Once Dr, Childress talked about a research of how to change the world, I asked myself, what I would do to change the world, and because I am so little yet. and don't know much, I thought about my world.
Q- Amr what is your world?
A- My world is only what I have seen, touch and feel.
I looked carefully at my life tape, the places I been to (my world), and realized that if I have to change something for better, I have to start with the place that has much share in me, Amr's world
Its my own town Alexandria, Egypt.
I been always dreaming of the Good Alexandria city , and found the following thought about the Good city
Fundamentals of a Good City By Bruce Liedstrand
1. In-ness. Buildings shape the space of the streets and other public places so that a person feels comfortable in the city, not outside looking at a series of objects.
2. Intensity. A good city has intense enough development to support a rich urban life.
3. Diversity. A good city includes diverse ages, cultures and economic levels.
4. Public Realm. A good city has a rich public realm that serves as the community's common living room.
5. Centers. Good things are clustered in city centers and neighborhood centers, rather than being distributed randomly throughout the city.
6. Convenience. Everyday services are located conveniently close.
7. Walkability. Walking is a pleasurable experience that gives access to places and services.
8. Access. A person has convenient access to places and services without being dependent upon access to a private car. This is not an opposition to cars, as cars are a useful transportation tool. But good cities don't make people depend on having access to a car.
9. Street Network. A good city has an interconnected, small-block street network that provides multiple access and egress points and helps disburse traffic.
10. Community Services. Education, police and fire protection, power, water, wastewater, communication and public transportation.
Alexandria had all the above along time ago , can we bring that back again?
I aim to develop a study reviving the historic role of Alexandria, and at promoting Alexandrian Urban culture and Alexandrism, by relocating the city’s spirit of diversity, tolerance and cooperation once more in the Mediterranean. and to document and disseminate the Alexandrian and Mediterranean tangible and intangible culture, with a focus on economic development, cooperation and sustainability.
Alexandria developed through thousands of years, creating the IN-ness, Diversity, Public Realism, Access, and Centers.
Now a days what we have done to the creation of thousands of years ago?!!! did we add to it? did we developed it? did we react with it as we suppose to? or we have turned the past to a portrait that have nothing to do with the future?!
Why Those who built for themselves and us many years ago, live longer than us?
who ever build for the future live longer than who build for the present.
How many architects now, think their building would live thousands or even hundreds of years?
How we could celebrate what an ancient architect did? by using his building or keep it as a mummies just to be seen by tourists?
when you have a very old city like Alexandria, where almost every street has a 300 - 400 years old Building, (Turkish Town) or a thousand year building (Roman area).how should we treat these treasures?
when a beautiful lady has a very precious jewelery does she wear it? or she keep it in the jewelry box all the time?
How should Alexandria wear her jewelries?
"So once again Alexandria has sunk into oblivion.. perhaps some happy accident will in the course of time once more renew the secret spring." L. Durell - 1977
Lets talk about some future plans (Avant Gaurd Ideas that i may work on!
Alexandria was king with trade because of geography, Trade promotes education and singularly advances societies upward.
Social, intellectual and material trade was and is the 'new obsidian' - I am thinking of a solution creating buildings that promote this and Alexandria ought to advance ever more quickly. Look at what the new Alexandria Library has done for my Town.
In my study i wont be heavy handed with my urban planning ideas. I wont create grand imperial urban restructurng but tread lightly, I would look at what the Russian ideals did to my town. Instead I suggest creating scattered seed buildings that become catalysts for the private sector to then come up with additional development. The private sector has the drive as it is from a self interested and alert personal core, and what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
I would be careful of the "new urbanist" view of urban revitalization. It might be just the latest imperialist model - the latest heavy handed ideal... as Jane Jacobs herself wrote...
"[T]he New Urbanists want to have lively centers in the places that they develop, where people run into each other doing errands and that sort of thing. And yet, from what I've seen of their plans and the places they have built, they don't seem to have a sense of the anatomy of these hearts, these centers. They've placed them as if they were shopping centers. They don't connect."
Please Advice
Thanks
Amr
Q- Amr what is your world?
A- My world is only what I have seen, touch and feel.
I looked carefully at my life tape, the places I been to (my world), and realized that if I have to change something for better, I have to start with the place that has much share in me, Amr's world
Its my own town Alexandria, Egypt.
I been always dreaming of the Good Alexandria city , and found the following thought about the Good city
Fundamentals of a Good City By Bruce Liedstrand
1. In-ness. Buildings shape the space of the streets and other public places so that a person feels comfortable in the city, not outside looking at a series of objects.
2. Intensity. A good city has intense enough development to support a rich urban life.
3. Diversity. A good city includes diverse ages, cultures and economic levels.
4. Public Realm. A good city has a rich public realm that serves as the community's common living room.
5. Centers. Good things are clustered in city centers and neighborhood centers, rather than being distributed randomly throughout the city.
