Description

In this era of economic globalization, multimedia communication and cross-border migration, cities increasingly consist of parallel worlds. Different urban cultures and practices immediately confront each other. Call centers, informal markets, sprawling communities, new diaspora and transitory lifestyles represent trans-national spaces in urban centers whose cultural, economic and social activities are no longer confined to their localities. How do planning and architecture react when their central point of reference loses its clear nature and thus its identity? Using concrete examples, this volume, culled from the 2004-2005 Bauhaus Program, examines the unique spatial configurations that emerge from the tensions and conflicts of the trans-national city, and attempts to work out strategies for solving the problems of urban development. Specific subjects, considered in terms of design, architecture and art, include call centers in Calcutta, refugee dormitories in Berlin, markets in Istanbul, a drilling rig in the North Sea and Frankfurt's International airport, among others.