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“Mind the mindemyren” a new spatial analysis tool for linking building densification strategies to public transport and street network accessibility in Bergen city
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The population in Bergen city is growing fast. There is a need for areas for facilitating such a population growth. However, the availability of land is scarce, as the city is squeezed between seven mountains on the hilly west coast of Norway. Today, about 279 000 inhabitants live in Bergen. The population is growing with 4000 inhabitants per year. This is 2,5 times higher than the Norwegian bureau of statistics predicted in 2007 (www.bergen.kommune.no). Old industrial areas and existing low density areas located adjacent to the city centre are becoming attractive for urban transformation. The industrial area Mindemyren is one of the urban areas with the largest transformation and densification potentials. Today this area functions as a barrier between surrounding dwelling areas by roads, old railways, fences, large long buildings and a lack of cross connections for pedestrians. The size of the area is comparable to the city centre. Bergen municipality has a policy to transform this area into a new urban centre in the next 25 years. At this moment, the area is the largest urban transformation area in Norway. This gives the opportunity on the one hand to create a new centre for the surrounding dwelling areas and to facilitate population growth on the other hand. Population growth implies pressure on the existing infrastructure network. After a half a century of road building and facilitating the private car in city centres, the emphasis is currently shifting towards improving the public transport network and to implement a second light rail line in Bergen. A light rail line opened in 2009. The last part of the line has recently been finished. During the last 5 years, this light rail contributed to densification around the stations and to an increase of the property prices in the stations’ vicinity. At present, a proposal for the location of a second light rail line is now on the drawing table. The track of light rail line 2 goes through the Mindemyren area, and connects the Fyllingsdalen area on the other side of a large mountain with the city centre with a tunnel. The location of this light rail shapes a unique possibility to establish integrated urban design solutions in the Mindemyren area.Published versio
Gomm park. inefficient management (due to) and capital pressure, softened by the community and collective creativity
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The article demonstrates the challenges faced by a Collective when it claimed back a communal space - with a strong social and cultural salience, high environmental interest, which had previously been protected -but was 'escaping' via financial and capital pressure. This had been occurred in Curitiba, a city which call itself 'socially and ecologically just” The space in question is the Gomm Park, comprised by Casa Gomm (1913) -a unique house, built in Massachusetts style -and its bosk, both listed as Parana’s Cultural Heritage. This paper will provide remarkable records, from press articles and interviews , to fragments of social media posts from 'Salvemos o Bosque da Casa Gomm' (Help The Gomm's House Bosk) -the group who decided to fight for the communal heritage and the immaterial resource the “space” now represents. The relationship between people and power, when this is a part from those, it’s the so called democracy. The Greeks, in Agora, met and decided, with one vote each, all the subjects in the current agenda. Time took its toll and weakened this dynamic, but its essence lasts in all current democracies, either direct or indirect, which are sometimes consensus others subjected to maneuver of power, depending whether people’s influence in decision making is high or low. On evolved democratic societies we are faced with people’s participation and transparency templates, which aim to provide better life quality with consensus use of public resources, and as consequence, increase social and justice equality.Published versio
Cross border cooperation in western Balkans- a comparative analysis of cross border experiences between Albania Kosovo and Albania Greece
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) is one of the main supporting tools for countries aspiring to join the EU. IPA II 2014-2020 programme strategy was approved and supports primarily Western-Balkan Countries in cross-cutting areas in order to prepare for EU-accession. As part of the strategy, territorial cooperation is also supported. Cross-border cooperation in the area is one of the main strands of territorial cooperation where different programs between the countries have been set. This paper investigates through a comparative analysis the experience of cross-border cooperation between Albania and Kosovo and Albania-Greece. The analysis spans not only at the analysis of the relative different projects and the ability of countries to make use of the program, but also looks at different and emerging themes in terms of cross border planning and governance. The analysis will delve into the first programing period 2007-2013 as well as the activities that have been held during the new programming period. The choice of the two different programs comes due to their distinctive characteristics, where on the one side one can find an EU member (Greece) cooperating with a non-EU member (Albania) and on the other side two non-EU states which have the same language, as well as Kosovo being a particular case study of state formation. The Albania-Kosovo case study is important to analyze also due to current development and cooperation between the two governments. So far, there have been two intergovernmental meetings between Albania and Kosovo to foster partnerships and greater collaboration between the two countries. Thus, it becomes very interesting to analyze whether the increase in cooperation between the two states is also reflected in the territorial cooperation programs, as well as their performance in terms of cross border cooperation.Published versio
