Introduction

"...This city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the coursers of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lightening rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls..."

in. Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

"...If we look at the contemporary form of urban landscapes, we can see how different cities – with their own history, with their own culture, with different population and extension and in different parts of the world – are experiencing similar transformations driving them into a kind of a common and standard landscape..."

in. Francesc Muñoz, Urbanalización


Globalization has been a process that has affected every aspects of human life (at least...) during the last century. As a consequence of that process, some already called our planet as a planet city, others, like Salman Rushdie, presented the idea of a Mac World.

Globalization is a reality that changed our way of living (forever?), making us to get used (and dependent?) of standards and brands (...by the way, this text was written on a iPad...).

So, we beleive that we became globalized citizens of a Mac World, where more than 80% of its population is now living in (big) cities. First, we became urbanized, now we became globalized. And so did our cities...

Therefore, can we still talk about the poetry of Calvino´s Invisible Cities? Can we still find (or miss) the city past on the streets where we walkabout? Can we still discover on each city we visit, its desires, its fears, its anxieties, its identity? Do all cities look like the same? Or... are we simply getting used to a standard way of living that makes us to look for the same things wherever we go, so we can feel comfortable and safe... like home?

How do architects and city planners deal with globalization? Are we changing the way we think our cities? Are we planning them differently? And, are they becoming different, although man try to make them to look like the same?

In this seminar we will discuss the urban fabric and the globalization effects on city identity.

(V.P. 2011)

INVITED SPEAKERS

João Santa-Rita (Santa Rita Architects); Mário Sua Kay; (Sua Kay Architects); Augustin Ioan (Ion Mincu University, Bucarest); ; Johannes Kalvelage (Dessau Institute of Architecture); Vaso Trova (University of Thessaly, Volos); Fátima Silva (Universidade Lusíada, Lisboa);

Contributors: Irene Curulli (Technical University of Eindhoven); Luca Fabris (Politecnico di Milano); Esin Boyacioglu (Gazy University, Ankara); Ado Franchini (Politecnico di Milano); Caroline Donnellan (Boston University)

 
Athens Terra Incognita
by Vaso Trova 
The presentation explores the identity of the public open space in the centre of Athens. The centre of the city seems to share two identities which interweave and contradict at the same time. On the one hand the centre remains a global reference point with symbolic value, the locus of a shared national identity, the location of important public buildings and monuments and a tourist magnet. On the other hand it is the area where groups of migrants are to be found, organizing niche markets, forming social networks, trying to survive. This double identity creates social and spatial conflicts, transforms the traditional public realm of the city and fuels demands for major interventions for the upgrading of public space. Within this context the paper will discuss two urban design competitions aiming at upgrading the centre of the city and the role of design in reshaping open public space as an arena where individual and collective identities are expressed. The first case concerns the redesign of Omonoia square, a project implemented in 2004 at the time of the Athens Olympic Games. The second concerns the redesign of Theatrou square and was organized in 2010.