"IN_BETWEEN" - Ippolita Nicotera
Studio EU, Berlin - senior discussant
- Our cities are at once our habitat and urban landscape where open, empty, and neglected spaces represent an unforeseen urban potential.
- The expansion our cities generates destructive interactions, so a careful approach to open and built spaces is the goal of its sustainability.
- The interaction between landscape and architectural structures represents a rich dialogue that can lead to the redefinition of urban spaces.
Three billion of the world's population lives in cities. In 2005, 61% of them lived in an urban environment. This process of urbanisation is an extremely fast-paced phenomenon, exemplified especially in developing countries. However, for historical European cities that were originally planned as compact organisms, they too face contemporary challenges. These cities expanded very fast since the Industrial Era leaving the greater part of Europe urbanised while the historical city structure fell apart.
As in nature, cities grow, become obsolete and decline, while generating new structures not clearly defined as spaces. This transformation process of urban areas is often so fast, that it is difficult to govern it through regimented urban programs. How can we manage and guide its transformation? How can we keep up with a city's metamorphosis?
If we look at a city as the origin and not the goal of its urban planning, we can conclude that:
In-between is the methods, techniques, and vocabulary of landscape architecture in relationship to the fundamentals of urban planning. Its goal is to clarify these connections and lead urban growth towards a higher level of urban quality.
Thanks to Simona Stortone for the photograph of the Schlossplatz Berlin in its present temporary asset by Relais Office.