Insurgent citizenship and its unfoldings in the ocupe o cocó initiative
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The understanding of citizenship runs through the centuries and changes as civilizations change. Greeks and Romans of antiquity already questioned the relationship between State and Nation (Miraftab, 2012), shaping the bases for a structuring of what is now understood as Social Contract. This concept, created at the end of the seventeenth century, emerged in the period of transition from the medieval regime to the modern democratic regime, from the replacement of social control exercised by feudal kings and lords, by a society in which its citizens abdicate the individual freedoms in exchange for representation and equal treatment before the law. These new relations of the individual with society presuppose that the State grants and guarantees rights from the consensus of the Nation that makes it legitimate, in contrast, affiliated citizens agree with a set of duties and obligations (Miraftab, 2012).Published versio
Flood risk mitigation: from engineering to ecosystem-based measures : The benevento case study
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017In the last two decades Europe has faced a strong increase of flooding events. Out of 325 flood events recorded from 1980 to 2012, indeed, more than 200 occurred in the 2000s (EEA, 2012). Among all natural hazards, more than 64% of the damages are due to hydro-meteorological events, namely to floods and landslides, with costs higher than 13 billion euros since 2000 (EEA, 2013a). If on the one hand the increase of heavy downpours can be ascribed to climate change, on the other hand the amount of damage has to be imputed to the significant, and sometimes uncontrolled, urbanization processes (EEA, 2017). Therefore, both of these matters have to be addressed in order to prevent future flood disasters. Climate change, intended as “a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period”, is caused by “internal processes” or by “persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use” (IPCC, 2001). The subversion of natural patterns has led not only to the increase of the sea level and of the mean temperatures but also to “changes in the frequency and magnitude of heavy precipitations” (EEA, 2017) that are expected to become even more frequent over the 21st century. Meanwhile, the population’s strong migration toward cities has enhanced the growth of urban areas with the consequent processes of land take and soil sealing (EC, 2012). In Europe, since the 1950s, the amount of impervious surfaces has registered an increase equal to 78%, with an increase of only 33% of the population (EC, 2012)Published versio
Superblock vs. traditional grid in urban design in Barcelona: integrating superblocks with each other through walkable public green axis
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017One of the most effectively working urban patterns is grid layout which has been worldwide accepted since the ancient settlements in history. Barcelona represents one of the most spectecular strict grid pattern since 1850s as a result of new demands in urban development in the city. This research will handle the grid pattern from a different perspective focusing on a transition from grid to Superblock and a simultaneous transformation in urban transport memory. Therefore, research question is to reveal what Superblock proposes in Barcelona as a change in urban transport memory. In this context, firstly, grid urban layout will be defined with its advantages and drawbacks in general. Afterwards, the historical being of Barcelona's grid structure and Superblock idea will be presented. Here the significant point will be touching upon basically the change in grid pattern and its prospective contributions on new urban transport memory. Finally, transition from grid to Superblock will be critically discussed by considering the aspect of expected transport memory reformation.Published versio
Innovation management technology standards as a tool for participatory strategies in urban regeneration of prefabricated housing estates
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The central goal of the project is to investigate the living environment of low quality in residential areas in the cities, which mutually need improvement and regeneration in the scope of future sustainable urban development. The most problematic questions are being raised during the last decades about the marginal and post-socialist prefabricated housing estates built during the 1950-80s in EU. However, the inhabitants as core users of these housing areas are not fully participating in the development initiatives for revitalization on one hand, and have not been given due attention by the city to express their needs and expectations on the other hand. The main documents which contextualize the research are EU Urban Agenda and, especially, the New Urban Agenda by United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which give value to the citizens; recognize the importance and prioritize their participation in the city development, urban regeneration. The research is focused on the development of interoperable connections between urban environment of low liveability and the inhabitant through participation strategies, understanding the role of innovation (regenerative and participative) for efficient public participation. It is considered to narrow this focus to Poland as the case study country because Poland is one of the countries in Central Europe, which received post-socialist prefabricated large housing estates built between 1960 and 1990 with population of over 8 million people, flats in large housing estates are estimated as 35% of the overall number of dwellings in Poland.Published versio
Shaping the city of tomorrow in east Asia: concepts, schemes and ideas for urban development from 1960s to 2010, and beyond
