Seminar HABITAR, Bending the urban frame
In the past decade, urbanization has considerably accelerated, all over the planet. As a result, and for the first time in the history of humankind, more people live in cities than outside of them. Simultaneously, the urban environment has been changing at the same pace, and one's experience of public spaces and of intimacy is undergoing a deep redefinition.
Media libraries and archives. Image: Noé Baranda
Utopian and radical architects in the 1960s predicted that cities in the future would not only be made of brick and mortar, but also defined by bits and flows of information; the urban dweller would become a nomad who inhabits a space in constant flux that mutates in real time. Their vision has acquired a new meaning, in an age when information networks rule over most of the city's functions, and define our experiences as much as the physical infrastructures, while mobile technologies transform our sense of time/space.
Architecture and urbanism no longer predicate solely this new urban landscape. Rather, they are “augmented” by new methodologies, which are used to measure, represent and map such urban dynamics as traffic or cell-phone. Representations of usage patterns and mapping the life of the city amplify our collective awareness of the urban environment as a living organism. These soft and invisible architectures fashion sentient and reactive environments.
HABITAR proposes a walk through emerging urban scenarios; it is a three-dimensional catalogue of proposals and images by artists, design and architecture studios, as well as hybrid research centers and media labs. They offer a perspective on tools, solutions and languages that are being developed to negotiate every day life in this new urban predicament.
Full programme will be announced soon.