On the occasion of the launch of the European exchange program City Visions Europe

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1 City Visions Europe Berlage Institute CARD Botersloot HE Rotterdam The Netherlands conference program April Subject: City Visions Europe New Vocabularies for the European City On the occasion of the launch of the European exchange program City Visions Europe, the conference New Vocabularies for the European City discusses the challenges of contemporary architecture in building the midscale European City. The cities that are the contexts of this European exchange Mechelen, Bordeaux, Kosice and Plzen are not the large European metropolises or capital cities, but they are typical mid-scale European cities. There are more than 500 of such cities with a population between and inhabitants. These accommodate more than 15% of the European population and are an essential component of the European urban history and of the contemporary urbanized territory of its continent. While reflecting upon their specific qualities and challenges, the mid-scale European city forms an ideal framework to question the relation between the contemporary practices of architecture and planning on their capacity to make city. The conference therefore departs from the observation that, over the past two decades, the urban project or the acupunctural intervention, often as part of a strategic project to restructure the city s territory, has become the predominant framework for the production of contemporary architecture. While the urban project is often the engine of urban restructuring, it has also become the vehicle for city-marketing strategies and the pursuit of a Bilbao-effect in both large and small cities. The implicit architectural idea that speaks from this popular tendency of exceptional architectural realizations condenses the city in specific city-parts and, even more often, in public buildings often with a cultural or leisure program. This global phenomenon that deploys architecture and architects mainly for their iconic contribution to cities could be summarized as the proliferation of a generic form of architecture that in turn contributes to a generic development of cities worldwide. Beyond the stylistic debate around contemporary iconic building, it is the more general observation that architecture in present fails to develop, represent and materialize a common understanding of the shared space of the city, that will form the central issue of the design-research program City Visions Europe. Themes that have always been at the centre of architectural practice and research, such as housing typologies and their urban patterns, the continuity of public space, as well as the layout of infrastructures, are no longer the dominant vectors of architectural and urban discourse. City Visions Europe: Bordeaux, Košice, Mechelen, Plzeň is a design-research program focusing on the urban condition of four mid-scale European cities. It offers the framework for exchange between architects and cities to develop, present, and debate speculative architectural ideas on the future of these cities as well as the European city in general. info@cityvisionseurope.eu Berlage Institute Centre for Architectural Research and Development (NL) arc en rêve centre d architecture (FR) CCEA Centre for Central European Architecture (CZ) MMMechelen (BE) Flemish Architecture Institute (BE)

2 With contributions by politicians, city-planners and -architects, researchers, architects and planners, the conference will question the possible relevance of those themes for contemporary urban development and aim to define a set of priorities for architectural and urban reflection and planning. Participants to the conference are amongst others Joachim Declerck (Berlage Institute), Michiel Dehaene (University of Eindhoven), Filip Geerts (University of Delft), Bernardo Secchi (Studio Secchi-Vigano, Milan), Vladimir Slapeta (Brno University), Martino Tattara (Berlage Institute), Ines Weizman (London) and the eight architecture offices selected for the design-research program l AUC (Paris, FR), Berger&Berger (Paris, FR), GGNA (Bratislava, SK), Jan De Vylder architecten (Ghent, BE), Office KGDVS (Brussels, BE), Raumbureau (Zürich, CH), RKAW (Prague, CZ) and zerozero+totalstudio (Presov, SK). For more information: PRACTICAL INFO Dates & Time Location Directions Admission Fee Thursday 23 April 2009, 14h00 17h00 Friday 24 April 2009, 09h00 18h00 Lamot Congress and Heritage Centre Van Beethovenstraat 8/10 B-2800 Mechelen (Belgium) Fee includes coffee, lunch, reception and conference pack. Standard: Euro 45,00 Student: Euro 25,00 Via to Françoise Vos, Project Manager, Berlage Institute vos@berlage-institute.nl / Deadline for registration: 17/04/09

3 CONFERENCE PROGRAM DAY 1 Thursday 23 April h30 14h00 Welcome Rob Docter, General Director, Berlage Institute (Conference Chair) Bart Somers, Mayor of Mechelen City Visions Europe: An introduction Joachim Declerck, Program Curator, Berlage Institute Qualities and Challenges of Mid-Scale European Cities 14h30 Middle-scales Revisited. The Urban Project and the European City Bruno de Meulder, Professor of Urbanism, TU Eindhoven (NL) Round Table of Mayors: Bordeaux, Kosice, Mechelen, Mons, Plzen Interviewer and moderater: Robin Ramaekers (Journalist, BE) 15h30 15h45 Towards a Polycentric European city: Strasbourg and Bordeaux Francis Cuillier, Directeur A urba, Bordeaux (tbc) Interface: The Architecture of a European Capital of Culture Michal Hladky, Architect and Collaborator Kosice2013 (SK) Round Table of City Architects Moderated by Hans Ibelings (A10) and Joachim Declerck (BI) 16h55 17h00 Concluding remarks End

4 DAY 2 Friday 24 April 2009 Morning Session 8h30 9h00 Welcome Joachim Declerck (Berlage Institute), Chair of the Day The European City: A Historical and Operative Category? 9h10 The Architecture of the European City. From Generic to Common Martino Tattara (Scientific Coordinator CVE) & Fabio Vanin (IUAV) The Network of Mid-scale European Cities: From the Middle-Ages till Today Peter Stabel, Historian, University of Antwerp (BE) Tradition and Modernity: Czech Context Vladimir Slapeta, Dean, Brno University, Czech Republic Project Presentations Plzen South City RKAW, Prague (CZ) Le Grand Pari: DPAP L AUC, Paris (FR) 11h00 Centrality and the Continuity of Public Space 11h15 What Lies Beneath. Notes on Common Space Michiel Dehaene, Assistant Professor, TU Eindhoven (NL) Four Rooms for Warsaw Raumbureau, Zürich (CH) Pharos GGNA, Bratislava (SK) Round Table with Peter Stabel, Djamel Klouche, Vladimir Slapeta, Michiel Dehaene and Martino Tattara Moderated by Vedran Mimica (Director, Berlage Institute) 12h45 Lunch Break

5 DAY 2 Friday 24 April 2009 Afternoon Session Housing Typologies and Fabrics 14h00 The Secret Loves and Lives of the Post-Communist City Ines Weizman, Architect and Critic, London (UK) Neocitta Berger+Berger, Paris (FR) Ilot 1 Nérigean Jan De Vylder Architects (BE) 15h30 The Architecture of Infrastructure 15h45 Infrastructural territories Filip Geerts, Assistant Professor, TU Delft (NL) Project Presentations Trnavske Myto zerozero+totalstudio, Presov (SK) Park, City and Dike Office KGDVS, Brussels (BE) Concluding Session 16h45 Making the Urbane, or the Urban Crisis of Architecture Dominique Boudet, Independant critic and former Chief Editor AMC Le Moniteur, Paris (FR) Concluding Round Table Moderated by Salomon Frausto (BI) & Eric Troussicot (aer) 18h00 Break and Reception Public Lecture & Exhibition Opening 18h30 20h30 Mechelen as European City: Research and Projects Prof. Bernardo Secchi, Studio Secchi-Vigano, Milano (IT) Public Opening Exhibition History and Future of the European City City Visions Europe: Mechelen, Mons, Plzen, Bordeaux, Kosice Underground passage, King Albert Square, Mechelen (BE)