The Urban Farm Handbook

• The homepage of the book here
• Book review here

60-års markering ved Raufoss kjøpesenter

Det er i år 60 år siden kjøpesenteret ble lansert av Victor Gruen i juniutgava av Progressive Architecture, i 1952. Denne artikkelen vakte stor interesse hos arkitekter, byplanleggere og eiendomsutviklere, og noen har foreslått Victor Gruen som verdens mest innflytelsesrike arkitekt. Han har i alle fall hatt stor innflytelse for utviklinga av Gjøvik sentrum de siste åra, en utvikling Raufoss sentrum nå følger opp med brask og bram i anledning 60-års markeringa for kjøpesenterkonseptet, med lanseringa av en kraftig utvidelse av Raufoss kjøpesenter.

CC Gjøvik har gitt en dominoeffekt for omlandet, hvor man gjør alt for å stoppe handelslekkasjen, helst med nye og større kjøpesentre. Hvor lenge blir det planlagte COOP-minisenteret på Lena et "minisenter"? Har man som kjent gitt en viss person lillefingeren griper han raskt hele hånda.

Er vi tjent med å sperre inne urbant liv og samspillet mellom mennesker under institusjonslignende forhold? Er innkapslinga av stadig flere aspekt av menneskelivet svaret på det gode liv? Disse og andre spørsmål har jeg forsøkt å besvare i et lengre essay hos kulturverk.com, med tittelen ”Seksti år med kjøpesentret”.

Publisert i Oppland Arbeiderblad den 29.06.2012.

Den tredje staden (the third place)

Interressant essay om "den tredje staden", av Keld Buckiek fra Roskilde Universitet i Danmark.

Patina og Genius Loci på stader - eit essay om kva moglegheiter og grenser dei tredje stadene har

• Del 1
• Del 2
• Del 3
• Del 4

Relatert bok:

• The Fall of Public Man, av Richard Sennett

Modernisme som religionssubstitutt

Flott innlegg av Audun Engh ang. kirkedebatten i Dag og Tid. Finnes i nr. 25, 21. - 28. juni 2012.

Trykk på bildet for full oppløsning

Towards a Cooperative, Small scale, Local, P2P Production Future

Towards a Cooperative, Small scale, Local, P2P Production Future

View more presentations from Simone Cicero

Now that the need for large-scale production is disappearing due to the crystalline democratization of the means of production — now only linked to the time factor which is exponentially compressed every day — the cooperative revolution underway has placed people, as actors in their communities, at the centre of the act of production, humanizing it. - Simone Cicero

- The Revolution at hand

Interview with Stefano Serafini on P2P Urbanism

Interview with Stefano Serafini on P2P Urbanism from arch4people on Vimeo.

Cooperatives as an Alternative Economic Model

Robin Murray explores the potential of co-ops to form the basis of an alternative economy

Illustration: Andrzej Krauze

The first great surge of co-operation took place in Britain at the dawn of the age of railways in the 1840s. It was a consumer co-operation of the industrial working class. Within 50 years it had grown into a network of more than 1,000 retail co-ops and a wholesale society that had become the largest corporate organisation in the world. By the first world war, British co-ops accounted for 40 per cent of food distribution. They owned their own factories, farms, shipping lines, banks, an insurance company and even a tea plantation in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The co-operative movement was, in the vision of one of its inspired organisers J T W Mitchell, on the way to developing an alternative economy.

Read the whole article at Red Pepper:

- A different way of doing things

Offspring of Older Fathers May Live Longer

Yeahee, I didn't really understand how I could get such a beautiful and vivid daughter at the age of 42, now I see why. The one that is waiting for something good doesn't wait in vain!

- Offspring of Older Fathers May Live Longer

Den fullendte konsumenten

Narkomanen är den fulländade konsumenten, liksom narkotika är den perfekta varan. Det narkotiska medlet är en ren kemisk kod som skapar en ögonblicklig välfärd hos brukaren. Det är dock inte nog med det: narkotika är kraftigt fysiskt och psykiskt vanebildande och kräver att intas i allt större doser för att förbli verksamt. Narkomanen gör nästan vad som helst för att få fatt i sitt medel. Det tar över hela hans eller hennes liv. Därför uppfattar vi narkomanen som ynklig och förtappad, men i princip är vi alla fångade i samma sorts fälla. Vår materiella överkonsumtion drivs av behovet av att fylla och dämpa en olidlig tomhet. Det är en djupt beroendeskapande flykt från livets realiteter och liksom narkomanen är vi utom förmåga att erkänna många av de ödeläggande konsekvenserna för vår välfärd. Narkomanin som fenomen skrämmer oss för att vi känner igen oss i narkomanens förhållande till sitt medel. - Skönhetens Befrielse av Morten Skriver, s. 70

Den narkomane er den fullendte konsument, et speilbilde av vår kultur og en refleksjon av vårt innerste vesen 

Relatert:

• Ungdommer som drikker lever i øyeblikket

The 15 Properties of Living Structures

The following text is written by Règis Medina:

Alexander has studied extensively what properties were exhibited by living structures. He compared hundreds, maybe thousands of structures, trying to understand each time what living structures had that lifeless ones had not.

