Some days ago, at the conference “desperate houses” at the EPFL, I heard about a research, realized by the architectural firm Raumbureau, saying that, in the suburbs, around 1 over 5 houses is refurbished as office space.
If this tendence goes on:
Little by little, suburbs will become true villages with offices, shops, post offices, sall hospitals… (a similar project was shown at the conference),
Density is not the only solution to urban sprawl, other solutions (much more “open source”) are available,
The houses in Aigle, which I saw some days ago, can become something really interesting in a few years!
Following the same route that Abraham Lincoln rode 150 years ago, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden made their way to the inauguration on a whistle stop train tour that wove its way from Philadelphia through Delaware and Maryland on its way to Washington.
“To the children who hear the whistle of the train and dream of a better life — that’s who we’re fighting for. That’s who needs change,” President Obama said at one stop along the way. “And those are the stories that we will gather with us to Washington.”
After several years in which trains have been neglected in favour of cars and planes, Obama’s choice of trains as a symbol of the new hope for USA is indeed a good news!
Here in Switzerland, the ultimate decision on infrastructure and urban planning comes from people, so a good communication campaign is essential in order to promote a project. So, public administrations always put a big effort on promotion and communication, as in the case of CEVA, the new underground link between the Swiss and French railway networks in Geneva. In order to promote CEVA, the State of Geneva has commissioned a series of video to student of Geneva Applied Art School. The results can be seen here.
From 18 to 28 september 2008, Lausanne will host the Mobility Week. Lausanne public transports’ network will turn itself in a big show:
- Metro Line 2 will be open from 18 to 21 September, from 15h30 to 20h00 on the first day, from 10h00 to 20h00 on the other days. All stations will be open, except Delices, Bessieres and Fourmi. More info here.
- Another “Metro”, normally closed, will be open on Saturday 20: the railway tunnel between Renens and Sallaz, normally used only by freight trains will be open to passenger trains. Departures from Renens at .00 from 9h00 to 16h00 and from Sallaz at .30 from 9h30 to 16h30. More info here.
- On september 20, 21, 22, 27 and 28, the new RER trains will run between Lausanne and Cully and between Lausanne and Vevey.
On september 20, 21, 27 and 28: Departures from Lausanne (track 5 or 6) to Cully at .26 and .56 from 10h26 to 18h26. Departures from Cully to Lausanne at .11 and .41 from 10h41 to 18h41.
On september 22: Departures from Lausanne (track 9) to Vevey at .56 from 9h56 to 15h56. Departures from Vevey to Lausanne at .33 from 10h33 to 16h33. More info here.
Other events are scheduled along these days. Conferences, guided tours seminars are available here, while concerts and parties will be available here.
In 1971, Georges Pompidou said: “Adapter la ville à la voiture” (adapt the city to cars), in a world where people wanted to go faster and further, and reach in a reasonable amount of time more and more places. A new world was born, made of countryside houses, motorways, shopping centers, big buildings: a world whose biggest examples are cities like Brasilia.
37 years later, the world has changed. The shift has moved from “going faster and further” to “meeting the right people and find the right thing”. And, regarding to the city, the new motto could be “Adapter la ville aux réseaux sociaux” (adapt the city to social networks). How will the “social network city” be? A good overview can be found here: Social Network City will be full of meeting places, hotspots, events, unconventional shops, customized objects…
And how will it look like? First, online classic will jump out of the screen and appear in the real life:
The city of Lausanne is promoting a serie of crowdsourcing sessions for the new eco-district of Pontaise-Blecherette. Last Tuesday I was in the first of them, called “Grow Up”, and heard lots of interesting ideas.
First of all, people wanted a small-scale district: small roads that will help random meetings, small houses that will help people go out…exactly the opposite of modern day suburbs.
Then, another wish was for different areas for different people, but still in the same district: vibrant places for the youngest, quieter places for the elders, a common place where people of different ages could meet, some appartments specially designed for old people within the district.
Another idea was about finding a way in which people could add a personal touch to their district: some unfinished spaces, some house decoration programs…
Meeting in two weeks (september 10, 20h00, espace Riponne – rue du Valentin 4, Lausanne) for the next crowdsourcing session!
in the meantime, French-speaking people can find all the ideas that came in Tuesday session here.
If we think, like Le Corbusier, that human nature is bad, social interactions can only lead us away from the Truth, thus shall be discouraged. A “bad human nature city” will have freeways with no sidewalk, windows on nature, shopping centers with security guards preventing unwanted behaviours…
