KRAX blog

Presentaciones Jornadas KRAX 08

Gracias al stream de Vale, podemos ver y rever las presentaciones de los invitados a las Jornadas KRAX de este año. Todas las presentaciones están en http://krax.blip.tv

Enjoy again!

Urban Typhoon Workshop, Koliwada, 16-22 Marzo

Los colegas de Urban Typhoon vuelven al ataque... Esta vez cambian el entorno urbano de Shimokitazawa, Tokyo (aquí un post anterior) por la comunidad informal de pescadores en Dharavi, un gran barrio de chabolas en Mumbai. En verdad, las cosas por su nombre, Dharavi es el segundo barrio de chabolas más grande de Asia, tiene una población de más de 1 (un) millón de habitantes y ocupa 175 hectáreas.

Urban Typhoon Koliwada (del 16 al 22 de marzo) en un encuentro internacional de arquitectos, sociólogos, activistas, urbanistas, artistas, antropólogos, etc que, juntos con los vecinos y habitantes de Dharavi, buscan alternativas participativas a los problemas de planeamiento y participación que sufre ese barrio. Durante 10 días se sumergen en la vida del barrio para llamar la atención sobre los deseos y necesidades de los vecinos. Una iniciativa muy interesante de intercambio de conocimiento.
Como nos informan desde UT, Dharavi está en pleno centro de Mumbai, al lado del nuevo centro financiero, y su suelo tiene un valor aproximado de 2 mil millones de dólares. El gobierno quiere expulsar a los vecinos para poder expandir el centro financiero y situar allí a todos los "servicios avanzados" que eso supone.
Cierre al Urban Typhoon style: "After having been completely ignored by the government and public institutions for generations, the residents now claim the right to develop their neighborhood on their own terms. After all, Koliwada existed even before Mumbai was called Bombay by the Portuguese..."

Nos encantaría ir amigos, pero estamos metidos de lleno en la producción de las próximas jornadas (fines de abril...) (!!!). Pero esperamos que este modelo de brain storming urbano se multiplique por diferentes ciudades!

Si alguien quiere participar, aqui hay más info, o el mail está mas abajo...
Good luck mi frends!

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The Urban Typhoon workshop is a multicultural, multidisciplinary and multimedia experiment in participatory design. It is organized by the residents of Koliwada and a global collective of researchers and activists.

Architects, urban designers, planners, artists, anthropologists sociologists, photographers, media artists, activists and other creative people from India and abroad are invited to Koliwada for a week to brainstorm together with the residents on the future of Koliwada, Dharavi, at a time when the city’s is experiencing dramatic urban transformations.

The workshop will produce creative urban designs for the future of Koliwada as well as a multimedia testimony to the unique spirit this community. The workshop itself will be a joyous and participatory takeover of the neighbourhood. It combines the city’s historic spirit of activism with the celebratory, independent and culturally dynamic traditions that the Kolis of Mumbai have always demonstrated. The plan builds on these impulses in the best traditions of a festive exchange with visitors, guests, strangers and locals of all shades and hues.

http://www.urbantyphoon.com ///// info@urbantyphoon.com

This year, the Urban Typhoon workshop takes place in the traditional fishermen community of Koliwada in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest informal settlements.

Dharavi is a highly diverse residential, commercial, and industrial area with some of the highest population density levels in the world. Koliwada’s village like character has been preserved even in the midst of the dramatic urban and demographic changes that Mumbai has experienced in the last century.

Mumbai, the “maximum city”, epitomizes the transformation that the Indian sub-continent is experiencing at a time of extremely rapid economic growth, urbanization, and rural-urban migration. The largest city in India, Mumbai is also its financial and commercial capital, making it a strong magnet for global real-estate investors.

Dharavi was developed on marshlands in the periphery of Mumbai. It has historically been a point of entry to the city for migrants from all parts of the country. This 223 hectare settlement home to at least half a million people finds itself today at the centre of greater Mumbai. Situated a stone’s throw away from the new Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai’s new financial centre, Dharavi has an estimated real-estate value of USD $2 billion.

A recent attempt by the metropolitan government of Mumbai to sell the land to private developers (The Dharavi Redevelopment Project) has been loudly decried as being undemocratic, as it leaves locals completely out of the decision-making process, despite some dispositions for the in-situ resettlement of longer-term residents. The government is now trying to address the main flaw of the DRP, which is the fact that it is not based on any type of solid study of Dharavi -in physical, demographic, social or economic terms.

Koliwada is at the forefront of a battle for self-determination that concerns all of the residents of Dharavi and ultimately all the slum dwellers in India. After having been completely ignored by the government and public institutions for generations, the residents now claim the right to develop their neighborhood on their own terms. After all, Koliwada existed even before Mumbai was called Bombay by the Portuguese.

http://www.urbantyphoon.com ///// info@urbantyphoon.com

5th ICCG: International Conference of Critical Geography

       

Imperialism and Resultant Disorder:     Imperatives for Social Justice Mumbai, India, 3-7 December 2007

Between 1997 and 2005, four Critical Geography conferences have accomplished much toward elaborating and refining critical geographies by stimulating constructive debates, collaborative projects, and building connections among critical geographers and other scholars and activists worldwide (see the International Critical Geography Group web site, http://econgeog.misc.hit-u.ac.jp/icgg/). Following these highly successful events, we invite you to join us, the International Critical Geography Group, for the Fifth International Conference of Critical Geography in Mumbai, India, 3-7 December 2007, at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS).        The purpose of the conference is to provide an informal forum for politically critical discussion and debate. We welcome all that are engaged in promoting a critical politics, especially those related to the main conference themes. The format of the conference will be varied and much more akin to workshops, rather than the sort of activities typical of academic meetings. The objective, besides promoting the further development and diffusion of critical geographies, is to avoid a vertical transmission of knowledge and to ensure a more democratic debate and effective progress of ideas. Check:: http://www.5thiccg.org/

KRAX en Santiago de Chile!!!

A partir del jueves 12 de Julio, y durante casi un mes, con KRAX estaremos en Santiago de Chile! Bueno, no nosotros físicamente (lamentablemente), pero una pequeña parte de la información compilada durante este último año podrá ser consultada allí. Nos han invitado a participar de "Barcelona Toolbar", que se describe como una "exhibición internacional mostrando el trabajo de artistas emergentes (!) de la ciudad de Barcelona". Este evento se desarrolla en el Centro Cultural Matucana100, en Santiago, en colaboración con La Capella de Barcelona.
Hemos cedido algunos mapas de conflictos urbanísticos de Barcelona, más algunos textos relacionado con "la ciudad conflictiva", además de algunas críticas constructivas sobre el rumbo del famoso "Modelo Barcelona" (ja, algunos análisis ya llevan títulos como "El Fin del Modelo Barcelona").
Queríamos que, como parte de la red KRAX, nuestros colegas de Santiago, de la Red Ciudadana por Ñuñoa, explicarán la filosofía de KRAX y sus propuestas para solucionar el conflicto que atraviesa el barrio.
Lamentablemente, los vecinos de Ñuñoa están dedicando toda su fuerza a convocar un Plesbicito Comunal Vinculante, "para que Ñuñoa siga siendo una comuna a escala humana". Así que, santiaguinos, atentos que los colegas de Ñuñoa harán visitas por diferentes barrios para recoger firmas... "Ñuñoa la Gira".

Y en el futuro, KRAX en MAD! Pero no os desespereís, ya l*s mantendrem*s informad*s.