The two stories I want to tell juxtapose the cellular metropolis diagrams by Erich Gloeden’s1 and the hypothesis of a horizontal metropolis2 that was formulated during the construction of a vision for the Brussels Capital Region. Gloeden’s diagrams describe – unlike Parker’s and Unwin’s diagrams for Greater London in the early twentieth century – the city of millions of inhabitants as a set of equivalent cells arranged horizontally on a foundation faintly marked by topography and crossed by a river. In addition to recalling the Berlin region, Gloeden’s project envisions the Grossstadt as a voluntary association of cells with no dominant centre; not even the historic centre that becomes a primus inter pares (first among equals). The Gloeden metropolis is one of mid-size cities whose complementarity and integration can produce a new urban dimension. The horizontal metropolis is both an image and a concept to which we have devoted considerable thought during our experience and design work in Belgium and Flanders over the last 20 years. It describes contemporary diffuse urbanity in Brussels, Flanders and the North-Western Metropolitan Area (which includes a series of mid-size cities such as Mechelen, Aalst, Leuven and Louvain-la Neuve) as a support for an innovative urban project in both political and spatial terms. Both concepts, arising in different cultural, geographical and temporal contexts, consider the large metropolitan scale beyond the centre/periphery opposition. Horizontality (infrastructure, urban and relationships) generates a specific habitable space. My hypothesis concerns this space and its relevance today. Juxtaposition is a simple operation that precedes the difficulties of comparison. But a novel juxtaposition might reveal unusual connections or set them in motion. In this case, however, it could also generate excessive ambiguity and misunderstanding which I will seek to reduce throughout the text as accurately as possible.
The Horizontal Metropolis and Gloeden’s Diagrams Two Parallel Stories
VIGANO', PAOLA
2012-01-01
Abstract
The two stories I want to tell juxtapose the cellular metropolis diagrams by Erich Gloeden’s1 and the hypothesis of a horizontal metropolis2 that was formulated during the construction of a vision for the Brussels Capital Region. Gloeden’s diagrams describe – unlike Parker’s and Unwin’s diagrams for Greater London in the early twentieth century – the city of millions of inhabitants as a set of equivalent cells arranged horizontally on a foundation faintly marked by topography and crossed by a river. In addition to recalling the Berlin region, Gloeden’s project envisions the Grossstadt as a voluntary association of cells with no dominant centre; not even the historic centre that becomes a primus inter pares (first among equals). The Gloeden metropolis is one of mid-size cities whose complementarity and integration can produce a new urban dimension. The horizontal metropolis is both an image and a concept to which we have devoted considerable thought during our experience and design work in Belgium and Flanders over the last 20 years. It describes contemporary diffuse urbanity in Brussels, Flanders and the North-Western Metropolitan Area (which includes a series of mid-size cities such as Mechelen, Aalst, Leuven and Louvain-la Neuve) as a support for an innovative urban project in both political and spatial terms. Both concepts, arising in different cultural, geographical and temporal contexts, consider the large metropolitan scale beyond the centre/periphery opposition. Horizontality (infrastructure, urban and relationships) generates a specific habitable space. My hypothesis concerns this space and its relevance today. Juxtaposition is a simple operation that precedes the difficulties of comparison. But a novel juxtaposition might reveal unusual connections or set them in motion. In this case, however, it could also generate excessive ambiguity and misunderstanding which I will seek to reduce throughout the text as accurately as possible.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
