Embodied cognition and circular causality: on the role of constitutive autonomy in the reciprocal coupling of perception and action.

addendum: [OA] owner: this timestamp: 2015.07.2

900 Km Nile City - 5th IABR International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2012

The Nile City has an astonishingly simple layout that is clearly defined by its geographical limits. In the middle, there is the Nile, an approximately half-kilometre-wide body of water that is strongly controlled by the Aswan Dams, several Nile barriers and man-made riverbanks. On both sides of the Nile there is a small strip of land irrigated with Nile water via an ingenious network of water chan- nels, which create an artificial and very fertile oasis. On av- erage, the valley is no wider than 12 kilometres, and it ends abruptly when it reaches the two mountain chains that soar as high as 300 metres and form the edges of the Sahara. The infrastructure of the Nile City is closely linked to these morphological conditions. A single railway line, which was already built by the British in the 19th century, runs over 900 kilometres along the middle of the valley up to Aswan, forming a kind of “subway” for the Nile City with stops every 50 kilometres or so. Along both desert edges run two very functional highways connecting the Nile City to Cairo and the Red Sea. Every 200 kilometres there is a little district capital with its own bridge over the river and a small airport, each of them serving as an urban satellite in the desert. In light of these conditions, the Nile City can be read on a larger scale as a very logical and beautiful diagram of in- frastructure and landscape, and it can be understood as a natural linear city, one that is placed not in a lush Arca- dian landscape but in the harsh and beautiful emptiness of the Sahara. The Nile City is a linear city in the middle of nowhere – the only place where man can survive in an otherwise endless ocean of sand and stones

Progetto di concorso di progettazione urbana SCALO FARINI/ SCALO SAN CRISTOFORO - MILANO

