25.08.2009., utorak

AFTER THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "POST-CAPITALIST CITY" IN PULA

Photos of the conference International conference under the title "Post-capitalist City" was held from 14. to 16. August in Pula. Fourteen European groups presented their work in the context of political reading of the city and new forms of production emerging in different spaces.

FRIDAY, 14.August
First day of the conference was held in social center "Rojc" in the center of the city. The building was occupied in 1997. and, after unsuccessful eviction, municipality legalized its usage in 2000. Since then "Rojc" has developed into heterogeneous public institution which is being gradually filled up with different social programs which are now in the position to form their own assembly with more than 100 delegates from different associations all gathered inside this 35.000m2 big ex barrack.
After short introduction about the history of social center seven presentations were held. First two groups who presented their work were M.I.M.O. Lab from Milan and Salottobuono from Venice. Both of their work was concentrated on analyzing planning processes in Israel and Palestine as a example of very vivid situation where power uses urban planning tools and real estate market as means of control, repression, segregation and colonization. While M.I.M.O. Lab was concentrated on visualization of repression through official planning methods, Salottobuono developed a manual where they managed to extract the tools of repression and neutralize them by translating them into common architectonic language.
Third presentation was held by a group Fram-menti from Treviso who explained their method of work which concentrates on organizing events in spaces that they want to activate. In their approach planning is not based on conventional methods, already appropriated by current power relations, but on managing events which change existing conditions in the city.
Second block of presentations started with two architects who have similar interests and method of work but different practice - Dustin Tusnovics who works between Vienna and Trieste, and Peter Fattinger from Vienna. Both of them presented their work in South Africa where they manage to build public buildings together with their students. Idea behind these works was to re-appropriate all steps in the process of planning and building architecture and to implement "self building" as an important method in the process of creating autonomous production. Peter Fattinger shows also how this method works in Vienna where he worked with students to build multifunctional public structure. His work shows how the same method results with permanent interventions in Africa and with temporary ones in Europe, only because of different regulations.
Last two groups of the first day were Raumlabor from Berlin and Exyzt from Paris. In their presentation self building was positioned on a more radical level; they explained their projects as “materialized fictions” or “fragments of utopia”. These fragments are useful physical example of some future city or places of gathering which can construct different identity inside existing community. These interventions can then become small, temporary, but frequent cracks inside the capitalism.

At the end of the first day one spontaneous line emerged which connects different presentations – a line which goes from reading the existing use of planning and architecture as tools of repression and segregation, through understanding these tools and re-appropriating them, getting knowledge through self building process, so that, finally, we could use these same tools not to segregate but to construct new utopias, new fictions, new desire and finally new common.

SATURDAY, 15.August
Second day of the conference was held on an island Katarina inside Pula Bay. This island is an ex hydroplane military base abandoned in 2004. Since then the area is devastated and robbed but also squatted by fishing community. Pulska Grupa explained what the conflicts in the area are, how citizens use the area and how this utilization is stimulated through local media, public actions, exhibitions and other forms of engagement. This frequent use of Katarina delayed or even prevented municipality's intention to build gated community in this zone.
After this introduction Berlin based group MetroZones presented different movements in Berlin which are all fighting for “the right to the city”. This proclamation is manifested in different ways, depending on the level of repression the activist confront on. Basic idea of the movement is to re-appropriate the land inside the city so that these areas remain public or to become common land. Similar examples were shown by Antonella and Susanna Perin from urbanXchange, who explored in the suburbs of Rome parts of the city born by self- organized urbanism in the seventies. Although the initial step in this process was basically to reclaim the city, inhabitants now face several problems – mostly housing and infrastructure.
The first problem was addressed in presentation about Multiplicity Lab. Project about ways of living in Milan. In this research different heterotopic settlements were mapped in the city which clearly show diversity of current metropolitan settlements. Citizens and community dispersed through these differences can define “a metropolitan multitude” – the subject which reclaims the city for itself and develop common land. Trieste based architect Elena Marchigiani showed in her work with students how diverse groups of citizens can be approached and how to use existing planning tools to enable people to design their own common space.
Stealth Ult., group working between Rotterdam and Belgrade, showed an example from Amsterdam and discused what happens when the tools are re-appropriated and connected with the multitude. When this happens and if there exists a common language between different subjects we can start to implement permanent utopia in the city. City can then be developed nor with the state nor with the market but as a common process. Observatorio Metropolitano from Madrid pointed out that all of these processes need researchers and activists not as scientific outside observers but as militants who have clear political statement and who push the process toward conflict with existing power relations and toward new potentials outside existing structures.
Hackitectura from Sevilla concluded the second day of the conference with influential lecture where they focused on the most general topic – how to organize a city regarding all these processes? According to them new city, in this occasion they called it post-capitalist city, can develop following 4 crucial points: autonomy of mobility and access, autonomy of production and flexibility, re-appropriation and emancipation of technologies and final point – developing through ecosophy which combines natural, social and cultural diversity.

