Comments on: Writing Cities project http://writingcities.net/2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/ MIT-LSE-Harvard Graduate Students Conference Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:31:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Olivia Munoz-Rojas-Oscarsson http://writingcities.net/2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/comment-page-1/#comment-71 Olivia Munoz-Rojas-Oscarsson Fri, 02 May 2008 17:14:05 +0000 http://writingcities.net//2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/#comment-71 I think Suzi’s three questions are fundamental and implicitly also tackle the ‘whats’ and the ‘wheres,’ which I believe are important too. I agree with Melissa that the boundaries between decision making, participation (or practical involvement), and imagination are blurry, but I believe it is perhaps a matter of emphasis: each paper emphasised more one aspect or the other. About the ‘whats’ and the ‘wheres,’ some possible questions that are more or less explicitly addressed in our papers and discussions are: · What are the broad themes in decisions about the city nowadays (achieving mixed communities, regenerating through culture, tackling violence, incorporating art to public space etc.)? · What are the available mechanisms (Melissa) for residents’ involvement in these decisions (open source techniques, consultation, resistance)? · What is actually being imagined in the early 21st century – green cities, Olympic cities, cultural capitals? · And does it matter where all this takes place – for example, does it matter if a city is post-colonial or post-metropolitan? I think Suzi’s three questions are fundamental and implicitly also tackle the ‘whats’ and the ‘wheres,’ which I believe are important too. I agree with Melissa that the boundaries between decision making, participation (or practical involvement), and imagination are blurry, but I believe it is perhaps a matter of emphasis: each paper emphasised more one aspect or the other.

About the ‘whats’ and the ‘wheres,’ some possible questions that are more or less explicitly addressed in our papers and discussions are:

· What are the broad themes in decisions about the city nowadays (achieving mixed communities, regenerating through culture, tackling violence, incorporating art to public space etc.)?
· What are the available mechanisms (Melissa) for residents’ involvement in these decisions (open source techniques, consultation, resistance)?
· What is actually being imagined in the early 21st century – green cities, Olympic cities, cultural capitals?
· And does it matter where all this takes place – for example, does it matter if a city is post-colonial or post-metropolitan?

]]> By: Melissa Fernandez http://writingcities.net/2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/comment-page-1/#comment-70 Melissa Fernandez Thu, 01 May 2008 09:39:41 +0000 http://writingcities.net//2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/#comment-70 (typo): -Creating spaces of ‘belonging’ through particular MECHANISMS (typo): -Creating spaces of ‘belonging’ through particular MECHANISMS

]]> By: Melissa Fernandez http://writingcities.net/2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/comment-page-1/#comment-69 Melissa Fernandez Thu, 01 May 2008 09:38:15 +0000 http://writingcities.net//2008/04/30/writing-cities-project/#comment-69 I'm (happily)haunted by Richard’s unrelenting “So what?”:-) Some scattered thoughts: I agree with Tad in that 'participation' may not be the most useful concept through which to think about emergent themes, but rather that it's more about the particularities and ways in which new practices are getting played out. I would, however, also steer away from concerns about how this is 'structural/structured' and focus more on how they are lived- wherever that may lead in individual projects. I find Suzi's comments/notes very helpful- though there may be quite a lot of overlap in the themes suggested, as 'deciding', 'participating' and 'imagining' may end up being one and the same thing, in some cases. As you say, maybe it's best to integrate bigger questions within those three themes. To her noted questions, I would add the over-arching phrases: -In the production of culture, there's the contestation of the national/ recuperation of and allusion to certain or exclusive parts of culture; -Creating spaces of 'belonging' through particular Finally, beyond Tad's suggested 'citizen involvement' (or, in my case, frequent involvement through disinvolvement) in urban planning,the suggestive/provocative idea of thinking about ‘Cities and Metaphors’ historically and today may allow for: - cultural, national, political, economic aspects to be variously addressed -thinking through thematic divisions of workshop -inclusion of the 'imagination' aspect -can shed light on ‘branding’ and commodification phenomenon -linguistic + visual to be addressed together -iconography [[‘Constructing(or producing/creating/contesting) Cities: Practices and Metaphors’/ Cities: material constructions; metaphorical imaginations/ Cities : metaphors, materiality (or practices?), technology]] I’m (happily)haunted by Richard’s unrelenting “So what?”:-)
Some scattered thoughts:
I agree with Tad in that ‘participation’ may not be the most useful concept through which to think about emergent themes, but rather that it’s more about the particularities and ways in which new practices are getting played out. I would, however, also steer away from concerns about how this is ’structural/structured’ and focus more on how they are lived- wherever that may lead in individual projects.
I find Suzi’s comments/notes very helpful- though there may be quite a lot of overlap in the themes suggested, as ‘deciding’, ‘participating’ and ‘imagining’ may end up being one and the same thing, in some cases. As you say, maybe it’s best to integrate bigger questions within those three themes. To her noted questions, I would add the over-arching phrases:
-In the production of culture, there’s the contestation of the national/ recuperation of and allusion to certain or exclusive parts of culture;
-Creating spaces of ‘belonging’ through particular
Finally, beyond Tad’s suggested ‘citizen involvement’ (or, in my case, frequent involvement through disinvolvement) in urban planning,the suggestive/provocative idea of thinking about ‘Cities and Metaphors’ historically and today may allow for:
- cultural, national, political, economic aspects to be variously addressed
-thinking through thematic divisions of workshop
-inclusion of the ‘imagination’ aspect
-can shed light on ‘branding’ and commodification phenomenon
-linguistic + visual to be addressed together
-iconography
[[‘Constructing(or producing/creating/contesting) Cities: Practices and Metaphors’/ Cities: material constructions; metaphorical imaginations/ Cities : metaphors, materiality (or practices?), technology]]

]]>