Over time, he came up with a list of 15 properties. These properties are different kind of relationships between centers that help create a living structure. The more the centers of a given design reinforce themselves through these 15 properties, the more life the structure will have.

These properties are the following:

• Levels of scale
• Strong centers
• Boundaries
• Alternating repetition
• Positive space
• Good shape
• Local Symmetries
• Deep interlock & ambiguity
• Contrast
• Gradients
• Roughness
• Echoes
• The Void
• Simplicity and Inner Calm
• Not-separateness

I will only present a few of them here, in particular those that I find relevant to the field of software. For a complete description, there's probably no substitute for a thorough reading of tome 1 of The Nature of Order: The Phenomenon of Life. You will find there dozens and dozens of pictures that illustrate them in great detail.

In the meantime, here is a quick overview of some of them:

Photo: B_cool

This tiger face is filled with centers. The eyes and the nose are the Strong Centers of this face. There are many Local Symmetries, starting with that of the whole face. There are Boundaries around the eyes or the nose. There is Contrast in the black and white colors of the fur around the eyes or the nose. There is Alternating Repetition of the stripes. There is Roughness in the fact that the stripes are not perfectly regular or symmetrical.

Does Cooperation Require Both Reciprocity and Alike Neighbors?

"Without population structure, cooperation based on repetition is unstable," Garcia explains one of the main findings. This is especially true for humans, where repetition occurs regularly and who live in fluid, but not totally unstructured populations. A pinch of population structure helps a lot if repetition is present. "Therefore, the recipe for human cooperation might be: a bit of structure and a lot of repetition," says Julian Garcia. This phenomenon results in a high average level of cooperation. - Science Daily

- Does Cooperation Require Both Reciprocity and Alike Neighbors?

Skjønnhetens befrielse

Jeg har tidligere blitt anbefalt boka Skønhetens Befrielse og tenkte nå jeg skulle google den, til min store glede fant jeg at boka finnes fritt tilgjengelig som e-bok i svensk oversettelse:

- Skönhetens befrielse (fri pdf-bok)

Her følger en liten introduksjon til boka i dansk språkdrakt:

De sammenbrud i jordens økologiske systemer som vi i disse år er vidne til, får stadig flere til at indse fornuften i at skifte spor. Spørgsmålet er, hvorfor der stadig ikke rigtig sker noget. 

Svaret er nok det enkle, at det altid er lettere at forsætte med business as usual. Både dem der har megen magt og dem der har mindre magt har investeret så meget i den nuværende model for vækst og velstand, at det vil kræve en betydelig indsats at skifte retning. 

Både i naturen og i kulturen udrydder vi artsrigdom og mangfoldighed til fordel for kommerciel ensretning og materiel vækst. Løsningen på problemet er ikke teknologisk, men kræver en ny måde at se verden på. Vi bliver nødt til at forstå livet som en helhed, hvor alt hænger sammen med alt andet. Ved at bringe vores måde at leve og producere på i overensstemmelse med naturen omkring os vil vi ikke blot sikre menneskehedens overlevelse, men også skabe grundlag for et samfund hvor skønheden kan flyde frit som følelse, nærvær og udtrykskraft.

Morten Skrivers bog er fuld af spændende indfaldsvinkler, tankevækkende oplysninger og eksempler, svimlende perspektiver og – ikke mindst – originale løsningsforslag. Han skriver: 

“Da forurening og miljøproblemer for alvor blev et tema i den offentlige debat, følte jeg mig på en ejendommelig måde lettet. For mig gav det dyb mening, at de æstetiske ødelæggelser jeg så i mine omgivelser, måtte have videregående konsekvenser; at de så at sige var imod livet. Jeg fandt det betryggende at vide, at det der var grimt også var sygt. 

