Architecture Open Lecture Series 2010 /11
- University of Greenwich
- School of Architecture & Construction
- Mansion Site, Avery Hill Campus
- Bexley Road, Eltham, London SE9 2PQ
- Norbert Singer Lecture Theatre (M055)
Wed 20 October 2010 18.30
Richard Hayward
URBANISM: THE TRIUMPH OF DESIRE OVER CONSUMMATION. BEYOND THE REALM OF DISCOURSE ?
As everywhere increasingly is made to be like everywhere else, the protagonists (amongst others) of: the urban commodification of the homes of consumption, the art/theory propositions of polemic form‐givers, the virtualisation of extra‐terrestrial desire, the disneyfication of forms of the past, each engage in an often ill‐defined and generally hermetic discourse.
Urbanism and architecture have long appropriated the concerns (and usually a shaky knowledge) of other disciplines, but the proliferation of appropriation and the will to intervene in the settings for future life‐chances mean that we need to talk more across belief‐systems.
Whilst global capital seeks to offer the glitz of North America in every location, it is also inexorably (?) equalising the socio‐economic character of urban settings: (generously) 25% haves, 75% have‐nots.
Global answers – or even suggestions – are notoriously difficult (beyond the rationale of capital accumulation by the few from the many). But we have to tell stories that share our experiences beyond the particular – from Egypt, Africa, India, South America, South Asia and Europe or wherever – and try to establish some essential precepts and processes from our own and the experience of others, with which to make better places. Pluralist engagement in higher education requires pluralist discourse.
Over many years a recurring thought from disempowered communities has been captured in the phrase that architects/urbanists should be “on tap, not on top”. Whilst many commercial developers and volume house‐builders undoubtedly and often unfortunately agree with this, in relation to those for whom architects, landscape architects and urbanists have a professional duty of care – society at large ‐ the phrase remains a useful point of reflection: in determining the processes that lead to the creation of genuinely enabling urban form and the evaluation of its performance and contribution to the greater good!
Richard Hayward is an architect, urban designer and educator. He has worked in a variety of settings in the UK, mainland Europe, North and South America, Australia and briefly, China. He is Professor of Architecture & Urban Design and was Head of the School of Architecture & Construction at the University of Greenwhich, where he founded the Urban Renaissance Institute. Since 1995 he has been editor of URBAN DESIGN International, the quarterly refereed journal published by Macmillan/Palgrave, which he co‐founded. His practice started in housing moving rapidly into urban design and urban regeneration.
In recent years much of his consultancy has been in Latin America, most notably as urban design advisor to the Fundacion Malecon 2000 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. His teaching and writing focuses on listening and reflective practice and has included a great deal of multi‐stakeholder extended workshops in many different settings and countries.