A politics of dispersal

The clear distinction between town and country that I'm used to in the UK doesn't exist in this part of Italy, the Veneto region.  When driving between centres, the sprawl is continuous and the density only increases a little in the urban areas.  Even in towns the pattern is that of large plots, with houses in the middle as opposed to the tighter pattern of houses and gardens in the UK.  Somehow it doesn't fit with the traditional image of Italian towns that are the well-worn basis for urban design case-studies.  Of course the historic cores still corresponds to this image, but very quickly they disintegrate into low-density suburbia and then endless out of town retail.

A Little history from my Italian teaching colleagues helps to explain it.  Mestre / Marghera / Venice is of course an industrial zone, so the population were socialist-cum-Communist.  The region is Conservative, however and the regional planning policies were designed to encourage sprawl as a means of dispersal.  The fear was of a spatial communism, reinforcing a political Communism.  

Park Bissuola, Mestre

Staying in Mestre is of course an entirely different experience from staying in Venice; in a good way.  Mostly built in the 19th and 20th Centuries, it's Venice's 'new town' on the mainland.  The more I get to know, the more I like it.  Park Bissuola in the north of Mestre was today's discovery.

It's not really like any park I've seen before.  In a good way.  The closest might be Parc Bercy in Paris and this similarly contains a huge diversity of pieces of equipment, structures, spaces, ponds and planting, but with a less formal feel.  For all the quantity of stuff, it never feels crowded.  It was pretty busy today, but the park just soaks up the people.  Its not in the wealthy part of town and it has a kind of rough and worn-in feel to it, but in a comfortable way, like a good pair of shoes.  People were enjoying it and its abundantly clear that its a truly inclusive place.  

It makes me reflect on our parks in London.  Many of them are Victorian, of course and even though they are a wonderful aspect of the city, they carry with them the Victorian repressed ideas about behaviour, which can never quite be overcome.  Their formality communicates something about expectations, that might not always be followed, but is never really accommodating.  The surprising thing about Park Bissuola is that there is a strong formal structure to it, but it communicates something different: its a framework for life to take over.  Paint on me, skateboard on me, do what you like, I can take it.  Its a real joy.

Wicked witches

Whatever you think about Thatcher's influence on Britain, it seems odd to me, both for people to celebrate her death and to celebrate her life.  Its the celebrity cult thing again, which makes people behave in very strange ways.  Some people who knew her say she was a likeable person.  It is actually possible that a likeable person could do very unlikeable things.  Instead of downloading the wicked witch is dead song, buy and read this.  I have no idea if David Harvey is a likeable man, but he has written a good book.

Notes from IUAV

Image from Herman Hertzberger, the renowned designer of unfinished space

I'm currently in Venice as a visiting professor at the Architecture school, IUAV.  Over the next three weeks, I'm delivering an ECTS course at Masters level in urban design.  The course will seek to investigate the phenomenon of negotiated space, through seminars and field study work; photography and sketching; and will culminate in a single drawing at a large scale, supported by a portfolio of work.

Negotiate: To arrange or settle by discussion and mutual agreement

A negotiated space is a space where the rules that govern it are not sufficient to define the final form or use of the space. This is a positive characteristic: it signifies that there is enough 'looseness' in the design of the space to enable the people who use it to modify it for their own needs and to assume a kind of ownership. Some spaces in the city need to be controlled carefully, but if a city contains only spaces that cannot be negotiated, it will not be a liveable place and its citizens will not live happy lives. This is important for urban design, because as designers we must be careful to allow for negotiation; we must not design too much. A good urban designer will only design what is essential for the city and its people and not more.