ISSN 1973-9702

Archive for Novembre, 2016

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Africa’s ‘New Town’ Urban Solutions

Why focusing on ‘New Towns’ will not address the African Urban crises

Seth Asare Okyere

Even though the African continent as a whole is still considered to be largely rural, it is experiencing a rapid urbanization phenomenon. This, coupled with limited planning capacity has culminated in a certain urban crisis of congestion, informal housing, and pollution. Attempts to address the problem has led to ‘new town’ solutions and other mega projects based on the premise of sustainability and green technologies. This note asserts that such solutions lack context and orientation to the needs of the majority poor urban population. Thus, a collaborative people-centered approach that integrates the peculiarities of African urbanization is recommended. Again, the focus should be on confronting existing problems in the city before ‘New Town’ solutions are sought.

 

SETH ASARE OKYERE is a development planner and holds an MSc in Urban Planning and Policy Design from the Politecnico di Milano. He is currently a doctoral researcher working on residents’ positive socio-spatial practices and living experiences in urban informal settlements in La, Ghana. His interests are in development planning, informal urbanism, pro-poor urban development policy and management.

Immagine CopertinaADIEU AU LANGAGE #04

ARCHITETTURA E NEUROESTETICA

Frank Gehry ed il grado zero dell’esperienza 

Flavio Graviglia

 

Il prossimo anno il Guggenheim di Bilbao compie vent’anni, ci siamo chiesti se sarà l’edificio che avrà il compito di rappresentare ai posteri la nostra epoca. Grazie all’ausilio delle recenti ricerche nel campo della Neuroestetica, abbiamo esaminato come la percezione dello spazio possa divenire un canale preferenziale per indagare l’architettura contemporanea. Un approccio che permette di riportare la sensibilità al centro dell’esperienza architettonica ed analizzare l’edificio sotto una nuova prospettiva.

Next year, the Guggenheim Bilbao will be celebrating its 20th anniversary, and we reflected on whether this building will be the one to represent our era to future generations. With the help of recent research in the field of Neuroaesthetics, we looked at how the perception of space can become a preferential channel to explore contemporary architecture: an approach allowing once more for the senses to be used at the heart of the architectural experience, and to examine the building with a new perspective.

 

Flavio Graviglia, architetto e dottorando in “Paesaggi della Città Contemporanea” è laureato in Progettazione Architettonica presso la Facoltà di Architettura di Roma Tre con una tesi sull’influenza e le relazioni tra fotografia e architettura, ha approfondito gli studi presso la Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia sostenendo esami di Estetica e Storia della Fotografia. Parallelamente agli studi universitari ha lavorato come fotografo, pubblicando ed esponendo in contesti nazionali e internazionali. Ha vissuto a Parigi studiando all’École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville. Attualmente svolge attività di ricerca e assistenza docenti presso la Facoltà di Architettura di Roma Tre e l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais.

Flavio Graviglia, Architect and PhD candidate in “Contemporary City Landscapes”, obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from Roma Tre University with his Master’s thesis on the influence and connections between photography and architecture. He continued his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, where he took exams in Aesthetics and the History of Photography. At the same time, he worked as a photographer, and had his work published and exhibited in various national and international settings. He has lived in Paris where he studied at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville and is, currently, conducting research at the Faculty of Architecture of Roma Tre University and at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais.