The research analyzes the processes of socio-natural space production of an intentional community, Auroville (Tamil Nadu, India), focusing on the re-signification of the relationship between nature and society. The case study acts as a flywheel: a context where the aim of building a new-town planned in the modern age coexists with objectives of self-sufficiency, direct democracy, collective management of common goods and the establishment of care-based relationships with the ecosystems. A context which, by attempting to rethink the practices and models of territorial planning within a - utopian - experiment rooted in the rethinking of the relationship between man and nature, can provide useful elements for the development of a reflection on the epistemic roots of urban planning and on the relationship that it interweaves with ecological thinking. The research focuses on the concept of Utopia or rather utopianism, understood as a melting pot of coexisting, colliding and conflicting visions that can be traced back to the geographically and historically located cultural-social system they mirror. Thus, being settled the link between utopia and the consolidation of the urban planning discipline in the modern era, the research reconnects the threads of this relationship by paying particular attention to the correspondences between the evolution of the concept of Utopia-utopianism and the evolution in the modern age of the theoretical and technical corpus of urban planning. As a result, a critical reflection on the epistemological foundations of the urban planning discipline emerged and the nature-society bifurcation was identified as a key node of rationality, exquisitely modern, on which the discipline has historically erected its foundations. The effects of this rationality on the processes of space production were investigated, the need for a theoretical reunion of these two inseparable realms acknowledge, and the insights form urban political ecology recognized as an extremely interesting evolutionary perspective to feed disciplinary advancement in urban planning. The Aurovillian case is particularly appropriate to stimulate this reflection, being first of all a spatial Utopia (Harvey, 2000) formalized through a new-town project but also a social experiment based on the construction of relationships distant from the logic of exploitation and domination: an attempt of claiming the right to the city understood as the right to a different life. Different because it aims at emancipating itself from the overwhelming logics of accumulation and consumption in order to put into practice, through a daily life revolutionized in its rhythms, the extremely ambitious objectives of collective spiritual evolution. A right to life, an experimental utopia, which, moving away from the logic of domination, welcomes non-humans as actors carrying an agency whose value and importance cannot be overshadowed. An attempt to put into practice an ecological approach that – linked to the reflections of social ecology (Bookchin, 2012) and political ecology (also in its urban - UPE meaning) – fuels the creation of webs of life (Moore, 2015) capable of overcoming dichotomous and hierarchical interpretations of nature and society.
La ricerca analizza i processi di produzione dello spazio socio-naturale di una comunità intenzionale, Auroville (Tamil Nadu, India) soffermandosi sulla risignificazione della relazione tra natura/società. Il caso studio funge da volano: un contesto che si misura sia con l’obiettivo di costruire una città di fondazione d’età moderna sia con la messa in pratica di obiettivi di autosufficienza, democrazia diretta, gestione collettiva dei beni comuni e costruzione di relazioni ecosistemiche equilibrate e basate sulla cura. Coesistono quindi una Utopia spaziale (Harvey, 2000) formalizzata grazie ad un progetto di città di fondazione ed un esperimento sociale basato sulla costruzione di relazioni distanti da logiche di sfruttamento e dominio: un tentativo di rivendicazione del diritto alla città inteso come diritto ad una vita altra. Altra perché capace di emanciparsi dalle logiche schiaccianti di un modello societario basato su accumulazione e consumo per mettere in pratica, attraverso un quotidiano rivoluzionato nei suoi ritmi, obiettivi di evoluzione spirituale estremamente ambiziosi. Un diritto alla vita, una utopia sperimentale, che allontanandosi dalle logiche di dominio accoglie i non-umani come attori portatori di un’agency il cui valore e la cui importanza non possono essere messi in secondo piano e che pone così le basi per relazioni di reciproca cura. Un contesto che incarnando tentativi di ripensamento delle pratiche e dei modelli propri della pianificazione territoriale all’interno di un esperimento – utopico – radicato nel ripensamento della relazione uomo-natura, ha fornito elementi utili allo sviluppo di una riflessione sulle radici epistemiche della disciplina urbanistica e sul rapporto che questa intesse con il pensiero ecologico. La ricerca mette al centro del ragionamento il concetto di Utopia o meglio l’utopismo inteso come crogiolo di visioni, capaci di coesistere, collidere e confliggere, da ricondurre necessariamente al sistema culturale-sociale geograficamente e storicamente situato di cui sono specchio e funzione. Così, dando per assodato il legame tra l’utopia e il consolidamento della disciplina urbanistica in epoca moderna, sono stati riallacciati i fili di questa relazione prestando attenzione alle corrispondenze tra l’evoluzione del concetto di Utopia-utopismo e l’evoluzione in età moderna del corpus teorico e tecnico dell’urbanistica. Ne è emersa una riflessione critica sui fondamenti epistemologici della disciplina urbanistica che per avvicinamenti progressivi ha portato a individuare nella biforcazione natura-società il nodo chiave della razionalità, squisitamente moderna, su cui la materia ha eretto le sue basi. Sono stati indagati gli effetti di tale razionalità sui processi di produzione dello spazio e sono stati individuati nel ricongiungimento di questi due regni di fatto inscindibili i fondamenti dell’ecologia politica urbana: una prospettiva evolutiva estremamente interessante per alimentare un avanzamento disciplinare dell’urbanistica.
L'acacia e la galassia. Interrogare i nessi tra urbanistica, ecologia e utopia / Fontana, Cassandra. - (2022 Apr 04). [10.25432/fontana-cassandra_phd2022-04-04]
L'acacia e la galassia. Interrogare i nessi tra urbanistica, ecologia e utopia.
FONTANA, CASSANDRA
2022-04-04
Abstract
The research analyzes the processes of socio-natural space production of an intentional community, Auroville (Tamil Nadu, India), focusing on the re-signification of the relationship between nature and society. The case study acts as a flywheel: a context where the aim of building a new-town planned in the modern age coexists with objectives of self-sufficiency, direct democracy, collective management of common goods and the establishment of care-based relationships with the ecosystems. A context which, by attempting to rethink the practices and models of territorial planning within a - utopian - experiment rooted in the rethinking of the relationship between man and nature, can provide useful elements for the development of a reflection on the epistemic roots of urban planning and on the relationship that it interweaves with ecological thinking. The research focuses on the concept of Utopia or rather utopianism, understood as a melting pot of coexisting, colliding and conflicting visions that can be traced back to the geographically and historically located cultural-social system they mirror. Thus, being settled the link between utopia and the consolidation of the urban planning discipline in the modern era, the research reconnects the threads of this relationship by paying particular attention to the correspondences between the evolution of the concept of Utopia-utopianism and the evolution in the modern age of the theoretical and technical corpus of urban planning. As a result, a critical reflection on the epistemological foundations of the urban planning discipline emerged and the nature-society bifurcation was identified as a key node of rationality, exquisitely modern, on which the discipline has historically erected its foundations. The effects of this rationality on the processes of space production were investigated, the need for a theoretical reunion of these two inseparable realms acknowledge, and the insights form urban political ecology recognized as an extremely interesting evolutionary perspective to feed disciplinary advancement in urban planning. The Aurovillian case is particularly appropriate to stimulate this reflection, being first of all a spatial Utopia (Harvey, 2000) formalized through a new-town project but also a social experiment based on the construction of relationships distant from the logic of exploitation and domination: an attempt of claiming the right to the city understood as the right to a different life. Different because it aims at emancipating itself from the overwhelming logics of accumulation and consumption in order to put into practice, through a daily life revolutionized in its rhythms, the extremely ambitious objectives of collective spiritual evolution. A right to life, an experimental utopia, which, moving away from the logic of domination, welcomes non-humans as actors carrying an agency whose value and importance cannot be overshadowed. An attempt to put into practice an ecological approach that – linked to the reflections of social ecology (Bookchin, 2012) and political ecology (also in its urban - UPE meaning) – fuels the creation of webs of life (Moore, 2015) capable of overcoming dichotomous and hierarchical interpretations of nature and society.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Descrizione: L'acacia e la galassia. Interrogare i nessi tra urbanistica, ecologia e utopia
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