Striving for Modernity

In class on October 8 we created mind maps of words that came up during our examinations of the various architectural ideas. I found it interesting that modernity was a theme that seemed to pop up in every example we’ve looked at. As the 19th century rolled over to the 20th, it seemed like everyone was racing to come up with a city that encompassed this new era and solved all the urban design issues of the time. And yet, no one has truly succeeded yet; each attempt succeeding and failing in aspects unique to that city.

The Ringstrasse saw modernity as being open for transportation, accounting for the influx of people in the 1860s. Modernity meant establishing the bourgeoisie as the ruling class through opulent architecture that harkened back to ancient, greater eras. But it ended up as a city that was a miasma of architecture with one foot in the present and one in the past. The quick moving flow of the city trapped people, and stopped them from building a sense of community. The efforts of the architects to create images of the past ended up creating empty disconnected spaces. Too modern, and not modern enough.

Haussmann wanted modernity to mean continuity; huge ongoing roads, repeating facades, a cleaner, more efficient city. Unlike the Ringstrasse, Haussmann had to actually work with the city to achieve his goals. Instead, Haussmann seemed to interpret modernity as something that occurred in spite of, not with, the poor people of Paris. It’s difficult to exemplify Paris as the style of the future when it came at the expense of so many people’s homes and by extension lives. There is a Social Darwinism to Haussmann’s ideas that mark it as very much a product of an empire and not the Republic France had strove to become.

The Garden City failed not in idea but in execution, a giant leap for modernity throttled by the small steps of capitalism. It’s hard to convince people to think only of the greater good when they are confronted with the timeless (fair) problem of their bottom line. It’s a shame that the idea of the Garden City layout would struggle with the lack of open land now; can you imagine it on Kickstarter? I think the real issue with Howard’s idea was that it was genuinely too modern for the time it was created in. The combination of socialism and capitalism is what a lot of developed countries are striving for now.

In just these few examples, it’s easy to see how modernity inspired them, and why it would. Art is constantly striving forward, trying to create the best and biggest thing before someone else does. You can’t go back in art; the Ringstrasse proves that. I think the lack of guiding style for contemporary architecture as well as the environmental push will create what can only be termed modern architecture over the next few years. It’s unfortunate the trend seems to be aesthetics optional.

 

Vancouver Viaducts

Vancouver, British Columbia; it is the largest city in Western Canada. It’s captivated by diverse culture, and the ‘Western Canadian teenage dream’ wanting to move to Vancouver and smell the ocean air every day. With Vancouver population increases, and people wanting to move into the already dense downtown core, the question presents itself where will all these people live.

 

But Vancouver City Council is proposing a plan; knock down the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts and replace it with a park, and residential buildings. The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts are the far from attractive looking big concrete bridges that greet the public to the Vancouver downtown core. A viaduct is a bridge spanning across land that has large arches to support the bridge.

 

This plan however has received criticism from the public specifically people within that area that are concerned about an increase in traffic. However with the viaducts removal will allow for streets to connect to directly to Georgia, and allow an increased efficiency for transit in that area of the downtown core. With an even greater improvement to the already well-structure transit system in the downtown-core, will encourage the population to take transit over a car. Not only will this street connection to Georgia allow for improvements to transit, but allow for an increase in the accessibility for cycling and foot traffic.

 

The plan to demolish the viaducts and create green space, and more residential housing in Vancouver’s downtown core is a plan that needs to be taken seriously. This plan is about to go before Vancouver City Council in the next few weeks, and should be a contender for solving the problem of Vancouver’s growing population.

The Idea of the Garden City in Kelowna

 

 

By Raincityblues (Raincityblues (talk)) (Own work) [<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> or <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GFDL</a>], <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKelowna_panorama.jpg">via Wikimedia Commons</a>

Panorama of Kelowna

Image By Raincityblues (Raincityblues (talk)) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons


 

Personally, when I read Howard’s work, one thing consistently popped into my head.

This is a great idea! It would never work here.

But, I mean when we had our discussion on September 28th, one of the things that was apparently about my approach to the idea of the Garden city was that I’m a skeptic of it. Which couldn’t be truer.

While I love the idea of a Garden city, one that allows for cheap rent, a real community feel and one that works with nature (in a way), it’s highly impractical. One of my comments on Monday was that this idea seems fit for places like the Prairies where we have vast tracts of open land where multiple cities could be set up in a true sense of Howard’s idea. The issue with his idea is that terrain has a massive influence on how a city can grow, the industries that it can be involved in, as well as its potential for more. One of the examples that immediately comes to mind for me is Kelowna itself. We could never have a Garden City in the way that Howard envisions it in our region because of a multitude of factors.

