On Cities Workshop
18 to 22 June
Under the mentorship of Kent Larson, director of the City Science group
at the MIT Media Lab, the On Cities Workshop explored how emerging
urban innovations can dramatically reduce resources used by cities while
simultaneously creating more habitable, entrepreneurial communities
Larson presented a series of steps to understand current conditions
through data-driven information and the development of new systems
tested through modelling. His team has developed the City Scope, a tool
and interactive device that works as an urban decision support system with a
tangible user interface, real-time feedback of multiple urban simulations,
optimised suggestions, and a natural-language guide. Grouped into three
teams, the scholars were provided with this tool to work on their proposals.
By the end of the week, the scholars developed several tests based on land
use and urban density, challenging traditional urban design processes.
During the seminars, the city and its social contexts were explored from
different angles. Beatriz Colomina lectured on treating social media as a new
urban condition that reframes all the opportunities and risks of the current
technological paradigm. Speculating about the city and rapid urbanisation,
Winy Maas asserted the tendency to overemphasise the present rather than
creating a new vision for the future.
The seminars continued with Tim Stonor, stating how we can realise
timeless and essential concepts for urban design that achieve beauty,
inspire and connect people. Stonor described how the spatial layout of the
ity influences its functional performance. Meteorologist Leonor Tarrasén
lectured on the key element to designing breathable cities. Only through
accurate and precise information can we anticipate how pollution will
evolve, helping to avoid the inappropriate zoning of land.
From a different standpoint, Anupama Kundoo defended craftsmanship,
challenging dominant, standardised approaches to material, claiming that they
often obscure local sustainable solutions, and urging for more investment in
time and human resources for socially sustainable solutions. Under the title
‘Atmospheres of Social Interaction’, Belinda Tato and José Luis Vallejo lectured
on their environmentally conscious attitude towards society and urban planning,
During the workshop's architectural tours, Tato and Vallejo guided scholars on
a site visit of one of their most relevant projects, Vallecas Eco-Boulevard.
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