The RE-PUBLIC Workshop: REMAKING the PUBLIC SPACE

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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