scalo Farini Lo scalo Farini attualmente non ha alcuna relazione con la città circostante: è distante dalla città, da cui lo divide la ferrovia. Ma ancora più forte è il distacco prodotto dalla presenza, lungo tutto il fianco ovest, del Cimitero Monumentale. Qualsiasi tentativo di attribuire una figura al nuovo parco e di ridurne la distanza dalla città circostante deve fare i conti con l’enorme figura del Cimitero Monumentale (225.000 mq). Proponiamo di sfruttare il cimitero, intendendolo come episodio di un paesaggio urbano innovativo, che combina funzioni anche molto differenti nella costruzione di un’esperienza metropolitana intensa e sorprendente. Il cimitero infatti è un parco, un’oasi di silenzio e di natura, con grandi e bellissimi alberi. Il disegno del cimitero può essere completato nell’area dello scalo, estendendo il bosco oltre i binari. Il completamento della figura produce una grande foresta ovale che si stende sui due lati della ferrovia e così riduce la distanza tra le parti di città affacciate su di essa, restituendo senso a tutte le parti di città che la circondano. La foresta ovale è un carbon sink da 450,000 mq, più grande di Parco Sempione (400,000 mq). Gli insediamenti previsti dal piano si dispongo tra la foresta e la città esistente. Si tratta di cinque parti di città molto ben definite e direttamente legate ad un pezzo di città circostante: il sistema composto dai due magazzini storici delle ferrovie, riusati come centro culturale e come Campus delle Arti, le cinque torri residenziali disposte lungo la direttrice di via Valtellina, i blocchi disposti lungo via dell’Aprica, gli isolati che ricompongono il tessuto urbano nell’area di via Calabria, l’insieme di edifici residenziali inseriti all’interno del tessuto residenziale esistente ad ovest dei binari. Si tratta di cinque pezzi di città destinati ad usi e popolazioni differenti, che compongono un insieme articolato e coerente. Grazie alla loro densità, questi insediamenti consentono di attribuire al parco le sue generosissime dimensioni (432,000 mq, a cui vanno aggiunti i 225,000 mq del Cimitero Monumentale) e le sue interessanti prestazioni ambientali (circa 65% di terreno permeabile, senza contare il cimitero). San Cristoforo L’ex scalo San Cristoforo è differente da tutto ciò che lo circonda: non-città, non-campagna, nemmeno veramente parco, piuttosto un deposito di attività per cui solitamente non c’è posto nella città. Assecondando il carattere delle attività già disposte lungo il naviglio, proponiamo di intervenire in maniera molto semplice: dividendo l’area in due parti: un’area di servizi sportivi (sport estremi) a nord della rampa collegata al Cavalcavia Giordani e una di orti a sud, un’isola del tempo libero programmata per un intenso programma di attività esplicitamente altre. descrizione del gruppo di progettazione Il gruppo di progettazione coordinato da Pier Paolo Tamburelli è composto dagli studi di architettura baukuh (Milano), onsitestudio (Milano), Christ & Gantenbein (Basilea), Atelier Kempe Thill (Rotterdam), dai paesaggisti di Lola (Rotterdam), e dagli ingegneri di Tekne (Milano) e Cundall (Londra), in collaborazione con Luca Doninelli (Milano), Eugenio Morello (Milano) e Federica Verona (Milano).Scalo Farini The Monumental Forest Divided by the railway, the Farini brownfield site is currently completely isolated from the surrounding city. But even stronger is the detachment produced by the presence of the Monumental Cemetery along the entire western side. Any attempt to give a strong identity to the new park and to reduce its distance from the surrounding city must come to terms with the enormous site of the Monumental Cemetery (225,000 sqm). The project acknowledges the cemetery, by considering it as an episode of an innovative urban landscape, which combines very different functions, towards the construction of an intense and surprising metropolitan experience. The cemetery is in fact a park, an oasis of silence and nature, with large and beautiful trees. By extending the forest beyond the tracks, the urban shape of the cemetery can be completed in the area of the brownfield to form a large oval forest that stretches on both sides of the railway. The finished shape reduces the distance between the parts of the city which are overlooking it, and thus establishes a strong link. The oval forest contains 10,000 trees and provides a 450,000 sqm carbon sink surface, larger than Parco Sempione (400,000 sqm). A new route connects the square in front of the cemetery and metro station 5, with the new municipal offices and the new pedestrian bridge that crosses the railway. Part of this new route runs along an existing infrastructure in pubic property, waiting to be discovered: the terrace covering the building that delimits the cemetery along the west side. The latter winds for about 600 m at an altitude of 5 m and has a minimum section of 5 m, with much wider openings (up to 12 m section). The dimensions of this terrace are very similar to those of the High Line built in New York in 2006 on the site of an abandoned railway line. With a total length of about 1 km, of which more than 600 m already exist, the new route connects the Farini park with Porta Volta, and from here with the Garibaldi station and the Porta Nuova area, as well as with Via della Moscova and further with the city centre. In a flat city like Milan, such a terrace is enough to offer extraordinary views, onto the skyscrapers and the Duomo on the one side and the Alps on the other. New developments are planned between the forest and the existing city. These five new interventions build up coherent ensembles, directly linked to a piece of the surrounding city: two historic railway warehouse are reused as a cultural center and as a Campus of the Arts; five residential towers are aligned along Via Valtellina, podium and tower blocks are arranged along Via dell'Aprica, perimeter blocks are recomposing the urban fabric in the area of Via Calabria, a set of residential buildings are placed within the existing residential fabric on the western part of the tracks. These five different pieces of city are destined to different uses and populations, which make up an articulated and coherent whole. Thanks to their density, the park reaches a generous size (432,000 sqm, to which the 225,000 sqm of the Monumental Cemetery can be added) and provides a convincing environmental performance (about 65% of permeable soil, excluding the cemetery). The oval forest is linked with important public buildings that act as attractors at the scale of the entire city: 1) the new Campus of the Arts, settles in the former railway depot in the centre of brownfield. 2) the new greenhouse of the Botanical Garden at the northern end of the oval forest; 3) educational spaces for the Claudio Abbado Civic School of Music located in the Simonetta villa and in the railway warehouse closest to the villa; 4) the Municipality of Milan new offices at the Cenisio station of the Metro 5. An articulated set of public spaces mediates between the oval forest and the new urban developments gravitating around it: a) the new square at the main entrance and the sport facilities arranged between the two historic warehouses and towers; b) the triangular square east of the towers; c) the new piazza Lancetti with access to the railway link trains and to the urban public transport lines, overlooking the oval forest and connected to the circular clearing; d) the large circular clearing, directly connected to the Campus delle Arti, the Botanical Garden and the bridge, (e) the High Line with the pedestrian and cycle bridge across the railway San Cristoforo The former San Cristoforo brownfield is different from everything that surrounds it: non-town, non-country, not even really a park, but rather a deposit of activities for which there is usually no place in the city. Drawings from the character of the activities already settled along the canal, the project intervenes in a very simple way by dividing the area into two parts. To the north, the first area is dedicated to sport facilities (extreme sports). To the south, the second area is welcomes allotment gardens, an leisure island for an intense program of explicitly different activities. Design Group The design group coordinated by Pier Paolo Tamburelli is composed of the architecture studios baukuh (Milan), onsitestudio (Milan), Christ & Gantenbein (Basel), Atelier Kempe Thill (Rotterdam), the landscape architects Lola (Rotterdam), and the engineers of Tekne (Milan) and Cundall (London), in collaboration with Luca Doninelli (Milan), Eugenio Morello (Milan) and Federica Verona (Milan)

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE COMMON EUROPEAN OBJECTIVES IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Indicators and benchmarks 2010/2011

This is the 7th annual report examining performance and progress under the European Union's Education and Training 2010 Work Programme which was launched following agreement within the Council of Education Ministers in 2001. The new strategic framework for European cooperation in Education and training (known as ET 2020) adopted by the Council in May 2009 will carry on the work between now and 2020. The purpose of this report is to provide data and research findings to underpin this policy co-operation at European level. The core of the report consists of an analysis of the progress made towards the common objectives agreed by the Council as the basis for this cooperation. The report reviews both the benchmarks agreed in May 2003 as the basis to monitor progress until 2010; and the updated set of benchmarks to be used to monitor progress until 2020 which were adopted by the Council in May 2009. It is compiled by the Commission services using existing data series and research findings. Member States, through the Standing Group on Indicators and Benchmarks (SGIB; see Annex 1) are invited to verify the data during compilation of the report