‚Its in our ‚nature‘ to be with others and amongst things. (…) Our identity is determined by the links we create when we live and act in the world‘ - Urban Identity - The City as Place to dwell - Arto Haapala

This observation can be visualized as a triangle-shaped relation between our individual existence, the social milieu we live in and the corresponding, coating urban environment (consisting of natural and artificial space and objects). On one hand our individual existence is in constant relation with other individuals and the surrounding urban environment while on the other hand society is in constant relation with the urban environment and the individuals itself.

Cultural milieus

The statement above implies that the term ‚urban identity‘ can be used to describe different aspects. The term, ‘identity’ can be assigned to the subject (individual) or the object (environment). That means, that individuals may generate something like an urban identity in an urban context, while assigning the term to the environment, urban identity describes a characteristic quality of a specific urban constellation or set of artefacts. Both seem to cause themselves mutually.

In this paper, the term ‚urban identity‘ is used in this double meaning. Furthermore the relation between these two meanings is a main topic itself. In most contexts urban identity follows the needs of urban planning and marketing, not taking the need and values of individual existences in account.

Based on the cultural background of a society - or a part of - which occupies a specific environment with assignable urban qualities, the existence of different urban milieus according to the values and needs of this sub-society is obvious. The juicy point of this statement is, that a city always consists of different urban milieus and the appropriate individuals are using limited urban passages, i would like to call them ‚social passages‘. As a crucial point, claiming of urban space by financially well situated trendsetters represses and squeezes out the poor members of a society to a less attractive site outside the attractive but expensive urban centers.

Urban environment . social and technical media

As an side aspect, the relation of media and urban space defines an interesting context to the already described phenomena. The following themes may play a role in the proposed project:

> Urban space in media (Mass media, games, ...)

> Media in urban space

     - Social media: fashion, architecture

     - Technical media: transportation systems,

        lightning systems, streets

     - Mass media: advertisement, street tags, brand logos

> Urban space as interface, stage for events

After having specified the use of the term ‘urban identity’ and as a mainly relation-determined systemically force and the role of media in urban space, let’s focus on the arising questions.

> Emergence: What are the conditions for the development of an ‘urban identity’? What are the rules for their changes over the decades?

> Can cultural milieus be seen as footprint of a active society, memories of urban culture?

> Risk: What endangers the existence of cultural heritage? What is the relation of old structures and new urban developments?

> Role: Who is mainly involved in this field? (Investors, government, political forces, cultural rooted avant-garde, inhabitants, mass media, designers?) What is the role of cultural heritage for an individual existence?

> Urban Literalism: How can ‘urban identity’ be read, compared, described? Are there illiterates in reading or assuming ‘urban identity? Which are the disciplines needed in this task?

> Process: How are urban developments planned, discussed and implemented? Who is involved in this process? Which platforms are available for such needs?

> Design: What could be the role of design in such processes?

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Core tasks of the project

> Understand, describe the phenomena of ‘urban identity’ and ‘social media’

> Understand and describe the cultural psychology of political processes and processes concerning town construction  in asia versus european strategies

> Extract the blind spots, the potential for further work.

> Develop meaningful strategies and tools for the arising tasks.

> Evaluate appropriate programs for students in an intercultural design project (student exchange project).

> Establishing an international database, which describes these urban identities. (Platform could be DILPS : distributed image library system, which is being developed further to a DMLPS distributed media library system to prevent the whole range of media formats)

First preparing steps

(in collaboration with Sharad Jhaveri and NID)

> Define the core issue (topic, student programs and research)

> Start cooperation (student workshops | research cooperation) with NID Ahmedabad, India and Southern Yangtze University Wuxi, China.

> Launch an international community, which is able to generate the appropriate content and is interested in this field. (Platform could be the CUMULUS network)

Proposal: Student workshop Ahmedabad, India spring 2008

Project Partner NID (in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Association, City Planning Institute, ...)

> Gathering material for a first analysis based on the medieval city Ahmedabad

> Create a local and international network of involved parties

> Design a platform | event in the inner city to present and discuss the aim of the project, the main goal to secure the future of the cultural heritage, the first results of the analysis

> Reference to the official institutions, the public and the mass media (TV, radio, newspapers, ...)

Annotation: This project is based on earlier held workshops at the Zurich University of the Arts, Scenographical Design (Uster SS05 |  Dietikon SS06 | Galata Karaköy Istanbul WS 0607 | Neu Oerlikon SS07 | ..)

References :

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Urban Identity ist in Zeiten des Standortwettbewerbs die entscheidende Qualität, mit der sich eine Stadt oder Region nach innen und außen profilieren kann. Urban Identity erschließt die städtische Identität, die Identifikation der Bewohner mit ihrer Stadt und neue Ansätze im Bereich des Imagetransfers.

Das Urban-Identity-Konzept definiert innerstädtische Lebens- und Handlungsräume, schärft den Blick auf die urbane Ist-Situation und implementiert neue Handlungsoptionen für den Image- und Life-Balance-Transfer. | http://www.kritische-aesthetik.de/urban-identity.html

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City pride : The ultimate goal of all of the above actions - one that will ensure success of a heritage conservation strategy - is to develop pride in the residents of the city towards their culture and heritage. This will go a long way in facilitating active community participation in cultural heritage activities. | http://www.gdrc.org/heritage/heritage-01.html

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But the medieval city was not only a unitary space, marking the collective identity of the community, it was as much a collection of spaces, which were used for different purposes and by different social actors. Various contributions deal with the economic infrastructure of markets and streets, with the organization of political and religious display, with the location of military power and industrial activity in the urban landscape, with social and juridical space (town squares, town halls, courts of law, belfries), and with the geography of poverty and networks of solidarity among marginal groups in urban society. This confrontation of unity and disparity in urban landscapes shaped urban identity. |  Shaping Urban Identity in Late Medieval Europe, Edited by Marc Boone & Peter Stabel

May 2000, Garant Publishers | http://www.coronetbooks.com/books/new/shap0926.htm

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We live in a visual culture, and visual evidence is increasingly central to social research. In this collection an international range of experts explain how they have used visual methods in their own research, examine their advantages and limitations, and show how they have been used alongside other research techniques. Contributors explore the following ideas:

* self and identity

* visualizing domestic space

* visualizing urban landscapes

* visualizing social change.

The collection showcases different methods in different contexts through the examination of a variety of topical issues. Methods covered include photo and video diaries, the use of images produced by respondents, the use of images as prompts in interviews and focus groups, documentary photography, photographic inventory and visual ethnography.

The result is an exciting and original collection that will be indispensable for any student, academic or researcher interested in the use of visual methods. |   Picturing the Social Landscape: Visual Methods and the Sociological Imagination, Author(s) - Caroline Knowles, Paul Sweetman, Publisher: Routledge

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