C I T I ES **** E FUTUR he R T O AS F E S MICHELED BONINO I ie T 10 ci F O urban visions ichele Bonino is assistant professor in esigners have always cultivated the risk of authoritarianism and the loss of MArchitectural and Urban Design at the Ddream of long lasting projects. The dialogue. Politecnico di Torino. He holds a PhD in History history of architecture and urban planning of Architecture and Urbanism. He has taught is dotted by this kind of far future visions. evertheless today we are stunned by at Konkuk University in Seoul, at Tsinghua This system has often found partners and Nsome cities which still invest in long- University in Beijing and at Sint Lucas School of sponsors along centuries, until it clogged term scenarios. This fact seems in apparent Architecture at Bruxelles. He is responsible for with the rules of contemporary democratic contradiction with the present moment of the “projects” section in the Italian architecture city: long-term visions often involve the crisis and prudence, when short-term emer- paper “Il Giornale dell’Architettura”. He is the authors of 3 monographs and is curator and 01 translator, with Daniele Vitale, of the writings by Ignasi de Solà-Morales. His writings have been published on “Cahiers de la recherche architec- turale et urbaine”, “Abitare”, “de Architect”, “Controspazio”, “Parametro”, “Ilsole24ore- Domenica”, “Il Manifesto”. He founded MARC studio with Subhash Mukerjee, and their works have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, at London Festival of Architecture, at the Milan Triennale, at the Venice Biennale. He was a speaker at the XXIII UIA World Congress of Architecture. Projects by MARC have been presented on “Casabella”, “Abitare”, “A10. New European Architecture”, “Monitor”, “Interni”, “arch’it”, “Diseño Interior”. 2 32 gencies make harder to look to the future. rom Medellín to Belgrade, pass- the largest buildings ever risen in human Fing through the three Italian cities history. lites or urban communities can be involved (Bologna, Milan, Turin), all cities Éstimulated to create urban visions by reject the priority assigned to the icons as owever, in the complexity of contem- different motivations: disengagement from the ingenuous and ordinary instrument Hporary city, visions seem inadequate a hard present situation or an antidote to through which we are accustomed to meet without the consciousness of a political prepare the renovation? The “Urban Vi- these visions. The most interesting projects process and the will to share the outcomes sions” exhibition tries to answer questions anticipate the visual representation by and to balance them in a global scale. The like this one: ten cities have been chosen considering the social costs, the timing and subtitle “10 ideas for the future of cities” for their ability to bet on the future. the ways the transformations would be points out the interest for a common realized. debate and compared strategies, thus en cities so different from each other: enabled to look at the far future. Twhich feature can hold them together ities involved have been subdivided but this attitude? Cin three groups according to the occasions of their visions. The first group ot the dimensions, since in the exhibi- (Helsinki, Milan, Zaragoza and Medellín) Ntion we see Mumbai - that is about pursues a new Rank in terms of identity to exceed the number of inhabitants of all and competition on global market. The other megalopolis in the world - and Hel- second goal (common to Belgrade, Turin sinki, a medium city intending to become and New Orleans) is to start up virtuous a great European capital in 2050 with the processes and resources needing strong economical and infrastructural synergy of catalysts. Finally, the third ambition for its 13 towns regional district (the so called cities’ future is to understand itselves, re- “Great Helsinki”). flecting on their own rules of cohabitation and functioning: this is the case for Paris, or the times of prefiguration. Zaragoza Bologna and Mumbai. Nprods on a mid-term vision, managing the post-Expo 2008 in the situation of the evertheless in today’s world greater worse economic crisis of last 30 years in Nurban visions are running: for example, Spain. The city tries to relaunch the project an enormous infrastructural ring is going to of a new exposition in 2014 as an occasion connect Canton, Hong Kong and Macao of urban renovation. Paris - on the contrary through a 30 kilometres bridge. Within - is reconsidering its role of capital for the 2020 these cities will form a 40 millions 01. Milan PGT. The epicentres (copyright Metrogramma). future 100 years together with 10 of the people conurbation. In Ivory Coast, the 02. Belgrade Masterpan 2021. Housing areas. world’s most important architects chosen former small village of Yamoussoukro is by Nicolas Sarkozy. becoming the new capital, with some of 03. Greater Helsinki Vision 2050 Ideas Competition (Project “Orlando”). 