Publication Date:
2021
abstract:
This text addresses the concept of "life as a common" and posits that
the occasion and the necessity of a new biopolitical space dealing with
life as a common are now taking form. This space not only relates
to public and institutional responsibilities (crossing scales, spaces, and
modes of space production; a transversal understanding to species, both
human and nonhuman) but also overcomes the traditional agenda of
architecture, landscape, or urban design. The hypothesis is that, in the
actual reconsideration of life and space relations, the biopolitical space
will leave behind the modern project, codified by modern architecture
and urbanism; it will also leave behind the actual confusing and con-
tradictory moves toward the ecological, demographic, and economic
transition. The text proposes a few possible lines of thought about how
urban and landscape design can help to shape a new, more substantial
biopolitical action about life as a common, consistent with current and
future challenges. This concept opens to the radical alteration of design
perspective, to the value of heterogeneity and coexistences, and to the
importance of developing alternative eco-socio-spatial prototypes-three
conditions inside which we can begin to rethink the biopolitical nature
of the transition and grasp the importance of life as a common.
The text is structured in three parts: the first situates the concept
of life as a common within wider debates about biopolitics and proposes
a conceptual frame to orient the reading of the second and third parts as
well as an autonomous reflexive device (I. Urbanism and the Biopolitical
Project). The second part delves into the relation between life as a com-
mon and the concrete transformation of space through design. Here,
soil is at the foundation of spatial design and one of the crucial agents
connecting urbanism and life as a common (II. Our Common Soil: Toward
an Urbanism of the Living Soil. The third part moves to a long-term ter-
ritorial vision whose goal is not only to challenge the actual biopolitical
structure but to read the territory as a subject through the lens of soil and
labor; to embed its vision into alternative modes of space production-a
specific space for exploring the ecological and socioeconomic shift and
life as a common (III. The Transition Project).
the occasion and the necessity of a new biopolitical space dealing with
life as a common are now taking form. This space not only relates
to public and institutional responsibilities (crossing scales, spaces, and
modes of space production; a transversal understanding to species, both
human and nonhuman) but also overcomes the traditional agenda of
architecture, landscape, or urban design. The hypothesis is that, in the
actual reconsideration of life and space relations, the biopolitical space
will leave behind the modern project, codified by modern architecture
and urbanism; it will also leave behind the actual confusing and con-
tradictory moves toward the ecological, demographic, and economic
transition. The text proposes a few possible lines of thought about how
urban and landscape design can help to shape a new, more substantial
biopolitical action about life as a common, consistent with current and
future challenges. This concept opens to the radical alteration of design
perspective, to the value of heterogeneity and coexistences, and to the
importance of developing alternative eco-socio-spatial prototypes-three
conditions inside which we can begin to rethink the biopolitical nature
of the transition and grasp the importance of life as a common.
The text is structured in three parts: the first situates the concept
of life as a common within wider debates about biopolitics and proposes
a conceptual frame to orient the reading of the second and third parts as
well as an autonomous reflexive device (I. Urbanism and the Biopolitical
Project). The second part delves into the relation between life as a com-
mon and the concrete transformation of space through design. Here,
soil is at the foundation of spatial design and one of the crucial agents
connecting urbanism and life as a common (II. Our Common Soil: Toward
an Urbanism of the Living Soil. The third part moves to a long-term ter-
ritorial vision whose goal is not only to challenge the actual biopolitical
structure but to read the territory as a subject through the lens of soil and
labor; to embed its vision into alternative modes of space production-a
specific space for exploring the ecological and socioeconomic shift and
life as a common (III. The Transition Project).
Iris type:
2.1 Contributo in Volume(Capitolo,Saggio)
List of contributors:
Vigano', Paola
Book title:
New Geographies 12 : Commons