Even governmentality begins as an image

Focaal ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (61) ◽  
pp. 61-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Baxstrom

This article considers the complexity of contemporary urban life in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, through an analysis of planning and the plan itself as a thing in this environment of multiplicity. It argues that the plan functions as a vehicle for action in the present that does not require a singular vision of the future in order to succeed. Plans in the context of governance and urban development gesture to “the future,” but this gesture does not require “a future” in order to function in a highly effective manner. The evidence presented indicates that the primary effectiveness of the plan largely relates to its status as a virtual object in the present. Such virtual objects (plans) bind subjects to the conditions of the present within the desires and limits asserted by the institutions seeking to dominate contemporary life in the city, but this domination is never absolute, singular, or complete.

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-671
Author(s):  
Nadja Weck

Like in many other provinces, during the Habsburg period, the main point of orientation for Galicia was Vienna. This also applies to architecture and urban development. Galicia’s technical elite applied the theoretical and practical experience it gathered in Vienna to the towns and cities of this northeastern Crown land. Ignacy Drexler, born in 1878 in the Austro-Hungarian Lemberg, was a representative of a new generation of engineers and architects who did not necessarily have to spend time in the imperial capital to earn their spurs. Increasingly, besides the more or less obligatory stay in Vienna, other European countries became points of reference. Drexler did not live to see the realization of important aspects of his comprehensive plan for the city, but his ideas and the data he compiled were indispensable for the future development of his hometown. They shape urban planning in Lviv to this day.


Prospects ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 573-598
Author(s):  
Judith Martin

For over A half-century America has been an urban nation. However, a significant upsurge of concern for the cities has generally not accompanied the increasing acknowledgment of the country's urban status. In large measure, any serious governmental concern for American cities has been halfhearted. Attempts have been made to confront the problems of the nation's cities. Planners, enlightened city officials, and others have faced the intrinsic difficulty of bringing together thousands, and often millions, of individuals in a single municipal unit sometimes with limited success; but more often such attempts have been well-intentioned failures. Americans have yet to develop a consistent or coherent approach either to current urban dilemmas or to the future roles we envision for our cities. Though there are a multitude of regulations for almost every aspect of urban life, the phenomenon called “the city” continues to be as problematic for us today as it was for earlier generations of urban dwellers.


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis TSIOMIS

Abordagem interdisciplinar da cidade na perspectiva do urbanismo, da arquitetura e dos arquitetos. Novos conceitos e noções para o tratamento da cidade considerando a dimensão ambiental. Relação entre desenvolvimento urbano e meio ambiente. Urbanismo, projeto urbano e desenvolvimento sustentável. Urbanization and the environment: the city of the present and of the future Abstract Interdisciplinary approach of the city under the urbanism, architecture, and architects’ perspective. New concepts and notions for treating the city, considering the environmental dimension. Relationship between urban development and the environment. Urbanism, urban project, and sustainable development.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  

The urban and rural landscape of Ras Al Khaimah reflects the major investments in manufacturing and trade that have been made by its rulers since its entry into the United Arab Emirates Federation in 1972. The emirate’s pharmaceutical, ceramics, cement, and other industries have met with much success and have been accompanied and supported by widespread organizational and economic reforms and investments. The emirate has experienced year-after-year of growth and development, which continued even through the recent global economic downturn. The vision of His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi to diversify Ras Al Khaimah’s economy and encourage growth in a range of sectors will impact the future shape of the city of Ras Al Khaimah and its position within the emirate. Such growth highlights questions about the future shape of Ras Al Khaimah in relation to the Ruler’s vision of economic diversity. His Highness would like to reduce Ras Al Khaimah’s reliance on industry and encourage growth in a variety of sectors, including projects related to sea ports and the airport, the expansion of the Free Trade Zone, and an increase of investment in the tourism sector. As a result, planning is underway to define how these sectors can work in harmony to create a functional city, one that generates income, provides an agreeable home for its residents, and constitutes an attractive destination for tourists. The Urban Development Lab in Ras Al Khaimah was developed in response to a call for tenders by the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research in the area of urban planning and development research in Ras Al Khaimah. The Urban Development Lab is an innovative process that uses perception studies and live interactive sessions with residents to capture the “tacit knowledge” of the city’s residents with regard to their perceptions and aspirations for Ras Al Khaimah’s urban landscape. The findings of the perception studies and live sessions are combined with global research on best practices in urbanization to begin to develop a culturally-relevant participatory urban design process for this city. The study’s lab process began with a comprehension phase in October 2012, which was designed to collect background information on the way that Ras Al Khaimah’s residents perceive their city. This information was used in the formation and administration of a survey instrument that focused on urban planning. The deliberation phase followed the comprehension phase and used highly-structured group sessions to acquaint residents with urban planning practices while seeking to crystalize their perspectives on Ras Al Khaimah. Finally, the consolidation and delivery phase involved ICOS’s processing of its data and formulating a comprehensive report that served as the basis for this Al Qasimi Foundation Working Paper. ICOS’s initial report was completed in October 2013. The Urban Development Lab process demonstrated that residents of all regions of Ras Al Khaimah would ideally like the city to develop into a place that puts importance on the family and that has diverse sectors of economic development. The neighborhood is the point of reference in Ras Al Khaimah. Accordingly, the majority of residents identify the appearance of their neighborhood as its most important aspect. Residents favor mixed-use neighborhoods that have essential services close by. The willingness shown by residents to move around their neighborhoods on foot could pave the way for Ras Al Khaimah to become one of the first walkable cities in the region. ICOS is an independent research organization working in areas of urban and community development, rights and citizenship, and youth education and employment. ICOS uses its research methodologies to gain a deep understanding of the reality on the ground in Ras Al Khaimah and to engage people in the process of assessing their own situations. كما هو الحال مع العديد من المواقع التاريخية في منطقة الخليج، يمثل التجديد الحضري للمنطقة القديمة في رأس الخيمة ، الإمارات العربية المتحدة تحديا في الحفاظ على التوازن بين المحافظة والتجديد. يهدف هذا البحث إلى تسليط الضوء على أهمية منطقة البلدة القديمة كموقع تاريخي وثقافي لصانعي السياسات في الإمارة.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 242-247
Author(s):  
Hanna Hubenko ◽  
Iva Rinčić