Kelowna’s growth is dictated by the region it’s located in. We’re in a valley, so naturally, the city flows with the valley, expanding first to the easiest areas along the valley floor then along the gentler slopes and then up the hills to the plateaus. Howards plan would call for large areas of flat land, something that we just do not have much of.

Then, when you think of our regional economy, the first things that pop to mind are Fruit, Wine and Tourism. Neither of these are things that Howard properly addressed in his plan. How would tourism work in Kelowna if we were the Garden city concept? Would it even? Then our Wine industry, though it seems well suited for Howard’s agricultural aims, it doesn’t feel like a good fit for the idea. While our fruit industry seems well suited for his ideas, again with the same thing as wine, it doesn’t seem like a good fit.

Why is that? Well our fruit and wine industry are large because of the fact that they flourish here because of the region, its temperatures, its soil, and the disposition of the valley. These are all things unique to our region, something that wouldn’t fit well with Howard’s universal plan.

What I guess I’m really trying to get at, is that while Howard’s Garden City proposal is an inherently good idea, it’s much too vague for a lot of regions. Economies and the growth of a town are dictated by the unique circumstances in which said town is situated in, something that Howard doesn’t address (or at least that I can see) in the least in his plan. Thus, it would never work in Kelowna. Or in reality, any of British Columbia in my opinion.

The Uncontrollable Parts of Society

The discussion on Ebenezer Howard’s book Gardens of To-morrow and the other utopian plans touched on in class has proved to be a fascinating discussion. However, it can be argued that the ideas of these utopian writers perhaps did not leave room for the unpredictability of human behavior in society. When these plans began to emerge in the 19th century, the thinkers behind the ideas witnessed the problems of a city and believed it was due to the lay-out and construction of a city that induced many of the complications, thus deciding that rather than placing a Band-Aid on parts of it, it was vital to create an entirely new one. It is true that the structure of the city can produce different outcomes; freeing traffic due to wider streets for example. There is a lot of planning and control over the imagined city in order to produce the ideal society. Howard, for example, is quite meticulous in the details as he seeks to demonstrate how his idea would be functional in a real life scenario. Although he was lenient in areas such as the aesthetics of the buildings, he still put quite of a bit of thought into making sure there were as little unpredictable situations as possible. When Howard was creating the Garden City, he believed it to be a possible reality, and it is true that the plans of the city could produce positive effects. However, I do believe that Howard and many other Utopian writers depended heavily on the rationality of man, rather than making room in their ideas for unpredictability and man’s irrational, emotional behavior. They expected the people in these societies to be utopian in thought as well as the cities. Utopian cities attempt to control what is hard to control, and often do not leave a lot of room for irregularity. Unfortunately, I believe it reaches utopian status because of the idealism that people will do things justly and accordingly, forgetting that whether people react a certain way due to nature versus nurture, some things cannot be planned for. His idea of a city layout can improve many aspects of life, but may be unable to survive for long. These utopian societies offer great ideas and can be a model for dealing with problems such as traffic congestion, urban sprawl, health issues, and slums but they become utopian due to the unpredictability of humans, demonstrating that not everything in a society can be controlled.

European Infrastructure: Beauty vs. Efficiency

In the class discussion on September 24th, 2015, we examined and compared the attitude and emotions that arose with the emergence of high modernism; among these were the ideals of social and economic efficiency for modern cities and communities in the twenty-first century. At the same time we discussed the differences between the newly emerging utopian city designs during the mid/late 1800’s. I could not help but notice how this reminded me of the buildings and streets I’d seen and marveled during my trip this summer to Europe. What really set the city’s in Europe apart from each other was that a number of the these were designed to represent the national culture and style of the nation and its past monarchies; this was evident in the structure of Charles Castle and Charles Bridge (Karlov Most) in the heart of Prague. While the beauty and emotional mood of the city was breath taking, it was evident that the medieval designs did not take into account the long term efficiency for expanding markets or trade with the international community – save for tourism and historical research. In addition, a number of smaller villages and communities throughout central Europe, such as the small a town of Spreewald (between Dresden and Berlin) still rely  on small motor boats and light barges for transportation and resupply throughout the vast system of canals and island homes/businesses. However, upon further recollection of my travels through central Europe, the cities and businesses that emerged during the Reformation period were based on the concept of combining modernist design and efficiency with national artistic style and form. From the large cobble stone streets to the large open city central courts and parks, these cities were clearly designed to provide easy access to local/traveling market merchants and business dealers. I myself found these roadways and courts to be quite open and efficient for tourists and local shops in spite of the medieval designs and styles of the buildings and bridges/roadways.

