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23 May 2014

Do we need planning anymore?


Why do we need planning anymore? Why we hear a little about institutions in planning’s agendas? What is the future of planning? The future of future cities? To answer these enquires, yesterday, Newcastle university was host for a seminar on “THE PLANNING PROJECT: PAST, PRESENT AND THE FUTURE”.  Early stage research careers, practioners and urban mangers from different parts of the world were there.  Interestingly, although participants were trying to address these questions, there was a negative common atmosphere around the answers and discussions. However, different speakers shed light on different subjects. The head of RTPI (Royal Town Planning Institute) opened the seminar by discussing decentralised planning and tried to link the problem with a lack of trust and high expectation between agency and locals. Similarly, a lecturer from our school (APL) believed that the problem of contemporary planning might be in our expectation from planning. Today’s our societies [especially in western world such as UK] are not anymore the society that we knew and experienced in past; rather, now we are a group of individuals. Hence, the expectation of societies including planners and decision makers has been changed. Indeed, we need to first redefine ourselves as urban planners! Education was another issue that was linked with gap said a lecturer from APL. The problem might be in the education system of urban planning, particularly in the UK context. Meanwhile, another panel members speaker addressed the problem to the other professions. She believed that not only the problem is not about planning or planners but also it is about architects and designers, when Sir Norman foster is invited to plan and design the “best metro system”!. A Newcastle city council member concentrated on strategic planning in which great and affordable places to live, work and entertainment are created and protected through the great strategies not just regulations. Nevertheless, another professor explained planning as an institutional design, which is a neglected aspect toward planning while the spatial design is about urban design.   

To me, it seems these ideas are just nice words in which the realistic view is missing and also to some extent dark. Moreover, we are searching a panacea for planning, which might be there is no panacea! The context in which a Chinese city that is demolished and reconstructed in each ten years is completely different from a context like Netherland that locals are traditionally and personally interested to have permission for every tiny change in their house, said a lecturer from Netherland. Another point is all of us, in different disciplines, the more we know, the more suspicious we are. Since we have more information about the process and outcomes of planning in the UK, inevitably we find more shortcomings here, which we might feel pessimistic about planning here. An unknown context might look with less problems while when we zoom in, the more flaws are seen. The optimistic speakers, who were the minority group, tried to address a realistic utopia – looking at worlds in an uncertain way – through new ideas about future cities. For instance, one speaker discussed some ideas such as small change can make large shift or less focus on fixity and more focus on flexibility can lead us towards better places. Temporary managements of urban spaces such as festivals and pop up shops, new governance or creating active cities with new technology were some of the mentioned ideas. But, still it seems that the question is unanswered, do we need planning in the way that it goes or we might think about the different and uncertain ways, from education to professional level.

22 Jan 2014

From the rich land


Two Gambian guys are watching a football match on TV. Surprisingly, the TV is mute and instead African music is on. Imagine the premier league with African music! This is what you can see often here, a country of contradictions! Another paradoxical picture you may see frequently in the Gambia is a young block woman with an old white man or old white woman with a young black man! Most elders seem to be European. This issue is so common in the touristic area. Obviously, sex truism is doing very well in this country! Today, I was discussing this with my friend, Abraham. He said that he hated this particularly, when the black are going to Europe to do the same thing due to the financial needs. Many of them as they get to Europe are kicked out. The image of western world is so deceptive. There is a similar vision in other developing countries to Europe; however, the way of getting to this continent might be different.
Gambian face

Anyway, what now I am thinking about is just less than four days is left and there are many places that I should visit: Senegal, the river of Gambia, Janjanbureh and many other natural sites, which later I might say why I did not visit them. This morning we went to visit the reserve park of Abuko. We could see many different specious that I never had a chance to see them in a natural setting. The most common animal in this park is green monkey. They are very friendly; even you can give them peanuts! Besides these sociable monkeys, you can see red monkeys that are not welcoming creatures.      

Green monkey


We saw hyenas as well. They are very strange animals. Their heads look like dogs and body like leopards. Since they are eating the dead bodies, they have unpleasant smell. Besides hyenas, we had a chance to see crocodiles, different birds and even a black snake in the return way. This continent is so rich in terms of species life. In the smallest country of Africa, the diversity of animals, plants, languages and cultures would surprise every visitor.  Most of people here are Muslim; however, they are different from typical Muslims in the Middle East. They look more African rather than typical Muslims. However, this might not be a correct comparison between culture and religion. They dance, drink and ear like African and at same time they would tell you in Fridays they would go to the public prying.