Morten Skriver, født 1954. Billedkunstner med en særlig interesse for grænseområdet mellem kunst, videnskab og religion. Han har skrevet bøger, artikler og essays og instrueret flere dokumentarfilm. Morten skriver har desuden undervist i forskellige sammenhænge, blandt andet en årrække som lektor på Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi. - Kulturplakaten 

Fakta om bogen:
Titel: Skønhedens befrielse
Forfatter: Morten Skriver
Anden info: 1. udgave. 264 sider.
Udgivelsesdato: 18. oktober 2008
Forlag: Tiderne Skifter – www.tiderneskifter.dk
ISBN: 9788779733350

Alice of Monsterland

Unfortunately I'm not allowed by Metropolis Magazine to defend myself against Alice's horrible accusations. She's definitely not Alice of Wonderland, as she clings to the monsters of Le Corbusier, the great city destroyer, and I would add the great fairy-tail destroyer, as no fairy tails can survive in his machine-world!

No fairy tail can take place in the world of Alice of Monsterland 

I'm just happy I didn't live 25 years next door to Alice, and if I did I would just waited for a chance to run. Anyway, here is my answer to Alice:

Well, Alice, I could have "cherry-picked" 253 other items if you liked: http://www.jacana.plus.com/pattern/P0.htm

Yes, you are right, New Urbanism isn't really enough integrating, that's why I wrought my article Integrated Design: http://permaculture.org.au/2010/10/06/integrated-design/

But if I should have written it now I would probably have called it Integrative Ecosocial Design: http://permaliv.blogspot.no/2011/10/integrative-ecosocial-design.html

Even Christopher Alexander thinks the new urbanists have a too mechanical approach to design, working within the old cozy framework with developers: http://www.livingneighborhoods.org/library/battle-for.pdf

Nikos Salingaros too wants a more integrative process with the users: http://permaculture.org.au/2012/02/07/peer-to-peer-themes-and-urban-priorities-for-the-self-organizing-society/

Nikos Salingaros is (like myself) a p2p-urbanist, working for the new era of the commons. He's a friend of Michel Bauwens, one of the most influential promoters of the commons, the initiator of the p2p-foundation: http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/

David Bollier, another soldier fighting for the coming realm of the commons, writes about Salingaros:

"One of the most prominent thinkers about cities and the commons is Nikos Salingaros, the founder of a network of architects, planners and designers known as P2P Urbanism, for Peer to Peer Urbanism. Salingaros is a fierce critic of most of 20th Century urban planning. He criticizes it for its “central planning that ignores local conditions and the complex needs of final users, and which tries to do away with the commons for monetary reasons.” His crusade is to help the commoners reinvent cities, so that they can be more human-friendly, and not simply instruments of the Market and State."

See: http://permaculture.org.au/2012/03/07/re-imagining-urban-design-and-city-life/

By the way, didn't you know that the tea party activists are the new urbinites fierce opponents: http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/links/16797/tea-party-activists-fight-green-projects

They don't want common projects, as New Urbanism is (or should have been), as they are possessed with their private properties.

You should also diverse between paleo-conservatives and neo-conservatives. Wendell Berry is a typical paleo-conservative:

"Here we can see the radical nature of Berry’s vision. Our entire economy, our very culture of work, leisure, and home is constructed around the idea of easy mobility and the disintegration of various aspects of our lives. We live in one place, work in another, shop in another, worship in another, and take our leisure somewhere else. According to Berry, an integrated life, a life of integrity, is one characterized by membership in a community in which one lives, works, worships, and conducts the vast majority of other human activities. The choice is stark: “If we do not live where we work, and when we work, we are wasting our lives, and our work too.”

See: http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2011/03/wendell-berrys-new-urbanism-agrarian-remedies-urban-prospects/

This is what I call inclusive! What you mean about it I have no idea, and it doesn't matter as Berry's version of it is what I want.

If you had read Michael and Salingaros earlier essay in these series you would have known that the new super-kindergarten in Brønnøysund is definitely damaging for childrens mental and cognitive skills/development: http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20120225/science-for-designers-intelligence-and-the-information-environment

Whatever that kindergarten is most aligned with Corbu or with BIG I don't care, as it's all the same flawed typologies. Alexander writes:

"Imagine that we sort the buildings of the world into two piles. In the one pile, all those traditional buildings, built for thousands of years, in traditional societies all over the world. And, in the other pile, all those buildings built in the last hundred years, built by totalitarian technology, by industry.

Although the buildings and towns in the first pile have vast variety of different forms – brick houses, straw huts, stone vaults, timber framing, thatched roofs, log cabins, piled dry stone walls, stone columns, steep roofs, flat roofs, arched windows, straight windows, brick, wood, stone, white, blue, brown, yellow, narrow streets, wide streets, open compounds, closed courtyards – still compared with the other pile, they have something in common.

