Scenario 1
The resilient city /adaptation mode/ -optimistic-
We realized neither an epidemic nor the climate crisis stops at national borders. A global identity emerged, supported by a fundamental change in values: solidarity and we-culture not only with our neighbors but also at the international and global level.
We are learning from the crisis and developing resilient, adaptive systems. Societal currents in the direction of post-growth and “glocalization” that already existed before the crisis, are moved by the collective corona experience from the niche to the mainstream.
The corona crisis re-networked the political power of action. Cities together (municipalities, mayors) with supranational bodies became increasingly important. We are seeing an increased fluidity of political interaction at the neighborhood and city levels. Thus local problems are solved quickly and creatively and also global risks are identified more quickly and are approached cooperatively. Digital formats of citizen participation are providing real-time information and connecting relevant players.
Berlin is benefiting from developing a body of diverse building projects that are addressing the housing market in a holistic sense rather than coming up with strategies that fulfill the standardized building schemes and expectations of investors. Community is wanted and strengthened because, in the wake of the corona crisis, the trend towards post-individualization becomes attractive to a wider audience. The coronavirus has initiated a self-purification of the markets. Weekly markets, regional producers, local stores have been booming. Urban farming and cooperatives cracked capitalist patterns of consumption. A circular economy with autonomous ecosystems is embedded in the everyday life of the people as both desired and necessary practices. A reasonable balance between online and offline is developed and supported through urban plans. Direct trade platforms of several smaller players that are available faster locally are blossoming. Planning authorities are rethinking sustainable mobility concepts for encouraging coalescence between the city and rural areas. Crisis moved us to revisit the hyperactivity which characterizes our daily routines and is encouraged to revitalize our capacity for reflection and contemplation. Corona paved a way for a new holistic understanding of health. Not only concerns the individual body, but the environment, city, politics are equally important factors for human health. Deep sensing technologies are helping to chemical impurities in our water and shorter supply chains allow us to better monitor what we eat. We manage to preserve all beautiful textures, variability, and wild heterogeneity of everyday life.
Post - Corona Reinventing degrees of connection
Traveling is again seen as something special, also because in post-Corona times there is a lot of precautions and required planning. Places like Eiffel Tower or Colosseum in Rome and many other public spaces will become obsolete.
Culture of citizenship, which includes direct democracy and devoted participation is moved into courtyards. Smaller systems are more resilient, measures and sense of security can be realized faster, as well as quick reactions when something being ineffective. In that sense, we see a moment for reviewing of the twentieth-century housing associations incorporating semi-public interior courtyards and communal facilities for their tenants - bathhouses, playrooms, cultural amnesties like neighborhood cinemas or theatres. It is a task for architects, as well as, policymakers.
Corona experience is a pivotal event for rethinking staircases and corridors in housing. Corridors create the necessary friction between bodies, but at the same time open the possibility to meet and talk. In a view of corona experience, the space of the corridor and staircases are places for setting new rituals. Reinventing foyers of housing buildings In light of the new retail and new logistic concepts is important, to keep dynamic and active ground floors to preserve vibrant streets life in the night and day. This should be the responsibility of architects, but as well it could be emphasized through urban plans.
Formerly the roof was the most eloquent element, at least for the political and religious centers. If not as our closest connection to heaven, roofs might open new possibilities for connecting. Corona experience is a valuable moment to rethink eaves height in the city of Berlin, reactivations, and reconnections of a roof - surfaces. They could be used for urban gardening and community gatherings, as well as office spaces. The houses may be connected via bridges, creating a roof (garden) landscape of unique size and variety. And at the same time allowing reduction of elevator usage. Possible uses should be depicted through urban plans and realized by architects or activists.
“Balconification”. Changing relations between offline and online, that could range from a healthy balance to moving completely into virtual space, forcing us to revisit the space of an outer façade. Our focus here is an apartment in the city. Berlin planning authorities must reexamine their regulations and develop strategies for providing different types of balconies, decks, and loggias. Trends like home-office, homeschooling, e-commerce, implementing smart devices in our health care, etc. raise a challenge on how to protect the public sphere from “too much privacy”.
In light of pandemic, we cannot avoid thinking of “fresh air treatments” and the Davos “magic balcony.” Maybe because it is not visible, the air seems to be an underestimated element. According to Henry Focillion, the architectural form as a whole, its formal content is nothing but unity in which the whole is affirmed by belonging to a series of complex relations, above all, the relation of matter and spirit. Here we are saying - the relation of matter and air.
Scenario 2
Super-Safe-Society /permanent crisis mode/ -pessimistic-
Every person is himself the next and there is a permanent stress state. Aggressive and anxious acting in self-interest changed aspirations for openness and cooperation. We believe security can only be guaranteed by the clearly defined boundaries of our safety zone, which is depicted in our living spaces. The dependence of public transport and global flows of goods made city dwellers a very vulnerable class. Food is scarce and we use every open space to grow fruit and vegetables. Black markets are flourishing. Global cities are more than ever the most nervous places in the world. Here the tensions between the regional, national, and international financial, service, and goods flows are superimposed. The public cultural life came to a complete standstill and social contacts moved completely into virtual space. Meals are delivered according to the highest hygienic standards. Berlin became an even more grey, wet, dystopian place. Within the housing units, some rooms are converted into warehouses for necessary groceries. The possibilities for growing food and flat gardening are being examined within the apartment.
Courtyard Air
Roof Balcony
Staircase
