2006/02/28
restructuring the industrial capitalist city
Arjen Mulder:
You said that the changes in the last 30 years are more dramatic than before, and that there`s definitely something going on different from we`ve seen before. In what sense is it more dramatic or different.
Edward Soja:
I don`t mean ever before. What I said was that the recent period of change may prove to be the most dramatic in the history of the industrial capitalist city, dating back to the 18th century and the beginning of the industrial revolution. Whats happening now seems to be a fundamental breakdown and rebuilding of the industrial capitalist city as we have known it. The instability that you see is particular to the modern metropolis that became the dominant form of the industrial city throughout most of the 20th century. Over the last 30 years, nearly everything about the modern metropolis has been changing, from its built environment, architectural styles, and urban morphologies to many other aspects -social, economic, political, cultural - of urbanism as a way of life. and at the same time, the way we conceptualize and study the city is also beginning to be rethought, because what was relatively clear and understandable from the traditional perspectives and language of architecture, geography, and urban studies 30 years ago is no longer as stable and as clear today.
Edward Soja interviewed by Arjen Mulder, Transurbanism, V2_Publishing, 2002, Page 91
You said that the changes in the last 30 years are more dramatic than before, and that there`s definitely something going on different from we`ve seen before. In what sense is it more dramatic or different.
Edward Soja:
I don`t mean ever before. What I said was that the recent period of change may prove to be the most dramatic in the history of the industrial capitalist city, dating back to the 18th century and the beginning of the industrial revolution. Whats happening now seems to be a fundamental breakdown and rebuilding of the industrial capitalist city as we have known it. The instability that you see is particular to the modern metropolis that became the dominant form of the industrial city throughout most of the 20th century. Over the last 30 years, nearly everything about the modern metropolis has been changing, from its built environment, architectural styles, and urban morphologies to many other aspects -social, economic, political, cultural - of urbanism as a way of life. and at the same time, the way we conceptualize and study the city is also beginning to be rethought, because what was relatively clear and understandable from the traditional perspectives and language of architecture, geography, and urban studies 30 years ago is no longer as stable and as clear today.
Edward Soja interviewed by Arjen Mulder, Transurbanism, V2_Publishing, 2002, Page 91
2006/02/27
the generic city
Is the contempary city like the contemporary airport - "all the same"? is it possible to theorize this convergence? And if so, to what ultimate configuration is it aspiring? Convergence is possible only at the priece of shedding identity. That is usually seen as loss. But at the scale at which it occurs, it must mean something. What are the disadvantages of identity, and conversely, what are the advantages of blankness? What if this seemingly accidental - and usually regretted - homogenization were an intentional process, a conscious movement away from difference toward similarity? What if we are witnessing a global liberation movement: "down with character!" What is left after identity is stripped? The Generic?
(...)
The great originality of the Generic City is simply to abandon what doesnt work - what has outlived it use - to break up the blacktop of idealism with the jackhammers of realism and to accept whatever grows in this place. In that sense, the Generic City accommodates both the primordial and the futuristic - in fact, only these two. The Generic City is all that remain of what used to be the city. The Generic City is the post-city being prepared on the site of the ex-city.
Rem Koolhaas, The Generic City printed in S,M,L,XL
(...)
The great originality of the Generic City is simply to abandon what doesnt work - what has outlived it use - to break up the blacktop of idealism with the jackhammers of realism and to accept whatever grows in this place. In that sense, the Generic City accommodates both the primordial and the futuristic - in fact, only these two. The Generic City is all that remain of what used to be the city. The Generic City is the post-city being prepared on the site of the ex-city.
Rem Koolhaas, The Generic City printed in S,M,L,XL
max-concept
2006/02/26
sodala
jetzt kanns losgehen
noch schnell das meist gesehene bild der letzten woche
