Thinking About Cities
Thinking about cities is a workshop organized by MIT (Asian Cities Cluster) in collaboration with the department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore and 5ft Creatives and funded by MIT, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program commonly known as UROP.
Held from 11th June to 15th June 2008, a party of people was brought together by their common interest in urbanism in Southeast Asia.
The focus of the workshop revolves around the comparison of two cities with opposite development philosophies: a highly controlled, development model as in Singapore with a more laissez faire situation as in Bangkok. With the impeding growth of cities throughout the world, which of the models - or combination of the models - would be appropriate to address the ‘speed’ and ‘scale’ demands? Recent credible research has bravely quantified this future challenge as a ‘doubling of urban population with a tripling of area - all by 2030 - and the bulk of the housing would be low rise by a relatively poor population.” Unfortunately, effective strategies that respond to this scenario seem in short supply.
The workshop aimed to ask following questions:
- WHAT is proposed for the growth? Where will people live? What form of housing is proposed, to accommodate the various income groups? Who will build it? Where do the funds come from?
- HOW will it be achieved? What codes, guidelines, incentives, etc. are proposed to make the growth strategies come to life?
- Can this be a MODEL for others? What is needed to make it work? Particularly in the Singapore’s case, can this be duplicated in other cities of the Third World? Would parts of the strategy be able to be adopted to fit within the individual context of cities? - Do we WANT to do this elsewhere, is it a ‘good’ model, a good way to live and a good way for cities? Meeting with families takes on a big role, in order to get a sense if the model is ‘good’, and goes beyond bureaucratic and technical advantages. The model needs to deliver ‘good housing, for good cities’.
It was a brilliant learning experience for us at 5ft and we believe that the same can be said for all those who attended it. See the photos!
For further reading:
http://www.fivefootway.com/2008/06/30/thinking-about-cities-2/