2025
[Open Call]
The Future Design of Streets - 2nd Conference
[Open Call]
The Future Design of Streets - 2nd Conference
Learn more about the
Themes for the Open-Call and the Scientific Committee
Themes for the Open-Call and the Scientific Committee
"TOWARDS A SYSTEMIC SENSE OF PLACE:
TERRITORIES OF THE FUTURE, PATHS OF THE PAST"
INÊS OSÓRIO
imonteiro@arq.up.pt
CEAU Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal.
This research is being funded by portuguese national funds through FCT–Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the project with the
DOI identifier https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.12562.BD .
Poster Submission
CONTEXT AND EMERGING RESEARCH PROBLEM
The processes of urbanization, spatial conception, and urban design increase the challenges in the recent evolution of urban society.
Although the reconstruction of cities is a continuous process, urban planning practices over the past few decades appear to reflect a methodological tendency, somewhat misaligned with the contemporary systemic paradigm of our Western urban condition.
Considering this current complexity—undergoing an accelerated transformation and marked by a global, networked, interdependent society—it becomes imperative for urban planning and public policies to pursue innovative approaches to the regeneration of cities, squares, streets, and other public spaces of collective use, particularly those concerned with the phenomenon of Sense of Place production.
RESEARCH GAP AND STATED OBJECTIVES
The evolution of urban regeneration processes, once centered on the pursuit of order in response to the industrial city, has resulted in a form of serialization of the modern city, along with its theories and shortcomings, within which the practice of Architecture has assumed, not only a central but also, a hegemonic role.
Over the past decades, this disciplinary centrality has given rise to an operational model, predominantly focused on the utilitarian aspects of practical function of the city's public spaces, to the detriment of the conception of collective memory or the potential sense of belonging (through cultural and symbolic production domains).
However, in contrast to the multidimensional domain of our urban condition—and the City as a hyperobject— a certain disconnection can be observed among the creative disciplines that shaping our urban imaginary. This research then proposes, as a working hypothesis, a more integrated approach to the creative processes of conception and regeneration of public spaces within the urban fabric.
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
Based on historical urban planning theories related to the Sense of Place,
this study aims to identify, from a contemporary perspective, the essential
components and agents involved in the spatial and symbolic conception of the phenomenon of the construction of "place". From the analysis of other authors, a new conceptual framework hypothesis was developed, with the intention of proposing a greater diversity and quality of the built environments that societies recognize as “places”. A potential path toward improved urban requalification—particularly regarding the symbolic dimension of place—may lie in the adoption of hybrid methodologies that incorporate multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary creative processes: this approach seeks to integrate not only the vision of Design, but also Art disciplines, in coordination with Architecture, throughout the stages of spatial conception, project, and placemaking, aiming to develop a new urban imagery and alternative spatial solutions at the micro scale that are coherent and integrated within the broader macro urban system.
Grounded in the proposed model, the transition toward a transdisciplinary methodology is presented here as a promising strategy (already being explored in certain European case studies) yet still largely absent from most contemporary urban requalification /regeneration processes.
CONCEPTUAL EVOLUTION AND HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION
Many authors (Lynch, Relph, Canter, Punter, Montgomery, Carmona) have proposed distinct approaches to conceptualize the “sense of place” phenomenon. The following diagrams illustrate the historical evolution of the conceptual framework that considers the key components to achieve place identity quality. The first set summarizes the most relevant theoretical contributions for this research trajectory, while the latter set presents our own interpretation and shows the formulation of our central hypothesis:
Fig.1.
Components of a sense of place.
Source: Punter, J. (1991) “Participation in the design of urban space” in Landscape Design v.200: p27.
(modified from Canter “Nature of Places” (1977)).
Components of a sense of place.
Source: Punter, J. (1991) “Participation in the design of urban space” in Landscape Design v.200: p27.
(modified from Canter “Nature of Places” (1977)).
Fig.2.
Policy directions to foster an urban sense of place or placemaking.
Source: Montgomery (1998). “Making a City: Urbanity, Vitality and Urban Design” in Journal of Urban Design, 3(1), p.98.
Policy directions to foster an urban sense of place or placemaking.
Source: Montgomery (1998). “Making a City: Urbanity, Vitality and Urban Design” in Journal of Urban Design, 3(1), p.98.
Fig.3.
A gap was identified through the analysis of selected urban requalification on case studies within Western European context. By revising the modernist vision embodied in the ideal Bauhausian canon (unifying Architecture/Art/Design), this scheme detects the tendency of a certain procedural fragmentation between the distinct create fields that shape each urban place, as unique and unrepeatable.
