How can we optimize shared public spaces?
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How can we optimize shared public spaces?

How can we optimize shared public spaces?
By Editorial Staff -

The call for submissions for the themed issue “The Shared Project” 3/2018 – Issue 2 of The Plan Journal (TPJ) asks:

How is the nature of the architectural project being transformed vis-à-vis these changes in the economy, society and culture? How are current and future digital technologies going to morph the statute of the architectural project as we know it? How are the dynamics among the traditional professional design fields going to be revised? And/or which other professional expertise/s will emerge? How is the public going to be impacted by this change? How will the appreciation of the power of architecture by society at large going to change? (Maurizio Sabini, Editor-in-Chief, TPJ)

 

THE PLAN JOURNAL LOOKS AT CREATING WAYS OF WORKING WITHIN AND SHARING SPACES

We are presenting some interesting ideas from The Plan Journal’s theme of The Shared Project. In the first article “The Engaged Project: Representation, Dissent, and the Architecture of Public Space,” the author Jennifer Akerman asks: How thin can a fence be stretched? In the second article “The Process of Commoning in the Production and Proliferation of Shared Space,” the author Olivia Hamilton “proposes how designers can be informed and guided by the interrelated spatial and social modes of productions that are integral to commoning.” In the third article “Collective Creativity in a Geodesign World: The DC-Baltimore Futures Studio,” the authors Jana VanderGoot, Dan Engelberg and Gerrit-Jan Knaap explain how a studio “designed a catalog of building, landscape and transportation types.”

Finally, we share some thoughts about Public Places Urban Spaces.

>> We encourage you to browse The Plan Journal and explore for yourself.

 

Complex Community Cultures

In the article “The Engaged Project: Representation, Dissent, and the Architecture of Public Space,” the author Jennifer Akerman discusses the challenges of “complex social relationships [that] can be revealed and even altered through architecture, as can be understood through the example of a new building constructed for a non-profit urban farm.”

 Jennifer Akerman, “PLEASE DO NOT PICK THE FOOD” reads an official sign mounted to the chain-link fence surrounding a CSA production field of crops managed by the farm. The farm is uniquely positioned in a public park, crops adjacent to playgrounds, ball fields, and multi-family housing. Photos by © Bruce Cole Photography, used with permission.Jennifer Akerman, “PLEASE DO NOT PICK THE FOOD” reads an official sign mounted to the chain-link fence surrounding a CSA production field of crops managed by the farm. The farm is uniquely positioned in a public park, crops adjacent to playgrounds, ball fields, and multi-family housing. Photos by © Bruce Cole Photography, used with permission.

 

Akerman continues:

Surrounding things “of value” with fences is an engrained response of municipalities and urban planners to address security through a demonstration of militaristic separation, though the design team wished to explore and challenge the connotations conveyed through a fence’s aesthetics and form. Had the design team ignored the real need to address security in some fashion, the city would have surrounded the new building with a security fence conforming their uniform standards. Instead, the design seeks to reform the fence into a veil.

>> The abstract is available in THE PLAN Journal Volume 3/2018 – Issue 2 (in English)

 

In the article “The Process of Commoning in the Production and Proliferation of Shared Space,” the author Olivia Hamilton explains that “a greater awareness of commoning can inform and empower communities to value and protect the subtler and intangible characteristics that meld people to the places they occupy and in relation to each other.” 

 Olivia Hamilton, urban gardening area in Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin. Photo by © Dagmar Schwelle.Olivia Hamilton, urban gardening area in Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin. Photo by © Dagmar Schwelle.

 

Hamilton continues:

The relationship between commoning and parafunctional activity provides an access point for engagement by spatial design practice. The qualities of parafunctional space mean it is able to manifest material and programmatic differences that eventually make possible new forms of life.

>> The abstract is available in THE PLAN Journal Volume 3/2018 – Issue 2 (in English)

 

In the article “Collective Creativity in a Geodesign World: The DC-Baltimore Futures Studio,” the authors Jana VanderGoot, Dan Engelberg and Gerrit-Jan Knaap explain that the design of studio’s catalog was inspired by the Types and Natures design approach developed by Enriqueta Llabres-Valls and Eduardo Rico of Relational Urbanism, an architecture, urban design and research firm. Their approach to the design of large landscapes is to focus on “identifying main questions relating social, environmental and development issues” which they believe “implies a particular cultural and design response” 14 

14 Retrieved from http://relationalurbanism.blogspot.com/p/jana-vandergoot-john-mcgrath-michael.html, accessed June 18, 2018.

 Vandergoot et al., ground view vignette: green alley in an urban core. Fictional location in Washington, DC, 2018. Image by © student Bryan Asson.Vandergoot et al., ground view vignette: green alley in an urban core. Fictional location in Washington, DC, 2018. Image by © student Bryan Asson.

 

Vandergoot et al. continue:

For the architecture students, the collaborative cross-disciplinary studio was a rare opportunity to design at the regional scale and explore a new range of design ideas to inspire their work at the scale of the building. 

>> The abstract is available in THE PLAN Journal Volume 3/2018 – Issue 2 (in English)

 

Public Places Urban Spaces

Public Places Urban Spaces

In Public Places Urban Spaces the author Matthew Carmona covers eight key dimensions of urban design theory and practice― functional, morphological, perceptual, social, temporal and visual ―as well as two new process dimensions―design governance and place production.

This third edition is international in its purview, including new ideas about strategies for climate change, cultural and social diversity, healthy urban spaces, technological impact, urban decline etc. Each topic is beautifully illustrated. 

ISBN 9781138067783
Published February 15, 2021 by Routledge
690 Pages 778 Color Illustrations

>> To learn more, check out (in English): Public Places Urban Spaces

 

Why support + read TPJ?

The Plan Journal is intended to disseminate and promote innovative, thought-provoking, and relevant research, studies, and criticism related to architecture and urbanism. The journal grew out of an awareness that academia is all too often engaged in research that’s disconnected from the real-world challenges that face different professions, and that research is only possible for a small number of professional organizations, and, even then, with limited platforms for its dissemination. The overarching aim of TPJ is therefore to enrich the dialogue between researchers and professionals so as to foster both pertinent new knowledge and intellectually driven modes of practice.

 

How does it work + why does it matter?

Prospective contributors are encouraged to submit proposals or complete manuscripts to the Editor-in-Chief. Subject to positive feedback, proposals can then be developed into complete manuscripts and submitted for review, using the dedicated portal on the TPJ website. 

After preliminary approval, manuscripts will be forwarded to suitably qualified people for commenting. TPJ is committed to following a rigorous double-blind peer review process using at least two reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief may also occasionally invite recognized academics, critics, or professionals (including members of the editorial board) to contribute to the journal without going through the peer review process, if warranted by the author’s reputation.

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