IaaC blog

This week on mapping, we further investigated the area zooms that were identified. Going back to the initial research and confirming the details of the internet, the sub-groups spread themselves in Ciutat Vella, finding similarities and differences. An attempt to collate the different types of hosting and their various aspects on a matrix were made. The main objective was to investigate the existence of the different types of hosting/occupation in the various socio-economic-cultural aspects.

Group 6 - Hosting or Occupation - borne.pdf - Georgia and Renu

Although not a very productive week for the Group 6 - Hosting or occupation, this was the time when we back to the internet data collected by the team in the first team. From the first draft of the map, we short-listed four areas of study in the old city;

1. Raval: Carrer de Hospital

2. Gotic: Las Ramblas, from Catalunya until Portaferissa

3. Borne: Around Carrer Princessa

4. Borne: Gotico-Merce, around Carrer Ample and Avinyo

As a step forward from the previous work, this week we tried to get more specific details of each of these areas, studying/ comparing each in terms of general distribution of typologies. The area that I studied was the Princessa Street with Georgia.

General observations were as follows:

· The area around Carrer de Princessa was predominately residential. · We found a lot of boards in the narrow streets which advertised “En Venda”

· The building that were mainly four storied, often showed multiple uses within them, for example, hostels, college, publishing on different floors of the same building.

· We found that they were a lot of boutiques, restaurants and bars on the ground floor of these structures. There were hardly any grocery/ vegetable/ fruits shops.

· We also spotted a lot of architectures/ artists offices, which were mainly on the upper floors of the buildings.

· The structures were old, maybe 30-40 years, with a few new constructions.

· Very densely populated/ spaced structures.

The interim report of our studies can be found on Ben’s blog.

Group 4: Renu Gupta/ Kihoon Nam

Phase 1 - Measurement of a tree# 4 Tilia Phatyphillos.

The presentation of the Group 6 studying the Hosting/Occupation of the old city of Barcelona can be found here:

http://www.iaacblog.com/benhoward/?p=17

The long tail, coloured in yellow

Blogs:  http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/ 

           http://thelongtail.com/             

Between 2000 and 2030, the world’s urban population is expected to increase by 72 per cent, while the built-up areas of cities of 100,000 people or more could increase by 175 per cent[1]. This territorial expansion of the cities will affect the social-economic-cultural-environmental outcomes. While the city governments, professionals (economists, urban planners, etc) steward the complicated (urban growth), it becomes critical to tap public opinion and work on the citizen’s real concerns.

An idea coined by Chris Martin in 2004, the theory of The Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of “hits” (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.

Guerrilla Geography - Irregular Geographer(s) engaged in engaging the public in small bands or groups. Operations carried out by small independent geographers, to cause thought, connected thinking, and stimulate the public and to wear down public resistance to geography, usually carried on by a number of small groups behind public(s) lines, or in occupied spaces. Guerrilla Geography is irregular (direct action) educating. 

Crowd-funding - Public Discourse, Interactive communication, User Interface, Empowerment of residents, Conscious Urbanism…. Little bits add up. That’s what crowd-funding is all about.

[1] UNFPA. 1996. The State of World Population 1996: Changing Places: Population, Development and the Urban Future, p. 1.