CONTEXT – APPROPRIATE CITIES – HEALTH – VITALITY
Join us for an Online Virtual Conference with main topics in a single stream for all disciplines, then split into two streams with keynote addresses, 2-3 brief presentations by panel members, with debate, discussion and declaration of intent as final combined sessions. As President of The Institute for Landscape Architecture in South Africa (ILASA), I am excited to invite you to a joint conference in partnership with the Urban Design Institute of South Africa (UDISA) and International Federation of Landscape Architects IFLA Africa, with Corobrik as our valued primary sponsor to be held as a virtual online event on the 15 and 16 of October 2020.
With Climate Change being taken now as a given fact, how do Landscape Architects and Urban Designers respond to these localised challenges, co-create resilient, healthy and vital urban places and cities, with Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation measures as cornerstones of advocacy, local policy, and actions?
Symbiosis or Conflict – the relationship between natural ecology and urban ecology; Landscape Architecture and Urban Design in an African Context: Regression; Regeneration or Transformation of African cities towns and the rural countryside.
OBJECTIVE OF THE CONFERENCE:
To discuss and possibly reach a consensus and declaration on how landscape architects, urban designers and the other built environment professions in Africa can address the problems and find solutions to co-creating places in the cities, towns and rural areas that improve the health and vitality of all the people who use them?
CONTEXT:
What is the African context? Is it unique? Are there other places that have similar experiences as Africa (and the Global South)?
Latour commenting on Koolhaas’s quote “Context Stinks!” “…but it stinks only because it stays in place too long and ends up rotting. Context would not stink so much if we could see that it moves and flows just as buildings do. What is context in flight?” Latour, B & Yaneva, A, 2017 Give Me a Gun and I Will Make All Buildings Move: An ANT’s View of Architecture DOI: 10.17454/ARDETH01.08
How applicable are the landscape theories, practices and design principles generated in the Global North to the Global South?
APPROPRIATE CITIES:
What is the appropriate city building model after colonialism, capitalism and the pandemic?
“… this move represents a will to take African cities seriously in themselves – without first relating them to other (EuroAmerican) cities, theoretical constructs, or a developmentalist agenda. For example, MYERS (2011) asks provocatively ‘What if¯ the postmetropolis is Lusaka?’, reorienting our gaze away from New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo towards an ordinary African
city.” Erneston, Lawhon & Duminy 2014
HEALTH:
Can we create healthy cities that are also healthy for Earth?
How do we create a balance between human needs and environmental impact?
How do we respect the land(scape) and accommodate people’s needs and desires?
How do we accommodate and facilitate the Ecological, Social and Cultural Memory of the site while repurposing it for new uses?
VITALITY:
What are the components of an urban space which enable a power of giving life to everything – biodiversity, people, plants, animals, insects….?
How do we create urban spaces that people believe are safe after the pandemic?
Are public urban spaces still as relevant for urban life in the post-pandemic era?
What will be safe urban densities after the pandemic?
Virtual space vs physical space – is this the new normal
How do we address S.L.O.A.P. (Space left over after planning) left over spaces, street spaces, squares etc, street corners…. Where people live, the space outside the door. Left over spaces and green structure – the relationship between buildable and not buildable land.
COME AND JOIN OUR CONVERSATION! LISTEN TO OTHERS VIEWS AND EXPERIMENTS AND SOLUTIONS. HAVE YOUR SAY!
For more updates on this event you can visit www.ilasa.co.za
