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Margaret Crawford Professor Department of Urban Planning and Design |
Studios
101 Urban Salvations As an urban setting, Cambridge, Massachusetts, appears to have a lot going for it: two of the world's greatest universities, an extremely high density of resident intellectuals (including architects), a manageable size, a small-scale, fine-grained urban fabric, good public transportation and an excellent tax base. However, in spite of these advantages, in many respects Cambridge remains a mediocre urban environment. Harvard Square is becoming increasingly gentrified. Large new developments such as Kendall Square and North Point are banal while existing neighborhoods in North and East Cambridge remain stagnant. Neither encourages memorable urban experiences. Residents encounter a lack of affordable housing, a variable school system, limited leisure and recreational activities, and a dramatically increasing gap between rich and poor. The city is well managed but lacks imagination. University administrators concentrate on their own needs without consideration for the larger urban environment. This studio addressrd this situation with innovative and visionary solutions. Its goal is to produce 101 actual suggestions for improving Cambridge. These "salvations" encompass a broad range of topics; drawing on the physical, social, environmental, political and aesthetic realms. They range from one-liners to complex propositions. Many propose new physical forms while others focus on restructuring existing organizations or policies. The studio's analytic framework is based on concepts derived from the French philosopher and urbanist, Henri Lefebvre, emphasizing the importance of lived experience in creating urbanity. The semester begind with an intensive ethnographic and physical research phase, including input from a variety of Cambridge "publics." Students then develop several proposals, both individually and in groups. The studio attemptd to reimagine Cambridge as fully as possible while remaining grounded in the realities of its urban experiences. In order to produce the widest range of concepts, the studio is open to students from all programs. Nansha: Rethinking Urbanism and Landscape
in the Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta in southern China is a notorious demonstration of the urban effects of rapid economic development. On the east bank, the Special Economic Zones of Shenzhen and Donghuan have produced a dense and chaotic urban landscape. On bulldozed land, factories, high-rise housing and hotels crowd together along massive freeways. With the recent expansion of Guanzhou’s urban boundaries, the west bank is slated for even more intensive development. The single barrier to this intensive urbanization is Nansha Island. Owned by the Fok Foundation, Nansha’s 22 sq. kilometers lie at the geographic heart of the Pearl River Delta. The Fok Foundation is developing Nansha as an experimental city—an alternative to the frenzied development taking place in the rest of the region. Conceived as an urban and architectural laboratory, Nansha has been under construction since 1990 and currently contains a wildly diverse collection of buildings and landscapes. Traditional Suzhou and French baroque gardens surround sleek glass highrises. A temple to the Goddess of the Fishermen abuts a modern IT park. Unreclaimed quarries surround a popular golf club. A hyper-contemporary museum and luxurious five star hotel attract visitors from Hong Kong and Guanzhou. Unsure of its future direction, the Fok Foundation has asked us to evaluate its earlier experiments and chart a new course for the next stages of development. The studio produces multiple scenarios for Nansha’s future, including strategic plans, landscape infrastructure and designs for housing and other buildings.
An Academic Environment in Three Communities
- Cambridge, Allston and Watertown With its recent purchases of land in Allston and Watertown, Harvard University has more than doubled its land ownership. Its options for long-term growth are thus vastly expanded beyond the constrained Cambridge campus and environment. In possession of a territory as large as central Boston, but stretched across a much wider physical and cultural geography, the university begins planning for a vastly different physical future then its famous symbols of place: Harvard Yard and Harvard Square. Any long or even short-range plans are complicated by the increasingly complex and contentious environment in which the university operates, now significantly in three municipal and social jurisdictions. In addition to always difficult internal decisions about allocating space, the growth of academic programs, circulation, affiliated research & commercial development, housing, parking, and architectural identity, the university has to respond to jurisdictions with different histories, physical fabric, and political and regulatory structures. Any proposals also have to deal with well-organized community opposition to university expansion. Plans come up against long-standing traditions about who occupies which territory. "Culture wars" over architectural styles and symbolism may expand. And a three century-old view that the center of gravity is Harvard Yard, implying, of course implying that Allston and Watertown are remote and far less desirable environments have to be addressed. Who will volunteer to be reassigned to the proverbial 'provinces,' and then how should they be site planned and designed? Given Harvard's own famously non-centralized administrative structure (in the tradition of "every tub on its own bottom") coordinated planning decisions may become even more difficult as the university spreads across a much larger territory. Can it continue to produce multiple and sometimes competing plans? Conversely, can the tradition of a strongly nucleated campus environment (in juxtaposition to the academic autonomy of the "tubs") be maintained as the distances between parts of the university grow? Is it important for a central (or commonly held) physical identity for the university to be maintained? The studio addresses such complex issues at several different levels, among them:
We are fortunate to be working closely with Harvard's Office of Planning & Real Estate, which has assembled a remarkably extensive data set about the university that is made available to us. Individuals from the university and citizens from host communities are also available for interviews, and later for reactions to our work. Many people both internal to and outside the university are very interested in offering their opinions on Harvard's future, and in the insights generated by this studio. Thus, the immediate challenge is less to compile information, then to become familiar with the many resources available, so as to quickly form analytical and conceptual perspectives from which to proceed. Some of the work is done in teams, and investigations range from broad planning concepts, to guidelines for decision making, to campus design strategies, to even more specific landscape and architectural proposals. Several weekend-length trips are planned (and sponsored) to campuses such as Columbia, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania to gain perspective on analogous town-gown settings. The studio is open to urban design, planning, landscape architecture and architecture students.
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