URBAN Magazine: Spring 2022 Loading

The original edition of the publication was made possible by the support of The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University New York, New York Copyright 2021 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York All illustrations and layouts Copyright 2021 URBAN Magazine. All photographs respective copyright 2021.

All rights reserved.

0b11111 ███████████████ SPRING 2022

06

From the Editors

> query = who AND why 12

The Battle of Washington Square

18

Recollections from Houhai, Beijing

24

Written in Western Language

30

Jonathan Marty

Wenqi "Hazel" Ni E.J. Shin

The UP Program desperately needs more low-income BIPOC students + professors with longstanding relationships in disadvantaged communities of color

Matthew Shore

> query = where AND how 36 40 48 52

Run This City

Sarah Mawdsley

Towards An Engineered-Timber Civic Realm

Kalapoda, Zhang, Hao, and Wu

Migratory Spaces in Northern Chile

Sebastián Salas & León Duval Ojos de Agua

Oscar M. Caballero

SPRING 2022

FROM THE EDITORS Dear readers, We are pleased to present to you the Spring 2022 issue of URBAN Magazine: Loading.

For this issue, the URBAN editors envisioned the magazine as a vessel for the planning program’s pulse. How are students perceiving the current landscape of planning challenges, and themes? Instead of prescribing themes to our writers, we encouraged our contributors to simply speak.

Our talented writers returned to us diverse pieces, ranging from intimate reflections on the human experiences to essays unpacking informal housing in South America.

Interesting, even without a prescribed theme, there is a clear thread that underpins these pieces. GSAPP planners are keenly interested in restoring humanity to planning practices.

As scholars and practitioners of the built environment, pressures mount to default to physical space as the primary measure of progress. Our writers are not as convinced.

Aligning actions to our goals of equity, offering space for new perspectives to permeate, and promoting inclusivity must tether us as we look forward.

We know that you will enjoy these pieces as much as we enjoyed putting this issue together.

THE EDITORS OF URBAN MAGAZINE

EVE PASSMAN

senior copy editor

SHERRY AINE TE

senior publishing editor

WILL CAO

senior design editor

SPRING 2022

> query = who AND why_

IT IS IMP ERATIVE FO CAN BEST ADDRESS, D THE BAD F AITH, POLI USED BY T HE POWERFU CRIMINALI ZATION OF

OR US TO ASK HOW WE DISPEL, AND CONDEMN ITICIZED NARRATIVES UL TO JUSTIFY THE PARK USERS._

SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

THE BATTLE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE

In Defense of Public Parks in Post-Pandemic NYC Jonathan Marty | M.S.UP '22

pandemic era. Debates have emerged which call into question the purpose of public space, its relationship to the propertied

At times even the names of the inhabitants remain the same, and their voices’ accent, and also the features of the faces; but the gods who live beneath names and above

New York City has been Washington Square Park. During the

outsiders have settled in their place.

CALVINO,

INVISIBLE

ostensibly serve.

The unquestionable epicenter of public parks controversy in

places have gone off without a word and

ITALO

class, and the parameters of the “public” to which urban parks

summer of 2020, the storied agora of Greenwich Village, known for its tradition of countercultural protest, music, dance,

CITIES

performance art, and bohemianism, began to bloom with vibrancy as cooped-up New Yorkers flocked to it in droves. But, following the COVID-era influx of young, oftentimes black and

Of the many societal norms smashed to bits during

brown New Yorkers from distant neighborhoods or the outer

COVID-19’s peak in the summer of 2020, few were of greater

boroughs, residents of the park’s affluent, politically-connected

interest to local planners, architects, and urban scholars than

surrounding neighborhood of Greenwich Village have worked

the dramatic transformation of parks and public spaces in

with the Washington Square Park Conservancy and the NYPD to

New York City. For it was during the initial onset of COVID-19

mitigate such liberated park usage in the name of public safety,

that New Yorkers formed deeper, more intimate relationships

health, and “quality-of-life.”

with the city’s vast and impressive public park system. In the midst of government-imposed lockdowns and “shelter in place”

As planners, architects, and designers, such a conflict poses a

mandates, public parks served as crucial green oases for New

critical question to all of us: do we plan with park users, or do

Yorkers -- the majority of whom lack backyards, let alone quaint

we plan with those judging them over glasses of prosecco from

getaway homes in the Hudson Valley or Cape Cod.