Sacred Crocodile
People here are so friendly. Always, they want to help you with a smile on their face. However, you might come cross with someone who wants to be benefited by you in tricky ways. But generally speaking, people are usually warm, friendly and well coming which you can say they are completely different from European and somehow from the Middle Eastern.


On road

3 Jan 2014

Green face of Africa


It’s around midnight. I am sitting in the Holiday beach Hotel restaurant, thinking about this time last year. Last Christmas I was in Glasgow, Scotland and this year in the Gambia, in West Africa. Absolutely, the experiences are different! Even the colours and tastes of fruits and drinks are different. The bottles of beers, JulBrew, are on the tables. In the Gambia, JulBrew, is a local beer founded since 1977. My Gambian friend, Abraham, told me a funny story about JulBrew. He said that the words JulBrew stands for “Join Us Later But Remember Every Weakened”. You can recognise this drink by a picture of a blue bird on the bottle, a kingfisher! You can see this bird every ever here, which can be one of the symbol of the Gambia.


JulBrew

Today is Thursday, 19th December 2013. Just less than 11 days to the New Year, but the weather is really warm! Sunny Christmas looks strange! Today, with my friends, we had a long day around the Kololi, an area close to the Atlantic Ocean. After the breakfast, we visited the crocodile pond in the heart of Bakau. Locals call it Kachikally! They believe this pond is sacred. Gambians daily are coming here and make a wish. Today, I saw a guy who was murmuring some words near the pond and washing his face with the water. The staff told me he doesn’t have any child, sometimes he is coming here for praying!



The sacred corcodile

The pond
 
  
Taking sun
 
The eye-catching point here is the place, a pond with green water, which may lead this pond to be a sacred place for the locals. Particularly, when the crocodiles are out of the pond, their skins are partially covered with green colour, which give a divine appearance to these creatures. Crocodiles have a spiritual role in the Gambian/ African culture. These clod blood animals are more than just simple creature for the locals. The metaphysical powers have been attached to the crocodiles. Interestingly, the colour of green is symbol of holiness in other religions. In the Islamic countries, locals are applying the dark green for their religious places like mosques, which you can see it in the Gambia as well!

9 Nov 2013

محمد علی کلی و مکان سازی


در16 جولای سال 1977، "محمد علی کلی" در یک مسجد محلی در ناحیهSouth shields  در نزدیکی شهر نیوکاسل (انگلستان) مراسم ازدواجش را برگزار می کند. هنوز افراد محلی و کسانی که از شهر نیوکاسل به اینجا آمده بودند خاطره دست تکان دادن او را در آن روز به یاد می آورند. این رویداد ((event دیروز – در کنار سایر روایت های محیطی ((place narration   -، امروز موجب ساخت یک مكان همگانی ((place making در نزدیکی این مسجد شده است. اهميت روایت های محیطی در اینجا حتی منجر به تخریب یک خانه مسکونی می شود تا یک فضای جمعی در مقیاس محله جایش را بگیرد. اين مکان محصول فضاي ذهنی جمعی ((collective subjectivity ساکنان از یک تجربه مشترک دیروز و تبدیل آن به یک مکان جمعي (public place)  امروز است. تجربه روزانه این فضای جمعی که خود حاصل تبلورتضارب اندیشه های جمعی ((intersubjectivity ساکنان است، با انتظارات فردی/جمعی از مکان ((place satisfaction، بازشناسی فردی/جمعی در شخصیت مکان (place identity) واحساس تعلق او به مکان (place attachment) در ارتباطي معنادار است. ترکیب مجموعه این انتظارات عملکردی از مکان، باورهای فردی و جمعی در کنار احساس (آشنایی تاریخی، فیزیکی و روانی) با مکان منجر به خلق مفهومی کیفی به نام "حس مکان" ((sense of place می شود.

Muhammad ali cli in south shields
 
The story of cli's marrige at Al Azhar mosque

the place
 

For more information in relation to sense of place, see below:










 

7 Jan 2013

The story of Urban & Architecture and Landscape in Mardin, Kurdistan


When you have hot and dried summer, when winter is cold and snowy, when you are constructing a hill town and when urban landscape is looking to the Mesopotamian Plain ... and when stone tells you 'I am the anwser for the semi open spaces' (in Kurdish: hayvan, هه یوان) .......... all are in Mardin, Kurdistan ............. Mardin is narrating When you have hot and dried summer,


                             The Model of historic district of Mardin, a superb hill town


                              The semi open space of house (Hayvan;a Kurdish term)


                                           Snowy winter in Mardin (in kurdish: Mêrdîn)