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017There is a growing interest about the urban visions and architectural ideas and vocabulary behind the formation of the large urban conglomeration in Japan, South Korea and China, and how the seeds of Western planning theories and architectural design practice have helped shaping and building the contemporary cites along the vast regions of Asia Pacific Region, and frame a local language in envisioning the city of the future. Fuelled by an unprecedented economic boom in the recent decades, China has carefully planned a process of urbanization at a gigantic scale, supported by political will and determination in promoting a radical transformation of the economic system by shifting progressively from industry to services, and promoting the city as a fundamental element for this transition. South Korea and Japan are the models for this sort of urban transformation, both for the overall dynamics and the design and planning methods implemented, as South Korea experienced her fast urbanization process in the late 1980s whilst Japan has witnessed a great urban growth during the 1960s. Somewhat „old“ concepts and ideas imported from the Western planning traditions, such as the design of new towns, neighborhood units, gated communities, green belts and garden cities, high-rise living etc. are still essential practical elements implemented for the planning and design of the modern/contemporary urban landscape, and are largely adopted in the planning processes used in the structuring and organization of the cities and suburbs built in the region. New progressive concerns related to environmental, social and technological issues such as the Climate Change, growing pollution, the need for sustainable planning and more energy efficient, smart and ecofriendly devices for transportation and domestic use, the constant ageing of the population, among others, call now for very new ideas and bold and innovative schemes in the design and development of cites in East Asia, as well as around the world. Reflecting on the contributions from East Asia to the discourse of planning and design a city for the future as promoted by single actors, larger cultural movements and national elites fostering economic ambitions and political agendas of autocratic forces (e.g. from the experimental cities by the Metabolists in Japan, to the more pragmatic urban development projects fostered by local and national governments in South Korea and China), it can be worthy trying to explain some of the key socio-economic factors and planning engines which have dramatically and radically transformed the skylines of the most dynamic and growing influential area of the world at the dawn of 21st century, as well as briefly describe the origins of the various forms and elements of the modern built environments which have been shaped and molded by these same forces, and how/whether these urban forms embody a true genuine East Asian vision of the city of the future, and what is the current trend in terms of new urban forms and architectural design research at the beginning of 21st century.Published versio
Social housing policy or social policy for housing? The role of the programa especial de realojamento (per) in the housing/planning nexus in Portugal
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Recent (European) comparative studies in the fields of housing policy and spatial planning have been dominated by taxonomical approaches (attempts at categorising systems and temporal stages of state action) and measures of the ‘maturity’ of national systems. In this paper, we adopt a genealogical perspective and consider (national and local) cultures central to the shaping of policy (differences and convergence). We set out a long-term, in-depth exploration of the planning-housing nexus in Portugal – a case that helps adding nuances to mainstream theorisation – and focus on the Programa Especial de Relojamento (PER; Special Programme for Rehousing), a programme that has had changing roles (from a financial instrument to a core component of policies of urban regeneration) in connection with political and planning cultures changing in time and space. Our goal is contributing to making sense of the intersection between planning cultures in transition and changing housing policy, namely the generalised shift toward regeneration and concurrent retrenchment of state action – and the relation among housing as welfare (‘social housing policy’) and housing as urban policy (‘social policy for housing’).Published versio
Planning within scarcity: changing a ‘growth paradigm’ into a ‘capability approach’ to the territories? A view from the northwest of Portugal
No full textBook of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Portugal inherited the European post-war planning approaches based on strong direct public action and regulation of private investment, both of which based on growth-oriented logics. Yet the socioeconomic and territorial impacts of the recent socioeconomic crisis have created different contexts and demands, aggravating the mismatch between the established planning practices and the needed action, thus raising the debate on the need to reframe the planning approach. Portugal is a paradigmatic case of a wider mismatch, a territory where not only the impact of the crisis and the following austerity policies were especially severe, but also where planning practices still have difficulty in dealing with these new demands and need to be reframed towards more adequate local policies. Set within this debate, and taking the Northwest of Portugal as a laboratory and a territory to reflect upon, this paper will argue that the recurrent growth paradigm of planning should be further changed into a capability approach to the territories: by understanding the existing contexts and their demands, local resources and stakeholders; by recognizing social and territorial diversity as a value; by defining local sensitive solutions instead of one-size-fits-all models; and by treasuring specificity instead of specialization or competitiveness.Published versio