Art historian Giulio Carlo Argan formulated his famous sentence in the nineteen-seventies, when then the modernist grand narrative of “good design” had already long disintegrated, leaving something of a semantic vacuum in the designed object, an empty space that had been promptly occupied by a micro-narrative of immediate satisfaction by indiscriminate consumption. Looking at the ease with which designed objects can be used to carry extremely different meanings and values forces us to reflect on the communicative power of design and its information value. Forms generated by design represent a presence in space that doesn’t end in the fulfillment of its function, but continues in force of their mere existence, in their relationship with the rest of the environment.

“Critical minds: critical spaces” is a one-day symposium organized by a group of UCL research students gravitating around this blog, as Gabriele Oropallo and Wesley Albrecht. The event is conceived of as an occasion to look at the work of architects, planners and designers and its social and cultural relevance in stimulating awareness and criticism of the contemporary. Very often, at the heart of cultural production, there is a practice shaped by a rational or existential response to material, technical or cultural constraints. This practice generates products that are designed as tools to enable the rest of the community to critically understand and question messages, objects and environments, rather than taking them for granted. The colloquium will feature some presentations on current research in design theory and history and on recent design projects. A final panel discussion will follow, with Justin McGuirk, editor of the Icon magazine, and Mark Cousins (Architectural Association, London Consortium). The event also marks the closing of CitiesMethodologies, an interdisciplinary event on innovative methodologies across the arts and humanities at the Slade Research Centre (Woburn Square, 5-7 May 2010). Speakers include Mark Cousins (Architectural Association), Annelys de Vet (Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam), James Auger (Royal College of Art), Jimmy Loizeau (Goldsmiths), Teresa Stoppani (University of Greenwich), Eyal Weizman (Goldsmiths), Jonathan Hill (Bartlett School of Architecture).

The colloquium will be followed by a wine reception in the Wilkins Building Haldane Room. Participation is free and open to all (for information email: g.oropallo@ucl.ac.uk, wesleyaelbrecht@gmail.com). Critical minds: critical spaces is supported by the UCL Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction, the Graduate School Research Project Fund and the Department of Italian Studies.

In a yearning for urban modernization some European cities have been promoting processes of urban intervention and forgetting the existing ways of life and of use of those spaces. Processes of participatory democracy have been reduced to simple information/auscultation not allowing any kind of response to the needs of those who live (and sometime always lived) in the spaces intervened. The case of Barcelona’s ‘Bon Pastor’ is an example of calling for a way of doing things differently…

Here is a challenge for those who like me feel that an alternative is needed:

“In the last years, Bon Pastor’s neighbourhood in Barcelona, has been living a transformation process due to the “Renovation Plan” adopted in 2003. This plan implies the complete demolition of 784 social houses (known as “Casas Baratas”) built in 1929, and the relocation of all the tenants in new apartments. The urban project has generated contrasted opinions, dividing the neighbourhood between those who support the plan, those who strongly reject it, and those who accept it due to the lack of other alternatives.

In this context, the International Alliance of Inhabitants (AIH) calls for a competition of ideas for the neighbourhood. The purpose is to offer /provide new alternatives for Bon Pastor’s transformation, and thus open up the debate on other ways to build the city and the urbanism that prevails nowadays.” (Source)

If you are interest in knowing more about this process and the above cited competition, visit http://repensarbonpastor.wordpress.com/.