Public and social spaces are meant to put humans in contact with their senses and nature, representing a fundamental condition of democracy, since they foster the establishing and maintaining of relationships. Here below, I am dealing with some aspects of cultural meanings as supplied from the uses of public spaces in the city: from a sustainable urban development in its relationship with the power and territorial ambitions, as well as with the symbolic and political uses of nature. Besides, we shouldn’t forget the relationship between city and nature, considering that nowadays the cities of developed countries are mostly confronted with problems of “green”. The “intermediate city” (Sieverts 1999 and 2003) becomes here a new paradigm of reference, whereas the urbanization suggested by the vision of the world inherent in the consumer culture appears unsustainable (York, Rosa and Dietz 2003 and Reitan 2005). Another important issue is that of regeneration, sustainable urban retraining and reusing by means of the construction of appropriate decision-making inclusive processes (Musco 2009) able to operate as strategy of modification of the metropolitan area (Mazzoleni 2009). The problem of urban decline and growth is discussed below: meanwhile the phenomenon of “urban contraction” is in progress in many European cities. The reuse of the city, in regions with a dramatic reduction in the population can thus become the occasion for the invention of new practices aimed at creating new urban shared spaces and new collective meanings (Schwiontek 2010). In the footsteps of Čapek (2010) I will then try to suggest that urban sociology can benefit from a socio-ecological approach apt to improve our understanding both of nature and city, and to let us more fully participate in the discussions on sustainability. The social construction of space, by means of an economic and social landscape, apparently involves a detachment from nature, in so far as it also builds territoriality. Following Zukin (2002) I will try to address the issue of the construction of urban spaces availing myself of models of urban planning representing, at the same time, “hieroglyphics of the environmental, economic and social power”, i.e. attempts at culturally defining the problem of formation of the urban space. That the built environment conveys an image of power is also shared both by Gans (2002) and Chandra Mukerji (1997). The latter, in particular, wonders whether and how it is still possible to govern through the landscape, this being one of the most pressing social problems of our time -as in the case of the historic gardens (Verdi 2004). I will therefore consider some case-studies, such as the sustainable architectures of Sheppard Robson, with their aspiration to a more “responsible” architecture, envisaged as a process of redefinition of possible relationships between environmental, social and economic aspects of the project of sustainability.

SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND NEW PROSPECTS FOR THE ARTS

VERDI, LAURA
2014

Abstract

Public and social spaces are meant to put humans in contact with their senses and nature, representing a fundamental condition of democracy, since they foster the establishing and maintaining of relationships. Here below, I am dealing with some aspects of cultural meanings as supplied from the uses of public spaces in the city: from a sustainable urban development in its relationship with the power and territorial ambitions, as well as with the symbolic and political uses of nature. Besides, we shouldn’t forget the relationship between city and nature, considering that nowadays the cities of developed countries are mostly confronted with problems of “green”. The “intermediate city” (Sieverts 1999 and 2003) becomes here a new paradigm of reference, whereas the urbanization suggested by the vision of the world inherent in the consumer culture appears unsustainable (York, Rosa and Dietz 2003 and Reitan 2005). Another important issue is that of regeneration, sustainable urban retraining and reusing by means of the construction of appropriate decision-making inclusive processes (Musco 2009) able to operate as strategy of modification of the metropolitan area (Mazzoleni 2009). The problem of urban decline and growth is discussed below: meanwhile the phenomenon of “urban contraction” is in progress in many European cities. The reuse of the city, in regions with a dramatic reduction in the population can thus become the occasion for the invention of new practices aimed at creating new urban shared spaces and new collective meanings (Schwiontek 2010). In the footsteps of Čapek (2010) I will then try to suggest that urban sociology can benefit from a socio-ecological approach apt to improve our understanding both of nature and city, and to let us more fully participate in the discussions on sustainability. The social construction of space, by means of an economic and social landscape, apparently involves a detachment from nature, in so far as it also builds territoriality. Following Zukin (2002) I will try to address the issue of the construction of urban spaces availing myself of models of urban planning representing, at the same time, “hieroglyphics of the environmental, economic and social power”, i.e. attempts at culturally defining the problem of formation of the urban space. That the built environment conveys an image of power is also shared both by Gans (2002) and Chandra Mukerji (1997). The latter, in particular, wonders whether and how it is still possible to govern through the landscape, this being one of the most pressing social problems of our time -as in the case of the historic gardens (Verdi 2004). I will therefore consider some case-studies, such as the sustainable architectures of Sheppard Robson, with their aspiration to a more “responsible” architecture, envisaged as a process of redefinition of possible relationships between environmental, social and economic aspects of the project of sustainability.
2014
ART AND ITS CONTEXTS: CROSS-DISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE
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