hidden stars /// star-shaped cities

Goryogaku Park. Hakodate, Japan

Steenbergen, The Netherlands

Plan of Bourtange, The Netherlands, 1742

Bourtange today.

Clockwise: Palmanova, Italy | Coevoerden, The Netherlands | Nicosia, Cipro | Neuf Brisach, France

Palmanova, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
Other important examples in Italy are Sabbioneta and Guastalla.

Coevorden, 1951. Please note the difference between Palmanova that is still the same from XV century and how, instead, the city of Coevroden has been modified by the urban planning and the civilization. The rail (on the left) cuts completely the shape of the old city.

Naarden, The Netherlands. Still the same.

Arad, Romania

Plans for ideal fortified cities from the Renaissance. via Archimaps

What it's very interesting in this post is to note that the born of cannons and the age of gunpowder changed completely the shape of european cities.
Since the XV century almost all the cities were designed to defende themselves and also to be ready to face the enemies from all the sides and this is why the star shape was the best to respond to this problem.

Two amazing walled cities

Kowloon City, Hong Kong

Shibam, Yemen

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Originally a Chinese Military Fort, after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during the WWII its population increased amazingly and the Triads (chinese mafia) made it one of the darkest place of their businesses, such as prostitution, gambling and drugs, as well as the production of a lots of goods.
To understand better what was Kowloon Walled City I advice you to watch this documentary that a german Tv shooted before its distruction.
Today the " Triads walled city" has been destroyed and in the same place has been realized a park to commemorate this amazing entity where the sun did not pass through.

The wonderfull and magic city of Shibam (Yemen) with its mudbrick-made tower houses, probably the first "skyscraper city" of the history. The city has around 1700 years but the famous buildings were built around the XVI century and are still today untouched.
Shibam is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. The city has some of the tallest mud buildings in the world, with some of them over 30 meters.
The amazing fact, especially if you compare with the ancient italian cities, is that nobody built other buildings in the first sourroundings.
To understand what i mean check this video below out.
Its about the old city of Orte (VT) analyzed by the great film director, poet and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini.




This is just a small part of the documentary who Pasolini directed in 1973 about three cities: Sana'à in Yemen, Orte and Sabaudia in Italy.
Beginning from the urban analysis Pasolini concludes analyzing the situation of the modern man condition, and in a very clear way explains how the consumer society is erasing all the local identities homogenizing everything.

Goodmorning my darling

Le scie chimiche ieri hanno coperto il cielo di Firenze per l'intera giornata, lo scenario a tratti poteva anche essere bello, ma è davvero da capire cosa siano e a cosa servano, le voci sono molteplici, sembrerebbe trattarsi di scie appositamente depositate nell'aria da aerei non meglio riconosciuti (forse NATO?), contenenti una varietà di particelle di metalli, alluminio, cadmio, carbonio, titanio. E' un argomento di cui non si parla, ma mi chiedo: la gente non alza gli occhi al cielo, non le notano, non si domandano cosa cazzo siano? Comunque tra le molteplici voci si va da uso protettivo nei cofronti del buco dell'ozono e effetto serra, miglioramenti dei sistemi telecomunicativi a vero e proprio controllo del clima per scopi militari e bellici, a una arma dal potenziale enorme pari a quello di svariate bombe H. Una cosa è sicura le scie e tutti gli esperimenti connessi sono relativi al progetto HAARP (HIgh Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) tutta tecnologia derivata dagli studi e teorie, ormai risalenti a quasi un secolo fa, di quel genio incompreso e nascosto di Nikola Tesla. Si pensi soltanto che lui stava lavorando a un progetto di energia libera, gratuita e onnipresente. Potete immaginare cosa successe appena se ne accorsero. Berlino, Firenze, Bari, la Cina..sono ovunque.

Firenze dalla cucina - 16/09/2011

Firenze dalla camera - 17/09/2011

Oggi invece il cielo è limpido e l'aria più fresca del solito, la giornata andrebbe sfruttata al meglio, ma tu non ci sei e i Roccaboys sono tutti fuori città, forse la cosa migliore è farsi un giro sui colli magari con pic-nic.
Domani forse, tempo permettendo - sembra piova - arrosticini in Carraia, arrivano oggi espressi espressi dagli Abruzzi. A proposito l'autostrada Roma/Pescara che li attraversa completamente è davvero uno spettacolo, avremo incontrato circa venti macchine e cinque paeselli in duecento chilometri di tratta, per quale motivo l'abbiano costruita non è ancora chiaro, ma vale davvero un giro, se vi venisse in mente di farla fate prima benza che la distanza tra un distributore e l'altro può essere paragonata a quelle del deserto australiano.
Una zanzara deve avermi appena pinzato che mi sto grattando inconsciamente da circa dieci minuti sulla tibia sinistra. E' strano, è uno dei primi pinzi di una splendida estate finalmente marittima. Dopo il grigiore berlinese, quest'anno davvero spiazzante - si e no quattro cinque giorni di vero sole - ci siamo presi una gran rivincita tutta italiana!  Capalbio, Ansedonia, la Feniglia, Rocca, Polignano a Mare e perfino il "Jamaica" sotto Taranto, una perla conclusiva da far invidia ai mari caraibici.

