Urban Landscape and the Postsocialist City

In his article Urban Landscape and the Postsocialist City Krzysztof Nawratek discusses contemporary capitalism as shaping the urban environment of Riga, a multiethnic and bilingual postsocialist, post-Soviet, and postindustrial city. When communism collapsed at the end of the twentieth century the majority of European socialist cities in central and East Europe adopted two ideas: 1) the idea of neoliberal deregulated management based on private, multi-agent ownership of land (and on land speculation) and the weakened role of the city council and 2) the cultural turn rejecting the industrial heritage of the socialist city and the ideology of the proletariat and instead focusing on a postindustrial service-based economy of tourism and cultural production aiming to (re)create society with a strong middle class. These two notions are significant changes of paradigm — from material production to immaterial production — and Nawratek argues that both of these notions caused crises in postsocialist countries such as Latvia

O denerwującej niemożliwości inkluzywnej architektury

Artykuł rozważa możliwość i warunki zaistnienia architektury i przestrzeni inkluzywnej, reinterpretując i „uprzestrzenniając” idee powszechnego zbawienia (Orygenes) oraz punktu Omega (Theilard de Chardin, w interpretacji Paolo Solierego). Powołując się na chrześcijański „problem piekła” jako przestrzeni z definicji ekskluzywnej, artykuł konstruuje model architektury, która ów ekskluzywizm przezwycięża. Artykuł przywołuje przykłady zrealizowanych obiektów oraz elementy postmodernistycznych teorii architektonicznych, by pokazać możliwość dalszego rozwoju architektury poza obecnie obowiązujący paradygmat autonomicznego obiektu o zdefiniowanych funkcjach

Miasto jako idea polityczna

S\u142owa kluczowe: miasto \u2013 polityka, architektura i organizacja przestrzeni (od 1989 r.); urbanizacja \u2013 Europa (od 1989 r.); zarz\u105dzanie miastem: od menad\u17cerskiego do partycypacyjnego; miasto \u2013 do\u15bwiadczenie wsp\uf3lnoty obywatelskiej; suburbanizacja (ang. [i]urban sprawl[/i]

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE UNION OF ARCHITECTS FOR SUSTAINING THE LOCAL VISUAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITY OF KRASNOYARSK AS A PROSPECTIVE CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EASTERN SIBERIA

Proceedings of the XXV ISUF International Conference “Urban Form and Social Context: from Traditions to Newest Demands” (Krasnoyarsk, July 5–9, 2018)Krasnoyarsk has a rich and significant cultural and architectural history (since 1628), embodied in its architectural monuments and urban environment. After the fall of the Soviet Union with its well-defined visual and mental ideology (J. Charley), Krasnoyarsk, like many Russian cities, seems to have developed erratically. Additionally, the link between society and the built environment has been lost. However, the preservation of cultural layers is of importance (C. Abel; P. Emmons) and one of the key elements needed for national consciousness and a sense of national belonging (V. Putin, decree of 2009). The Krasnoyarsk office of The All-Russian Union of Architects had the rights and responsibility for the formation of a comfortable and relevant architectural environment and interactions between the environment and society during the Soviet Union period; however, currently, it is, in fact, fragmented and has lost its rights. Moreover, this Union is gradually dying as an institution and should be reinvented, according to current needs of society (New Institutionalism, Meyer, Rowan). Thus, the main question of the article is: how could the Union of Architects return the prerogative for identification and sustaining of the local visual and cultural identity of Krasnoyarsk, acting as a connector of the society and the built environment?Using elements of historical-correlation research (L. Groat, D. Wang), relying on case studies of existing approaches around the Western World and the existing theories of urban power distribution (Domhoff, Mossberger, Stoker, etc) along with instruments of participation (Hofmann, Lee, etc.), the initial work called Agency of Identity (D. Belova, MA thesis, Sheffield, UK, 2017) was aimed to develop the scenario of programme implementation for the Union of Architects as an Agency of Identity (‘Mapping Controversies’, Yaneva). Finally, the preliminary strategy was developed to provide the Union with the scenario of empowerment. This could become a social experiment, potentially used for future research

Producing Public spaces under the gaze of Allah: Heterosexual Muslims dating in Kuala Lumpur