A gap was identified through the analysis of selected urban requalification on case studies within Western European context. By revising the modernist vision embodied in the ideal Bauhausian canon (unifying Architecture/Art/Design), this scheme detects the tendency of a certain procedural fragmentation between the distinct create fields that shape each urban place, as unique and unrepeatable.
Fig.4.
This model proposes a new conceptual and methodological structure based on Punter (1991) and Montgomery (1998): this hypothesis applies to interrelate the previously identified Components of Sense of Place plus the Policy Directions of Placemaking, through their overlap with the three disciplines that spatially conceive a comprehensive experience of place specificity, collective imagery, and local identity.
This model proposes a new conceptual and methodological structure based on Punter (1991) and Montgomery (1998): this hypothesis applies to interrelate the previously identified Components of Sense of Place plus the Policy Directions of Placemaking, through their overlap with the three disciplines that spatially conceive a comprehensive experience of place specificity, collective imagery, and local identity.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
This research proposes an expanded urban practice within the method domain of micro-scale placemaking, by integrating the potential of place-specific art as a practice capable of contributing to reimagining—symbolically, critically, and spatially—new dynamics and sensory experiences in future urban environments. The identified gap led to testing our hypothesis through the conception of a real spatial intervention project, aligned with the new proposed methodological framework. This future effort aims to explore the operational/conceptual connections between all creative fields in urban requalification processes and how they can, together and integrated, contribute to enhancing the quality of public places.
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REFERENCES
Canter, D. (1977).
The Psychology of Place (London, Architectural Press).
Krauss, R. (1979).
“Sculpture in the Expanded Field”
in October Magazine, 8, 31-44.
Montgomery, J. (1998).
“Making a City: Urbanity, Vitality and Urban Design”
in Journal of Urban Design, 3(1), 93-116.
Osório, I. (2023).
“Sense of Place: How Should We Think About Urban Planning Practices Today?”
in Scopio Magazine Architecture, Art And Image, 1(1), 66-83.
Punter, J. (1991)
“Participation in the Design of Urban Space”
in Landscape Design v.200: pp. 24-27.
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2024
[Cycle of Debates]
"Architecture and Art in the (Re)Construction of Urban Place"
2024
[Cycle of Debates]
"Architecture and Art in the (Re)Construction of Urban Place"
©TOPOTEK1. Parque Urbano Superkilen (Copenhaga, Dinamarca).
Projeto de regeneraçáo urbana da autoria de: Topotek1, BIG–Bjarke Ingels Group e Superflex Studio, 2008-2012.
Projeto de regeneraçáo urbana da autoria de: Topotek1, BIG–Bjarke Ingels Group e Superflex Studio, 2008-2012.
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CICLO DE DEBATES | OUT.DEZ.2024
ARQUITETURA E ARTE NA (RE)CONSTRUÇÃO DO LUGAR URBANO
CICLO DE DEBATES | OUT.DEZ.2024
ARQUITETURA E ARTE NA (RE)CONSTRUÇÃO DO LUGAR URBANO
.SESSÃO 1 | FAUP, Porto [15.10.2024 – 18h30]
“INTEGRAR DIÁLOGOS, AUSCULTAR POTENCIALIDADES”
.SESSÃO 2 | CAAA, Guimarães [07.11.2024 – 18h30]
“CENTROS URBANOS: CONECTANDO MEMÓRIA, USOS E SIGNIFICADO”
.SESSÃO 3 | ZETGALLERY, Braga [09.11.2024 – 16h30]
“SENTIR O CONTEXTO, CONSTRUIR A CIDADE, MODELAR A IDENTIDADE”
.SESSÃO 4 | FAUP, Porto [03.12.2024 – 18h30]
“A CIDADE SISTÉMICA: TERRITÓRIOS DO FUTURO, CAMINHOS DO PASSADO”
SINOPSE
ARQUITETURA E ARTE NA (RE)CONSTRUÇÃO DO LUGAR URBANO é um Ciclo de Debates que promove um momento de reflexão pública e coletiva em torno dos processos contemporâneos de produção espacial do urbano. A partir de uma aproximação à prática de profissionais com diferentes experiências em processos de produção do ambiente construído, propomos, entre Outubro e Dezembro 2024, quatro diferentes painéis de discussão com subtemas. Em cada sessão tentaremos, compreender a multidimensional realidade urbana, ativando um diálogo interdisciplinar entre os diversos atores que contribuem para a conceção e materialização do espaço público (arquitetos, paisagistas, designers, artistas, decisores públicos, curadores, investigadores…), tentando estabelecer uma ponte entre as disciplinas criativas da Arquitetura e da Arte, como potencial resposta aos desafios da cidade contemporânea. Em conjunto, tentaremos mapear os objetivos, propósitos e interesses de diferentes escalas de atuação nos processos de produção de várias cidades, com o intuito de indagar como devemos, Hoje, pensar a nossa complexa realidade, com vista a uma mais significante, integrada e humanizada evolução do senso de lugar urbano.