The Haussmann renovation of Paris

La Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen of 1789 is a demine text that emerged from the French Revolution. It details an ensemble of the fundamental rights of citizens and the conditions of how these rights ae applied. Ironically, article 17 of the declaration legitimized the movement of expropriation of the inner city by the Haussmann renovation of Paris.
« La propriété est un droit inviolable et sacré. Nul ne peut en être privé sans une juste et préalable indemnité .» Article 17 [1]

declaration

http://eduscol.education.fr/cid74050/la-declaration-des-droits-de-l-homme-et-du-citoyen-de-1789.html

For many at the time it may appear logical to argue that removal of population was a normal casualty of modernization and that modernization is a natural process of society. Prior to the Haussmann renovations, many recognize that Paris needed major changes. The citizens of Paris lived in crowded and unhealthy medieval Faubourgs. The roads were narrow and filthy. There was a lack of sewage infrastructures, garbage elimination and potable water proved to be the perfect breeding grounds to epidemics. Haussmann’s plan was to address all these issue as well as to give the city of Paris a modern and esthetic re-vamp.

Many viewed the Hausmmann renovation style contributes to the beauty of the Capital. The architecture of the buildings, their uniformity and the straight line, grid like aspect of the city woulds charm Parisians and visitors and make a modern and attractive city.

Boulevard_Haussmann_&_Rue_du_Faubourg-Saint-Honoré,_Paris_2012

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boulevard_Haussmann_%26_Rue_du_FaubourSaint-Honor%C3%A9,_Paris_2012.jpg

This opinion was not necessarily shared by Haussmann contemporaries who, denunciated the monotony of the architecture. The corruption in the financing of the work also cast a shadow on the Haussmann plans. The Second Empire and Haussmann critique, Jules Ferry, produce a series of successful pamphlets accusing the prefet Haussmann to have overspent the budget for the renovations and left the city of Paris indebted. The author cleverly named his pamphlet “ Les comptes fantastique D’Haussmann” a twisted salute to Offenbach’s opera “Contes Fantastiques d’Hoffmann” the story of a man with a fundamental love for Art who gives appearance of reality to mythical creatures.

 

xl_avatar

http://www.opera-online.com/en/items/works/les-contes-dhoffmann-barbier-offenbach-1881

Les fabuleux contes d’Haussmann opera fantastic of Jacques Offenbach that inspired Les comptes fantastiques d’Haussmann a satire by Jules Ferry (1868).

Furthermore, the renovation of Paris skyrocketing prices of the housing in the downtown area, which prior to Hausmann was home to the working class. Those people, unable to pay their rent were forced to exile on the periphery of the city untouched by the renovation. The removals therefore created a social segregation of the classes.

citation-emile-zola-67115

Haussmann is also accused of hiding under social and hygienic preoccupations a repression project more reminiscent of an authoritarian regime.
The Hausmann renovation has had a lasting impact on the Parisian society. It divided public opinion and the consequences and motivations can still be discussed as having a profound influence on contemporary contexts.

 

[1] http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Droit-francais/Constitution/Declaration-des-Droits-de-l-Homme-et-du-Citoyen-de-1789

European cities vs Canadian cities

On the first day of our Urban History class the students were asked a simple question about some differences between European cities and the city of Kelowna. Even though we’ve had several newer class discussions since this topic was brought up I could not help but feel as though there was still more to say on this subject.

 Many good points were mentioned during this discussion such as different means of inter-city transportation,

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(Venice, Italy 2012)

Language,

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(Villach, Austria 2012)

History,

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(Rome, Italy 2012)

Food… (especially the manner of preparing said food),

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(Paros, Greece 2012)

and of course the general ambiance.

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(Paris, France 2012)

Probably one of the most prominent differences I noticed when visiting European cities was that even though like all towns and cities they too can get congested by road traffic, there is still almost always a large portion of the city specifically for pedestrians. Even though most of these cities are generally much more heavily populated than your average Canadian city, anytime I was in an area that was reserved solely for people and not vehicles the vibe of the whole city felt more relaxed. In contrast to the normal hustle bustle feel you get when visiting a large city. Of course this still cannot be attributed to all cities in Europe but many of the ones I have been through during my travels have not disappointed in this respect.   

 A more specific example of pedestrian streets was in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The streets they set aside for pedestrian use were massive and could undoubtedly be enough space to allow people as well as road traffic and yet they were not used in that way.

