Toward an Open City
Moving Toward an Open City through design interventions; Arx, Pnyx and Iter. Creating flexible spaces centred on citizen exchange, accepting and celebrating the city as ever evolving and unfinishable.
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Toward an Open City focuses on the multi-faceted relationship between architecture, power, space, and politics. Preceding research on the evolution of the city led to the conclusion that for centuries the city has developed as a reactionary design response to the enemy, forming control mechanisms in cities all over the world. Change on the same scale is required to emancipate the city from this evolutionary trajectory. This study tests theory-driven design interventions in Glasgow, centring on democratic, accessible, spaces within the public realm which encourage citizens to engage with their city and each other. In various locations and scales, through various modes of engagement; they are all designed for free and equal exchange with all of the visceral experience which comes with physical space and proximity.
Adopting principles of accessibility, flexibility, democracy as process, free expression, and citizen ownership; the introduction of three typologies into the city look to deliver programmes of think, discuss, and action. These then form a circular reference, a closed loop forever feeding the next moving the city forward. All of the interventions create points for activity, spontaneity, confrontation, and most importantly exchange, they include:
Arx - A new typology for citizen expression. ACTION.
Pnyx – The reinstatement of an ancient typology for citizen exchange. DISCUSS.
Iter – A common typology reinterpreting boundaries and connection. THINK.