Making Public Interventions...

Saskia Sassen discusses the condition of urban in her article “Making Public Interventions in Today’s Massive Cities.” What begins as an interesting questioning into displacement of people and utilization of under-used spaces, which she calls “terrains vagues,” develops into a rather theoretical discourse of several conditions existing in modern cities. All viable observations of modernist cities, the discussions of privatization, frontiers, locality, and digitization are a departure from her introducing paragraphs. These paragraphs, to me, create the framework for a more interesting discussion.

The New Urbanist movement, among others, has taken a look at the leftover, trash spaces of existing cities and has begun to development. Inter-city development of vacant lots, condemned buildings, contaminated land, and other such spaces has brought a new face to many local areas in San Diego, as well as to other cities. The development of these under-used spaces has spurred a return to urban conditions from the suburban fringe. In truth the inter-city developments seek to stop the sprawl that exists in all major cities, thus decreasing the periphery green zones, nature habitats, or farmland. But, Saskia suggests, what if these unused areas are important in terms of keeping a sense of openness? Should these leftover spaces be turned into public amenities with artists playing active roles to rejuvenate them? Some of this has already occurred (I’m thinking specifically of the Freemont Troll in Seattle under the Aurora Bridge). These kinds of artistic interventions have helped greatly increase the livelihood and quality of life in specific urban cores by using spaces under bridges, or in meridians, or in otherwise un-buildable areas.

I agree it is desirable to maintain some level of openness in cities, but on the other hand one of the draws to the city is its density, the sense that every piece of usable land is used to the greatest efficiency, none is leftover or wasted. The open spaces must be useful, purposeful, and enhance the overall city experience.

Freemont Troll (undergrad Arch class field trip):


and.......

Cheerios "Sculpture". I'm calling it: Did You Know There Were So Many Kinds of Cheerios??