mobility

Different circulating entities shape buildings in different ways. The main forms of mobilities involved are the circulation of people, practices and ideas, the circulation of building types, the circulation of different types of media, such as images, words and texts, architectural models, the circulation of parts and materials, and finally the circulation of whole buildings.

In preparation for the meta-theme this year I came across a very good book in my opinion the title of which is: Re-shaping Cities – How global mobility transforms architecture and urban form

As the quote above summarises the changes within cities are determined by five main factors, each linked to one or more of the circulating entities: market liberalisation (capital), international migration (people), cultural globalisation (ideas), urban entrepreneurialism (images), and changes within architecture and planning (the rise of global offices, 'starchitecture', intensified exchanges within the profession and new design technologies, journals, models, types).

Capital – The worldwide development of neo-liberal politics since the early  1980s has altered the role of the states: creating a good 'business climate' has become more important than improving the well-being of all citizens. Free mobility of capital as a means to favour capital accumulation has, in this context, become a major target of governments in most countries (with the help of international institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank). The implementation of policies aiming at such a target has implied the removal of a series of barriers to the free flow of investments and access to labour markets at national and local scale. As a consequence, access to formerly protected national markets in the building and planning sector has been opened to foreign firms and practitioners and planning, and building regulations in cities have been more flexible. These structural developments are preconditions for the increase in the circulation of architects, planners and built forms we have witnessed in recent years. They have facilitated the rise of global architecture firms and its correlates such as the development of a global market of symbolic architectural capital. The rise of networked architectural and planning firms in the past two decades has provided an important material support for the mobility of built form.

People travel, and travelling exposes them to new ideas which they might bring back home. Travelling may occur with or without the specific purpose to learn about and import new conceptions of built form. … People migrate, and through migration they bring specific cultural practices to other places. The travelling of these practices leads to the creation or reconfiguration of places in other locations.

Ideas & Images – In visual disciplines such as architecture and urban planning, images are, of course, much more efficient than words. Visual media have historically been constitutive elements of these disciplines. A yet unwritten history of media of architecture would show the ever-increasing numbers and diversity of images used to 'circulate buildings'. The internet and all its derived technologies have in recent years added another layer of speed and global accessibility.

I have only chosen parts that relate to present day mobility in architecture. As I continue reading I will keep posting more quotes, maybe even related original thoughts. In my opinion this book gives a good basis for our meta-theme before taking off to more extreme heights and abstract understanding of it.

Blanka