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(Ljubljana, Slovenia 2012)

Even though the streets do not appear busy and overcrowded they certainly could if the pedestrians were pushed to sidewalks. Then all the middle space could be used for vehicles like in so many Canadian cities. However by doing that you are discouraging exercise as well as taking away from the whole ambience of the city.

There were many things about European cities I fell in love with during my travels but still to this day the thing that stands out the most is the fact that you can be in a large overpopulated city such as London, Paris or Ljubljana and without even having to leave you can also get a relaxed small town vibe simply by heading away from the motor ways. I feel like all cities should incorporate this feature.  

 

Charity Doesn’t Equal the Right to be Ignorant

In the “The Attitude of the Bourgeoisie towards the Proletariat” chapter of Friedrich Engels’ Condition of the Working Class in England, there is a letter from a “Lady” in which she goes on a tirade about being forced to see the poverty stricken of England and how she is repulsed by it. The Lady goes on to mention that she, and the bourgeoisie, donates to the charities devoted to poverty causes; therefore she, and others of her rank, should not be forced to view evidence of its existence.

The letter seemed archaic in thought when I first read it, but the truth is that these kinds of opinions still run rampant through our society today. Those of us living in the West have become experts at funneling money into causes while turning a blind eye to the actual problem at the same time. The righteous feeling that comes with donating money to a good cause, such as poverty, should be packaged with the ability to neglect the actual issue. Excuses are often made in order to put the blame on the people in need and relieve ourselves of any sort of responsibility. Any resonating pressure can be absolved by simply throwing money at the issue. Of course, I am not saying that there should not be funds given to institutions and charities, I am simply stating that the ignorance that so many take refuge in needs to be lifted. By disregarding their problems, we are further deepening the segregation between the middle class and lower classes. Acting as though the poor of our cities are in our way or need to be avoided is a gross miscalculation of our own self-worth and a symptom of the overwhelming sense of entitlement that permeates Western society. The middle and upper classes are doing a disservice to those in need by looking the other way, not the other way around.

‘What was Hell ever for?’ Lancashire within Spatial and Cultural Contexts

 

“Life in a Tenement Square” By Flogging Molly

Well I kissed the day, I was on my way 

From those cold gray blocks of stone
For seventeen years of squalor filled tears
A time now with innocence lost
As the sun split the room
With its rays filled with gloom
Turnin’ all hope to despair
And the only thing left
Was to flee from the nest
That was Life In A Tenement Square:

I remember the song where the rats sang along
And danced for their daily bread
While the damp washed the walls
That were twenty feet tall
Not a child in the house was fed
On the porter filled face
Of the men left a trace
Of the coin they had already spent
While our mothers asked God
What was Hell ever for
When you lived in a Tenement Square

Grab what’s left of the coal
From the ol’ cubbyhole
These cinders need more to be a fire
While the ghosts of the soldiers
That lived there before us
Laugh with their guns by their side
I hear them laugh, with their guns by their side

Now politicians they dwell
In that forgotten Hell
Our misery’s been turned into mews
Where the fat of the land
Now hog, hand-in-hand
A crime now of life was ever true
As the sun split the room
With its rays filled with gloom
Turnin’ all hope to despair

And the only thing left
Was to flee from the nest
That was Life In A Tenement Square…

(Lyrics retrieved from: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/floggingmolly/lifeinatenementsquare.html).

“And our Mothers asked God/What was Hell ever for/When you lived in a tenement square[?]”

“We know that poverty is unpleasant; in fact, since it is so remote, we rather enjoy               harrowing ourselves with the thought of its unpleasantness.  But don’t expect us to do       anything about it.  We are sorry for you lower classes, just as we are sorry for a cat           with the mange, but we will fight like devils against any improvement of your condition.       We feel that you are much safer as you are.  The present state of affairs suits us, and       we are not going to take the risk of setting you free, even by an extra hour a day.  So,         dear brothers, since evidently you must sweat to pay for our trips to Italy, sweat and           be damned to you.”[1]

George Orwell reflects the elite attitude towards the working class in his first hand account of poverty.  Orwell’s cardinal sociological/journalistic work Down and out in Paris and London follows his experiences living as a tramp and vagrant among the working class people in two European nations.  The attitude of bourgeoisie towards their underlings is further highlighted by Friedrich Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England.  “We have seen in the course of our report how the bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat in every conceivable way for its own benefit!”[2]

Engels focuses on particular regions and cities within the British Isles to illustrate the abject poverty, despair and squalor experienced by the working class.  When writing of the Great Towns, Engels hones in on Lancashire.  Indeed, Manchester and the surrounding cities are the epicenter of the Industrial Revolution.  Thus the industrial impacts on the land, people, and cities are readily observed in this area.