the lofty stoops of nearby brownstones? ( D E F R E Y T A S - T A M U R A , 2 0 2 1 ) . In this essay, I argue that given the considerable power

As New Yorkers of all backgrounds experienced this glorious

of the latter group, it is imperative for us to ask how we can

reprieve from COVID-era gloom in the city’s parks, an aggressive

best address, dispel, and condemn the bad faith, politicized

backlash mounted on both the local and governmental level.

narratives used by the powerful to justify the criminalization

With the growth in park usership, generally accepted legal

of park users. Furthermore, I posit that such a concentrated

standards about public drinking, noise amplification, and

attack on park users is, in effect, an attack on the foundational

assembly became blurred amidst the rapid change of the

ideals of public space. Specifically, I argue that the belief that

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VOLUME 31

interclass contact is a vital necessity for a functioning city, and

on the base of the Garibaldi statue, and watch legendary street

that spaces which permit such contact should be democratically

performers Tic and Tac do their act for naive and unsuspecting

cultivated rather than micro-managed, surveilled, and policed

tourists. Particularly wonderful is that Gogurt purple azure that

by a handful of wealthy donors or nearby property owners.

envelopes the park’s generous slice of sky before sundown.

New Yorkers have always cherished their local parks, but the

That summer, it wasn’t that the park had been reinvented,

COVID-19 pandemic redefined this storied relationship in a

but rather, it had been re-appreciated. The liveliness, color,

profound fashion. Parks became at once refuges from the

and cacophony of noises continued, but in an exaggerated

mind-numbing monotony and loneliness of quarantine, rare

and exciting new format. There were simply more kids, more

spaces in which contact with others was permitted (albeit at

musicians, more performers, and a generally more palpable

a distance), and eventually, even rarer places in which people

sense of mirth amongst all of them. Atop some of the most

could experience collective joy during an unremittingly bleak

valuable land in the western hemisphere, young people from

moment in history.

uptown, Queens, Brooklyn, and The Bronx had found an oasis of freedom in which they could reclaim their youth from the

Amid the otherwise harrowing memories I have of this era,

jaws of COVID ( D E F R E Y T A S - T A M U R A , 2 0 2 1 ) .

I fondly recall being invigorated at the site of smiley, wellattended jazz concerts at the Prospect Park boathouse; cricket

█ █ █

matches in the sprawling, tree-lined oval of Marine Park, the precious emerald pendant of southern Brooklyn; elegantly

From my early teenage hajjes to Greenwich Village,

synchronized tai-chi courses in Seward Park on the Lower East

to my time as an undergraduate at a small college in the

Side – “the first permanent, municipally-built playground” in

area, I’ve always admired how Washington Square Park acts

the United States (NYC Parks); and bustling basketball games

as a highly accessible node of youth culture, transgression,

on the courts of Riverside Park. While such activities were not

and public expression amidst an aging, increasingly sterile

uncommon prior to COVID-19, each of them seemed to have an

neighborhood / NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement

added level of intensity and significance, as if New Yorkers were

Community). Much like its countercultural younger sibling of

suddenly cherishing the social and physical connections that

Berkeley, California, the rebellious, experimental environment

they had once taken for granted.

that gave Greenwich Village its outsized reputation has gradually been reduced to a nostalgia brand, as successive

Nowhere was this energy more concentrated than at

waves of hypergentrification have rendered the neighborhood

Washington Square Park. Prior to summer 2020, my mental

prohibitively expensive for all but the extraordinarily wealthy.

image of the Square was one of the park at sundown, when it begins to look like a gorgeous mosaic of life as people pour in

Yet, never before the summer of 2020 was this dynamic so

from all sides to play in the fountain, listen to local jazz quartets,

crystalized, with the park emerging as a stage upon which

read novels in the green spaces, line up for pondicherry dosas

the Lefebvrian right to the city was contested in a pitched

from Thiru Kumar’s legendary dosa cart, attempt skate tricks

battle between the city’s haves and have-nots. For, as we

SPRING 2022

13

learned during the Battle of Washington Square, it is amid the

rowdy, newly liberated, and dissenting populace.

smothered, physically-but-not-spiritually preserved landscape of today’s hyper-gentrified Greenwich Village that Washington

In one particularly loathsome instance of NYPD aggression,

Square Park gains its true power and significance.

