UK the Garden City Movement, with a tendency towards lower densities and decentralisation, was an important influence. Internationally the radical reformation of the city was being promoted by Le Corbusier and others. Other radical models were promoted including ideas of linear cities or Frank Lloyd Wright’s radical decentralisation of Broadacre City. In amongst these grand concepts we can discern a strand of more practical urbanism, modernist in flavour but historically informed, seeking to recover positive conceptions of the city and town after the perceived deprivations of the nineteenth century. One manifestation of this was the UK townscape movement, with its emphasis on pictorial composition.

This conference will consider some of the key ideas of visual planning and the urban of the period, with a particular focus on the advocates of visual and three-dimensional planning as a means of achieving a reformulated twentieth century urbanism.

The keynote speaker at the conference will be Professor Stephen Ward, Oxford Brookes University.
The conference forms part of a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, “Town and Townscape: The Work and Life of Thomas Sharp”. Thomas Sharp was a key figure in the town planning profession in the mid-twentieth century and a major influence on thought about planning and design and as such his work will be one of the themes of the conference.

Continue reading at:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/sharp/conference.php

KRAX: open urban network... Proposal from Barcelona... !

Hi urbanistika friends!!!
My name is Mariano and I´m writing you from Barcelona as part of City
Mine(d), an international organisation of urban interventionists. Right
now we´re developing a project called KRAX, which is an investigation, a
mapping, into urban creativity and civic participation as ways to
confront imposed changes in neighbourhoods and cities around the world.
We are focusing on those "cracks in the city" that arise as a result of
urban plans that only benefit economic interests, but are no good for
the inhabitants of the city.

As the postindustrial city model is repeating all around the world,
these "urban aggressions" are found everywhere. But that´s only the bad
part of the story... The good part of it (and that´s why we started
KRAX...) is that also everywhere the neighbours are standing and
fighting for their rights to the city. People´s mentality is changing,
and now they want to be active participants of the decisions made over
their street, square, neighbourhood or city... So, KRAX is not a
research on the urban problems that cities are facing around the world;
it is more a "catalogue", a database of creative and powerful tools and
experiences coming from the neighbours themselves. We are in contact
with movements/collectives/organizations from Tokyo, Caracas, Madrid,
Santiago de Chile, Chicago, Mostar, Harlem, Buenos Aires, Sevilla,
London, ...

One of the ideas behind KRAX is to build a Documentation Center. This
space is intended to be a learning place, where you can know about other
initiatives around the world, and we want to make it available
physically as well as virtually. This Doc Center is growing thanks to
the contribution of the different groups: we are getting in touch with
each one of them to gather material that can be interesting for the
whole network...
We are also, and this is another idea behind KRAX, organizing the KRAX
Conference at the end of April (24-28th). This Conference is a gathering
of several initiatives from different neighbourhoods from Barcelona with
groups from different cities. We are starting to develop the program for
the Conference along with neighbours (tomorrow we have a big meeting
with some of them), and we will begin arising the same questions to the
KRAX mailing-list participants (krax@moviments.net).

If you can tell us something about what´s going on in Tallinn or
Estonia, it would be great! Also, if you want to write something about
the situation around there (or write something about cities, in
general...), you can send it to us and we will publish it on the KRAX
blog (http://krax.citymined.org).

Ok, that´s all... A long email already....
Let´s keep in touch!!!
Mariano.
-

2010 IMPERATIVE

If you are visiting this weblog you might be a city planner, an architect, a geographer, a designer, or just and interested person on The City.
Even if you are not into any of these fields, surely you have heard about the global warming and the climate change. The question is: Are city planners being trained for the world we will inherit?.
Architecture 2030 (hosted by the New York Academy of Sciences) has arranged a live web-cast for 20 February.
The idea is to reach students, teachers, schools and diferent organizations to change the way of teaching desing and planning. The goal is to prepear ourselves better for the challenges we will face sooner that we thought.
Some schools have already changed the common classes for that day and will participate online in the web-cast. Will you?

http://2010imperative.org/

EUROPAN 9

Here we have the new edition of one of the most important competition in Europe for young architects and city planners. All the information will be ready on next monday, 5th February, at the official web site.

The generic theme of Europan 9 is "European urbanity, sustainable city and new public spaces".

This edition counts with two Estonian cities, Tartu and Tallinn, as proposed sites.

If you cannot wait till next week, visit the website. Basic information is already launched: http://www.europan-europe.com

Good luck to all you!!!

