Today’s presentations were generally better than yesterday’s presentations. I suppose that this is because they had a more social science slant as opposed to yesterday’s strait architecture/planning focus. Perhaps more than anything else, the People Building Better Cities (PBBC) conference has made me realize that I have a specific discipline based perception of the world and how it works.
There is a definite design paradigm that is being presented in the PBBC and I find this paradigm to be unendingly offensive and condescending. The language used is that of twenty years ago (the name of the city tour is Joburg: From Rich to Poor). What is more, the idea that tourism will solve all the developmental problems in these communities is ridiculous. Pretty buildings are not what the people of Alex need; they need infrastructure, toilets, sanitation, housing, garbage removal and health care. I am worried that our opinions and first hand knowledge will be largely ignored in the Global Studio.
There was one presentation today that I thought spoke to the essence of what Global Studio is trying to accomplish and also what the social science/architecture collaboration is supposed to accomplish. The Paul Phoeleros presentation on the three projects that his company is working on was fascinating. This company is doing so much to affect the lives of those who need it in such a simple yet practical and tangible way. The presentation was given without the slightest bit of arrogance or self-importance and it managed to capture the interest of both the social scientists and the designers.
Tonight the weather was really crazy with strong wind and plummeting temperatures. At one point the door to our balcony flew open and the wind pulled the curtains through the door. At one point a glass shattered and I literally screamed out loud.
I went out with a couple of people to try and pick up some of the New School students from the PBBC tour of Constitution Hill. I really don’t know why we even try to drive here. None of the streets are marked and the streets are filled with detours due to the new metro system they are trying to put in. We ended up never finding our friends and managed to get turned around in the main taxi rank in the CBD. We decided to leave when I heard something that sounds like gunshots. On the way home at the corner by the main street by our dorms I swear I saw another grim reaper. It may have just been a man in a long black robe with a hood but really, who wears those?
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