NYPD officers encircled and then brutally arrested several park-users in Washington Square during the June 2021 Queer

As is almost inevitable with any great change, particularly in a

Liberation March, a staple of the city’s yearly Pride celebrations.

city as conservative (with a little “c”) as New York can be, there

After surrounding the park with barricades and blasting

was vocal opposition. Citing concerns of drug use, trash, loud

warnings of unlawful assembly on their sound cannons, officers

music, and “bizarre behavior,” residents of the Village - median

in riot gear menaced Pride attendees with their bikes and batons,

household income: $164,860, more than twice the citywide

ordering them to leave the park once the clock struck midnight.

average of $70,590 - began to voice their opposition to the new

Eight attendees were arrested, and several were pepper-sprayed

2 0 1 9 ) . Then, as wealthy

( Y U R C A B A , 2 0 2 1 ) . Given the obvious fact that NYC Pride began

white urbanites often do when they deem the use of public

just blocks away at the Stonewall Inn in 1969, as queer people

space improper, they called the police.

took up bricks against cops in a riotous, revolutionary protest

uses of the park ( F U R M A N

CENTER,

of brutal, homophobic crackdowns on gay bars, the political On November 7th, following a Black Lives Matter march and

implications of this onslaught are infuriatingly clear.

a celebration of Donald Trump’s defeat in the presidential election, the NYPD conducted a rare, militaristic curfew raid

█ █ █

at Washington Square Park. Clad in riot gear, over 50 officers charged after park goers, swinging batons (including at a

Tellingly, just eleven days before breaking up the Pride

19 year-old girl) and arresting a 23 year-old and a 25 year-old

celebration, the NYPD held an emergency meeting in a nearby

2 0 2 0 ) . This raid would quickly prove to be the

Greenwich Village church basement, asking community

new normal, as the NYPD began conducting similar raids with

members to address their grievances about the supposed

increased frequency in the following months.

chaos in Washington Square, and express their thoughts about

(OFFENHARTZ,

a new 10 p.m. curfew for the park. Though the town hall was With the increased frequency of public demonstrations during

advertised as public, hundreds of people on line were denied

the “George Floyd Rebellion,” combined with the massive uptick

access. Gothamist reporter Jake Offenhartz, present at the

in park usage during this time, the NYPD perceived a blurring

meeting, noted the overwhelmingly old and white character

of the line between “public assembly” and “protest,” and took

of the attendees, also writing that “the majority of those who

full advantage of this politically manufactured ambiguity to

showed up to oppose the curfew were barred from entering

justify harsher, more brutal crackdowns. Sensing the increased

because of capacity restrictions” ( O F F E N H A R T Z , 2 0 2 1 ) .

media attention paid to issues of public safety, it was as if the NYPD chose Washington Square Park as the primary political

According to Dean Moses, a reporter for the local neighborhood

theater in which it would publicly regain dominance over the

news website The Villager, “most of the attendees inside were

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VOLUME 31

older folk, while their more younger counterparts were

attendees – overwhelmingly black and brown people in their

2021).

teens and early twenties – attested to the horrific police violence

left standing outside chanting ‘Let us in!’” ( M O S E S ,

Several sources, including The New York Times, corroborate the

they had witnessed during the crackdowns in the park.

observation that this meeting highlighted the race, class, and age dynamics at play in the struggle over Washington Square

Following the town hall, this younger, outdoor contingent

2021).

approached the exiting attendees and loudly made their

Gothamist even reported that, with some exceptions, older,

claims to Washington Square. Now outside on a public

white, more affluent Villagers overwhelmingly advocated for

street, outnumbered by the youths and unprotected by the

increased police presence.

police, the Villagers had to answer for themselves in the

Park ( O F F E N H A R T Z ,

2021;

DE

FREYTAS-TAMURA,

face of direct confrontation on a significantly more level One such man advocated for the confiscation of park

playing field. Arguing against the tough-on-crime approach

users’ skateboards, adding “it will not be that traumatic

advocated

2021).

