DONA(U)VAN
A MOVING PROJECT ALONG DANUBE SHIFTING LANDSCAPES
Matteo Carli, Giulio Mari, Alberto Oss Pegorar
graduation thesis in landscape architecture at IUAV Venice University professors Stefano Munarin, Paolo Ceccon, Laura Zampieri, Enrico Anguillari 2008 - 2009
DONA(U)VAN is a research project on the Danube river conceived as an european infrastructure, hydrographic basin in an archipelago of nations, liquid border between landscapes, meetings and stories. An itinerant process of reading and writing through an hydrographic basin of 817.00 km2, along a river of 2.888 km, 10 nations, 4 capital cities, 8 languages. A one year long process, divided in three main stages: the first as an itinerant and explorative experience of a three months journey, from the sources in the Black Forest to the delta in the Black Sea; the second as systematization and synthesis of the journey materials and deepenings; the third as elaboration of a project scenario in the delta area. The choice of this river arises from its possibilities to offer a transversal reading of the complex system in which it flows through, the river as a “point of view”. In this sense the river is intended as a transnational vector, crossing Europe from west to east; a becoming fluid landscape, that is a continuity factor permitting a reading and representation from an ‘islands and borders’ to ‘gradients and passages’; a common term between a wide range of scales, that allows their crossing and interrelation. These previous statements led to start the research process along the whole river through an itinerant approach, organized using as tools: a mobilhome as a moving unit, as a device of relations, displacement and working place; a network of contacts (institutions, local actors, universities, associations and friends) that could offer a sort of access keys to the territory; a “journey diary” as a tool of daily synthesis and representation through mappings, texts, images, videos. After the exploration period, followed a process of re-writing and re-elaboration of the questions emerged from the journey experience, through synthesis charts representing the sites and contexts different scales, and a glossary that allows the catalo-
gation and the crossed reading of the danubian topics and subjects. At the same time it has been developed a study of the river from a physical-morphological point of view, taking in consideration the river forms, dynamisms and transformations, in the two scales of river basin and geographical unit. The crossing of this two reading systems led to define the river as a sequence of shifting landscapes. A synthesis of six fragments representing the river through its transformations (management, navigation...), reactions (river answers) and repercussions (consequences on territorial settings). After having followed, described and represented the Danube river, the research wanted to experiment how the consciousness of the river in its continuity and complexity, could participate in the elaboration of a project scenario on a local scale. Between the sequence of shifting landscapes, the Delta area has been chosen as the context more capable to represent and talk about the river and its basin’s complexity. A context which physical setting inherits the effects of the upstream dynamics and transformations, and that consequently represents the most fragile and changing part of the river body. In its cultural setting the delta configures a place of diversity, escape, isolation, hybridation, representing a transnational cultural condensation of the danubian basin. A territory which actual perspectives aim to rediscover a specific identity in a fragile context. The guidelines for the project scenario developed in Sulina (the last city in the delta, the eastern of Europe) have been the re-signification of the great operations and the exogenous transformations; the confrontation with coastal growth and erosion dynamics; the re-placement in a danubian transnational context.
DANUBE : A POINT OF VIEW
a transnational vector
across Europe from west to east
a becoming fluid landscape
from an ‘islands and borders’ to a ‘gradients and passages’ representatio
a shared reference
a common term between a wide range of scales
MOVING PROJECT
moving unit
mobilhome as a device of relations, displacement and working place
contacts
territorial access keys
journey diary
daily representation through mappings, texts, images, videos
The mobile unit is conceived as a device of public relation, displacement, working and discussion space. During the three months journey from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, the approach consisted in a bottomup reading of the territory, explored by walking, sailing, crossing and measuring its thickness.
A network of contacts (institutions, local actors, universities, friends‌) has guaranteed specific access keys to the territory and its practices.
The journey diary is an instrument of daily synthesis, elaborated during the journey. It consists in a continuous paper ream that lists and represents stage by stage the single readings of the river observed and experienced from different points of view. A description of the experiences of exploration and relation, through different instruments such as mappings, diagrams, texts, videos and images, that constitutes fragments of a danubian reading.
