South of Lisbon, in the hinterland of hotels and apartment complexes, is the not yet legalized Terras da Costa quarter. In 2012, the idea of setting up a communal kitchen was born in the neighborhood. Their proposal was tied to hopes that authorities would agree to install a water supply and thereby start the legalization process of the settlement. The architectural office ateliermob and many other groups, initiatives, and individuals supported this ambition in various ways. Some contributed their work directly, others positioned themselves in solidarity, and foundations funded the project. After about two years, water finally flowed to Terras da Costa. But many other aspects remained unresolved or have not been decided politically, so that settlements in similar situations have to continue the fight for their rights to the city.
Superkilen is one of many public spaces that have been created over the past twenty years in the Copenhagen district of Nørrebro. The park aimed to create an extended social space that would integrate Nørrebro more closely into the urban fabric. It was also intended to establish conditions for co-management and inclusion, so that various cultural and ethnic groups could become part of the planning. Thus, the aim went beyond simply creating a space where the neighborhood’s residents wanted to spend time. The design was also to reflect their diversity. In the process, a series of spaces was created that were shaped by different aspects and programmed by various activities. But this conversely raises a multitude of questions about the precise ambitions for and implementation of civil society participation processes.
Twenty years ago, the architecture office ZUS moved into an anonymous Schieblock in Rotterdam as an anti-squatter. At that time, however, the areas surrounding this block were cut up and separated by roads and railway lines. This is how the idea of a bridge was born. The hope: new impulses and uses for empty buildings and urban wastelands. Interestingly, the bridge brought people together even before it existed. Via an internet platform, people were able to purchase wooden planking for the future bridge, which was fully opened in 2015. Other aspects of the project were strongly supported by the municipality of Rotterdam: Work and office space, restaurants, cafés, and green spaces. Since then, there has been a lot of talk about the quarter’s new vitality but also about the consequences of upgrading and exclusivity.
The Fair Building project is about precisely those who are often forgotten when architects or public figures talk about spectacular new constructions or large-scale urban planning. In contrast to the film industry, where every role, no matter how small, is listed in the credit roll, architecture tends to keep a low profile when it comes to the work and the workers whose labor allows for buildings to emerge: workers who are employed in precarious conditions, workers who temporarily live far from home in inhospitable places, workers who ply their trade on unsecured building sites, and workers who toil away for days and weeks that are too long. These are the people who play the lead here.
The film Swim City shows us how vital rivers are for the well-being of the entire urban population. Whether in the Danube baths in Vienna, the botanical gardens of Tbilisi, or the rivers in Basel and Zurich—everywhere people are jumping into the water on warm and even cold days. In other cities, too, where rivers are only just being rediscovered as open spaces, initiatives are being formed to raise awareness of the value of water in the city. This, however, goes far beyond the mere popularizing of swimming. They are also movements that fight for public access to water against the background of increasing privatization of river banks. They make it clear that rivers must be taken seriously as important arteries in larger ecological structures.
Jürg Egli, artist and Wilmmaker; Lucı́a de Mosteyrı́n, photographer; Barbara Buser, Andreas Ruby, and Yuma Shinohara, co-curation; Swiss Architecture Museum Basel (S AM), commission