Topics and discussion of the second day addressed very diverse knowledge and experience from political struggle to theory and new concepts for the city. Line of flight went from citizen’s struggle for re-appropriation of city space, through investigating and collecting historical and recent examples of existing small heterotopias which can be useful for imagining city beyond capitalism. But these imaginations must then be tested, even temporary, in practice (like Amsterdam example) and the whole process should be approached in a militant way, from the inside and not by isolated "professionals".

Conclusion of the first two days can be formulated in the statement that post-capitalist city is possible when citizens become political subject, research becomes militant, tools and technologies are re-appropriated, land becomes common, mobility and production become autonomous.

SUNDAY, 16.August
Last day of the conference was not open for the wider public since it was held in Muzil, a 180 hectares big location in the city which still has the status of the military area closed to citizens. Army has left this base two years ago but it remained closed. Government and the municipality intend to privatize the area and official plans had been made for it to become an exclusive golf resort thus closing the territory for wider public.
After a tour of the area and a short introduction a meeting was held in fort Marie Louize. Although first intention of the meeting was development of a common document or declaration, participants agreed it is more useful to concentrate on specific area of Muzil and try to develop general statement through working on this location.
First idea, proposed by Hackitectura, was to approach Muzil as "Komunal" or common land. If we define it as Komunal we can propose different utopias for it, regarding new forms of production and context of current crisis. Muzil could be "special common zone", a testing ground for mixed visions of economic development. To test this Exyzt, Dustin Tusnovics and Peter Fattinger proposed a development of small interventions (temporary or permanent) which can enable us to reclaim and secure the land and also to materialize fragments of utopia. Period of experiments was defined as "meantime" by Stealth Ult. and everybody agreed that we should demand 5 years long moratorium official planning of Muzil so that experiments have guaranteed meantime.
But before this process starts first we have to analyze current tactic of enclosure, try to deconstruct this power and translate it into our own potential. For this work a manual was proposed by Salottobuono which will relate to the questions of legacy, different tactics and new production. Once the current power relations are deconstructed we can develop new relations. Observatorio Metropolitano proposed a development of "set of rules", similar as in creative common license. These set of rules could differentiate specific territories inside Komunal and enable different activities and production. Once these set of rules are tested on Muzil we could analyze its potential and develop a "constitution of Komunal" which can then be a general statement calling for different society and urbanism beyond capitalism.
Final point of the meeting was dividing specific work mentioned in discussion. Salottobuono agreed to coordinate work on the manual of tactics, Observatorio Metropolitano agreed to coordinate work on development of set of rules for Komunal, Dustin Tusnovics, Peter Fattinger and Exyzt agreed on organizing work to construct small interventions in already opened ex military zones as tests and experiments which can afterward be transferred to Muzil. Pulska Grupa will arrange local conditions to enable these proposals and coordinate general work. In addition to all this Pulska Grupa is preparing documentation for Muzil which will be used by students on faculties in Madrid, Milano, Sevilla, Trieste, Vienna and Zagreb.

