Cities are both real and imagined. Social constructions and narratives influence the way we think about neighborhoods, streets, buildings and public spaces, and these imaginaries in turn shape policy strategies and planning practices. In this City Forum, three University of Texas scholars will examine the connections between such social constructions, state control and planning practice, and everyday efforts by people to claim access to urban spaces. Their presentations draw on their research in Karachi, Pakistan; Ahmedabad, India; and Vienna, Austria.
Panelists and Abstracts
Students from three University of Texas in Austin School of Architecture studios explored the material properties of paper in the first assignment of the semester. Each studio assignment was different in their program and design requirements; however, collectively through analog and digital methods of manipulation – folding, bending, perforating, ripping, scoring, crushing, weaving and/or cutting – each form of representation provides a unique designed component and assembly of parts. Generative and iterative explorations are seen in three-dimensionality and in surface analysis.
The phrase ‘urban agriculture’ conjures up many thoughts: safe, local, healthy, sustainable, etc. The movement encompasses everything from backyard gardens to large organic farms, and everything in between. As Americans are becoming aware of toxins in their food system and the effect of food miles in global warming, it has become increasingly important that we not only know how our food is produced but also how far it has travelled to get to our tables.
Rapid gentrification in Austin has resulted in the loss of thousands of unsubsidized, affordable housing units. As more families find themselves fighting rising rents and property taxes, maintaining a diverse city population remains a challenge. Although the City has increased new construction of affordable housing units in some areas, such as the Mueller airport redevelopment, more efforts are needed to stem this trend. This City Forum will focus on the current housing situation, efforts to preserve affordability, and challenges to these efforts.
The City of Austin has just initiated its first comprehensive planning process, 30 years since the last Comprehensive Plan. Because of the important implications for the city’s long-term development, citizens and community organizations are eager to participate in the planning process. In this City Forum, representatives of the City of Austin and the Planning Commission will discuss goals and strategies for citizen engagement and answer questions from the audience.
During the mid 1980s, Christopher Long, professor for Architectural History at The University of Texas at Austin, photographed the built environment in Central and Eastern Europe. Awarded a Fulbright to study at the University of Vienna, Long researched his dissertation on the life and work of architect and designer Josef Frank.
As more jurisdictions search for answers to the most pressing challenges surrounding growth, resource management and sustainability, planners are working in a multitude of ways to find solutions in the public and private sectors. This City Forum brings together four planners who represent some of the diverse perspectives, personal backgrounds, and career trajectories that characterize this profession.
Traditionally in architecture, potential disparities between descriptions of site and conceptions of building have been reconciled through, what can be considered a descriptive and conceptual equalizer, representation. For example, Modernism was witness to “landscape as tabula rasa”, reflecting an investment in buildings as synthetic, planar, structurally-gridded constructs. Appliqué, appropriated patterns, signs and symbols dictated an understanding of buildings during Post-Modernism, perpetuating a similarly artificial interpretation of ground.
The challenges of community planning extend beyond American cities and regions into villages, cities, and neighborhoods world-wide. In summer 2009, CRP students conducted a viability and vitality assessment of a community school in Nairobi, Kenya. They worked closely with community members and conducted field visits, sensitized parties to the process, interviewed a wide range of stakeholders, and held a community forum.
This student-led City Forum will focus on the students’ work, the challenges they faced, and the lessons learned from this experience.