Based on a small research project conducted in Kuala Lumpur (KL) in July - August 2017, the paper discusses places and practices of young heterosexual Malaysian Muslims dating in KL. In Malaysia, the law (Khalwat law) does not allow for two unrelated people (where at least one of them is Muslim) of opposite sexes to be within ‘suspicious proximity’ of one another in public. This law significantly influences behaviours and activities in urban spaces in KL. However, apart from the legal framework, the faith of urban users seems to influence significantly the way they perceive space and how they behave in the city. The paper questions the analytical usefulness of the notion of public space (as the Western construct) in an attempt to formulate new intellectual coordinates to discuss urban space in a context of the Islamic, post-colonial, tropical, and global city. The ultimate aim of this paper is to start discussing how religious imagination and narratives could lead to formulating a new typology of urban spaces

How brave can we be? The city as a political experiment

Editorial "How brave can we be? The city as a political experiment". Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), p. 1-

Spatial Reflections on Muslims’ Segregation in Britain

The diversity of multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic groups and communities within Britain has created cohesion and integration challenges for different community groups and authorities to adapt to the current diverse society. More recently, there has been an increased focus on Muslim segregation in Britain in official reports and reviews. Those documents mentioned the Muslims’ segregation (directly or indirectly) for various reasons, and some recommendations have aimed to improve “community cohesion” in general and Muslims’ “integration” in particular. However, community participation in the design or planning of regeneration and development projects has yet to be focused on, although these documents recommended promoting community cohesion and integration through these projects. Community participation in architecture—in its broader sense—is a crucial aspect that contributes towards fulfilling the tasks of serving communities with different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Muslims’ religious and cultural practices have been problematised in urban spaces and perceived as leading to social and spatial segregation. This paper intends to explore how secular urban spaces are used and perceived by Muslims through their religious and cultural practices. Therefore, the article aspires to inform the community participation in urban projects and demonstrates the role that Muslims’ inclusion in designing urban projects has in promoting cohesion and integration. The Ellesmere Green project in Burngreave, Sheffield, UK, is an empirical example of exploring this locally through semi-structured interviews with community members, leaders, and local authorities’ officials. The findings demonstrate that sacred and secular spaces are interconnected in Muslims’ everyday lives, and the boundaries between them are blurry. The data also show that having the ability to manifest their religious and cultural practices in secular urban spaces does not suggest the desire for segregation, nor does it reduce Muslims’ willingness to have social and spatial interactions with non-Muslims

Spatial Reflections on Muslims’ Segregation in Britain

The diversity of multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic groups and communities within Britain has created cohesion and integration challenges for different community groups and authorities to adapt to the current diverse society. More recently, there has been an increased focus on Muslim segregation in Britain in official reports and reviews. Those documents mentioned the Muslims’ segregation (directly or indirectly) for various reasons, and some recommendations have aimed to improve “community cohesion” in general and Muslims’ “integration” in particular. However, community participation in the design or planning of regeneration and development projects has yet to be focused on, although these documents recommended promoting community cohesion and integration through these projects. Community participation in architecture—in its broader sense—is a crucial aspect that contributes towards fulfilling the tasks of serving communities with different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Muslims’ religious and cultural practices have been problematised in urban spaces and perceived as leading to social and spatial segregation. This paper intends to explore how secular urban spaces are used and perceived by Muslims through their religious and cultural practices. Therefore, the article aspires to inform the community participation in urban projects and demonstrates the role that Muslims’ inclusion in designing urban projects has in promoting cohesion and integration. The Ellesmere Green project in Burngreave, Sheffield, UK, is an empirical example of exploring this locally through semi-structured interviews with community members, leaders, and local authorities’ officials. The findings demonstrate that sacred and secular spaces are interconnected in Muslims’ everyday lives, and the boundaries between them are blurry. The data also show that having the ability to manifest their religious and cultural practices in secular urban spaces does not suggest the desire for segregation, nor does it reduce Muslims’ willingness to have social and spatial interactions with non-Muslims

Beyond Community: Inclusivity through Spatial Interventions

This article argues against the concept of integration as the main mechanism allowing various sociocultural groups to live together and instead proposes ‘radical inclusivity’ as a better, less oppressive model of a pluralistic society. Through analytical and reflective research on the non-cohesion-based approach to integration or inclusion, this article is devoted to examining the affordances and limitations of integration through various forms of spatial interventions. As an example, we will discuss the Ellesmere Green Project in Sheffield (UK) as a typical small urban regeneration executed in a highly diverse part of Sheffield. This piece aims to bring forward the significance of moving beyond the community-as-cohesion model in urban politics and planning for integration