HABITAT5. HOUSING. NEW WAYS OF INHABITING

From 2nd till 3rd of February will take place in Albacete (Spain) the conferences under the title “Habitat5. Housing. New way of inhabitating”. Organized by Foro Civitas Nova, a very interesting initiative in research, knowledge exchange and awareness of housing and urban development.
Experts in different areas will analyze the habitats where we live from several perspectives: space, technology, social behavior, environment or flexibility.
Even if you cannot attend to the conferences, i would have a look on this web site. They have interesting material on urban studies.
Conferences site:
http://www.forocivitasnova.org/jornadahabita5i.htm (english)

1st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF YOUNG URBAN RESEARCHERS

The First International Conference of Young Urban Researchers (FICYUrb) will take place at ISCTE, in Lisbon – Portugal, June 11th and 12th, 2007. The organization of this scientific meeting was born from the will to create a space of interdisciplinary debate. Young researchers in urban studies that work and develop their researches on cities are expected to play a major role in this scientific meeting dynamic’s. The Conference is intended to be an adequate space to disseminate the most recent academic researches in urban studies from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives of the social sciences. While encouraging an international scientific debate, the Conference will provide a place of interchange between young urban studies practitioners and senior academics with a wide experience, especially those invited to the Opening and Final lectures in the meeting.

Call for papers:Those interested must send an abstract of approximately 250 words and a shortBiography-CV by March 16th , 2007. Papers in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French will be accepted. Authors will be noticed by April 2nd , 2007 . Completed Papers expected by May 14th , 2007.Guidelines for authors will be sent soon.

Further information:
https://conferencias.iscte.pt/index.php?cf=3

Alvar Aalto, through the eyes of Shigeru Ban

Are you planning to visit London?? If you are, then you are lucky to find a very interesting exhibition at the Barbican Center.
There is no need to introduce Alvar Aalto, but maybe you do not know that Shigeru Ban in one of the most important architects in the world. He is japanese and his works are very innovative about the use of materials. He was one of the first in using recycling in architecture.
The exhibition faces again the work of Alvar Aalto but through the personal experience of another architect, who belongs to another generation and was born in a different culture.

The exhibition will be open from 22 February till 13 May at the Barbican Centre of London.

More info: http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=4341

Culture and City - call for papers

EUROPEAN FELLOWSHIPS FOR
TRAINING IN URBAN STUDIES
ISSUE 2007:

CULTURE AND CITY
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The importance of the European city for the process of European integration lies to a great deal in the cultural heritage it provides for present urban residents and future generations. On the basis of this strong backbone of identity, cultural heritage as well as cultural expression will generate a place where economic, social and political changes can be collectively faced.

The workshop and the conference will develop scientific research on:
- Culture as a factor for urban regeneration
- Culture as a strategy for social cohesion
- Culture and the creation of innovative milieus

The role of culture has been recognized by cities in order to boost economic development by subsidies to cultural events and investment in cultural buildings. In which way can culture provide a sustainable urban development in ways that attract visitors and enterprise and at the same time enhance citizens’ identity and everyday life? In what ways can cultural and urban regeneration support social cohesion?

VENUE: Karlskrona, Sweden

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION 1st of April 2007
WORKSHOP: 29th June – 6th July 2007
CONFERENCE: 16th – 18th November 2007

For further information about the programme and application procedure, please visit: www.urban-future.net

The 3rd Christina Conference on Women's Studies

GENDER, IMAGES, AND GLOBAL CONTEXTS
March 8-10, 2007, University of Helsinki, Finland

Programme and registration:
http://www.helsinki.fi/kristiina-instituutti/conference/index.htm

Early bird registration closes Monday 15 January!

Registration (by January 15th, 2007)
120 euros
Late registration (after January 15th, 2007)
150 euros

Student fee (by 15th January, 2007)
50 euros
Student fee (after January 15th, 2007)
70 euros

The life in a city without a car

It is possible to survive without a car in a city from the USA. This interesting article explains how the life of a San Franciso citizen changes when he decides to make all his activities by public transportation or bike instead of a car. He compares the expences and the time spent. His feelings and thoughts are also interesting.
I would read it, it is worth: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/16289155.htm

OMA at Latvia

The Latvian Ministry of Culture announced plans to move forward with its first museum of contemporary art, designed by Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). The 16,000 m2 museum, to be built in the port city of Riga, will be Latvia's first new museum of art in over 100 years. Imagined as a multi-functional centre for contemporary culture, the museum will host seminars, concerts and theatrical performances, in addition to housing international exhibitions and a permanent collection of contemporary Baltic art.

Read more: http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=18633