In public space we trust
Since 2011 The Electric Hotel has been touring festivals and cities in Europe, becoming a traveling cultural and green spot. It provides renewable energy, created from wind and sun to charge mobile gadgets and it presents an interesting selection of movies on a LED-screen.
Cities in progress: Please do not disturb is an exhibition featuring the work of FutureCityLab, an open-source initiative by a group of professionals and educators in order to think of a more sustainable urban development. The exhibition will be open from 22 May until 5 July at Aedes Am Pfefferberg in Berlin (Germany), hosting also workshops and discussions with experts to reflect on the future of our cities.
To learn more: here.
With the arrival of spring the Gartendeck has opened again on the roof of a parking garage, in the neighbourhood of St. Pauli in Hamburg (Germany). Anyone can go there, sow seeds and produce local foods, taking part in new forms of urban community.
To learn more: here.
People Make Parks is a joint project of Hester Street Collaborative and Partnerships for Parks to help communities participate in designing green spaces. This video illustrates the community tools used to engage the neighborhood residents in the renovation of Sara D. Roosevelt Park in New York.
Flashback: ESTUAIRE 2007-2009, a trail from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire (France), to discover the landscape from a new point of view. Waiting for 2012 edition.
Art installations by Tatzu Nishi, Roman Signer, Tadashi Kawamata, Daniel Buren and Patrick Bouchain.
© Gino Maccarinelli and Jean-Dominique Billaud / Nautilus Nantes.
How to convert an old malt factory into a rooftop farm? Take inspiration from Berlin where in September three young people started the planning of the project Frisch vom Dach (Fresh from the roof), an aquaponics farm in Schöneberg district: both fish and vegetables will be produced and distributed on-site. And while the research of funds is going on, on the roof now there is a small prototype out of an upcycled shipping container, which is currently producing fish and vegetables.
Located in Taipei (Taiwan), Silent Garden is a new concept of refuge: a silk cocoon that dialogues with the environment and restores the tie between nature and human beings. It’s a project by architectural designers Francisco Giménez Carbó, Jason Kao and Patricia Meneses.
‘castles in the air ’
by GORA art&landscape, in Western Harbour, Malmö, 2011
They are belvederes of different heights that give rise to some places for dreams, pleasure and contemplation. A sort of naturalistic operation as a path in the air between bird’s nests and a power-line pylons where people moving vertically can explore world from another level.
‘gassho’
by Koji Kakiuchi / Yaomitsu designing department, in Iwate, 2011, Japan
Using traditional japanese construction methods, they created a small open-air shelter conceived at a scale of a DIY project, which involves the notion of memory and time. In fact the construction sits on the some remaining foundation of the homes, that were swept away during the March 2011 tsunami. It took only 8 hours to assemble this simple cabin, so people are encouraged to do the same across the area with the goal to provide a space for victims to meet and exchange words about their past, present and future.
Foundation de Mobiler (Furniture bases) by 5.5 Designers, carried out in 2006 for the gardens of La Ferté-Vidame Castle (France).
Until 29th January 2012 at NAiM/Bureau Europa in Maastricht (The Netherlands), REcentre features the exhibition Re-Action! Common Grounds, presenting best practices of bottom-up initiatives which can lead to a possible, sustainable and community-driven revolution.
Located at 430 East 29th Street in New York (USA), The Riverpark Farm is a temporary urban farm, an alternative use for a stalled site to encourage local economies and civil engagement.
The Enabling City is a new way of thinking about communities and change. Read the little guide’s initiatives to have fresh ideas and creative inspirations in order to stimulate participatory processes and imagine sustainable urban neighbourhoods.
There once was a vacant shop, now there is FARM:shop, the first urban farming hub in the world, at 20 Dalston Lane in London (UK). With a workspace, a cafe and events venue for food lovers and urban farmers. The enterprise is run by Something & Son and opened in March 2011.
At FARM:shop the experts follow the rules of nature and, in order to grow food, use various methods, from Aquaponic micro fish farming, to high tech indoor allotment, from chicken coop (on the roof!) to polytunnel.
