PrintDoes (Urban) Structure Matter?
London Festival of Architecture 2010 Speakers Crescent
4pm - 4.40pm - Park Crescent site at the top of Portland Place, close to Regents Park Tube
Free
The only certain thing about the city is its constant change. Whether those changes are positive or flawed will always be debatable. These changes becoming more rapid, accelerated by economic growth and technological advances and globalization.
When talking about change, we can’t just discuss the changes of the city in spatial and physical sense. The current situation and potential evolution of modern cities should be discussed in relationship to different modes of knowledge production/exchange and socio-spatial structures of these cities.
Using examples from the Eastern Europe, we illustrate the transformations of the city seen as a reflection of cultural, social, economic and political forces. Can we learn from the past successes and failures of the 'socialist' and 'post-socialist' bi-city, in order to improve and create better more humane places to live and work? How can we all take responsibility for the city’s transformation, so it will reflect our desires and aspirations?
Panel discussion featuring:
Joseph Rykwert is a Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture Emeritus at the University of Pensilvania. Rykwert is an architectural historian who has published several books on architecture. His latest publication ‘The Seduction of Place, the History and Future of the City’
Krzysztof Nawratek PhD. is a (Meta) architect and urbanist. He is Lecturer at the School of Architecture, Design and Environment, Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth (UK), his latest publication “City as a political idea” (Kraków 2008) focus on the social and political structures of architecture, urbanism and the city. Krzysztof Nawratek is currently working on projects focused on urban dynamic segregation, the city as a machine of oppression and on potential of an urban revolution.