Interview with associate professor Iva Rincic feels like meeting a close-minded person on a very long journey. Meet and feel that you are “on the same page”. What is urban bioethics? How is it different from bioethics in general?  What is this “Project on Bioethical Urban Life Standards: The City as the Basis for Ethics Life”? – are the main points laid down in the conversation. So, during the interview, you will find out that despite the fact that bioethics is perceived as a modern version of biomedical ethics, originally it covers a much wider area of ​​interest. Bioethics implies moral obligations of people not only to each other, but also to everything living (animals and plants) (F. Jahr (1926)). This is the science of survival (V. R. Potter (1971)). If we see bioethics in this way, then urban life is necessary as a (bio) ethical object, purpose and scope, and "the city as a living creature that is constantly growing and transforming." Within the framework of the project the main goal is to create a list of urban bioethics standards. In order to activate the mechanism of urban bioethics, Iva talks about such valuable characteristics of local people as Responsibility, Committment, Awareness, Trust, Belonging. The project “European Bioethics in Action” fed into the list of bioethical standards. Iva Rincic also presented a list of 97 standards that determine relationships between animals, plants, people and environment. Further this list will be simplified for residents of the city. Iva wants all citizens to be included in these lists. She is also sure that this is the only way to have a rather bright tool to achieve bioethical city in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Götsch

Today, cities the world over are entangled in aspirational future visions, as regions compete with others in different parts of the world for investment, tourists, and talent to guarantee economic growth. This paper approaches the cities of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Vienna via their self-presentations and projections of the future. It sees cities as learning assemblages and pays attention to the narrative construction of imaginaries and future trajectories, as depicted in the respective city galleries and planning museums. All cities are found to be entangled in international policy trends and, in their unique ways, strive for recognition, competitiveness, and conviviality. Singapore emerges as torn between ambition, transparency, and control, while wanting to foster creativity and revive its cultural heritage; Kuala Lumpur appears simultaneously geared by boosterism and at home in opacity and multiplicity, privileging Malays while trying not to alienate other ethnic groups; and Vienna ambivalently projects a future that reconciles nostalgia for monarchic splendor and the social-democratic heritage of egalitarian urbanism with ambitions for international recognition and newly popular trends for citizen participation and “rights to the city.”


2021 ◽  
Vol 778 (1) ◽  
pp. 011001

Abstract This year, CITIES seeks to explore the theme ‘BRIDGING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE OF URBAN LANDSCAPE IN ASIA PACIFIC. This theme highlighted the continuity in the city between the past and the future also between legacy and development. The best way to bridge the gap between the past and the future is to help the city to find its identity and what the values to move forward in the future. It is not easy to find one identity even for an individual being, and most of the time, to find their identity, they have to reflect on what happened in the past. Cities that don’t understand their identity and value, will have less ability to choose what kind of development suits them the best. Cities without identity, choose the development solely based on the trends and also the opportunity without considering to preserve their unique identities. If this keeps happening, one day we will walk in the Asia Pacific and all the city will feel the same, taste the same and even smell the same and we have lost our uniqueness that makes people come to our city. This is why, it is important to highlight the theme of BRIDGING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE OF URBAN LANDSCAPE IN ASIA PACIFIC. By bridging the past and the future, we protect our cultural heritage assets and the built expressions of culture, military, economic, and religious forces as well as creating sustainable cities to accelerate our economic and infrastructure growth in a way that will not harm our cultural legacies and societies. For over 50 years, the integral and holistic approach to heritage and urban development has been highlighted in every heritage-related cultural policy document, stressing the need to balance the benefits of socioeconomic and urban development and cultural heritage preservation, and hopefully, this seminar will be one of the key contributors of it. Therefore, the conference presented the keynote speakers from the Australian National University (ANU) and National University of Singapore (NUS) who shared the whole ideas of city’s values and reaching the sustainability in the future. We hope that this conference can stimulate communication, cooperation, information exchanges among participants across countries. List of Conference Photographs, Sponsor Funding Acknowledgements, List of Committees are available in this pdf.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Zarrin Fatima ◽  
Uta Pollmer ◽  
Saga-Sofia Santala ◽  
Kaisa Kontu ◽  
Marion Ticklen

In urban transformation, no solution works without citizen support. With increasing numbers of building technologies and large-scale urban development on its way across cities, it has become vital to keep citizens informed, engaged, and content with the new changes. This paper looks at citizen engagement in Espoo (Finland) and Leipzig (Germany), and it determines whether the cities are ready for developing and implementing positive energy districts (PEDs). The authors studied the cities’ operations and current citizen engagement methods to understand how the efforts could be combined and improved. The analysis indicated that the city of Espoo already has a well-established system that continuously promotes citizen engagement at various levels, and combining the available infrastructure with company experts on citizen participation will allow Espoo to seamlessly transition towards PEDs in the near future. The city of Leipzig has a rich experience due to several national projects and participation in an earlier European project, which enabled the city to set clearer goals for the future and modify existing citizen methods. As lighthouse cities, findings from Espoo and Leipzig are also aimed at cities across Europe and beyond to boost development of PEDs together with citizens.


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