Table of contents for N. 105 in Topos

Mayors? Why mayors? Why devote an entire issue of topos to a type of local politicians? Why delve into the muddy waters of politics at all? Why not stick to the beautiful world of pure landscape, untarnished planning, harmonious greenery? I'll tell you why. It is our conviction that you cannot understand landscape architecture or urban design today without also understanding the framework within which planners operate. This framework is determined through complex political processes. And within these processes, a distinct group of politicians – mayors – play a decisive role. But, of course, looking at what mayors do at the same time means eyeing with much precision what is happening within their realm of decision-making, i.e. the cities we live in. This perspective has to it something of a…

The metro is diverse. Stay in the city of Manila, and you get urban chaos. From Burnham’s city beautiful plan in 1905 to the Frost-Arellano plan in 1941 – à la Paris with radiating avenues from a memorial – one would understand how realizing master plans isn’t the Philippines’ strongest suit. Spain’s three hundred years of colonization influenced the very culture of the landscape and society – exquisite old buildings still stand across plazas and churches, surrounded by streets with Filipino-Spanish names. Opportunity and growth fueled rapid urbanization. Home to the seat of government, centers for education, and a progressive economy, Manila attracted people from the rural areas to live in the city. With constant internal migration and the necessity to cater to needs and resources, country priorities for development…

When Ada Colau was elected mayor of Barcelona in 2015 she taped a note on her office door in city hall that read: “Never forget who we are, or why we are here.” It was a warning not to let power go to their heads. Colau herself now admits that it was difficult to make the transition from activist, always knocking on the door of the powers that be, to finding herself behind the door, but with less power than she imagined. In a culture dominated by career politicians, Colau, who came to prominence through social activism, is an anomaly. She already had a public profile as one of the founders of PAH (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca – People Affected by Mortgages), an organisation founded for the purpose…

Whenever a woman mayor is elected into office, a sense of change and of a new beginning lies in the air. For while the percentage of women in higher political offices has increased steadily, it is still extremely low when compared to similar offices held by men. But what exactly is the reason for our excitement, beside the obvious fact that gender equality is important? We are hoping for new impulses, especially as it concerns the actual content of our work. As early as 1984, a woman collective of architects, designers and city planners published an academic paper with the title “Making Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment”. The paper criticized a man-made world where women have to passively try to fit in. Dark street corners are a negative example…

Open space in cities should always be considered as a part of the overall urban landscape. In an urban network of varying density, open space has a very strong social component and is where interaction between people is especially prevalent. In line with the maxim that “it’s the people who make a place special”, a space doesn’t become active or lively until it’s used by people. Even if the use of a space is influenced greatly by factors such as season, time of day or the weather, its design and amenities are key factors. It doesn’t matter if it’s temporary or permanent, tightly controlled or flexible and mobile: People tend to stay longer in a park or at a plaza if there are, for example, comfortable places to sit, and…

It’s all about perspective. There are perspectives from which a difference of one centimeter is of little importance. Perhaps in your work as a landscape architect, one centimeter might be rather ignorable at times, too. For the citizens of Jakarta, however, one centimeter is a lot. It is by 1 to 1.15 centimeters that their city, with its 10 million inhabitants, is sinking every year. This is more than double the average sinking rate of coastal megacities worldwide – and it should be enough to put a clear end to all discussions of whether or not climate change is real. That fundamental debate is a discursive luxury we can no longer afford. Back to Jakarta: The sinking process is not taking place with the same speed all over the city.…

On June 27, 2015, American filmmaker Bree Newsome scaled the flagpole at the South Carolina state house and removed its Confederate battle flag, which had flown there since April 11, 1961. She did so ten days after the killing of nine churchgoers during a prayer service at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The perpetrator, Dylan Roof, had written extensively about wanting to start a race war and posted a cache of photos online, brandishing Confederate imagery, making clear his ideological connection to the Confederate States of America. Seemingly overnight, people across the U.S. were awakened to the fact that many of the public spaces in their own cities were likewise host to Confederate symbols. Politicians were flooded with calls to remove these. One such…

A new method of family planning is gaining ground in six French-speaking cities in West Africa, thanks to advice and funding from The Challenge Initiative (TCI). Mayors are leading these efforts as they increase their role in planning health and economic development goals for their communities. Awarded every two years since 2006, “World Mayor” is an award given by The City Mayors Foundation with the intention to enhance the reputation of mayors worldwide and honour those who have rendered outstanding service to their communities. The current World Mayor is Bart Somers, Mayor of Mechelen, Flanders. For 2018, World Mayor is dedicated to women in local government. 780,804,596 The mayors of 9,149 cities, representing 780,804,596 people worldwide and 10.23 per cent of the total global population, have committed themselves to the…

