Urbanista Lesson #2: Help design your own city...

On my way to the library today, colorful art umbrellas hanging by the canopies welcomes you to a community Hub where I’m doing my everyday review. Handmade colored umbrellas add attractions and color to a community infrastructure like this. A small little grounds of effort that is going to bind together will contribute to a fruitful creative impact on one’s environment.

Once in a life of an Architect, she gets to experience a newly married couple who wanted to build their dream house. “If we have a million dollar bill, how will our house look like?”, the Husband asks. The first instinct of an Architect is to create an overall picture of the couple’s dream house. But how would she do that? She then asks and consults her client what do they want, do they want a large kitchen? A spacious living room? How many levels do they want? How many kids are they planning to have? Do they want any outdoor dining, a pool, a family room and so on... After visualizing the overall picture that’s the time she can work on her client’s budget.

So, the Architect then visualize and interprets the couple’s dream house into drawings, plans, and perspectives on what they want...

It is also almost the same to other design professionals like Urban Planners and Urban Designers. The only thing that distinguishes them from Architects is that their aim is to transform large-scale projects into what the community wants. This can only be possible through Public Participation...

You too can be the designer of your own community...You can only get to design your own community through being “involved” into your own community. Diverse open participation can be made through participating in your community council, working groups, seminars, workshops, schools, universities, unions, businesses, organizations and different community associations.

One of the best urban model cities in the rest of the world is Barcelona, Spain. They have managed to be dedicated and committed to being a part of their own city’s urban renewal and Transformation for 4 years, that’s why the book, Plans and Projects for Barcelona 2011-2015 by Guallart, Barcena, and Gratacos is the living proof of their community’s overall long-term effort.

“In order to create a strong and successful project, it takes more than just a competent technical team, plans, topographical studies, or indications on the underground infrastructures; we also need to understand, interpret, and respond to the problems, the needs, the aspirations and the daily experiences of area residents.”

Photo excerpt from the book, Plans and Projects for Barcelona 2011-2015

Public Participation cannot only beautify one’s own community but it can also contribute to the greater good with a greater purpose. From the book Design with the other 90%: Cities by Smith, the Favela Painting Project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is the perfect example which was covered by news specifically CNN, Fox News, and Al Jazeera. Since Brazil is one of the countries involved in drugs, gangs, where residents often times experience clashes between police and drug syndicates, this Favela Project purposely aims to bring beauty to the built urban habitat through wall painted murals. The local youth themselves hand-painted their community walls into colorful art on their surrounding houses and streets. They themselves had that hands-on experience to beautify their surroundings. Painting the walls bright colored can have that visual impact on the everyday lives of the residents but at the same time, it has that huge impact on human psychology that affects the community’s human behavior.

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Photo excerpt from the book, Design with the other 90%: Cities by Smith

Photo excerpt from the book, Design with the other 90%: Cities by Smith

Plans made by professionals like Architects, Urban Designers and Urban Planners wouldn’t be successful without citizens participation where resident’s opinions, debates, and knowledge is highly valued. But, it is the designer’s great responsibility to indicate, accentuate and establish useful spaces for citizen involvement. Give them that common place to gather, to talk, to eat, to play and to look forward on something on their everyday lives. Let them be encouraged, develop, and at the same time “feel” the sense of belongingness to their own community.

Thus, I, therefore, conclude that nobody is the best designer in your own city, but YOU!...
This is Elsa, signing off in School of Thoughts!

"The real secret of success of is enthusiasm. Yes, more than enthusiasm, I would say excitement" - Water Chrysler