SISTEMATIZATION AND SYNTHESIS
TOPICS RE-WRITING AND RE-ELABORATION
synthesis charts
representation of sites/contexts different scales
glossary
crossed catalogation of danubian topics and subjects
MORPHOLOGICAL ATLAS
danubian scale
forms, dynamics, sediments, transformations
geographical units
forms, dynamics, sediments, transformations
SHIFTING LANDSCAPES 6 fragments of Danube
transformations
operation for the control, managment and exploitation of the river and its basin
reactions
river feedback to transformations
consequences
ripercussions on territorial settings
Sulina cemetery
CULTURAL PATCHWORK
m
Vojvodina/Slavonia
CULTURAL FRACTURE ZONE
SLAVONIA-VOJVODINA CULTURAL BASIN
MINORITIES
multiculturalità fatto sociale statisticamente rilevabile, che implica il convenire, entro i confini di un medesimo spazio geopolitico, di differenti etnie o comunità o singoli individui provenienti da culture antropologiche differenti. es. 1. Bač, “La zuppa è affare di Milan che appende il paiolo sopra il fuoco di un bidone. Carpa, pesce gatto, luccio, paprika, pomodoro, acqua e altri ingredienti più o meno segreti. La ricetta è la stessa dall’Ungheria fino alle Porte di Ferro ma ognuno rivendica la propria come la migliore e così si apre la gara con Osijek. Questa sera il Danubio è una pentola, da fiš è diventato riblja ciorba, da linea di confine è diventato ricetta.” 2. Osijek, “Nikola è vegetariano, ha un atelier, nella Kazamat, lavora con la paglia, medita. Ogni tanto va a Lug in Baranja ad aiutare i genitori con la fattoria, cani, mucche, campi. La sua famiglia ha radici lontane in Germania, probabilmente nella Foresta Nera . Nato a Osijek, si è spostato con la famiglia a Straubing, in Baviera per poi andare a studiare a Belgrado poco dopo la guerra e infine ritornare a Osijek.” 3. Sulina, “Un muro basso in cemento spunta nel prato brullo poco fuori il paese. Una porta in ferro arrugginito con la stella di Davide nel mezzo e poco più in là un recinto in ferro e un’altra porta, questa volta con croce, stella e mezzaluna. All’interno un vitello bruca l’erba fra lapidi in rovina che affiorano qua e là e lontani nomi che parlano d’oriente e di viaggio.” disp. [FIS -Ungheria, Slavonia, Vojvodina-, INSEDIAMENTO -Bač, Osijek-, CIMITERO -Sulina-, QUARTIERE -Braila-, ISOLA -Delta-, NAVE -Danubio-]
AUSTROHUNGARIC EMPIRE
GERMANY
CZECH REPUBLIC
SLOWAKIA
OTTOMAN EMPIRE AUSTRIA HUNGARY
ROMANIA CROATIA
BOSNIA
cultural fracture zone between west and east Europe
serbs
historical border between Ottoman and Austrohungaric Empire
hungarians
Slavonia
slovaks
Vojvodina
croats
SERBIA
CRNA GORA
montenegrins roumanians russniaks
FISHERMAN’S SOUP
NIKOLA FALLER
DONAUSCHWABEN
ULM
AUSTROHUNGARIC EMPIRE
STRAUBING
19 89
BELGRADE
BLACK FOREST
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
04 20
00 20 OSIJEK
BELGRADE
PANNONIAN PLAIN / FISHERMAN’S SOUP Hungarian halászlé, Serbian: fiš Croatian: riblja čorba, riblji paprikaš
german people’s displacements from 1638 (Donauschwaben)
Nikola Faller’s displacements
Donauschwaben’s settlements
Nikola’s ancestors’ displacements (Donauschwaben)
500 g small fresh water fish, or fish head and tail. 1- 1/2kg fresh water fish (prefer carp) 2 big onions 1 Tbls. mild paprika 1 tsp. hot paprika 1 tomato and green pepper fresco in Ulm
tema THE VUKOVAR/BAC CASE
HR
SRB
esempio
UNTIL 1991 _the island is under the vukovar municipality _free crossing and use of the island beach
dispositivo FROM 1991 TO 1995 _danube as front line durig the civil war _refugees displacement
1 km
AFTER 1995 _border line redefinition _the island is under the Bac municipailty
special transborder passport _ new ferry boat from Bac to the serbian farms in Croatia from Vukovar to the croatian farms in Serbia “transborder farms”
FROM 2006 _cooperation projects between vukovar and Bac _new ferry boat and free access to the island beach
DONA(U)VAN
The different context scales that every river fragment recalls are represented through synthesis charts. With the intent to verify which are the influence margins of the river, it emerged a complex system where local, transnational and environmental scales and political, cultural and personal instances are overlapping.