during

the

meeting,

Desmond

Marrero,

a

Responding to

25-year-old Washington Square Park regular, spoke of the

a homeless man who complained of being brutalized by

miraculous assemblages of life which recent events had

the NYPD in the park, and of the disproportionately white

permitted there. “I see gangstas and white people, the LGBT

makeup of the meeting, a 59 year-old Union Square resident

community and people dressed in suits all coming together and

retorted by saying “The community was invited for a

celebrating life,” said Marrero. “We don’t see that on the regular.

community meeting. He’s not part of the community. He’s a

The park just needs some understanding.” █

for the snowflakes” ( O F F E N H A R T Z ,

visitor to the park” ( O F F E N H A R T Z , 2 0 2 1 ) .

The question of which people constituted “members of the community” remained a thorny topic of debate throughout the town hall. When a 21-year-old street musician claimed that the NYPD had incited violence with their aggressive approach in Washington Square, he was booed and asked to finish his remarks in a noticeably shorter amount of time than other attendees.

Speaking to the pro-curfew crowd, Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner William Castro insisted “We are returning your park to you, local residents” ( R O S N E R & G A R G N E R , 2 0 2 1 ) .

Outside, the significantly younger, significantly less white anti-curfew groups elected to conduct a counter-meeting on the sidewalk. Though the NYPD reportedly erected a barrier fence around this small, DIY gathering, its

D E F R E Y T A S - T A M U R A , K . (2021, June 18). Whose Park Is It? Residents and Revelers Clash Over Washington Square. The New York Times. History of playgrounds in Parks. NYC Parks. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/playgrounds D . (2021, June 17). Whose park is it anyway? inside the Washington Square Showdown pitting the young against the restless. amNewYork.

MOSES,

O F F E N H A R T Z , J . (2020, November 7). NYPD clears Washington Square Park with clubs and arrests during rare curfew sweep. Gothamist.

O F F E N H A R T Z , J . (2021, June 17). West Village residents, NYPD call for permanent curfew in Washington Square Park. Gothamist.

R O S N E R , E . , & G A R G E R , K . (2021, June 16). Hundreds pack emergency meeting to address Washington Square Park chaos.

New York Post.

SPRING 2022

15

AS I STOOD IN THE FACING A GRAY, SO LIFELESS WALL, I ASK WAS THE H ISTORY PRE

ONCE LIVELY ALLEY, OLID, AND UTTERLY KED MYSELF, FOR WHOM ESERVED?_

SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

RECOLLECTIONS FROM HOUHAI, BEIJING: On Historic Preservation and Human Connection Wenqi "Hazel" Ni | M.S.UP '23

My fondest memory of Beijing comes from the winter

Then I started college in the U.S.. One winter, upon returning

when I was sixteen, when my friend and I skated along the banks

home, I found those beloved shops all bricked up. I was only

of Houhai, a lake to the north of the Forbidden City. I remember

told later that many shops in the Hutongs had to close due to a

feeling the wind on my face with a sweet scent of sugar roasted

city-wide planning effort for historic preservation—or rather, an

chestnuts, rows of clay tile roofs flashing by like a wave as we

organized city beautification movement to clean up the “Holes

skated through the gray, smoggy air of Beijing, listening to

in the Wall.” The term referred to the converted storefronts

songs from jazz musicians melting into conversations from

along the walls in residences of Hutongs: built in the 80s and

people fishing by the lake. Back then, it felt like home.

90s, they were first allowed to encourage dislocated workers to establish their own small businesses in the city. Once bringing

Houhai was once a flourishing dock in the Yuan Dynasty in

the neighborhood vibrance and economic vitality, they were

the Thirteenth Century, where Jing-Hang Grand Canal met

now deemed “unauthorized structures” due to nonconforming

the commercial center of Khanbaliq, the then city of Beijing.

use, undesirable aesthetics, and “safety hazards.”