It is a particular morphological character. And when buildings are made in the framework of the timeless way, they always have this character." – Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building, page 519

See: http://permaculture.org.au/2011/06/17/the-timeless-way-of-building/

The kindergarten at Brønnøysund definitely belongs to that other pile! But what is even worse is that it separates the children from any kind of real community, as envisioned by Berry above. Poor children!

Our Bumpy Future

Matindustrien i ferd med å oppfylle sitt mål!

Min kommentar på Forskning.no:

Skrevet av Øyvind, 2012-06-06 08:02:27

The specialization of production induces specialization of consumption. Patrons of the entertainment industry, for example, entertain themselves less and less and have become more and more passively dependent on commercial suppliers. This is certainly true also of patrons of the food industry, who have tended more and more to be mere consumers — passive, uncritical, and dependent. Indeed, this sort of consumption may be said to be one of the chief goals of industrial production. The food industrialists have by now persuaded millions of consumers to prefer food that is already prepared. They will grow, deliver, and cook your food for you and (just like your mother) beg you to eat it. That they do not yet offer to insert it, prechewed, into our mouth is only because they have found no profitable way to do so. We may rest assured that they would be glad to find such a way. The ideal industrial food consumer would be strapped to a table with a tube running from the food factory directly into his or her stomach. - Wendell Berry

http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/pleasures-eating

I dag har menneskelivet ingen annen verdi enn som en konsumentmaskin for industrien, for slik å oppfylle vår tids hellige gral, evig vekst! Alle bånd til naturen og til hverandre er kuttet, hva vi er blitt er "happiness machines" for korporasjonene:

http://permaculture.org.au/2010/05/20/the-century-of-self/

Using the Pattern Technology of Christopher Alexander to Realize Ted Trainer's Vision of a Market in Balance With the Human Scale

My comment on the PRI-article on Ted Trainer:

My second concern is a more technical one, arising out of critical legal theory. In the passages quoted above, Trainer refers regularly to ‘the market’ or ‘the market system’ as if these were concepts with clear and unambiguous meanings. ‘The market is about maximising,’ he tells us, and when he writes that growth and ‘the market’ are incompatible, the implication is that ‘the market’ has one and only one meaning. But as I have argued at length elsewhere (Alexander, 2011c: Ch. 2) and implied above, there is no such thing as the market, if that is meant to imply a determinate structure that all market societies share. Given that ‘the market’ is an indeterminate concept, there are actually infinite varieties of market systems, each of which augment or diminish human freedom to varying degrees. Markets driven by profit-maximisation are but one variety, albeit the dominant form today. The question, therefore, is not a black and white one of ‘free markets’ versus forms of ‘regulation.’ Rather, the question is a normative one about how a society chooses to structure power relations in bargaining, and such a structure can take any number of forms, each of which could fall under the rubric of ‘the free market,’ depending on how the essentially contested idea of ‘freedom’ is defined. After all, it could be argued that a genuinely free market would require considerable social control and look nothing like market systems today. - Ted Trainer

Very well said! A really free market is balanced with the human scale. The social control can best be achieved by using the pattern technology of Christopher Alexander:

• http://permaculture.org.au/2012/02/07/peer-to-peer-themes-and-urban-priorities-for-the-self-organizing-society/
• http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20111007/the-pattern-technology-of-christopher-alexander
• http://math.utsa.edu/ftp/salingar.old/StructurePattern.html
• http://permaculture.org.au/2010/11/25/anti-pattern-capitalism/
• http://permaculture.org.au/2011/03/04/the-ancient-taberna-in-a-future-world/
• http://permaculture.org.au/2011/12/06/a-multilayered-anti-pattern/

Comment by Øyvind Holmstad — June 6, 2012 @ 4:18 pm

Four Ways to Understand Transformation and Evolution Towards a Sustainable Society

Please press the image for magnification

- Four ways to understand transformation and evolution towards a sustainable society

The Great Acceleration

Great acceleration

View more PowerPoint from owengaffney

Related reading:

• Ein ny geologisk epoke?

Nye Deichmanske bibliotek er nihilistisk antikultur på sitt verste

Akk og ve! Jeg orker ikke å kommentere dette her. Modernistenes jerngrep om fjordbyen Oslo er totalt. Dette er nihilistisk ideologi på sitt verste, den modernistliberalistiske statens sanne ansikt. Behring Breiviks frykt for islam er det reine vrøvl, det er modernistene, representert ved den norske stat, som er våre sanne fiender.

Denne formen for terrorbombing av Norges hovedstad får ABBs terror i regjeringskvartalet til å blekne. Her nye Deichmanske bibliotek. Foto: FutureBuilt/Lund Hagem arkitekter

- Slik blir Oslos nye storbibliotek

Sopp er topp! (Med svensk undertekst)