Alejandro Aravena explains his approach to social housing
In the this extract from 2011 documentary Urbanized, Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena explains his approach to social housing with his architecture "do tank" Elemental.
De Drager - A Film about Architect John Habraken
Dutch architect, theorist and professor John Habraken (*1928) is one of the most controversial architects of his generation. Whereas some people revere him as a guru, others denounce him as a technocrat. In order to begin to grasp this person, who according to friends as well as foes has had «one good idea in his life», the film invites the viewer on a discovery-journey through Habraken’s body of thoughts. In conversation with Habraken, his friends and other people who have observed him from a distance the bits and pieces add up to a whole. In the end not only does the viewer encounter the various levels of Habraken and his «one idea», but also a fundamental redefinition of the role of the architect is revealed.
“The federation model of community organizing” – Sheela Patel, Slum Dwellers International – UN-Habitat
In the past two decades through a process called “Enumeration” through which the members collect at city level data about slums, Slum Dwellers International have created a mechanism which serves to create a city wide network of urban informal settlements with the intention of the dwellers to see themselves as part of a larger subsection of the city, whose needs have been neglected and whose voice has to reach the city and the national government.
How can we transcend slum urbanism in Africa? – Edgar Pieterse, University of Cape Town – UN-Habitat
In this lecture, Edgar Pieterse, professor at the University of Cape Town and the founding director of the African Centre for Cities, puts forward the concept of the underlying logic of slum urbanism. This logic in turn manifests in an overall urban form that can be characterised as ‘extreme splintered urbanism’—a pattern of urban development that manifests in sharp urban divides, the privatisation of key urban services and infrastructure linked to large-scale slum neglect over long periods of time.
Christopher Alexander - Patterns in Architecture
A classic video of Christopher Alexander explaining his 'Patten Language' concept.