International network gathered in Pula will try to approach work from two directions:
-building temporary or more permanent interventions embodiments in already opened ex military areas
-implementing final document/declaration on site of Muzil and testing the possibility to plan Creative Common City.
Hopefully, these two directions will collide into permanent materialization of a better city.


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22.07.2009., srijeda

Information's about Post-capitalist conference available here:

click here to download pdf: (click on the image to the left)
- 15:25 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

14.07.2009., utorak

Conference scheduler:

Conference scheduler:

Friday, 14.august
Location: civil center ROJC

Theme of the first day will be architecture of autonomous spaces. Groups with experience in occupations in the city, constructing architecture in social centers and other spaces outside building permission doctrine will present their projects. After individual presentations (duration cca. 15 min) public discussion will be held with intention to provide common statements and material for the agenda.

10:00 Introduction
10:30 Rojc presentation
11:00 M.I.M.O. Lab
11:30 Fram-menti
12:00 Salottobuono
12:30 Break
16:00 Dustin Tusnovics
16:30 Peter Fattinger
17:00 Raumlabor
17:30 Exyzt
18:00 Discussion

Saturday, 15.august
Location: KATARINA

Theme of the second day of the conference will be urbanism without government. Groups will present their experience in the field of participatory urbanism, direct land use, new cartography and mapping, different perception of the city, interactions with social movements in the city, etc. After individual presentations (duration cca. 15 min) public discussion will be held with intention to provide common statements and material for the agenda.

10:00 Introduction
10:30 Katarina presentation
11:00 MetroZones
11:30 Self Made City
12:00 Multyplicity.lab
12:30 Break
16:00 Elena Marchigiani
16:30 Observatorio Metropolitano
17:00 Stealth Ult.
17:30 Hackitectura
18:00 Discussion

Sunday, 16. august
Location: MUZIL

Third day will be internal discussion between participants. Theme of the discussion will be development of common document (agenda, declaration,...) which will combine personal experience and knowledge of different groups and direct them toward general goals. Document could be useful as a theoretical reference point for further initiatives and action, but also as a statement calling for social approach in architecture and urbanism

10:00 Introduction
10:30 Muzil presentation
11:00 Workshop
20:00 Conclusion of the conference at Rojc courtyard

- 10:56 - Komentari (2) - Isprintaj - #

17.06.2009., srijeda

PULA: A FLIGHT FROM POST-SOCIALISM TO POST-CAPITALISM

Pula, as important military port, was heavily bombed and almost abandoned in WWII. In early 60`s it received the first urban master plan in Yugoslavia which implemented ideas of self-management in urban planning. Basic idea of the plan was to decentralize city into self-managed political cells called "rajon". Rajons were planned as neighborhoods who have all needed facilities which made them autonomous from the existing center of the city. Decentralization was a tool in urban planing which disabled segregation in the city.
Second master plan came in the late 70`s who pushed the idea of urban self-management further. It was focused on more pragmatic level and tried to make self-management more operative. One aspect of the plan was "social contract" or "self-managed agreement" signed by all the actors in the neighborhood who, then, were obligated to perform specific actions so that the plan could be realized.
This was the highest level of development of urban self-management. Although the method was democratic in its essence the problem was that the actors and neighborhood assembles were not politically autonomous subjects. They were economically depended on higher level of government and politically depended on communist party which remained centralized despite it stimulated decentralized of society.

Self-managed system dissolved in 90`s but transition didn't bring any operative system in urban planning in Pula. Some of the neighborhood assemblies and social centers are still active and it is this informal situation, with no operative system in function, which gives them full autonomy that they never had. Some new social compositions emerge from the transition and they started to use ex military areas which were left empty after break of Yugoslavia. In this "no-man land" or better to say "common land" special socio-economic experiments are active right now with no interference from the government or municipality. We are observing and stimulating these experiment hoping that they are able to produce a system beyond capitalism.

