NEGOTIATING SPACE

NEGOTIATING SPACE is a practical research, a reflection on the relationship between space and society; the coexistence of social, cultural, economic and ecological dynamics in the context of a squatter settlement. Instead of approaching squatter settlements with the intention of solving its urgent problems with a “western” urbanistic strategy, we will approach it with an empiric, common sense, sharp vision of how people appropriate and perceive the space and city they live in.As Koolhaas said about Lagos: Shortcomings have generated ingenious critical alternative systems. Without romanticizing or fast conclusions, we will study these urban dynamics throughout a multidisciplinary interactive research and conception of urban actions.

We will develop a spatial intervention in Old Fadama as a common act by the inhabitants to understand the dynamics of the place, to stimulate critical thinking and to inspire future processes of urban development on the context, operating at the city level as well as international. The development of the urban act itself becomes a research on methodology of a graphical, interactive urban design process. The output of the participative fieldwork and [creative] mapping process will be translated into a support or platform for multiple uses in the Old Fadama atmosphere – not as a stigmatized slum, but as part of the diverse city life.

From 7/11 till 6/12 we are in Accra (Ghana) to set up the methodology and collaboration with inhabitants of Old Fadama, Ghanian artists and academics to develop an urban act in Old Fadama’s public space. During this period, every two days,  we will post reflections and interpretations of are fieldwork on the blog. We would like to read your opinions, suggestions and thoughts on the process that we are carrying on!

Thank you!

Barbara Roosen and Ana Beja da Costa

Intro to Old Fadama

The squatter settlement of Old Fadama, in Accra, is stigmatized with conflictual political, social and ecological interests. The space of the neighbourhood is in a overlapping stage of appropriation of the inhabitants, the dead ecosystem of the Korle lagoon and Odaw River and the development plan of the government: the Korle Lagoon Recreational Project.

The government calls for evocation to implement a recreational project, as the Odaw River and Korle Lagoon are the sewerage of the city, i.e. a dead ecology. The restoration project is going on, to canalise the river and dredge the lagoon, threatening the adjacent neighbourhood Old Fadama, as we know it today; Old Fadama is mostly inhabited by migrant farmers who live in the uncertainty of loosing their homes and work.

How to turn these contradictory interests into a synergy? And what is the supportive role of spatial devices within this process?

The negotiation goes on since a long time, but politics move slowly. As long as the government plans are not clear, nobody is willing to invest in the neighbourhood. Many essays, articles and speculations have been written on the life and appropriation of space in the squatter settlement. The inhabitants got tired of another interview, another questionnaire without visible result…

 

Sociaal Huis, Merksplas

The old police office of the Merksplas village is to be transformed and expanded for a social service office.  

The design starts from the interrelation between architecture and landscape on the scale of: a room, the building and the surrounding garden; the village center and the surrounding agricultural landscape. The building is located at the heart of the village, on the crossing of 2 main streets, on a strategic point within the village´s fragmented open and public space.

The building will be surrounded by an open garden, a fragment of the local ‘kempen’ landscape in the village center. The building is clarified by turning it into a 3 volumes composition, connected by a greenhouse structure.

 

[Barbara Roosen, Ana Beja da Costa with PT Architecten]

SÃO CRISTÓVÃO: Unfolding the Railway

São Cristóvão is a central neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro with a complex over-layering of history and with contemporary coexistence of contrasting urban realities. Taking advantages of the leftover spaces along the railways and weaving landscape and infrastructure, the proposed system aims to link the different adjacent urban elements. The design recovers the natural elements previously eroded by urbanization, extending the green structure within the city. Attending to the valley configuration of the site and recovering the former courses crossing the area, the water become the structuring element, particularly, the hard spine of public space.

Ana Beja da Costa, Barbara Roosen, Sabina Favaro / EMU – MaHS KULeuven / 2007