After the fall of Imperial China, civilians populated the area and established residences and stores. In the early 2010s, it was

Many shop owners — mostly migrant workers — had to leave the

buzzing with jazz bars, small cafes, and family-run shops. The

city as a result. As I stood in the once lively alley, facing a gray,

neighborhood was known for the Siheyuans and Hutongs—

solid, and utterly lifeless wall, I asked myself, for whom was the

traditional courtyard residences and the narrow alleys that

history preserved?

connect them. We would skate through these seven-hundredyear-old streets, greeting the grandpa who sold candied

The question lingered in my mind as I worked on a preservation

hawberries by the alley entrance, stopping to pet the Labrador

project after graduation during my internship in Beijing last year,

by the coffee shop with our favorite pastries and chat about

where I surveyed historic courtyards to map existing conditions

our latest obsession with books with the owner, an avid reader.

for later planning purposes. Some of these courtyards were first

Finally, we would turn into a tiny restaurant in Xiao Ju’er Hutong,

built in the 1600s for royal and noble families. However, their

snuggling into the aroma of freshly fried Japanese croquettes.

structures and residents have since changed: civilians moved

The owner would greet us with enthusiasm and recount his

into these royal residences after the Cultural Revolution, and

latest exploration in making delicious potato dishes.

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VOLUME 31

the 1976 Tangshan earthquake destroyed much of their original

Last winter, I once again set foot on the banks of Houhai,

architecture. Today, these courtyards have been listed for

bringing my camera and hoping to capture some remnants

historic preservation.

of my fondest memory. Instead, I found a fully developed tourist district: franchise stores of cultural artifacts and milk

I feared that this “historical preservation” might become

tea chains, so organized as if pasted directly from another

another project like the clearance of the “Holes in the Walls.”

historical street redevelopment. The architectural features

Perhaps the structures in these courtyards were indeed

were so exquisitely restored that every storefront looked

dilapidated, but the residents treated me with kindness: they

picture-ready and Instagrammable. The neighborhood was

showed me around the courtyards patiently to help me get

still more or less the way I remembered, but something had

all the information and measurements. A lady was even kind

changed fundamentally: I didn’t know the people anymore.

enough to give me her mosquito repellent seeing all the bites I

I remember being waved away by a resident that day and her

was getting. However, when a school mom anxiously asked me

saying that there was nothing worth photographing here. It was

what would happen to their self-built home, and when a teacher

an alienating experience from a place to which I was so deeply

asked me when the government’s move-out notice would arrive,

connected. The historic charm somehow felt commodified, the

I could not give them a definitive answer. I wish I could assure

trust between its residents and visitors eroded and the bond

them that there will be better housing and service planned

between shop owners and customers destroyed.

for them, that their needs will be attended to, but I was not supposed to tell them anything more than that their courtyards

For whom should history be preserved? I brought this question

were listed for preservation, and that I was just someone

along with me as I began studying urban planning. As planners

sent by the officials to survey the sites. Historic preservation

we often face the difficult decision of what to keep and what to

for these residents meant clearance and relocation—having

forego, influencing the way history is preserved and written.

to leave the place they called home and separate from the

And why is this important? I keep thinking about how I felt at

communities they connected with for many generations. In

home in Houhai, and what was so precious and nostalgic about

preserving and restoring the city’s history, the histories of

it: it was the real human connection I formed with the people

these people had to be moved elsewhere, but aren’t they also

in my city. Houhai’s informality once allowed different layers of

part of the history of this city?

SPRING 2022

19

history to coexist, so as a teen, I was able to make friends with people in different social groups in the city and listen to their stories. When the policy came about clearing the “Holes in the Walls,” I was thinking about these people I knew and how their lives would be impacted. When the City took away their history after the redevelopment, the human connection was lost, and my connection to the neighborhood was lost as well.

History is a collective narrative but at the same time a unique set of personal tales. In preserving diverse layers of history, we open channels on an individual level for spontaneous conversations to happen across different social groups, and in turn, foster understanding between them. Many challenges we face in planning today result from decades of barriers, assumptions and stereotypes which then fueled misunderstandings, resentments and fears between different groups. However, if we can be conscious about for whom we preserve the histories and be deliberate about creating opportunities for people to genuinely connect with others, we might be able to slowly break down these barriers, find the common grounds, and bridge the chasm between different groups. When more individuals in our society are seeing the perspectives of others, we can then build communities based on listening, understanding, and trust. I believe that the power of planning lies in the human connection in the encounters of our everyday life, which can then change

