The City, The Gap and the Regulations

Design studio/ presentation/ publications/ debates

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Date: 14 February - 16 April 2003

'The city, the gap and the regulations' is a manifestation dedicated to the socio-geographic and urban development aspects of contemporary urban planning. The emphasis was on the neighborhood of Transvaal in The Hague (a working-class neighborhood which will undergo major demolition and restructuring in the years to come). Comparative studies have been made with recent developments in the city of Belgrade.

The manifestation is made up of several different parts:

1. 'The impossibility of planning'
Registrations and designs for Belgrade and The Hague
Design studio / presentation / publication:
In cooperation with the Design Academy Eindhoven, Public Space, directed by Wim Cuyvers and the Jan van Eyck Academy Maastricht, directed by Filiep Tacq

After one week (from February 6 thru 13, 2003) of working, living and studying in Transvaal, some thirty design students will present their analyses and ideas in the Stroom exhibition space. Simultaneously the results of a Dutch design workshop in Belgrade in 2001 (also under the direction of Wim Cuyvers) will be shown, together with the work of some independent visual artists and designers. A series of catchwords forms the link between the two reseach projects. The presentation will be accompanied by an inspiring publication made under the direction of Filiep Tacq. Special additions to this publication will become available even during and after the official opening of the presentation.

2. 'The undivided city...and her willing executioners'
An analysis on the occasion of the restructuring of The Hague/Transvaal
Report / debates: BAVO research

BAVO research, a joint venture of the architects/philosophers Gideon Boie and Matthias Pauwels, has looked at policy making around Transvaal in order to compile a critical report on urban policy making. In their highly detailed analysis they discuss the failed attempt at bringing together the two opposing camps in a somewhat disfunctional harmony. They view the Transvaal-coalition as a Dutch 'poldermodel' whose participants get stuck in a general consensus.

3. 'Debates'
In the months of March and April debates were organized, featuring guests from Belgrade and The Hague.

LECTURES from BELGRADE: 'About the impossibility of planning' (12 March 2003)
The speakers were:
Piet Vollaard, architect, architectuur-publicist en hoofdredacteur Archined, moderator, Rotterdam
Wim Cuyvers, architect Amorfati, docent Design Academy (Public Space), regisseur ontwerp-atelier Belgrado 2001 en werkatelier Den Haag/Transvaal 2003, Chatillon
Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, architect Normal Group, New York/Belgrado
Stevan Vukovic, free-lance curator, kunstcriticus, Manchester/Belgrado
Ana Dzozic, Marc Neelen, Milica Topalovic, architecten, Rotterdam (Wild City project)
Mileta Prodanovic, auteur en schilder, Belgrado
Dusica Parezanovic, programma-coördinator Cinema REX (een onafhankelijk cultureel centrum), Belgrado
Vladimir Macura, directeur Dienst Stedelijke Ontwikkeling, Belgrado

Debates on Transvaal, Urban Planning and related topic: 'The undivided city... and her willing executioners' (31 March 2003)
The three debaters are Adri Duivesteijn, Wouter Vanstiphout and Wim Cuyvers. The moderator is Piet Vollaard.

The three topics for discussion will be:
1- The undivided city and the unselfish hand of the planner
BAVO will confront the invited politician with the following thesis:
The more policy retreats, the more it will emerge as an intangible body with a firm grip of the field of influence.
2- The undivided city and her humanitarian task
BAVO will confront the invited architecture historian with the following thesis:
The more critics harbor the ambition to humanize the excesses of policy making, the more they will function as the vacuum cleaners or clini-clowns of policy.
3- The undivided city and the last remnants of what is public
BAVO will confront the invited architect with the following thesis:
The more the planning process anticipates on its own impossibilities by creating zones without restrictive regulations, the more the impossibility will be stripped of its own subversive power and the more each form of 'publicness' will be eliminated.

Publications
Publications that accompanied the manifestation:
- The Undivided City... and Her Willing Executioners
- Beograd - The Hague. About the impossibility of planning