- 17:43 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

08.06.2009., ponedjeljak

AUTONOMY WILL NOT BE GIVEN TO YOU, IT MUST BE CREATED!


The forces capable of destroying this society can surely create another one, but that will happen along the way.

-- Radio Alice, Bologna free radio station, 1977.

The main goal of this text is to sketch the political framework of the Initiative for Muzil. Although this is a description of local conditions in Pula, on the Adriatic coast and in Croatia, its aim is to overcome the specifics of the situation and point to how these fit in with some more general social tendencies. That way, a local experience can be made comprehensible and applicable to resistances in the global context.

Adriatic Hegemony

Right after it gained independence, Croatia officially chose to base the development of tourism, its main economic resource, in the free market model. Accordingly, ownership over land is still being transferred to private corporations in order to regulate more efficiently the (often complex) property relations on the coast. The development processes on the Croatian coast thus take place within the boundaries of the real-estate market, i.e. comprise of selling and buying of land, buildings and apartments. This is an extremely short-term form of economy, since the space is done away with irrecoverably while the profit is created only once, at the point of selling. In order to subject the coast and its population to the imperative of the development of tourism, the state needs take radical measures and pass radical laws.

One of the first such legal decrees is the 2004 Protected Coastal Area Act (PCA). The Act commands equal treatment of all land, urbanized or not, within 1km from the coastline. The Act's most important provision requires that all urbanist plans in the area covered by the PCA be approved by the relevant ministry before they can be passed by local authorities. This made the process of urban planning in the coastal regions different from the rest of the country, since towns and municipalities are normally autonomous from the state in their urban planning. On the coast, the state determines the future of the citizens.

After the PCA Act was passed, the state started using it as an excuse for a selective demolishing of illegal construction along the coast. The ideology of the PCA is perhaps best summarized in a statement by the Istrian head of county, Ivan Jakovčić: "We need to take care of the illegal settlements problem in order to get exclusive locations" (at the council meeting of Brijuni Rivijera Ltd. company, May 11, 2007). The practice of demolishing houses on the coast exposed the real purpose of the Act: to gain control over the development of local subjects on the coast and create favorable conditions for big investments. The control is firmly in the hands of the Croatian Government, with no influence on the part of local populations or local and regional moguls, who are thus effectively put into a vassal position.

The last legal step the state took towards total hegemony on the coast was the passing of the Golf Terrains Law in late 2008. This law allows for quick and efficient expropriation of private land as well as instantaneous re-categorization of public land, all for the benefit of what the new Law defines as national interest: the building of golf terrains.

Three Forms of Exclusion

Such political decisions created a precarious situation in which the population of the coastal region is now facing enormous increases in real-estate prices, a lack of affordable housing, and job deficits outside the tourist season. Moreover, the people on the coast are also under permanent threat of losing their property if the urbanist plan--on which they have no influence--happens to include their land in a future golf terrain. Such insecurity is the direct result of a state repression that is based on three forms of exclusion:

1) Citizens are excluded from the political sphere because the possibility for their participation in the decision-making process is obstructed. They cannot influence political decisions made by the centralized state, while the public debate on the local level remains secondary to the Government decrees. Elections are equally inefficient because the elected representatives do not represent the citizens who gave them the mandate, but the nontransparent interests of various companies. All existing political parties work against their voters and implement similar capital-driven policies. The latest example of such a political trend is the support that the Golf Terrains Law got from the Croatian Peasant Party despite the fact that the Law represents a direct threat to the peasantry, the party's traditional voters. Such uniformity of political purpose erases differences among the political parties who can reach consensus on all crucial issues. In this form of parliamentary democracy, apparently no political decision has an alternative. For example, all political parties--left, right and regional--immediately reached an absolute consensus around the issue of commercialization of the ex-military areas along the Pula coast.

