SUMMER STUDIO THE RURAL IN THE CITY

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1 SUMMER STUDIO THE RURAL IN THE CITY July 24-31, 2016 HafenCity University Hamburg Studio für Topografisches Denken und Entwerfen Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Christiane Sörensen Wiltrud Simbürger, M.Arch., M.Sc.

2 THE RURAL IN THE CITY The notion of the rural rurality has long played a well-established role in the popular imagination as the antithesis to the city as everything the urban is not. Or to put it more provocatively: as the residual being left over by the urban. Although this lopsided dichotomy has been challenged many times it still serves as a powerful concept due to the wide range of connotations that are attached to it. Since the beginning of the 21st century more than half of the world population lives in urban areas and thus the question of this will affect the rural-urban relationship has become all the more urgent. What role is the rural to play in the light of rapidly growing urbanization worldwide? Will it become a mere by-product of an ever-growing metropolis, depopulated and marginalized, subsidized instead of invested in? Or can it uphold its spatial and

3 ideational autonomy? Is there a power of the rural that needs to be taken into account when developing approaches towards global urbanization? It is this global phenomenon of the rural in the city that our SummerStudio is dedicated to. Framed as small workshops and guided experts from the disciplines of architecture, ethnology and art, we will focus on Moorfleet, a site south of Hamburg s city center that is characterized by a mix of agriculture, industry and recreational facilities. We will ask how the rural as idea and as space co-exists within the specific urban context of Hamburg.

4 RESEARCH SITE: MOORFLEET Area in Hamburg s city proper Characteristic mix of agriculture, industry, energy production, recreational sites Located along the Elbe river and several freeways 1856 Unterelbe

5 HafenCity/ Baakenhafen Ost-Achse IBA/Wilhelmsburg Vier- und Marschlande

6 FIELDS OF ACTION SHARING HERITAGE THE RURAL AS AURATIC SITE Rural spaces evoke experiences and ideas that are historically, geographically and culturally specific. Situating these spaces within specific urban contexts raises questions about the role such sites can play within the city? How do experiences of familiarity (and foreignness) differ in the urban context? What kind of collective memories can they keep alive? What kind of narrative structures and alternatives to the urban do they offer?

7 MULTICULTURAL COMMONS In the rural context, the commons has a concrete, well-defined meaning: public space that is available to all members of a settlement for collective use to sustain their own livelihood (i.e. such as grazing, fishing, hunting grounds). What me aning acquires the commons in the urban context? Which collective traces similar to a rural commons can be encountered in the culturally diverse setting of a city? How is the collective use of open space by users of different cultural backgrounds orchestrated, how is it experienced? What can the concept of rurality contribute to places of arrival in a foreign culture? These questions become all the more urgent against the background of the current migrant and refugee crisis which poses major challenges to today s cities. BLURRED BOUNDARIES STRATEGIES IN THE ANTHROPOCENE In an era of anthropogenic climate change traditional boundaries between humans, animals, culture, nature, wilderness and civilization have become vulnerable. How does the blurring of such boundaries impact the relationship between rural and urban space? What kind of coping strategies can rurality as an expression of a more direct interaction between humans and nature bring to the table?

8 MENTORS AGRICULTURAL SPACE AS LANDSCAPE Rural spaces can be characterized by their different uses: agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, recreation, natural preserve etc. Attempts to intertwine utilitarian and aesthetic experiences of landscape can be traced back to the 18th century horticultural concept of the ornamental farm. What potential can this approach offer today? What can it contribute to the preservation and appreciation of landscapes that are increasingly under attack by urban growth?

9 BERND GRIMM PENNY HES YASSOUR Model builder and designer Fields of interest: Interdisciplinary artist. Awards (selection): Expert for models of historic and mo- Prototypes Professor of architecture at Bezalel Art 2009 Artis Grant dern architectures intellectual crafts- Sculpture Academy, Jerusalem, Israel Prize for Excellency in the Arts, manship. Building survey and reconstruction Israel National Lottery Council for the Graphics Arts Works in architecture, design and art: Research 2003 Prize of the Minister of Culture, product, graphic, exibition and interior Architectural models Israel design Award of Adolph and Esther Gott- lieb Foundation, INC New York 1999 Arnold Bode Prize for her contribution to Documenta X, Kassel

10 PROF. DR. KATHRIN WILDNER Urban ethnologist Research interests: Professor of cultural theory and practice at HafenCity University Hamburg. Founding member of metrozones Zentrum für urbane Angelegenheiten. Public space Transnational urbanism Artistic practices Ethnographical methods of spatial analysis Coordinator for the research and exhibition project Global Prayers. Contemporary Manifestations of the Religious in the City.

11 with Prof. Iris Aravot, PhD Arch. Orit Shmueli, PhD Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Bernd Grimm Designer & Model Builder, Ungers Archive Penny Hes Yassour Artist Prof. Dr. Kathrin Wildner Urban Ethnologist, HafenCity University