urban matters

The crisis of space in a capitalistic society

Capitalist means of spatial production and territorial management are more than ever undergoing a crisis. Global capitalistic space is polarised between the North and the South, furrowed with unprecedented flows (of money, resources, people, etc.) for the most part in one direction. Certain cities are undergoing uncontrolled growth or decline, whether they are globalised under the control of mafias or obscure interest groups religious, economic, political) in the South, or under pressure from economic mutations such as shrinking cities in the North. From an cological standpoint, the modes of territorial occupation and exploitation are evolving into a planetary stalemate: every day the surfaces of natural land diminish, making way for concrete, implicitly contributing to the decrease of biodiversity. After years of study of the « planetary garden », landscape architect, Gilles Clement, overtly criticizes the modes of space anthropisation and underlines how unspoilt spaces play a role of protector. In this line of thought, he specifies how revealing it is that the IFLA (International Foundation of Landscape Architecture) assimilates industrial wastelands to« endangered landscape ».

ACTING SPACE – Transversal notes, on-the-ground observations and concrete questions for us all : Constantin Petcou & Doina Petrescu.pdf