2) Citizens are excluded from the economic sphere: the decisions about investments on the coast are made by the central government through the master plans, and not at the local level (see above). Economic pressure on the political sphere is most obvious in those master plans that entice investments in the real-estate market. The master plan of Pula illustrates the contradictions brought about by such economic development. In the narrative part of the plan, the statistical data show that the small industry sector is the most dynamic segment of the city's economy. However, the graphical part of the plan does not offer any locations for small industry. To the contrary, it allows for an increase in the number of beds in the tourist zones and the number of moorings in nautical marinas. Tourism and real estate became the main pillars of economy not through its independent development, but through political decrees. The citizens who don't have the means or are not interested in speculation must choose low-wage jobs in construction or temporary work during the tourist season. However, even the local speculators are excluded from the plans for the ex-military areas in Pula. The government decided to give a 66-year lease for 180 hectares (445 acres) of such land to only one private corporation. If this idea becomes reality, only one company will manage an area that is the size of a quarter of the town!

3) Citizens are excluded from the coastal zones. The prices of real estate on the seaside correspond to the prices on the global market, since the coastal areas are treated as "attractive locations." For the people who live on the coast, however, the place they live in is not "attractive," but simply their living environment. Real-estate prices that aim at global buyers exclude the impoverished local population and force it to relocate inland. Another method of exclusion is physical--erecting wire fences. The newly built "resorts" around towns enclose large tracts of land by the sea and charge for access to what used to be common land. The Muzil peninsula in Pula offers a dramatic example of this trend: after the military left Muzil, the state, cooperating with regional and local authorities, put two dozens of armed soldiers in charge of protecting the area from the citizens of Pula, until the peninsula is taken over by the corporation that plans to build golf terrains there.

What We Need is Autonomy, Not Just Inclusion


Because of these three forms of exclusion, the Initiative for Muzil was formed with the goal of ending the repression described above. However, it is too late for integration of this Initiative in the institutional structures of the state. The state hegemony has already proved capable of absorbing similar movements without radically reconsidering and reforming the modalities of its functioning. The Muzil Initiative demands that the conditions of exclusion be transformed into conditions for autonomy, i.e. that three forms of exclusion become three forms of autonomy--political, economic and spatial. The Initiative starts with the assumption that autonomy is a necessary condition for production, but it is a condition that won't be given to us--it must be created.

1) The Initiative is an informal group of individuals that are engaged directly, independently from various associations and institutions they might belong to. The purpose of this form of collective action is political autonomy, i.e. political action removed from political parties, government and the state funded model of non-governmental organizations.A description of the Initiative as a form of pressure on the decision-making process of the executive branches of government is thus insufficient. The Initiative creates its own politics, develops it parallel with the ruling one, and makes decisions without contacting executive powers. The opening of the Muzil peninsula was not a decision proposed or accepted by the executive power; it was a decision made by an initiative with no instrumental power. But, it will be impossible to avoid putting this decision into practice. By creating political autonomy, politics is removed from the parliament, currently an instance with an absolute monopoly on politics. Through the form of autonomy, politics appears in the town, in the street, among the people. Thus, a direct democracy is founded, that will allow the citizens to make decisions without the mediation of delegates. A micro-politics is hence created, a politics of concrete local problems.

2) In its work, the Initiative produces value independently from the market. In the current economic relations, this value cannot be recognized. The Initiative practices an autonomous economy. The production of knowledge, communication, social relations, but also newspapers, video and audio material, music events, public discussions and urban studies does not possess value that could be described in the terms offered by the hegemonic economy. All these products are free and available to all. A network of different individuals, with different kinds of knowledge and means of production, creates value based solely on the investment of one's free time. The basis for the creation of an autonomous economy is trust, solidarity, and the desire for the establishment of a common goal--autonomous politics.

3) In order to practice this sort of economy, however, space is required--that is the third level of autonomy. An autonomous space is one that eludes the dominant logic of property as well as the dominant logic of defining the purpose of space. If the real estate market presents the dominant form of economy, and if property is the fundamental ideal of the capitalist state, then the right to autonomous space represents the most radical kind of resistance to such economy and such state.