02 03 32 GREATER HelSinKI 2050 MilAN 2030 MEDellÍN 2015 ZARAGOZA 2014 Urban vision as a way for a new position, in terms of identity and competitiveness a synoptic overview PARIS 2100 BoloGNA 2015 4 MUmbAI 2015 Urban vision as a reflection on its own rules BelGRADE 2021 TURin 2011 NEW ORleANS 2010 Urban vision as a start-up for development and new resources 54 GREATER HelSinKI 2050 MilAN 2030 MEDellÍN 2015 ZARAGOZA 2014 Urban vision as a way for a new position, in terms of identity and competitiveness a synoptic overview PARIS 2100 BoloGNA 2015 MUmbAI 2015 Urban vision as a reflection on its own rules BelGRADE 2021 TURin 2011 NEW ORleANS 2010 Urban vision as a start-up for development and new resources 3-3_mumbai_CMYK.pdf 1 17/06/09 14:35 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K 54 uring the past two decades, Greater Helsinki has been one of the fastest growing Durban areas within the EU. The region, with the city of Helsinki as its core, is Finland’s administrative and cultural centre and economic powerhouse. Its population is currently I 2050 over 1.3 million, of which 580,000 live in Helsinki City itself. In 2006 an international K AS ideas competition “Greater Helsinki Vision 2050” was announced jointly by the region’s IN 14 municipalities, in co-operation with the Ministry of the Environment and the Finnish S L ole Association of Architects. Its aim was to create a joint vision for the sustainable develop- TA ment of land use, housing and transport. The basic assumption of the brief was a rate W Rpi HELne A of population growth similar to that in recent years, leading to an estimated 1.8 million in- R C E N habitants by 2050. Of the 109 entries, 9 received an award. Together these provide a com- R AA AT O prehensive collection of ideas, viewed by the jury as stepping-stones towards the regional E G F ope vision. The entries discuss general scenarios for the region, its global status and economic GR in competitiveness. They study different models for the regional spatial structure, propose K sustainable transport and residential solutions and explore new models of governance and oo AT EUR L E cooperation. The winning entries were: 1st Emerald (Finland), joint 2nd Boundary Strips GR (Germany), Towards City 2.0 (Finland) and Holistic Uniqueness (Germany), and purchas- es Metroscape (Germany), Orlando (Italy), (R)evolver (Finland), Line TM (Switzerland) and Thirdlife (Netherlands). fter the competition, a follow-up project was launched to analyse the proposals, Aevaluate the prize-winning ideas, involve the views of the public and recommend how to proceed with the vision process. More than 250 ideas were identified from the winning entries. Using an iterative process they were organised into thematic ‘Ideas Flocks’. These formed the material for workshops, in which city officials, the 9 prize-winning teams, other planning experts and members of the public assessed the ideas in the light of pending environmental and social challenges. The vision material and the ideas with most potential were compiled into a final report which will act as a basis for the continuation of the vision process. The overall conclusions emphasise that the future resources of the region lie in the deployment of locality and pluralism. Possibilities for this should be created by providing suitable premises and tools for participation, resident initiatives and encoun- ters. One theme that attracted much attention was the renaissance of public spaces and locally-produced services, which for their part support communality. The ecological func- tionality of the environment, distribution of information and appropriate education are all important factors in the creation of a natural, ecological way of living. As the population grows and the settlement structure continues to expand, emphasis must always be placed on the control of sprawl, mixing uses and versatile infill construction. A well-established polycentric, networked structure will reduce travel needs and increase the self-sufficiency of the region’s sub-areas. A compact urban structure supports public transport and cycle and pedestrian traffic. Many parties, both public and private, residents and communities, need to take action in order to implement the vision. Support for experiments and smooth co-operation across municipal and departmental borders are prerequisites for its success. Urban vision as a way for a new position, in terms of identity and competitiveness he next steps will be the new regional and traffic systems plans. The vision will also Tform the background for the agreements between the region’s municipalities and the national government, concerning long-term objectives of housing and investment in infra- structure. These processes will solidify the consequences of the vision in different areas, including the central ‘metropolis’ (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa), towns along the main rail line (Kerava, Järvenpää, Hyvinkää) and the surrounding rural municipalities.