Az W in COLOGNE: Hands-On Urbanism 1850-2012

Following many years of international research, the curator Elke Krasny presents 19 historical and contemporary case studies of bottom-up urban development in Chicago, Leipzig, Vienna, Bremen, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Porto Alegre, Havana or Quito. They provide an overview of informal, self-organised collective movements and of the spaces that are created by them. The exhibition shows how decisively small projects have often led, and are still leading, to major changes.

‘Hands-On Urbanism’ introduces an alternative urban history, one that poses urgent questions about the responsibility of design for architects and planners, and the resource-logic of towns and cities. What do architects do in this process, and what can be learned from the bottom-up in this urban history? Its role ranges from initiative via activism to conducting research. How are urban planning authorities reacting to these developments? The spectrum ranges from the founding of a settlement regulatory agency, via infrastructural measures and tolerance, to measures of support from the authorities, but also the introduction of new laws and legal sanctioning in official urban plans.

curator: Elke Krasny
exhibition graphics: Alexander Schuh

plan12 – Architectural Biennale in Cologne

plan12 will be held from 21. to 28. September 2012 and continue the methodological approach employed by the prolog, but will apply it to the issue of “Livable Cities”, analyzing and debating the development of our cities with the aim of producing livable local areas and public spaces. The goal will be to find intelligent answers which offer long-term solutions to pressing social, transport, climate, and esthetic problems.