Demilitarization alla Polesana


Pula already has several autonomous spaces. This fact made the creation of this initiative and an autonomous politics possible. After the demilitarization of the city, a number of spaces remained empty, waiting to be included in the real estate market. But this never happened. One of the first autonomous spaces was the Casoni Vecchi fort in the Vidikovac neighborhood, where the Monte Paradiso festival started taking place in the early 1990s. From a music venue for punk concerts, this space turned into a meeting point for all generations of people from Vidikovac. The fort is located near the neighborhood municipal offices and functions as its informal extension.

Much bigger than the Casoni Vecchi fort is the social center Karlo Rojc. This ex-military barrack was squatted in 1997, after its temporary residents, the refugees of the last war in Croatia, left the building. After unsuccessful attempts at expulsion of the squatters, the City finally legalized their stay there and decided to let the space free of charge to local non-profit organizations. It took 10 years for the tenants to occupy the building. Today, Rojc is a home to over 100 different organizations dealing with culture, music, and social issues. Although this heterogeneity resulted in very weak links between the organizations, they all have one thing in common: Rojc became the central space for the organization of free time in the city and is often referred to as a "third home."

Another, even larger attempt to create autonomous space took place in the Katarina-Monumenti area on the northern part of the Pula bay. This is a big ex-military complex with several abandoned barracks, magazines, and different army buildings. After the military left, people started using the space for music and arts festivals. First such event took place in 2005, after which the number of festivals constantly grew, in order for the festival schedule of Katarina-Monumenti to be now fully booked during the whole summer. Along with this development, the area started to be used for marginalized economic activities that could not find adequate locations elsewhere. The Katarina island was thus occupied by the fishermen who spent years and years waiting for the local authorities to act on their promise and build them a fishing harbor. After years of patient waiting, they decided to create their own harbor in the abandoned military complex. Car mechanics and shepherds also use the area. The local population started using it for sports and recreational activities, and some of the buildings are permanently inhabited. The examples of Katarina and Monumenti differ from the previously created autonomous spaces, because the autonomous economy in these locations outgrew the production of social relations and culture and, for the first time, moved into the material sphere. The working name given to this model of autonomous space is komunal, a term which in the local Istrian dialect describes common property, i.e. property that is neither state- or city-owned, nor private.

Muzil - the Last Stronghold

If we compare the experience and the results of the transformation of ex-military areas into autonomous spaces to the "official" transformation of abandoned military buildings, we come to surprising insights. Informal initiatives created 900m2 of autonomous space in Casoni Vecchi, 25.000m2 in Karlo Rojc, and 30ha in Katarina-Monumenti. On the other hand, the city authorities managed to turn the 30.000m2 of the Vladimir Gortan barracks into the bus station and office spaces. The ratio between the autonomous and official action is thereby 10:1, and speaks clearly in favor of autonomy.

This kind of statistics is a great motivation for the future actions of the Initiative, but also a great responsibility. The actors of autonomy in Pula are aware of the fact that their actions surpass the limits of traditional squatting. Comprehensive, long-term activities of the marginal squatter culture can develop into a movement capable of transforming the urban environment. The political, economic and urban models employed in this transformation expand outside the autonomous spaces and ultimately transform society.

The next important action of the Initiative is the opening to the public all of the 180 hectares of Muzil, currently still under military control. The aim of the Initiative is to open the last military zone in town to common use, and create the conditions for its autonomous development. Spaces like Muzil are an ideal laboratory for the creation of new social and economic relations. Only through this kind of practice, and a direct application of theoretical principles, we can create models that could replace the current capitalist one. These are experiments in post-capitalism!

- 09:19 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

01.06.2009., ponedjeljak

Post-capitalism can start here!

Latest images of Pula, a city where the 1st conference on Post-capitalist City will take place from 14. to 16. of August.


