Urban Politics of Multiculturalism
group project, Metropolis Master in Architecture and Urban Culture, 2010
team members: Angeliki Zervou, Lina Abou Reslan, José Luis Muñoz, Eliza Burgos, Jefferson Poole
instructor: Armando Montilla
Migration is a changing factor over contemporary urban landscape, where mobility extrapolates in new territories determined by ethnicity and the banal hosts intangible connections beyond geographies as they have been traditionally understood, leading to a city shaped by Multiculturalism.
Cities are in constant state of flux, and not only socio-economical factors determining the dynamics of their space are impacted by the flow in transnational migration they are target destination to; but also altering demographics by the flux of immigration are changing the visual identity of the city: Visual communication through signage, the appearance of ethnic-oriented commerce and business activities are the most evident traces of what we will call Ethnospace, a space of transnational dynamic and fluid occupancy; with the capacity of changing the urban landscape in short spans of time. The occupation and appropriation of urban residual sub-spaces, and the over-density created by time-shared spaces of dwelling and over-crowed housing are the concealed characteristic of the Ethnospace, the Ethnoflow and the Ethnocity.
Case study: Carrer de Trafalgar, Barcelona
Carrer de Trafalgar is the center of the burgeoning Chinatown neighborhood in the core of Barcelona. The street itself is extremely wide but yet conveys neither a sense of arrival nor a sense of place. The area surrounding Carrer de Trafalgar is characterized by scores of commercial storefronts, which are predominately wholesale retail, of which more than half are Chinese businesses. This location is central within the city as a whole, but at the same time it is an edge condition as the border between Eixample and the Ciutat Vella. Given the extreme specificity of use with wholesale clothing retail, in its current state it cannot be considered a proper Chinatown as there is no residential Chinese community or other uses that would cater to such a community.
schematic plan of interventions
schematic sections of interventions
Cities are in constant state of flux, and not only socio-economical factors determining the dynamics of their space are impacted by the flow in transnational migration they are target destination to; but also altering demographics by the flux of immigration are changing the visual identity of the city: Visual communication through signage, the appearance of ethnic-oriented commerce and business activities are the most evident traces of what we will call Ethnospace, a space of transnational dynamic and fluid occupancy; with the capacity of changing the urban landscape in short spans of time. The occupation and appropriation of urban residual sub-spaces, and the over-density created by time-shared spaces of dwelling and over-crowed housing are the concealed characteristic of the Ethnospace, the Ethnoflow and the Ethnocity.
Case study: Carrer de Trafalgar, Barcelona
Carrer de Trafalgar is the center of the burgeoning Chinatown neighborhood in the core of Barcelona. The street itself is extremely wide but yet conveys neither a sense of arrival nor a sense of place. The area surrounding Carrer de Trafalgar is characterized by scores of commercial storefronts, which are predominately wholesale retail, of which more than half are Chinese businesses. This location is central within the city as a whole, but at the same time it is an edge condition as the border between Eixample and the Ciutat Vella. Given the extreme specificity of use with wholesale clothing retail, in its current state it cannot be considered a proper Chinatown as there is no residential Chinese community or other uses that would cater to such a community.
Despite the overwhelming presence of the Chinese businesses, the current traces of Ethno[city] are limited to modest signage above the storefronts. Half of these signs have Chinese or Asian characters, but yet others have western names despite being run, and presumably owned, by Chinese businesspersons. There is no current sense of space or of place, Carrer de Trafalgar is simply a conduit between other nodes, be it literally from Plaça Urquinaona to Arc de Triomf, or metaphorically in wholesale retail distribution that bypasses the local populace.
It is crucial that any intervention that challenges the Ethno[city] of the area should address the notion of integration; integration between Eixample and Ciutat Vella, integration of this 'Chinatown' with the rest of the urban fabric, and lastly, integration of the current commercial uses with a mix of residential and leisure uses to create a real and vital neighborhood.
The team aimed in a design intervention which achieves the goal of integration will enable Carrer de Trafalgar to become a tangible place that actively links the adjacent areas and accommodates multiple everyday activities.
The intervention will:
• Take advantage the width of the street and create a dialogue across the street
• Break the length of the street [last section of Trafalgar Street] by intersecting different pathways, links and moments
• Activate the area by inserting flexible small-scale spaces open to re-interpretation by their users
• Introduce different uses that promote and enrich street’s life 24 hours a day
It is crucial that any intervention that challenges the Ethno[city] of the area should address the notion of integration; integration between Eixample and Ciutat Vella, integration of this 'Chinatown' with the rest of the urban fabric, and lastly, integration of the current commercial uses with a mix of residential and leisure uses to create a real and vital neighborhood.
The team aimed in a design intervention which achieves the goal of integration will enable Carrer de Trafalgar to become a tangible place that actively links the adjacent areas and accommodates multiple everyday activities.
The intervention will:
• Take advantage the width of the street and create a dialogue across the street
• Break the length of the street [last section of Trafalgar Street] by intersecting different pathways, links and moments
• Activate the area by inserting flexible small-scale spaces open to re-interpretation by their users
• Introduce different uses that promote and enrich street’s life 24 hours a day
schematic plan of interventions
schematic sections of interventions
