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The RE-PUBLIC Workshop: REMAKING the PUBLIC SPACE
The RE-PUBLIC Workshop: REMAKING the PUBLIC SPACE
organised as part of Erasmus Intensive Programme
18 - 29 July 2014
CALL FOR
APPLICATIONS
The RE-PUBLIC Workshop: REMAKING the PUBLIC SPACE will focus on the complex and diversified layers of public space within the context of the place-making logic. Our cities are increasingly experiencing the withering of the public realm including the loss of the quality of public space and the loss of “the public” as an important element of urbanity. While neglect and deterioration are among the factors for this decline; the transformation into pseudo-public spaces (e.g. shopping malls) is also effective in conjunction with privatisation and an extension of market principles to the provision of public space, commodification, commercialisation and even militarisation in specific cases. Regarding this new conceptualisation, the RE-PUBLIC Workshop will be a platform to rethink and remake the public space as a bridge between the past, the present and the future while emphasising the current economic-political processes and socio-spatial challenges.
Among the key questions the Workshop intends to
respond to are:
· What role does public space play in defining the urban
cultural, social and spatial identity of cities in rapidly transforming
societies?
· How is public space transforming cities and citizens in the interplay of the
public and the private in cities at a time of increasing marketisation?
· What is the role of the citizens in the using and making
of the public space?
· How to research and map the various actors and
influences shaping public spaces?
· What are the meaning and role of public space in building
democracy, cultural identity and in reviving city’s image, economy and
liveability?
· How can public space be qualified to build a bridge
between the past, the present and the future?
· What are the driving and restraining forces in
remaking public space?
· What are the characteristics of good quality public
space?
· How should design, planning process and maintenance of
public space respond to the changes in society and to the current financial
crisis of the public sector?
· How can the theories and concepts of place-making be
utilised to improve the relations in the triangle between urban politics and
planning administration, the economic realm, and the citizens as owners?
By responding to these questions, the RE-PUBLIC
Workshop will construct an interactive research and hands-on practice arena to develop
a better understanding of the complex and diversified relations between space
and society and the logics of place-making. It will explore the cultural,
historical, economical, ecological and political spheres of making public
space. While it will question the manner in which public space is transforming
cities in Europe, it will identify the
diversified, multi-layered and complex meaning and role of public space
including the revival of cities’ image, the improvement of quality of life and
liveability, influencing economic value, building inter-cultural dialogue and
democracy.
The core idea is to respond to these issues regarding Istanbul’s Taksim region including the
Taksim Square, Gezi Park and Istiklal Street. The participants will be
invited to develop their own understanding of public space and jointly produce
their own place-making strategies on possible alternatives for the process of
planning, designing and implementing change in public spaces in accordance to
their scope, use and meaning.
The RE-PUBLIC Workshop will take place in Istanbul
from 18 to 29 July 2014. The Workshop will be a joint undertaking of four
higher education institutions including Istanbul Technical University (Turkey)
(coordinator), Brandenburg Technical University (Germany), KU Leuven Faculty of
Architecture (Belgium), and Politecnico di Torino (Italy) combining three
different disciplines working on public space – architecture, urban planning
and landscape architecture.
The RE-PUBLIC Workshop in Istanbul will be the first
of the three-phased joint workshop programme between the partner institutions.
A specific public space will be analysed in each of the cities according to the
agreed research strategy with a student
empirical research programme and hands-on
design practice, including developing pathways
of implementation. The student
empirical research phase of the workshop is a “pre-preparation” phase with
empirical research on the subject and on the spot before the starting date of
Workshop. The hands-on practice part
of the workshop will be a 12-day joint working phase, which will take place
with students from the four universities forming three city-case oriented
cooperative teams. The Workshop phase will be structured through lecture series, field study, discussion
sessions “knowledge cafe”, and design studio (analysis, evaluation,
place-making).
The students participating in RE-PUBLIC will be
granted 3 ECTS credits upon the
agreement of recognition issues.
Important dates
Call for applications
|
January 20, 2014
|
Deadline for application
|
February 21, 2014
|
Notification of results
|
February 28, 2014
|
RE-PUBLIC
|
July 18 – 29, 2014
|
Arrival of participants
|
July 18, 2014
|
RE-PUBLIC Workshop
|
July 19 -28, 2014
|
Presentation of results
|
July 28, 2014
|
Departure of participants
|
July 29, 2014
|
Application procedure
The target group is the 3rd or 4th year students of the undergraduate programmes
and students of graduate programmes in partner institutions in the fields of architecture,
urban planning and landscape architecture. For a group of 13 teaching
staff, 39 students will be selected in total.
Competences of applicants will be assessed on the
basis of the evaluation of their educational background, as well as on their
motivation. Gender and cycle balance will be considered as well. The specific
selection criteria will be the following Academic merit, English proficiency
and Motivation.
The set of documents to be sent are:
·
1 page of motivation letter
·
CV
These documents should be sent to
·
republic.ip2014@gmail.com
for the students at ITU
·
knorr-siedow@gmx.net for the students at Brandenburg
·
burak.pak@kuleuven.be for the students at KU Leuven
·
alex@polito.it for
the students at Torino
The selection will be carried out on a comparative
basis by a board of professors composed by minimum three-four members. The
applicants can be called for interview. The ranking list of the selected
candidates will be published on the RE-PUBLIC website [http://republic-ip2014.blogspot.com] on 28 February 2014.
Grant
The selected participants will be awarded grants,
funded by the Turkish National Agency for European Union Youth and Education
Programme sources, which will partly cover travel costs, visas, accommodation
and daily expenses for the participants from Germany, Belgium and Italy. Accommodation
and meals will be centrally organised by the host institution - ITU; no
individual bookings will be necessary for partners. The arrangements on travel
will be organised by partners themselves; the travel cost will be reimbursed by
ITU. More information will be given upon the selection of the participants.
Contact
Meriç Demir
Istanbul
Technical University Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban &
Regional Planning
Taşkışla – Taksim, 34437
Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 293 13 00
F: +90 (212) 251 48 95
E-mail: republic.ip2014@gmail.com
Website:
http://republic-ip2014.blogspot.com
