10th N-AERUS Conference: great success

Results of 10th N-AERUS Conference

The 10th N-AERUS conference, which was hosted by IHS from 1-3 Oktober on the concept of Open cities was a great success. Over 60 people attended the conference. The conference was linked to the 4th IABR with the same topic.

Key note speakers

The conference was opened by the Director of IHS Nico van der Windt. Key note speakers were Ralf Pasel, Curator of the parallel cases of the IABR, who spoke about the interpretation of the concept of Open Cities by the IABR. He also spoke about the exhibition of the papallel cases. Joop de Wit, of the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague discussed the governance dimensions of inclusion and exclusion of the poor from a global perspective and Forbes Davidson discussed the role of research and training in improving practice.

Outcomes

There were three parallel paper presentations on Friday 2 October: one on the concept of open cities from a city level perspective, one on the role of design and one on the concept from beyond the city level perspective.

On the Saturday 3 October the outcomes of the parallel sessions were discussed at the plenary meeting, which took place at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI).

Most important findings were that the open city is a product of an open society, they are interlinked. The question that arose is how much openness we need, since the concept of openness does not exist without closeness. But what is the right balance? One of the participants mentioned that complete openness is anarchy and chaos. There is a dialectic relationship between open and closed.

Can social cohesion be created?

Social cohesion within communities and between communities can help tie up and open the city both horizontally and vertically. But it was questioned whether social cohesion can still be created amongst the entire society. People stay more and more within their boundaries as society is getting more and more complex. New boundaries are emerging, as for instance gated communities are an expression of that. And those features we do not have much control over but this is being decided by the market.

A participant from South Africa mentioned that openness can also be detrimental, you need to embrace diversity and to decide what is going to be open and what is going to be closed and to what extent. Who are we serving in being closed or open. For instance by being open towards the international market, who benefits?  

Also the role of mediators was mentioned and their importance in stimulating openness, but the question here as was clear from a presentation on the role of local councilors in Delhi: do they play their role properly?  

Someone also mentioned the concept in relation to professional values, how can a professional stimulate openness and include social concern. In planning for the poor your professional attitude should be whether you would want to live there yourself, is it helpful for “them” or for you?  You should be open to be close.

The conclusion was that the concept of open cities is very interesting and challenging and could be explored more deeply. Possibly look at learning practices of open cities and explore possible indicators more deeply . 

See for more information:

More information on the 10th N-AERUS conference can be found on this website.

Wednesday, 07 October 2009