The Politics and Culture of Networked Urban Spaces
Friday, 14. September 2012 | 9:15 Uhr
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Professor Stephen Cairns from the University of Edinburgh addressed spectacularization of cities and specterization of rural areas. There are 50‘000 edible plants, but only three of them (wheat, rice and corn) nourish 60% of the world’s population. In this respect, rural exodus is a problem because during rice harvesting season, for example, a lot of labor is needed and rural areas become a place of work. When comparing population density maps with maps showing agricultural areas, we can see that densely populated areas do a lot of agriculture. Places with water resources are suitable for ag-riculture, they seem to offer work and this leads to urbanization. There is an enormous need for housing. In order to fulfill this need, houses are built that are affordable for people with middle and low incomes. This can help to prevent agglomeration from turning into slums or so-called arrival cit-ies. This type of tests have already been carried out in Lima, Peru, Manila, the Philippines, and La Presita , El Salvador. The progressive development should pave the way for the city without foster-ing the increase of “informal housing”. The requirements for the land due to urbanization have far-reaching consequences. If the housing problem is solved, cities can focus on vital infrastructure and
services. This is a development that offers an increase in quality and quantity.
Stephen Cairns
Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Edinburgh
Scientific Co-ordinator of the Future Cities Laboratory (ETH Zurich/National Research Foundation, Singapore).
His work lies at the intersection of contemporary cities, urbanization and globalization and the visual representational approaches typical of architectural and urban design practice. It concerns how one might inform the other. In this sense, design, and visual representation more generally, are regarded as both topics of analysis and tools that support analysis.
‘Cultures of Legibility: Emergent Urban Landscapes in Southeast Asia’ (ARHC) (2008-10); project P-I, building on an ARHC Innovation Grant, ‘Representing Urban Landscapes in Southeast Asia: Negotiating Cartographic Blindness’ (2003-05). Fieldwork conducted in collaboration of colleagues (Tjahjono and Herlily) and 10-strong research team at the University of Indonesia, Jakarta. Aspects of the project have been published in book chapters and journals, and were exhibited at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam on the ‘Open City’ (www.iabr.nl) in 2009.
‘Difference and Repetition: An Investigation of the Residential Highrise as a Global Form’ (AHRC) (2004-07); P-I (Jacobs, Geography UoE) and Co-I (Cairns) lead a 4-person team that examined highrise housing internationally. The project conference, Density Inside Out (2007), featured a diverse group of international speakers.
In 2005 I collaborated (with Richard Coyne, Architecture, Edinburgh) on an ARHC/EPSRC project in the ‘Designing for the 21st Century’ programme, / Orienting the Future: Design Strategies for Non-Place (2005-06), involving site-specific investigations of communication and way-finding technologies at such places as Stanstead Airport, Lunar House UK Border Agency, and a B&Q Retail Warehouse. The project seeded further research in the area of branding and urban space, and a range of infrastructures that support investigations into digitally mediated urban spaces.
Programme Director for the MSc in Architectural and Urban Design
Studies in Contemporary Architectural Theory;
Architectural design and urban design studio courses related to some of the themes under the ‘Archipelago Urbanism’ heading
