Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures
Abstract
How do we map space and experiences? How do we map global (climate change, monetary flows) vs. local processes? How do we map concepts? (boundaries, regularity, porosity) How do we map tangibles and intangibles? How do we map sensations (noises, flavors, smells)? How do we map paths and movement? How do we represent dynamics in a static drawing? What is the (ir)relevance of geographical precision? The disciplines of architecture and urban design have representation as their main communication tool. However, in recent years, the possibilities of access to information (digital archives, open cartographic sources) and the emergence of geographic information systems have shaken the way of representing and explaining issues that were until recently linked to the physical condition of places. The starting point of this paper is an academic experience, “One territory, four questions, one atlas”, an intensive summer research program between four institutions (AHO Oslo; KULeuven; Universidade do Minho; ETSABarcelona-UPC), aimed to generate new synergies and a common theoretical-practical body to trigger a joint discussion on how to represent and visualise cities and life, spatial design and spatial reframing, ruptures and permanence, people and time by the act of mapping. Twelve participants (eight professors and five PhD students) worked together grouped in three teams during one week in which four questions were progressively launched to which the participants responded by drawing. The questions triggered assorted 8-hours speed maps, which in turn served as an entry for a common discussion and unlocked hidden hypothesis. This paper will further explore the process based on an expanded dialogue to use domestic digital tools (hand drawings, pictures, video, google maps, cad and GIS cartographies, big data, open source data, sound recordings) to produce incomplete understandings of the territory instead of achieving a finished product.
Prof Dr Maarten Gheysen is a Phd Architect and Urban designer. Since 2006 he is teaching at the Faculty of Architecture of the KU Leuven (B). He was involved in numerous projects dealing with local practices, policymaking and design. His research and practice question the role and design of public spaces in dispersed conditions . He is a member of the research group Urban Projects, Collective Spaces & Local Identities at KU Leuven. Maarten also runs Studio Urban Advice & Design, dealing with the dialogue between spatial interventions and local conditions.
Assistant Prof. Miguel Hernandez-Quintanilla is M Architect and M Landscape Architect. Since 2021 he teaches at the Institute of Urbanism and Landscape UL at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design and has been lecturing at different schools of Europe. He is a researcher at the Oslo Centre for Urban and Landscape Research OCULS and guest resident at ROM for kunst og arkitektur in Oslo;
Prof. Dr. Marta Labastida is an Architect (ETSAB-UPC) and a PhD Architect (Escola Arquitetura, Arte e Design da Universidade do Minho EAAD_UM) with Master’s in Landscape Architecture (ETSAB-UPC). Since 2002 she teaches at EAAD_UM where coordinates Design and Theory Units related to Territory, Landscape and Public Space. Since 2015 is an integrated researcher of Lab2PT_LandS (Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory_ Landscapes and Societies) an R&D unit of the University of Minho. Her research focuses on a constant exploration and (re)definition of operational landscapes that promote new design frameworks to reach more resilient territories;
Prof. Dr. Eulalia M. Gomez-Escoda is a PhD Architect and Urban Designer. Since 2008 she teaches at the Department of Urban Design and Urban Planning DUOT at the Barcelona School of Architecture ETSAB and has been Guest Critic at different schools of Europe and the US. She is a researcher at the Barcelona Laboratory of Urbanism LUB and is Deputy Director of International Relations at ETSAB-UPC Barcelona TECH since 2021.
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Thursday 1st December, 2022