6. Convenience. Everyday services are located conveniently close.
7. Walkability. Walking is a pleasurable experience that gives access to places and services.
8. Access. A person has convenient access to places and services without being dependent upon access to a private car. This is not an opposition to cars, as cars are a useful transportation tool. But good cities don't make people depend on having access to a car.
9. Street Network. A good city has an interconnected, small-block street network that provides multiple access and egress points and helps disburse traffic.
10. Community Services. Education, police and fire protection, power, water, wastewater, communication and public transportation.
Alexandria had all the above along time ago , can we bring that back again?
I aim to develop a study reviving the historic role of Alexandria, and at promoting Alexandrian Urban culture and Alexandrism, by relocating the city’s spirit of diversity, tolerance and cooperation once more in the Mediterranean. and to document and disseminate the Alexandrian and Mediterranean tangible and intangible culture, with a focus on economic development, cooperation and sustainability.
Alexandria developed through thousands of years, creating the IN-ness, Diversity, Public Realism, Access, and Centers.
Now a days what we have done to the creation of thousands of years ago?!!! did we add to it? did we developed it? did we react with it as we suppose to? or we have turned the past to a portrait that have nothing to do with the future?!
Why Those who built for themselves and us many years ago, live longer than us?
who ever build for the future live longer than who build for the present.
How many architects now, think their building would live thousands or even hundreds of years?
How we could celebrate what an ancient architect did? by using his building or keep it as a mummies just to be seen by tourists?
when you have a very old city like Alexandria, where almost every street has a 300 - 400 years old Building, (Turkish Town) or a thousand year building (Roman area).how should we treat these treasures?
when a beautiful lady has a very precious jewelery does she wear it? or she keep it in the jewelry box all the time?
How should Alexandria wear her jewelries?
"So once again Alexandria has sunk into oblivion.. perhaps some happy accident will in the course of time once more renew the secret spring." L. Durell - 1977
Lets talk about some future plans (Avant Gaurd Ideas that i may work on!
Alexandria was king with trade because of geography, Trade promotes education and singularly advances societies upward.
Social, intellectual and material trade was and is the 'new obsidian' - I am thinking of a solution creating buildings that promote this and Alexandria ought to advance ever more quickly. Look at what the new Alexandria Library has done for my Town.
In my study i wont be heavy handed with my urban planning ideas. I wont create grand imperial urban restructurng but tread lightly, I would look at what the Russian ideals did to my town. Instead I suggest creating scattered seed buildings that become catalysts for the private sector to then come up with additional development. The private sector has the drive as it is from a self interested and alert personal core, and what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
I would be careful of the "new urbanist" view of urban revitalization. It might be just the latest imperialist model - the latest heavy handed ideal... as Jane Jacobs herself wrote...
"[T]he New Urbanists want to have lively centers in the places that they develop, where people run into each other doing errands and that sort of thing. And yet, from what I've seen of their plans and the places they have built, they don't seem to have a sense of the anatomy of these hearts, these centers. They've placed them as if they were shopping centers. They don't connect."
Please Advice
Thanks
Amr
3 comments:
Let's look at Liedstrand's ten fundamentals. I'd start by examining how Alexandria historically was able to develop each of those ten components. Follow that by showing us how relatively recent development runs counter to those components. And then -- well, your response could be at the entire urban scale (through zoning and planning codes) or at a detailed neighborhood center scale, showing how you might propose a more humane and "Alexandrian" form of development.
Keep a close eye on the experiential rather than the theoretical. One of my comments in Saturday's final review is that Modernism is all brain and no heart. Focus on the heart.
Amr,
I must come to Alexandria in the near future! Just the shape of the harbor and the City edge inspires something mystical and romantic at the same time. Herb has a great suggestion in examining the recent developments to evaluate the damage. Perhaps comparison with other cities in the world will assist to support your point, what have other cities done to reveal their history and maintain their landmarks.
During my business and pleasure travel around the world I have encountered different ways where the City tells a story, through touch, smell and celebration of their history by finding a second life to its use. Hamburg, Germany is one of the biggest ports in Europe. Whether you walk or take a boat on its canals the aroma of the coffee permeates the air as is delivered from the ship to the warehouses. Berlin, Germany represents "The Wall" as a continuous strip of cobblestone that runs over the streets and curbs. A portion of the erected wall remains where the Gestapo headquarters where. My point is, could the metamorphosis of Alexandria and its Architectural revival narrate the Alexandrian story without saying a word?
Amr,
This is very interesting, so I ask you a question that might be someway out of the “line” but after learning more about the city, it just keeps rooming around my mind (because it has detonated other ideas):
What made Alexandria a flourishing city in the past?
Now I know you give your ten fundamentals (with I think they are right on the money) but my question actually is a rhetorical one; one that I think I know the answer to, (and is very related to the “focusing on the heart” like Herb mentioned) but regardless what I think this answer is, it might be interesting for me to see what do you think:
Military power….!
I will not expand more in to it right now just to see if you can guess were I am coming from with this.
If you want to give your best…… =)
Gus
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