The Danubian Glossary is a tool for the cataloging and crossed reading of themes and subjects encountered, by defining recurrent words along the river. The description of common examples found in different locations and possible synonyms builds up a lexicon of the Danube basin for an inedited reading of its complexity.
ONGOING PROJECTS
WACHAU WIEN-BRATISLAVA
GABCIKOVO
SZAP-MOHACS
UPPER COURSE
STRAUBING-VILSHOFEN
NAVIGATION Hydraulic measures, such as river regulation, dredging, weirs, and dams.
CALARASI - BRAILA
STRAUBING-VILSHOFEN
million t/a 20
WACHAU
NAVIGATION 20 km long section (3 fords) to be better maintained for navigation.
10
canyons and floodplains
0
bedrock 0,4
WIEN-BRATISLAVA
NAVIGATION, RIVERBADSTABILISATION AND ECOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENT Riverbed improvement by adding coarse gravel to the river basin. Dikes. Minimum fairway depth (2.8 m) is to be improved as far as possible by adapting the river basin, i.e. by dredging
suspended load
UKRAINAN CANAL APATIN
headsized boulders
LOWER DANUBE
km
bed load
0,2
SULINA CANAL
braided
0
gravel meandering
sand
GABCIKOVO
0
NAVIGATION, POWER GENERATION Partly built – remedial measures needed; ongoing discussion about alternative scheme of operation
10
0,75%
20 cm
1,38%
SEDIMENT COMPOSITION
SEDIMENT TRANSPORT, SLOPE
FORM
SZAP-MOHACS
NAVIGATION Elimination of bottlenecks and fords, maintenance issues, ecological rehabilitation, improvement of tourism and recreation, protection of drinking water.
APATIN
NAVIGATION, UNSTABLE BANK PROTECTION, FLOOD AND ICE PROTECTION Bilateral negotiations planned.
KM. 2888 FURTWANGEN > breg sources ( farthest source point )
Black Forest Naturpark
PAKS (HU) - BELGRADE (SRB)
Donauquelle sources monument wet meadow
reservoirs floodplains with high ecological quality impounded stretches strongly regulated stretches free-flowing stretches projected canals polders
PAKS (HU) - BELGRADE (SRB)
NAVIGATION River regulation and border correction. Identified 20 bottlenecks for navigation, 7 have high priority.
LOWER DANUBE
NAVIGATION New river bed regulation plans.
+ 1100 m
longitudinal section
CALARASI - BRAILA
NAVIGATION Bottom sills, bank protection, groins, river bed calibration and stabilization.
UKRAINAN CANAL
NAVIGATION Works on the future revival and creation of the protecting dike.
SULINA CANAL
NAVIGATION Bank protection.
Black Forest
cross section
Naturpark Obere Donau
KM. 2815 IMMENDINGEN > danube disappears for for infiltration in carsic soil
SIGMARINGEN ?