ORIGINAL

our society profoundly. █

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PHOTO

BY

VINCENT

LIN

|

@DARTH_U

HISTORY I S A COLLECTIV E NARRATIVE BUT AT TH E SAME TIME A UNIQUE SE T OF PERSONAL TALES._

SPRING 2022

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DOING THE JUSTICE O THROUGH T HE EFFORTS PROTECT T HEIR CULTU THE WESTE RN WORLD C ULTIMATE GOAL OF TH THE PURPO SE OF THES HINDERED BY THE WES

OF THEIR CULTURE S TO ORGANIZE AND URAL "STYLE" FROM COULD HAVE BEEN THE HIS TEXT, HOWEVER, SE TWO TEXTS IS STERN POWER._

SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

WRITTEN IN WESTERN LANGUAGE

Cultural style by one from the culture E.J. Shin | M.Arch '24 In this history of architecture, the use of “style”

work to introduce the “style” from one who understands the

for the categorization of cultural buildings has often been

culture. However, this requirement of needing to prove their

misrepresented and inadequately appropriated by western

existence to the western world and needing acknowledgments

scholars including orientalists. However, an effort to represent

from western scholar society is already working on the playing

one’s own ethnic “style” or “stylizing” a cultural architecture

field of influence. Only by presenting a book in English, the

as one the dependences of the culture could be impossible

acceptable form of scholar organization, to a database of western

to be entirely free from the influence of Western domination

scholarship, Raz and Liang was able to establish/guard their

power on the scholarship of the architectural establishment.

cultural architectural style and get global acknowledgment. This

It could be interpreted as various definitions

goes hand-in-hand with what Edward Said discusses in his book

such as orientalism, just as the influence varies in degree on the

Orientalism, how baseline assumption that the western world is

work throughout history. This provocation will be illustrated

the only center of the world and the platform of the mainstream;

through two exemplary texts Essays on the architecture of Hindus

and that if it doesn’t exist in there, it is not recognizable. The

by Ram Raz and Pictorial history of Chinese architecture: a study

mere fact that the two texts are written in English contains a

of the development of its structural system and the evolution of

layer of orientalist influence.

(SAID,

1987)

its type by Liang Sicheng. These two texts are paragons of establishing an architectural style of a specific ethnicity in this

Doing the justice of their culture through the efforts to organize

case Hindu Indians and Chinese mainlanders by authors who

and protect their cultural “style” from the western world could

have a part in the society.

have been the ultimate goal of this text, however, the purpose of these two texts is hindered by the western power. Essays

The obvious fact is that both of the books are written in English

on the architecture of Hindus was originally initiated by the

by an author who originally speaks Indian and Chinese. This

British Royal Asiatic Society by Richard Clarke suggesting Raz

cooperative action to prove and establish their cultural “style” in

seen in the preface of the book “…, Richard Clarke, Esq., for

English for the Western Scholarly work is an already underlying

the accomplishment of this important and desirable object”.

submission to western dominance in scholarship and western

(RAZ,

points of view – therefore could be inferred as an act of

colonial publishing house, but the fact that this publication

orientalism from the author themselves. Some could argue that

was suggested by the imperialist to the Raz is also evidence

Raz and Liang were rather guarding their own culture against

for the insertion of western influence on the body of his text.

misrepresentation by western scholars through their written

Although it could be proven that Raz had enough knowledge

24

VOLUME 31

1834)

Not only being published through the British

on Hindu Architecture to be appointed because he had

or elite patterns. Thereby, Liang could present China as the

published “History of the architecture of the Hindoos”, the

point of origin of a classic tradition that diffused to Japan, just

request to write a book to establish the “style” is an important

as Greek classicism had been the source of ancient Roman art.

one. ( D R I V E R ,

2010)

Figure 1 is an exemplary page in the

(STEINHARDT,

2011)

books, where there is no trace of Indian language, but rather represented, as Raz referred it as to, “in the well-known language

This desire to be the colonial power among East Asian

of Europe”. ( R A Z , 1 8 3 4 )

countries through preemption of Asian “style” is based on the previous western colonialization of the east. Learned to

Although the book A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture was

think that one nation could hold “superior” power among, it

published by MIT, an American Scholarship, Liang, as shown

is an imitation of the previous orientalist point of view once

in figure 2, unapologetically included Chinese characters and

held by western power. ( S A I D , 1 9 8 7 )

names along with his representation – perhaps China not being colonized by Great Britain was a large reason, and it

