Suchergebnisse

This paper reports on a case study of the Milan-based collective Macao to examine whether its commoning practices and governance model allow for processes of cultural peer production and their degree of engagement and inclusiveness on various scales. In 2012, Macao occupied iconic spaces in Milan and became rapidly a significant urban movement that gathered a large number of members and supporters. The activists eventually settled in the former Slaughterhouse Exchange Building in the Molise-Calvairate-Ponti neighbourhood, an area characterised by a large number of abandoned and underused sites, inadequate provision of affordable housing and issues around the social integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities (Milan City Council, 2010; Caffa, 2016, 2017). Drawing on foundational studies on urban movements and the role of the creative sector in urban struggles, the paper first contextualises Macao within the broader framework of grass-roots initiatives in Italy since the 1970s before investigating the controversial relationship between the collective and the local community. The gaps we note between them provide a better understanding of the complexity of the actual social, economic and political struggles in Milan, and how 'right-to-the-city' aspirations are differently interpreted. By analysing Macao's experience through the lens of the commons, the paper provides insights into whether its key features and governance aim at activating inclusive practices of cultural peer production. During two field work periods in February 2016 and April 2017, data were collected through mixed methods that included visual mapping, semi-structured interviews with representatives of Macao and local stakeholders and a multi-activity participatory session with a group of Molise-Calvairate-Ponti social housing tenants.

Thanks to several foundational contributions (De Angelis 2010; Hardt and Negri 2009; Harvey 2012; Ostrom 1990), the topic of urban commons has recently gained much interest, as indicated by a number of publications and international conferences (Dellenbaugh et al., 2015). While these have variously analysed the topic in relationship to its fundamental elements, this paper further investigates the relationship between urban commons and planning and local governance processes (Muller 2015). On 5 May 2012, the artists' collective M^C^O (henceforth Macao) drew public attention to the massive number of unused and vacant spaces in Milan by squatting in the iconic Galfa Tower, a private property that had been abandoned since 1996. This event, recalling ideals and actions of the social centres that flourished during the 1980s and 1990s in Italy, represented the first public manifestation of the complex and hidden scenarios of the social movements animating the cultural life of Milan. Due to their intimate awareness of urban spaces (Molinari 2012), these artist-led informal initiatives have been able to stand opposite to globally oriented political choices and could thus be interpreted as symbols of community values and local resistance. Symbolically, squatting in the Galfa Tower served to shine a light on the need for a radical change in urban policies regarding the reuse of the massive patrimony of abandoned sites in towns, which could accommodate un-revealed spatial and social needs (Valli 2015). Unlike the current planning tools and practices adopted by the City Council of Milan (Oliva 2001), Macao's activists developed and proposed the Constituent City manifesto (Macao 2015), which sought to guarantee that vacant and abandoned properties within metropolitan Milan, whether privately or publicly owned, could be directly managed by self-organised groups of citizens. In their alternative proposal, the Macao activists were striving for the possibility for these self-organised communities to manage the available spaces for non-profit purposes through public assemblies. Starting from these premises, the paper interrogates the issue of how urban commoning can challenge conventional planning procedures. Using a case study of the former Slaughterhouse Exchange Building (henceforth SEB) in Milan, also squatted in the by Macao movement, the paper seeks to identify the mutual influences between commoning practices, local governance and planning policies. Drawing on these insights, we conclude by offering a reflection on the roles that commoning practices may have in defining innovative governance and planning processes.

This article investigates the spatial articulation of architecture and home through the exploration of current domestic experiences in Basil Spence's Claremont Court housing scheme (1959-1962), Edinburgh. How architecture and home are both idealized and lived is the backdrop for a discussion that draws on the concept of "model home," or physical representation of a domestic ideal. The article reads Claremont Court as an architectural prototype of the modern domestic ideal, before exploring its reception by five of its households through the use of visual methods and semistructured interviews. Receiving the model home involves negotiating between ideal and lived homes. Building on this idea, the article contributes with a focus on the spatiality of such reception, showing how it is modulated according to the architectural affordances that the "model home" represents. The article expands on scholarship on architecture and home with empirical evidence that argues the reciprocal spatiality of home.

Home and community: Issues of public concern at the turn of the 1960s in Scotland -- Claremont Court housing scheme: Home and community design -- Spatial home-making in Claremont Court: negotiating the ideal modern home -- Exploring the construction of atmospheres in Claremont Court housing scheme -- Belonging at Claremont Court: The relational, material and temporal dimensions of 'community' -- Home and community: Lessons from Claremont Court

This paper aims to elaborate the architectural theory on place-making that supported Claremont Court housing scheme (Edinburgh, United Kingdom). Claremont Court (1959-62) is a post-war mixed development housing scheme designed by Basil Spence, which included 'place-making' as one of its founding principles. Although some stylistic readings of the housing scheme have been published, the theory on place-making that allegedly ruled the design has yet to be clarified. Architecture allows us to mark or make a place within space in order to dwell. Under the framework of contemporary philosophical theories of place, this paper aims to explore the relationship between place and dwelling through a cross-disciplinary reading of Claremont Court, with a view to develop an architectural theory on place-making. Since dwelling represents the way we are immersed in our world in an existential manner, this theme is not just relevant for architecture but also for philosophy and social sciences. The research in this work is interpretive-historic in nature. It examines documentary evidence of the original architectural design, together with relevant literature in sociology, history and architecture, through the lens of theories of place. First, the paper explores how the dwelling types originally included in Claremont Court supported ideas of dwelling or meanings of home. Then, it traces shared space and social ties in order to study the symbolic boundaries that allow the creation of a collective identity or sense of belonging. Finally, the relation between the housing scheme and the supporting theory is identified. The findings of this research reveal Scottish architect Basil Spence's exploration of the meaning of home, as he changed his approach to mass housing while acting as President of the Royal Incorporation of British Architects (1958-60). When the British Government was engaged in various ambitious building programmes he sought to drive architecture to a wider socio-political debate as president of the RIBA, hence moving towards a more ambitious and innovative socio-architectural approach. Rather than trying to address the 'genius loci' with an architectural proposition, as has been stated, the research shows that the place-making theory behind the housing scheme was supported by notions of community based on shared space and dispositions. The design of the housing scheme was steered by a desire to foster social relations and collective identities, rather than by the idea of keeping the spirit of place (genius loci). This paper presents Claremont Court as a signifier of Basil Spence's attempt to address the post-war political debate on housing in United Kingdom. They highlight the architect's theoretical agenda and challenge current purely stylistic readings of Claremont Court as they fail to acknowledge its social relevance.