Living Cities. Metabolisms & Inclusivity

In the context of the Anthropocene, a new bio-geological era in which human activities on a global scale are having a destructive effect on the earth, we must consider how to change habits to address climate change and inequalities. What other ways of inhabiting planet earth can we propose? How to work with dynamic regenerative projects, combining metabolic and inclusive actions?

Living Metabolisms

Thinking about Living Metabolisms means overcoming the traditional duality between nature and culture, opening the possibility for the EUROPAN project to identify and take into account the changes and flows between matter, energy, natural elements - such as water - involved in the life cycle of a given environment.

Inclusivity

To combat social fractures, inhabited environments should become places for inclusive practices aimed at achieving territorial justice that articulates the social and the ecological. Caring for these living territories would facilitate inclusion if these isolated spaces are transformed into places of exchange, co-learning and biodiversity.

Location of EUROPAN 16

European cities propose locations that link urban and architectural scales. They are classified in 3×3 sub-themes:

a. Revitalisation

In these sites, transformation processes emanate from the territory itself and its resources to regenerate (nature, ecology, infrastructures)

1. Revitalisation / Strengthening biodiversity On these sites, the driving force is the transformation of (urban) ecology. Madrid, Västerås (SE), Namur (BE), Bitonto (IT)

2. Revitalisation / Transforming from infrastructures In these locations, the starting point for change lies in the evolution of networks that will enable new forms of mobility. Porte du Hainaut (FR), Klagenfurt (AT), Varberg (SE), Risøy (NO),

3. Revitalisation / Efficient territories In these sites, the territory must reconnect with its social context to add creative and cultural qualities. Alzira, Bassens/Bordeaux (FR), Douaisis Agglo (FR), Wernigerode (DE), Fagerstrand (NO)

b. Reclaim

This cluster includes sites that can gain new energy through careful treatment of the existing environment, introducing specific elements that will contribute to developing resilient vitality.

4. Reclaiming / Dynamic Landscapes Sites prefiguring a landscape with the potential to integrate new urban developments, giving them a quality of resilience, understood as a liveable environment, and introducing a rich biodiversity in public spaces Grenoble (FR), Pont-Aven (FR), Schwäbisch Gmünd (DE)

5. Recovery / Intensification of neighbourhoods Places included in larger scale areas that need to be enriched by integrating other uses, public spaces, natural elements, etc: Almendralejo (ES), Barcelona (ES), Biel/Bienne (CH), Levanger (NO), Linz (AT)

6. Reclaiming / Stimulating the interface Sites that are at the crossroads of different areas make them not only important mediators, but also places that can stimulate the quality of the surrounding areas. Roquetas de Mar (ES), Graz (AT), Aulnat (FR), Quimper (FR), Selb (DE),

c. Caring

This category identifies the vulnerability of our living environment. It is about finding new ways of designing with the aim of repairing areas that have been marginalised, wounded or ignored.

7. Care for / Enhance natural elements and the landscape Situated on the edge of parks and forests or in agricultural areas, these sites can become interfaces with porous boundaries that allow the landscape to be inhabited. Niort (FR), Hjertejia (NO), Carouge (CH), Karlskoga (SE)

8. Caring for / Managing new uses Injecting strategic uses capable of facilitating the transition of the building towards another life cycle, taking care of the relationship between these uses, the inhabitants and the built environment itself. Istres (FR), Limoges (FR), Bruxelles Capitale Région (BE), Landshut (DE), San Dona di Piave (IT)

9. Caring for / Reinventing rurality and the productive heritage In heritage sites in terms of forming previous production or related to rurality, how to care for these spaces with scarce economic resources by revaluing what already exists? Beizama (ES), Esparraguera-Colonia Sedó (ES), Alost (BE), Ettlingen(DE), Auneuil (FR)

Locations

3 scales are proposed (XL - territorial / L - urban architectural / S - architectural) which can be combined, thus allowing a wide range of sites and issues which favours the participation of young architects, urban planners and landscape architects.