MUEHLHEIM
danube
Danube
DONAUESCHINGEN
180 m
Aach
IMMENDINGEN
aach
10 km
LAKE CONSTANCE Rhine
cross section
10 m
80
0
m
sources
m 700
0 80
immendingen
m
700 m
The Morphological Atlas_ Danubian Scale aims to organize
1 km
a knowledge base on the dynamics of transformation and reaction investing the river. A series of maps made at the entire hydrographic basin scale, cross interrelated themes (sediment flow, agriculture, navigation, wetlands, floodings…) to allow a continuous look into policies within national borders.
The Morphological Atlas_ Geographical Unit Scale analy-
zes the river in ten different units. Topics as sediment, river morphology, anthropic transformations, effects in the flow, riverbed and ecosystem balance, highlight the more physical nature of river. The morphologicalprocessual theme becomes then the access key to the successive definition of shifting landscapes.
Naturpark Obere Donau danube
14 km
The shifting landscapes were synthetized in 6 sections of the river, of 100 km length. In each part are represented significant anthropic transformations (dykes, dams, adjustments, agricultural use‌) and the consequent river reactions in time, at a urban and sociocultural level. At a technical cartography are associated more sensitive materials such as texts and images, where the river emerges as a palimpsest of a single danubian representation.
PROJECT SCENARIO : DANUBE DELTA
physical setting
a context inheriting the upstream dynamics and transformations the most fragile and changing part of the river
cultural setting
a place of diversity, isolation and hybridation a transnational cultural patchwork an historical inheritage missing an actual correspondence
perspectives
rebuilding a specific identity in a fragile context
SULINA
the last city of the Danube re-signification of exogenous transformations and dynamics relation with coastal growth and erosion dynamics re-collocation in a transnational danubian context
D SK
MD
A
UA
H
HR SRB
RO
BG
DANUBE EXPO SYSTEM
DANUBIAN SCALE
transnational participation to the Danube Expo
faleza projected path pavillon C.E.D.
waste water + rain water collection
groundwater clean water output
WATER SYSTEM phytodepuration system independent structures
i
sett
. Ro
C.A
Tulcea
ACCESSIBILITY SYSTEM
Co ns
tan
ta
Sf. Gheorge
The guidelines of the project scenario developed in Sulina (last city in the Delta) were the resignification of the large operations and exogenous transformations; the confrontation with the dynamics of coastal growth and erosion; the relocation in a danubian transnational context. A continuous path along the Sulina channel jetty becomes a new urban infrastructure and logistical device, and a measuring tool of a danubian territory in becoming.
existing road existing waterway new path new pedestrian/bike path private boat public transport cruise boat new boat stop existing boat stop
Within the urban context the project tries to reactivate the spaces it crosses. From the old structures of the European Danube Commission, to the new private pensions, from the “faleza� (riverbank promenade) with its socialist blocks to the touristic harbour. An urban infrastructure defining new accessibilities and at the same time a technical infrastructure collecting wastewater and rainwater to be treated.
The abandoned free port basin is the central space in the program of the Danube Expo, the water depuration and area re-naturalization. The infront area, throughout operations of dig and carry over, hosts a phytodepuration system of the urban wastewater and a derived wetland in continuity with the port basin. This concrete infrastructure of path and waters, folding in different conformations, configures the new park accesses and a water pavilion as Danube Expo main building and logistic platforn for the organization of other moving pavilions on barges.
The Sulina beach access is marked by the main pavillon that faces the basin where it divides to lean on an existing coastal groin. This concrete strip leaning on the sand becomes the meter and the level that detects the movement of the dunes and the gradual growth of this latter part of Europe.
In the last stretch of the jetty, the project aims to make accessible to different vectors (boat, pedestrian, bike) the end of the river. Evaluating the dynamics of the currents and the future growth trends, the different devices of access and stop are able to receive the process of transformation in the surrounding ground and water.
The dynamics of coastal growth and erosion are closely related to the presence of Sulina channel jetty. The project, overlaying on the jetty, constantly tries to consider possible future developments as strategic elements in the program and forms. The reconversion of a large exogenous structure as the jetty and the use of a processual lexicon, builds a paradigmatic planning for the entire course of the Danube.