“Magic Ring”
The design studio will focus on critical readings and propositions for the emerging trans-border Oresund Region, as seen from the points of view or territorial planning and architecture. Il will explore possibilities of urban transformation - of spatial situations and corresponding questions of physical form - at eleven positions around the Oresund region. In addition to the intrinsic interest these exploratory projects may have, it is hoped that, seen together, they will form a multi-faceted global proposition.
In keeping with the orientations of the VAT department (Ville-Architecture-Territoire) at the Paris-Malaquais Architectural School, the studio will approach the large territorial scale as an object of architectural inquiry. In doing so it will also question architecture's involvement in the formation and displacement of collective subjectivities, thus drawing into relation the aesthetic and political spheres. In order to respond these imperatives, the approach taken will stress the mobility of the designer's gaze; “zooming far out” to look at vast territorial patterns and flows and then "in" to observe specific situations involving shared spatial appropriations/practices, lived experiences in the spaces of everyday mobility, situations of conflict, perception and bodily interaction in the milieux studied with their specific qualities of "ambiance" …
In previous years, the department's studios have worked on sites in the Greater Paris Region, Flanders, Belgrade, Djeda, Shanghai… This accumulation of experiences allows for displacements of notions and ideas, comparisons, and a certain sensitivity to emergent, place-specific "cultures of globlalization".
Emergence(s)
The arrival in 2000 of the Oresund bridge completed a rail-transport and automotive ring encircling the sound separating the Baltic and North Seas on the North and South, Sweden and Denmark on the East and West. It immediately intensified trans-border flows of people and goods between these countries. Overnight, pendular movements between the two countries became an everyday reality - often an irresistible necessity - for a vast number of people on both sides. The rail system connects the Copenhagen passenger airport directly to the Oresund Bridge, thus facilitating its use to and from Sweden and allowing for the adaptation of Malmö’s smaller airport to regional, mainly cargo-oriented traffic.
Historically in economic competition, if not open conflict, in the twentieth century Swedes and Danes have hesitated between visions of common interest and mutual wariness. Discussed for over a hundred years, long-awaited by some, the construction of the bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen definitively established a relation at the scale of the Oresund geographical region which tied their two economic futures together in a shared bid for status, visibility and power in the global "knowledge economy".
From a didactic point of view, the “case” of Oresund is a particularly interesting one… Cleary, the decision to create this regional unity reflects the general movement throughout Europe to the creation such large, often trans-border economic formations. Here however, unlike elsewhere, the fact that so much has depended on the creation of the physical link has resulted in a particularly astonishing manifestation of rapid and profound territorial transformation. Overnight, in addition to modifying the status of the area with respect to rest of the world, the coming of the bridge provoked a new and complex set of interactions between the two country's political systems, immigration policies, educational systems, housing prices, natural environments, work opportunities, cultural characters and offerings… The economic revolution that finally made the project come into being is also, in a real and deep sense, a cultural one; the historically strong engineering-based and design- ethos of these countries, associated with social-democratic notions of security and comfort, have made a swift and radical adaptation to neo-liberalism. Certainly the production of new, much-coveted, advanced technologies and products has long been associated with these countries. The base for such a knowledge economy has clearly in place and has been for long time.
What is new is that a considerable number of stakeholders in related sectors have intensified their relations… While local politicians imagine regional branding-strategies, private companies look for new modes of interaction, seeking ties to the many researchers and engineers working in the twelve universities and academies on the two sides of the Sound. In addition, it is possible that the relatively new social problems in both Malmö and Copenhagen have been to some extent provoked by the creation of the bridge and the economic motives that encouraged its creation.
Not surprisingly, the very idea of the Oresund Region has provoked a diversity of reactions ranging from enthusiasm to ambivalence and even to open rejection. Whatever position one takes, it is clear that the capacity to imagine new forms and strategies here for public space is dependant upon critical inquiry and engagement.
East versus West ? Territorial Situations and Forms
The two the two halves of the region are strikingly different, reflecting very different sets of historical influences, major geographical differences between the two countries (seen as a whole), economic singularities and disparities… Working at first mainly from satellite views, the studio will proceed from the observation of their visible characteristics to a more close-up view ; during a week-long stay in the region, selected places will be studied both for their visible and invisible (their "ambient" and/or implicit) dimensions.
This predominantly large-scale, morphological approach to the territory will thus slowly give way to a view that includes a more immediate and critical view of specific situations, articulating these with a number of programmatic "themes" such as the rapport to water, relations between private enterprise and public universities and the urban context, social problems of certain neighborhoods, multi-modal spaces of mobilities as a part of the public realm, conditions of urban dispersion and/or sprawl, etc…
A small number of interviews and visits are also planned in Copenhagen and Malmö with regional actors, some of whom are directly involved, others who are critical observers. It is hoped that these meetings will be followed by some exchange at a distance as the projects take form later back in Paris.
Steven MELEMIS
