 |
| Historical Informa |
The relationship between domestic and public across European cities has
been a changing aspect of urban culture and mentality. Aldo van Eyck, while
involved in CIAM and Team 10 describes London as a wonderful place where
children play on the streets and domestic occupations spreads outside the walls
of the terraced and mews houses with flowers, chairs and tables taking over
portions of public space.
Amsterdam was
then seen as a place that can learn from London in this respect. A lot has
changed in half a century and it is perhaps neoliberalism taking over London
and affecting every aspect of its urban life. I cannot say whether it is
because of the city planning of central Rome or Italian mentality, but big
European high street retailers seem to be seriously squeezing in. The areas of
their shop windows seem to me bigger than the floor areas inside the shops. The
presence of religion in the city of Rome could well be seen as the main reason
why public spaces are ever present in so many shapes. With the interiority of a
church (or a temple in Antiquity) being a public space itself - a link can be
drawn between the common space for prayer, commercial activity or entertainment
and mentality of appropriating the unclaimed surroundings in the spirit of
informal settlements. As mentioned, one of the most obvious examples of
appropriation of neighbouring ruins are the walls of Rome. The research will
continue towards discovering and disclosing social relationships that emerged
from processes of urban “annexation” of walls and other types of historical leftovers.It is well-known that among many “ruins”, the Colosseum too has been occupied during the decline of Rome and city’s dark ages. One of the most obvious examples is the Theatre of Marcellus which has visibly been transformed into high-end residential buildings or neighbouring Portico of Octavia whose parts have been incorporated into a church or a nearby commercial area.
No comments:
Post a Comment