A collection of essays inspired by the Holcim Forum 2007 held in Shanghai has been published by Ruby Press of Berlin. The Holcim Forum attracted more than 250 professionals from 40 countries and focused upon sustainable urban development.
The Holcim Foundation conducts the symposiums to promote the exchange of information on creating a sustainable built environment between architects, engineers, construction professionals and specialists of all generations.
“Tell me what is urban for you and I can tell you who you are"
Clearly,
the very notion of “urban” is arguably one of the hot topics of
contemporary culture; it has become the synonym of cool and serves as a
Zeitgeist indicator of lifestyle, music, food, fashion, and design.
Yet
precisely what “urban” means in regard to urbanism and the city has
become increasingly blurred. Depending on specific geographic,
climatic, economic, and cultural conditions, there are many, and often
radically conflicting implications of “urban” developments: the
hyper-dense megalopolis coexists with endless sprawl; traditional
street life exists side by side with massive web traffic; the hardware
of architecture is augmented by the software of the event; high-speed
urbanism in China happens simultaneously with the phenomenon of
shrinking cities and the slow dying-out of small towns in the highly
industrialized developed countries.
Even the very idea of the
city as the result of planning has been deeply questioned by the
roaring surge of informal favela-style housing settlements, which
represent the type of urban condition that more than half of the
world’s population today calls their home. As opposed to the colonial
era of the 19th century, the term “urban” today no longer indexes a
normative cultural concept – such as expressed, for instance, in the
“European City” – but represents a cosmos of extremely varied notions
determined by geographical, cultural, and individual preferences.
If
we want to get a grip on what is “urban” today, we have to capture it
in all its disguises, gradations, and transformations occurring
simultaneously on a global scale. Hence this book takes us on a global
dérive through emerging urban conditions in five continents, seen
through the eyes of more than 50 international architects, urban
planners, politicians, and artists including Saskia Sassen, Robert
Somol, Jean-Philippe Vassal, Eyal Weizman, Teddy Cruz, Keller
Easterling, Rahul Mehrotra, Enrique Peñalosa.
 geographical index of authors (PDF, 223 KB)
list of authors (PDF, 65 KB)
 read abstracts from the table of contents
First panel discussion about Urban Transformation at Aedes Berlin, October 28, 2008
Panelists:
- Deane Simpson, ETH Zürich, on mobile cities in the USA, whose senior inhabitants spend their lives in fully equipped motorhomes.
- Jörg Stollmann, Architekturbüro Instant, Zürich / visiting professor at the technical university Berlin on the project UNITED_BOTTLE, where the shape of PET-bottles have been changed in such a way that they can be used as building material for small houses.
- Florian Lippe, UdK Berlin, on the importance of yurts as a traditional housing for the mongol nomads in today's urban reality in Ulan Bataar.
Moderation: Andreas Ruby, RUBY PRESS
 read more (German only: follow the links via Ausstellungsarchiv - Urban Transformation)
Book information
Title: Urban Transformation
Edited by Ilka & Andreas Ruby
Berlin: Ruby Press, 2008
400 pages. With 336 illustrations. 17,5 x 23,5 cm.
Language: English
ISBN: 987-3-00-024878-8
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