The ultimate political act in town planning is the building of a New Town. Governments, developers and planners conspire to create a brand new community on a tabula rasa, based on the latest models of social and economic behavior.
Or is the idea to build a New Town from scratch just proof of a fatal misunderstanding of what makes a city a city? Is it a sign of a gross ignorance on the part of politicians, planners and all those involved in this process of the complexity and the unpredictability of the urban?
Whatever the situation might be, New Towns and Politics are closely related, even condemned to each other.
With the fourth INTI conference, New Towns & Politics, we wish to explore thoughts, analyses, projects, designs and political actions pertaining to the political dimension of New Towns, old and new. Authoritative and provocative speakers as Sociologist Kenny Cupers (Buffalo NY), architects Zvi Efrat (Tel Aviv), Nathalie de Vries (MVRDV), Kees Christiaanse (KCAP) en Tobias Armborst (New York), architecture journalist Kieran Long (Londen), researcher Azadeh Mashayekhi (Tehran) en Aldermen Adri Duivesteijn (Almere) and many more will enliven the event with their presentations and a film program will open up unexpected vistas on the question of New Towns & Politics.
The Conference Reader is now online!
The videos of the conference are now online!
Read the review by Archined here!
Read the review by Ruimtevolk here!
PROGRAM
Thursday 11 november 2010, Library Almere
| 09.00-09.30 | Doors open & Coffee |
| 09.30-10.15 | Introduction
-René Peeters : Opening conference -Michelle Provoost :Introduction INTI |
| 10.15-11.45 | Theme 1: Participation and Community Power (moderator Wouter Vanstiphout)
-Tobias Armborst : The Dream of a Lifestyle: Marketing Master Planned Communities in America -Kenny Cupers : Cities in search of the user |
| 11.45-12.45 | Theme 2: The Architect and the Process -JaapJan Berg interviews Kees Christiaanse (KCAP) and Nathalie de Vries (MVRDV) on the role of the Architect in the development of New Towns in Russia and Asia |
| 13.00-14.30 | Lunch |
| 14.30-17.00 | Theme 3: New Towns as Political Instrument (moderator Wouter Vanstiphout) -Zvi Efrat : New Towns in Israel -Azadeh Mashayekhi : Revisiting Iranian New Towns -Dan Handel : Grid and Revelation: Cities of Zion in the American West -Vincent Lacovara : Specific Flexibility in Place-making - or - The Law of Unforseen Planning |
| 17.00-18.00 | Drinks |
| 18.30-21.00 | Dinner |
Friday 12 November 2010, Theatre Almere
| 09.00-09.30 | Doors open & Coffee |
| 09.30-09.40 | Introduction
-Michelle Provoost |
| 09.40-11.15 | Theme 4: Left and Right in Urban Planning (moderator Wouter Vanstiphout) -Jacqueline Tellinga : On Politics, Building and Almere -Kieran Long : Planning for the Big Society -Christian Salewski : Planning and Politics in an open society: scenarios for Almere, Markerwaard and New Netherlands 2050 (1970-1990) |
| 11.15-12.45 | Theme 5: Asia (moderator Michelle Provoost) -Victor Oldiges : Between Gropius and Mao -Laurence Liauw : New Town policies - sameness and differences in Hong Kong and Mainland China -Kyo Suk Lee : Korea: City Building as a Perpetuum Mobile |
| 13.00-14.30 | Filmlunch with Introduction by Jord den Hollander |
| 14.45-16.15 | Theme 6: From Government to Private Sector (moderator JaapJan Berg) -Steven Beunder : New Towns in China and India - government led versus private sector development -Todd Reisz : Modernization of the Arabian Coast -James Kostaras : New Smart Cities of the 21st Century and the end of civic engagement in the modern democracy |
| 16.15-17.30 | Final Remarks |
| 17.30-19.00 | Drinks |
