Contested Terrain: A Lecture With Eyal Weizman

Can architecture be a form of political intervention? This question is central to the work of Eyal Weizman, a writer, architect, and director of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. For this talk, Weizman discusses his approach to architecture as a research-led collaborative practice. Often working with an interdisciplinary team—artists, urbanists, forensic scientists, archaeologists, human rights advocates—he analyzes vacated buildings, maps, satellite imagery, and other spatial artifacts to unravel the contested politics in sites of conflict and violence, including Palestine, the Former Yugoslavia, and Guatemala, among others.

This lecture is presented in conjunction with Sacred Space/Contested Terrain, an interdisciplinary exhibition organized by the University of Minnesota’s Katherine E. Nash Gallery, School of Architecture, Department of Art, and Program in Religious Studies in collaboration with the Walker.

Weizman directs the European Research Council–funded project Forensic Architecture. He is one of the cofounders of the architectural collective DAAR—Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency—in Beit Sahour, Palestine. His books include The Least of all Possible Evils (2012), Mengele’s Skull (with Tom Keenan, 2012) Hollow Land (2007), and A Civilian Occupation (2003). Weizman is a regular contributor and an editorial board member for several journals and magazines, including Humanity, Cabinet, and Inflexions, and has lectured extensively around the world.

Sabrina Iovino ~ Smokey Mountain: A Walk Through The Slums Of Manila, Philippines

Photo: Sabrina Iovino

I left the upscale neighborhood Makati by taxi and headed towards the north of Manila, towards Tondo. I was on my way to visit Smokey Mountain, one of Manila’s slums and the largest dumpsite where over 25,000 people pick up garbage for a living. The sad truth is, Smokey Mountain is one of the most impoverished areas in the world.

See: http://www.justonewayticket.com/smokey-mountain

Rashiq Fataar ~ South Africa’s Hopes Of Planning Better Cities And Communities

Meet Sizwe Mxobo, the recent recipient of the Young Planner of the Year award. His original ideas on informality and achieving ‘social cohesion’ in his city have caused a stir in the urbanist community and are making even the most laidback Capetonians to sit up a little and listen to what he has to say.

Sizwe has been working with the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) for the past four years, providing technical support, consulting with the City of Cape Town on service delivery challenges, and assisting informal settlements with development plans and capacity building. Future Cape Town caught up with the passionate and inspiring Sizwe to find out more about his envisioned ‘new era for planning’.

Carrie Dellesky ~ The City Dwellers Who Are Growing Food in India, China And Brazil

As urban agriculture becomes an increasingly important issue for cities like Udaipur, India, community gardens can be one tool for securing residents’ access to food. Photo by Didi/Flickr.

In the northern hemisphere, the days are growing longer and warmer, signaling the first day of spring. For many, it’s time to start sowing seeds, and for those in cities, it’s time to dig into community gardens. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), around 15 percent of the world’s food is now grown in urban areas. In the developing world, urban residents have long had to grow food or tend livestock for extra food security, but in recent years urban farming has become more practical for many income groups in cities around the world.

Urban agriculture enhances sustainability, secures public space, and provides much needed food security and health benefits for communities. Whether in backyards, on rooftops, on balconies, or in vacant lots, ingenuity in urban agriculture yields abundant solutions for those who put in the effort.

Maz Ali ~ I Never Realized How Dumb Our Cities Are Until I Saw What A Smart One Looks Like

With the population growing and most of it happening in cities, these Canadian journalists wanted to take a closer look at whether our sprawling modern villages are up to the task of housing more humans.
Over half of the world lives in urban areas. That includes over 80% of people in the United States and 81% of folks in Canada, where this report was produced. Therein lies the problem.

Alexis Stephens ~ From Sea To Vacant Lot: A Shipping Container Condo Rises In Newark

Rendering of the container condo headed to Newark (Credit: C+C Architecture)

When it comes to building more affordable housing, you can get creative with financing — or you can completely rethink the single-family home.
Eschewing traditional construction materials, a team in Newark, New Jersey, is building a three-family home out of 18 shipping containers on a vacant lot, an approach that’s becoming more popular in design circles.

“Tiny living” enthusiasts have been raving about container houses for years, but the trend has just moved stateside fairly recently. So far, models have ranged from high-end (and high-priced) extravagance to off-the-grid boxes at bargain prices. Development partners Cor10 Concepts and Community Asset Preservation Corporation (CAPC) are shooting for somewhere in between; they hope that their first dwelling, built in Newark’s historic Lincoln Park neighborhood, will jumpstart other forward-thinking design projects in the stagnant housing market.