deceptively weak arcadia invaded
The constructed world today seems to derive evident advantages from the ever weaker connections that unify the city, architecture, and the world of objects. — Andrea Branzi 1 relationship between the individual and collective and the role of urbanism to mediate these two scales. 2 This delicate balance and feedback between the individual and collective has been promoted by political theorists such as Hannah Arendt who positions it as the core of pluralism and therefore a healthy public sphere. 3 Branzi’s metropolis is not devoid of such yearning. His weak metropolis not one of the future, but of the present — it is neoliberal, multicultural, economically diverse and hypocritical. For Branzi, the inherent weakness between the various systems is what allows the individual to flourish, without assimilation, with a collective that is still able to gather power through consensual agreement. In light of more xenophobic events and increasing globalisation, this issue of reconciliation through weak systems will be critical for present (and future) urbanists to grapple with.
gardens | weeds by neeraj bhatia
In 2010, Andrea Branzi, co-founder of Archizoom, issued seven points for a new Charter of Athens. In contradistinction to the ‘one-sized fits all’ recipe book of urbanism promoted by Le Corbusier, Sert and the CIAM group, Branzi’s suggestions emphasised the need for the city to be fluid, diffused, symbiotic, reversible and adaptive to societal and political changes. Branzi entitles this speculative city the Weak Metropolis . Instead of highly defined solutions that revolve around architectural- urbanism’s formal capacity, Branzi’s vision privileges systems, contradictions and mutant hybridity consistent with contemporary urbanism. In fact, it is the formal weakness of Branzi’s metropolis is what makes it resilient to transformations of the city, its inhabitants and their values. It is interesting to note that Branzi positions his manifesto as a response to the Charter of Athens that while seeking ubiquitous urban solutions, placed a large emphasis on the
1 Branzi, Andrea. ‘Introduction’ in Weak and Diffuse Modernity. Milan: Skira Publishing, 2006. 2 See Points 2, 72, 75, 76, 94 and 95 in Le Corbusier, The Athens Charte r . New York: Grossman Publishers,1973 3 Hannah Arendt. T he Human Condition . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. pp 175-176
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The Open Workshop
The origins of 22 of the earliest introduced plant species to Canada, now considered invasive.
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