It’s the first day of ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event), the world’s biggest conference and festival devoted exclusively to electronic music. I’m waiting outside the opening event at Mary Go Wild, a small record store on Amsterdam’s Zeedijk, where a sizable crowd has gathered to catch acid house pioneer DJ Pierre, who is there to talk about the roots of house music. Joining him is Shamiro van der Geld, Amsterdam’s night mayor. As chief advocate for Amsterdam’s night life, the role of night mayor really comes into its own during ADE, a time when Amsterdam becomes the global centre of an ever-expanding electronic music industry and a sounding board for the current state of nightlife. True to form, Shamiro (using his first name feels more appropriate, he’s kind of a local…

TALENTS BAM: Jacob Walker, Daniel Gass, Allison Dailey Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM) is a multidisciplinary design office based in Beijing, Shanghai, and New York, founded by Jacob Walker, Daniel Gass, and Allison Dailey. While working for Martha Schwartz, they began to define their professional agenda. BAM is not about the identity of one person. They believe that if no one person takes the spotlight, they will be more creative and diverse than any sole person can be. 1 CAREER STARTING POINT? In architecture school where we collaboratively created landscape installations and publications. Later we worked together in the office of Martha Schwartz, where we set up BAM. 2 INFLUENCED BY Denver the Last Dinosaur, Anthony Gaudi, Will Alsop, Nachiketa Chakraborty, Danny Tenaglia, Peter Walker, Martha Schwartz, Joseph Campbell, Noodle Soup,…

Cities are the central nodes of the global economy, responsible for more than 80 percent of all GDP. Metropolitan clusters and special economic zones are displacing nation states and driving global supply chains. For example, just 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S. account for more than 52 percent of the country’s GDP. This did not happen by accident. Because they bring smart people together, cities channel creativity, connect human capital, and when well governed, drive growth. Cities are also merging and adopting new urban forms. Metropolitan clusters are linking groups of cities both online and off. Some mega-regions are transcending borders, with cities forging common regional plans and trading partnerships and infrastructure corridors. Yet what makes cities so important is not just their breathtaking population or economics statistics. Cities are…

. . . Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the planning session of your Global Parliament of Mayors in Amsterdam last Friday. I had been looking forward to a fruitful exchange and the opportunity to receive your feedback on a number of questions, but unfortunately the lack of time allocated to nonscripted contributions did not allow for this during Friday’s sessions, so instead I will make use of the form of a public letter. There are certain persistent thoughts that I have regarding your initiative “The Global Parliament of Mayors” (GPM), which I would like to share – first and foremost, with you; second, through this public letter, also with the other mayors, deputy mayors, mayors’ representatives, and other invited guests who participated in the sessions; and finally,…

Kiril Ass is a Russian architect. Based in Moscow, he combines artistic research and architectural activity in collaboration with one of the main proponents of Soviet “paper architecture”, Bureau Alexander Brodsky. Among other places, he teaches at the Moscow School of Architecture. www.mentalpress.org Stephen Burgen is a British writer and journalist. He moved to Barcelona in 2001 as the Spain correspondent of The Times. In 2004 he was recruited by Carles Puigdemont, later Catalan president, to edit a new daily called Catalonia Today. Since 2006 he has worked as a freelance writer and translator. stephenburgen@gmail.com Charlie Clemoes is an English writer, editor and podcaster, currently living in Amsterdam. He is an editor at Failed Architecture, with whom he is currently producing the Failed Architecture podcast. He is also part of…

1 Corniche 33.902940, 35.484556 It is only natural to start at the Corniche – the birthplace of Beirut. This long promenade is a meeting place for people from different backgrounds and one of the last stretches of the coast that is not privatized. Begin your walk at the Raouche Rock, the monolith standing in the sea, a last remnant of what the natural limestone landscape used to look like. Stroll down the Rue de Paris towards the East and stop at the “manara”, the lighthouse: the tip of Beirut (Ras Beirut). From here continue towards the city center while watching the urban collage of modern high rises next to small traditional houses. When you reach Minet El Hosn (Port of the Fortress) take a pause to grasp the presence of…