It is inevitable that both of them are Indian and Chinese

could also be that 150 years in between the work of Raz and

attempting to claim their cultural “style”, however it shells not

Liang, there was a body of work by Edward Said on Orientalism.

be overlooked that both of them have so strong ties with the

2 0 1 0 ) However, if you consider the purpose of this

West that they are extremely used to the western world view

Liang’s text closely, once again couldn’t completely remove

of their own culture from their exposure more than layman

the influence of the western colonial power. An article

in their culture. They both received heavy western education

called the Sixth century in east Asian architecture states the

substantiated by their published work in fluent English and

motives of Liang’s work:

heavy connection with western elites or scholars. Raz on this

(DRIVER,

scholarly work on architecture, he was a judge during the time In China, the most famous architectural historian of that period,

of English colonization in India. Liang, a Yale-educated, goes

Lian Liang (1901-1972), also fit into this mold but with a different

on to bring modernistic (westernized) architectural pedagogue

agenda. Western trained at a time when Banister Fletcher’s and

to China and later founded a school of architecture at Tsinghua

James Fergusson’s textbooks offered students models of how a

University. Seeing both of their legacies, it is hard to say that

class tradition disseminated, Liang’s canon selected buildings

they were "commoners." If placing them along with people

from China and Japan that could be incorporated in to a

from their nation on a spectrum scaling from traditional to

framework of eminent structures designed for China’s imperial

westernized, there is no doubt that they will be skewed to one

SPRING 2022

25

extreme, westernized position. Two authors serve as almost a figure of westernized symbol in their community. With such exposure and constant relation, they could acquire existing undertone in their society of western environment. This bias occasionally shows in the introduction of the text when they make it clear that the text establishing their ethnic “style” cannot possibly capture every style that their cultures have.

This statement can be understood as a more than realistic caveat that they cannot possibly capture every single cultural style of their nation, but also the caveat to discuss the truth that it is impossible to be fully free from the western influence as them being this medium representing their cultural style.

Although it does not diminish their effort to be a representative and guardian of their cultural architectural “style”, it should be recognized that there is the unremovable layer of westernized bias on their effort. In the two texts, the authors establish and

ESSAYS ON THE (RAZ, 1834)

ARCHITECTURE

OF

THE

HINDUS.

claim their own cultural architecture to western scholarship.

The various evidence discussed shows how it is impossible to be truly free from the influence of western dominance. Even this mere act of writing an essay on this topic might be a cooperative provocation to the influence of Western dominance and power on the scholarship of the architectural establishment. █

F . A N D A S H M O R E , S . , 2010. "The Mobile Museum: Collecting and Circulating Indian Textiles in Victorian Britain," Indiana University Press,52(3),/pp.353-385.

DRIVER,

S . A N D F A I R B A N K , W . , 1984. A pictorial history of Chinese architecture. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

LIANG,

R A Z , R . , 1 8 3 4 . Essays on the , architecture of the Hindus. London: Oriental Translation Fund.

SAID,

E.,

1987.

Orientalism. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

S T E I N H A R D T , N . , 2 0 1 1 . "The Sixth Century in East Asian Architecture," Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan, 41, pp.27-71.

26

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A PICTORIAL HISTORY (LIANG, 1984)

OF

CHINESE

ARCHITECTURE.

EVEN THIS MERE ACT OF WRITING AN ESSAY ON THIS TOPIC MIGHT BE A COOPERATIVE PROVOCATION TO THE INFLU ENCE OF WESTERN DOMINANCE AND POWER ON THE SCHOLARSHIP OF THE ARCHITECTURAL ESTABLISHMENT._

SPRING 2022

27

HOW MANY CURRENT COLU URBAN PLANNING STUDEN LOW-INCOME OR WORKING OF COLOR? HOW MANY CO ROCKAWAY (QUEENS), MO HARLEM, OR BROWNSVILL SIDE CHICAGO? WHAT AB HOW MANY LIVED IN NYC HOUSING OR HAVE FRIEN THAT LIVE THERE?_

UMBIA GSAPP AND NTS COME FROM G-CLASS COMMUNITIES OME FROM FAR OTT HAVEN (BRONX), LE (BROOKLYN)? SOUTH BOUT SOUTH LA? CHA PUBLIC NDS OR FAMILY SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

THE UP PROGRAM DESPERATELY NEEDS MORE LOW-INCOME BIPOC STUDENTS + PROFESSORS WITH LONGSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS IN DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES OF COLOR Matthew Shore | M.S.UP '23

How many are undocumented?