Engels writes of the beauty of Lancashire that clashes with the industrial slum of the cities and towns, “Again we have beautiful country sloping gently from the watershed westwards towards the Irish Sea, with […] charming green valleys […].”[3]  However; Engels continues, “The degradation to which the application of steam-power, machinery, and the division of labor reduce the working man” cannot be ignored.[4] The reduction of the working man is poignantly articulated through Engels in graphic descriptions of death, disease and malaise.  Moreover, Engels describes the spatial setting of the working class in the context of their suffering.

There can be a tendency to believe that England is a bastion of civilization and high culture.  British Imperialism was founded on notions of inherent superiority and enlightenment.  However, by closely examining the cultural and spatial conditions of Britain’s working poor, it becomes clear that this bastion of civilization is a multilayered structure with an exploitation fueled ‘enlightenment.’

england picture24

Image 1. By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  The coal blackened stone of factories and mills can be seen on most buildings.

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Image 2. By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  Row housing allows for the working poor to live side by side.

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Image 3. By C. Smith in Wigan, Lancashire 2005.  A public square in Wigan.

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Image 4. By C. Smith in Wigan, Lancashire 2005.  A metal and stone fence protects an abandoned building from vagrants.

england picture13

Image 5. By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  A farmer’s field is surrounded by trees and glens.

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Image 6.  By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  The green valleys that Engels referenced are clear on this view from a hike to Rivington Pike.

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Image 7. By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  The green of Lancashire.

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Image 8. By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  Rivington Pike, a former watch tower used to spot the Spanish Armada sits atop a hill that can see the entire expanse of Lancashire.

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Image 9. By C. Smith in Lancashire 2005.  Rivington Pike, a stark contrast between the deep history of Lancashire, the greenery and the nearby industrialized cities and towns.

 

 

“The tendency of mechanical progress, then, is to frustrate the human need for effort and creation.  It makes unnecessary and even impossible the activities of the eye and the hand.”[5] George Orwell.

 

[1] Orwell, Down and out, 119.

[2] Engels, The Condition, 286.

[3] Engels, The Condition, 54.

[4] Engels, The Condition, 54.

[5] Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, 186.

References

Engels, Friedrich. The Condition of the Working Class in England. Stanford, Calif.:                    Stanford University Press, 1968.

Orwell, George. The Road to Wigan Pier. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1958.

Orwell, George. Down and out in Paris and London: A Novel. New York: Harcourt                    Brace Jovanovich, 1961.

 

****Note: Formatting is somewhat incorrect as I could not make the block citation appear correctly.

Melbourne

Currently, Melbourne’s municipal government is working hard on achieving zero emissions for the down town core. Though there are certainly critics of this effort, it seems to enjoy overwhelming support from both citizens of Melbourne and those who champion cleaner technology and reducing our carbon footprint. In many ways, Melbourne is a trailblazer for clean technology and that’s very apparent with efforts to refurbish existing infrastructure to meet a higher and more efficient standard. But what falls to the wayside in the wake of such advances? Studies in recent years have ranked Melbourne 321st most affordable city to live out of 325 cities that were examined. The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey called Melbourne “severely unaffordable” in 2011 and according to government statistics, Melbourne’s rental vacancy rate was 1.3 per cent in 2010 while only 1% would be considered affordable for low-income earners. So what does this say about Melbourne? Of course, it can be argued that housing costs can be tied into a larger real estate shortage in Australia, but should it not be a priority for local officials to make Melbourne an affordable place to live even for its most vulnerable citizens? The answer in my mind is simple: it should be, but it’s not. Though it’s easy to interpret this sustainable development movement in Melbourne as a genuine social and political statement, I would argue that these efforts are not much more than a façade and an attempt to attract business to the down town core while ignoring the needs of their citizens. Instead of making policy around attracting wealthier residents, why not try to improve life for the residents who already live in Melbourne?

That being said, encouraging economic growth is an essential part of maintaining a free-enterprise market in the city. However, if this trend continues there will undoubtedly be an exodus of middle to low-income earners to surrounding areas who will then have to make long commutes into the city. Also, it’s important that I clarify: I indeed applaud efforts towards sustainability, but not at the expense of expelling all but the well-to-do from the down town core–especially one so notable for its vibrant diversity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-rental-pressure-cooker-20100402-rjvb.html#ixzz2mZthsY55

http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-rental-pressure-cooker-20100402-rjvb.html