- 11:13 - Komentari (0) - Isprintaj - #

22.05.2009., petak

RED PLAN - image of the city in late capitalism

Red plan is a plan for the city that is in an alarming (red) state. As a first step in the creation of such a plan, we need to locate the red or critical spots. In order to do that, we created a "crisis map" of Pula: an image of the city in the age of late capitalism.
The data used for the creation of this map was taken from the city section of the local daily newspaper Glas Istre in the year 2007. The events are categorized according to the type of activity (revolts, demonstrations, complaints, occupations, evictions, unauthorized construction, small communal actions, volunteer work. Apart from that, the map shows the points of potential future conflicts: abandoned buildings in the city, substandard settlements and dirt roads.
All the activities shown on the map should serve as a starting point for the development of clear and functional forms of urban intervention. So far, these have been limited to discrete and temporary tactics aimed at changing the living conditions in the city. The goal of this map is to structure these actions and develop a strategy that would also change the living relations in the city.



- 15:36 - Komentari (1) - Isprintaj - #

21.05.2009., četvrtak

Conference on Post-capitalist City, Pula - Croatia, 14.-16.8.2009.

During three days, the Conference on Post-capitalist City will present the common experiences of European groups involved in mapping, planning and creating situations which escape both the capitalist logic of production of space and reproduction of life. Some of these groups will present their work in the form of lectures after which discussions will follow.
- The goal of the Conference is to affirm an international network of individuals and groups exploring various forms of self-organizing in urban planning. The participants' experiences, their current projects and practices, will be collected in a catalogue/brochure which will be used for further activities. The catalogue is conceived as a theoretical elaboration of practices, sorted by the criteria of 1) method 2) tools/instruments 3) strategy and tactics.
- Our intention is to share experiences as well as create a Document summarizing our conclusions into a general thesis to be used in further actions.

The project's hypothesis: It is necessary to reread the processes of exploitation and resistance in the city as well as understand the curren relations of political powers in order to create a new urbanism, independent from the state and other political institutions. In other words, we propose that the separation of urban planning from the state is finally conceivable. The existing forms of production and life have already erased the border between the profession and its beneficiaries, between planners and citizens, architects and activists. To research new aspects of urban development is to reinvent them. Individual experience has become the key for describing the new urban dynamics.
The Symposium will take place in Pula, a city on the Croatian coast. This environment should be inspiring for investigating the separation of planning and state because the state has been retreating from Pula for the last 20 years. An historical military port, the town was deserted by the army and now offers vast abandoned areas. Most of these spaces did not integrate into commodity markets and the accompanying system of political power, but were transformed instead into a laboratory for new forms of living, an informal economy and autonomous production of common values. At this moment, the size of the ex-military areas developing independently is ten times bigger than the ex-military areas officially integrated into the dominant economic regime.
The process of demilitarization in Pula started as a minor issue, but has subsequently grown into the central process by which the city is transformed. As in other cities in a similar situation, here too the same question arises: What knowledge, methods and tools are needed to establish a new practice of city planning based on new forms of living, and to turn the existing political diagonal in its own advantage?
The Symposium on Post-Capitalist City is a part of the Multimedia festival Media Mediterranea.

Invited groups:


Exyzt, Pariz
Fram-menti, Treviso
Hackitectura, Sevilla
Krax, Barcelona
Elena Marchigiani, Trieste,
MetroZones, Berlin
M.i.m.o. Lab, Milano
Multilpicity, Milano
Observatorio Metropolitano, Madrid
Raumlabor, Berlin
Salottobuono, Venice
Self Made City, Rome
Dustin Tusnovics, Vienna

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postcapitalist@gmail.com

The city is the space where the reproduction of social, political and economic forms of life takes place and where these forms of life confront instrumental political power or political diagonal. This reproduction of forms of life represents the central site of exploitation as well as of resistance. Resistance is manifested through production of common values and through cooperation. This complex environment can be the key force behind the making of democracy, justice, common values and free space. Cities can become places of post-capitalism.