Este Ciclo de Debates está enquadrado na investigação desenvolvida por Inês Osório (Bolseira FCT) no âmbito do Programa de Doutoramento em Arquitetura, Dinâmicas e Formas Urbanas, na FAUP, filiada ao grupo de investigação “Morfologias e Dinâmicas do Território” do Centro de Estudos de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (MDT/CEAU-FAUP).
INVESTIGAÇÃO, ORGANIZAÇÃO E MODERAÇÃO
Inês Osório
APOIO INSTITUICIONAL
FAUP
CEAU
CAAA
ZETgallery
Inês Osório
APOIO INSTITUICIONAL
FAUP
CEAU
CAAA
ZETgallery
________________________________________
2023
[OPEN CALL - Scopio Magazine ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE]
2023
[OPEN CALL - Scopio Magazine ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE]
Article Publication on Scopio Magazine ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE - Volume 1
Sense of place: How should we think about urban planning practices today?"
by Inês Osório
LANDSCAPES OF CARE | Editor Maria Neto
Sense of place: How should we think about urban planning practices today?"
by Inês Osório
LANDSCAPES OF CARE | Editor Maria Neto
ABSTRACT
Considering the recent socio-technological, psychosocial, political, and economic developments, will the urban planning practices (in the systemic sense of its exercise) be able to adapt to a growing, changing urban culture? Noting the diverse variety of contemporary spatial practices in which methods, concepts, and discourses tend to be sealed off from one another, this reflection calls for a reevaluation of the plurality dimensions and layers in the construction of the urban reality, questioning in this process, the predictable hegemony regarding the supremacy of Architecture in shaping modern and current urban imagery. This essay seeks to foster a reflection on new contemporary paradigms of Western urban life, tracing a retrospective view that allows us to look systemically at what we have built. In this process, the aim is to stimulate a future collision path, a conceptual and operational dialogue between the creative disciplines of Architecture and Contemporary Art on the current urbanization courses, proposing this possible relationship as an inseparable disciplinary set in the process of producing public space and urban territory. Putting forth the hypothesis of reassessing the established models of contemporary urban planning, the goal is to explore the possible operationality of the bauhausian canon in its historical disciplinary triad (architecture/art/design) while, in a process of symbiotic interaction, considering them as complementary tools in urban design concept, promoting a pluralistic and expanded dialogue between the processes of designing, requalifying, and resignifying the future places.
Considering the recent socio-technological, psychosocial, political, and economic developments, will the urban planning practices (in the systemic sense of its exercise) be able to adapt to a growing, changing urban culture? Noting the diverse variety of contemporary spatial practices in which methods, concepts, and discourses tend to be sealed off from one another, this reflection calls for a reevaluation of the plurality dimensions and layers in the construction of the urban reality, questioning in this process, the predictable hegemony regarding the supremacy of Architecture in shaping modern and current urban imagery. This essay seeks to foster a reflection on new contemporary paradigms of Western urban life, tracing a retrospective view that allows us to look systemically at what we have built. In this process, the aim is to stimulate a future collision path, a conceptual and operational dialogue between the creative disciplines of Architecture and Contemporary Art on the current urbanization courses, proposing this possible relationship as an inseparable disciplinary set in the process of producing public space and urban territory. Putting forth the hypothesis of reassessing the established models of contemporary urban planning, the goal is to explore the possible operationality of the bauhausian canon in its historical disciplinary triad (architecture/art/design) while, in a process of symbiotic interaction, considering them as complementary tools in urban design concept, promoting a pluralistic and expanded dialogue between the processes of designing, requalifying, and resignifying the future places.
CITATION
Osório, Inês. "Sense of place: How should we think about urban planning practices today?." SCOPIO MAGAZINE ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE 1.1 (2023): 66-83.. https://doi.org/10.24840/1647-8274_2023-0001_0001_188
Osório, Inês. "Sense of place: How should we think about urban planning practices today?." SCOPIO MAGAZINE ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE 1.1 (2023): 66-83.. https://doi.org/10.24840/1647-8274_2023-0001_0001_188