"Jamaica"_ Marina di Lizzano (Ta)

 Polignano a Mare _ foto di Domingo Milella

Chissà?!..probvabilmente sarai al Winterfeldplatz Markt a prenderti i tuoi classici dolcetti del sabato da quella signora che non sorride mai, ma che sotto sotto è proprio buona, forse la sua espressione triste è una chiara dichiarazione d'amore al socialismo scomparso..chissà, quasi quasi faccio un salto anch'io al Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, accompagno la mamma a far la spesa e mi prendo il mio classico lampredotto sabatino.  Così diversi e cosi vicini, cosi stretti da far pesare anche una sola settimana di lontananza. Certo Modugno non poteva usare parole più azzeccate, la lontananza fa dimenticare chi non s'ama. Non vedo l'ora di essere di nuovo su nel nostro ABLAB a sperimentare/giocare/inventare e divertirci. Non vedo l'ora di far serate e andare al Renate, al Panorama e in qualche fottuto altro posto.
Non vedo l'ora di essere di nuovo con te.

ABLAB _ esercizio #4 - geometrie di filo

ABLAB _ composizione #2 - geometrie di filo




La lontananza - Domenico Modugno

Guten Tag meine Liebe

An other Florence is possible?

The project Mappa dell'Abbandono a Firenze is bringing me to consider much more my territory, trying to reflect on other parts of the city of Florence and of the Tuscany. Our city is so worldwide well known that nobody tries to do something to revalutate it, but Florence is not just Ponte VECCHIO, Palazzo VECCHIO ( everything is VECCHIO - old - as said Mario at the meeting), therefore it will be good to begin to analyze other areas of the city discovering other really interesting points of view.

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale. photo: G. Zaganelli

Lungarno dell'Anconella. Bocche dell'acquedotto. photo: G.Zaganelli


..Sorry for this long time without writing a post but recently I have been really busy.
I was in Italy for two conference on the reuse of abandoned and improductive places as resource for the culture and for the art, one in Rome organized c/o Reloadroma by Gianmaria Tosatti and with the special partnership of Gruppo Rosati, who gave their empty space to host two months of exhibitions, performances and meetings, and one in Florence organized by myself with the participation of the Comune di Firenze.
At the Florence meeting have partecipated many persons from differents backgrounds: architects, politics, artists, young students, designers and simple citizens. We understood that the next step is  create a special network of the creative and artistic groups who work on the discover of an other Florence and who try to give a new social/urban image of the city: public art, public performances, urbanistic and maps projects, photography and videos about unknown neighbourhood.
We should[must] reappropriate of our territory and if we don't share our results and contents we cannot obtain our aim.

 Centrale Termica FS. photo: G.Zaganelli

Facoltà di Architettura. photo: G. Zaganelli

Due to Maura, a friend from the university, I discovered two interesting realities that care about of the social and urban context of the city.
The first, Cartografia Resistente, realizes an analisys of the city making derive, new routes with the bicycle discovering the new neighbourhoods of the city and turning around some of the main new architectural icons of the suburbs.
The second interesting project is Spazi Docili (here I link the blog, because their website has to be uploaded). They follow all the architectural and urban dynamics by very close and bring to us a special report on their blogs, often they use also the empty spaces to create their installations.

Palazzo di Giustizia and Parco di San Donato. photo: G.Zaganelli

Inceneritore di San Donnino.  photo: G.Zaganelli

The only way to bring Florence to be again an important center for culture and art in Europe is looking at new and sustainable practices, imaging Florence not inside its real borders but including Prato, Pistoia and all the area of the Piana.
We have to put out our close mentality, we should stop to be always envious of other person, realities or strategies but we must consider every positive approach as a part of our rebirth and to make a network of all of these.
Florence has an enormous potential but, if it does not make use of this, in some decades will be the Disneyland of the Reinassance. Every year Florence looses people, as all the other italian cities but with a higher rate. The city will be completely in hand to the tourism and to the real estate speculation.
Hundreds of apartments will be bought by the emerging rich: chinese, russian, brazilian and indians and the city will remain empty for the most of the year.
Today all the artisan are disappearing because the costs of the life are too high, as well as all the old bookshops and the smallest realities di quartiere.
We have to invert this trend and the only way to do is believe that is absolutely necessary.

 casottino dietro l'ex generatore dei Tram di Varlungo. photo: G.Zaganelli

orti sotto al viadotto dell'Indiano. photo: G.Zaganelli

parco dell'Isolotto. photo: G.Zaganelli

costruzione della scuola dei Carabinieri, Castello. photo: G.Zaganelli


all the photos are the fruit of my constant research on the territory since 2003

The abandonment map of Florence

Visualizza Mappa dell'abbandono a Firenze in una mappa di dimensioni maggiori

Florence is worldwide famous for its amazing history and for its architecture..and it's right..the city is wonderful!..completely boring, but wonderful..
the mentality of the typical inhabitant it's closed, definetly CLOSED: he thinks that Florence is the best city in the world and nobody should do anything to change it. It's like a painting..This is our biggest problem. the mentality. 
To comeback an interesting city Florence should change for first its mentality, and then all the rest. Should find the courage to think we are in the XXI century and not five hundred years before...and do, do and still do!
The only thing the city does is to build a lot of new buildings, in the suburbs...amazing ugly architectures built with junk materials...an old italian story.

But, this year after almost 30, it's the first year I feel a willingness to change, to modernize and to think and design directly for the citizen! I feel good as never before and I have to thank this new administration and its fresh mentality.
The abandonment map made by :esibisco. is a way to show how many amazing buildings are left die instead to recover them or to give them a temporary destination, for young and creative people, homeless, families without an house..ecc

Ohne Verbindung...besser mit!

 

    IfIwerepresidentnes. Joseph Ford, Antoine Marot, Mohamed Bareche for Amusement

    Mirna Diamond Mine, Syberia

 

    Barumini, Sardinia

    Voetbalveld, Holland

    Dubai

    Tulip fields, Holland

    Hidden radar

    Nuraghe Izzanaggius, Sardinia  (look at the man)

    Anish Kapoor. Chicago

    Teatro Margherita, Bari

Sculpture by Alastaire Heseltine