How many have to work part-time jobs to pay rent while going to school because their families can’t afford to help them cover those expenses?

Similar questions should be asked of the faculty at this school.

How many faculty members come from disadvantaged communities of color?

How many have embedded relationships with communities of color in the City or elsewhere?

How many current Columbia GSAPP and Urban Planning students come from low-income or working-class communities of

Who has worked with community-based organizations that have

color?

been advocates for equity in disadvantaged communities of color?

How many come from Far Rockaway (Queens), Mott Haven

In a program that, fortunately, goes to great lengths to critically

(Bronx), Harlem, or Brownsville (Brooklyn)? South Side Chicago?

think about planning, it’s surprising how complacent the

What about South LA?

program has been in regards to how our faculty members are not critically assessed. One faculty member admitted to

How many lived in NYCHA public housing or have friends or

not making equity a priority when creating and establishing

family that live there?

a citywide sustainability plan for a mayor that held office for nearly twelve years. Another willingly used a loophole to bypass

How many went to inner-city public schools? How many had

standard community input processes in order to expeditiously

free lunches and metal detectors at their schools? SNAP?

redevelop and gentrify a boulevard in a predominantly Black,

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VOLUME 31

low-income community. The list goes on. Yet, we are committed

such work, therein lies the problem and the legacy you’ve

to equitable urban planning!

established, GSAPP.

As an Afro-Latinx student from the City who does not come

The audacity to talk about vulnerable urban communities in Ivory

from wealth, privilege or affluence, take it from me: GSAPP

Towers when the near entirety of your students or faculty members

has not done its part to truly strive towards equity and raise

don’t come from such places!

underrepresented voices in urban planning and is, in fact, a major part of the problems we see in a city planning world that

The solutions are not easy and require meaningful coordination,

continues to be dictated by White people, rich people and highly

but our self-acclaimed progressive school can and must

educated yet ignorant people who do not truly understand or

take drastic action. Rest assured, until GSAPP and each of

represent disadvantaged communities.

its academic degree programs, such as the MSUP program, reaches a day where at least 50% of its students are low-

The irony of social justice at Columbia GSAPP MSUP!

income or working-class BIPOC students from disadvantaged communities of color then it is committing a major disservice

GSAPP must be very intentional about the faculty members it

to our cities and built environs.

hires and of the ways in which its curriculum, workshops — EVERYTHING is designed.

GSAPP and the MSUP program must be proactive to the highest degree with recruiting low-income students of color. Recruit

Community engagement workshops should be administered

from CUNY and SUNY schools, Rutgers, UC schools and other

by people with years of experience working in disadvantaged

public universities nationwide. Recruit from HBCUs. Establish

communities of color. Syllabi must be vetted rigorously to

pipeline BA or BS/MS programs with HBCUs and public

ensure that we’re not being subjected to the perspectives of

universities for low-income BIPOC students who are studying

mostly White, privileged, cisgender men and women. Social

the likes of urban studies/affairs, public policy, political

justice-oriented courses should, ideally, be taught by people of

science, anthropology, sociology, architecture, urban planning,

color who’ve made many years of genuinely positive planning-

environmental studies, etc.

related contributions for communities of color and who have lived experiences on matters pertaining to housing injustice,

Look around… Will this continue to be an endless cycle

environmental racism, transportation inequity, etc. Despite

year after year?

multiple students and myself raising concerns about these issues to UP faculty, nothing has changed in a meaningful way

Planning programs across this nation must ask this

and the same unacceptable excuses are repeatedly fed to us.

fundamental question.

Networking events should be opportunities to uplift the work

Loading... █

of practitioners of color working in communities of color with great need. If you don’t have a lot of alumni of color doing SPRING 2022

31

> query = where AND how_

NO OTHER TIME WOULD ON FDR OR DOWN FLA UP TO THE MANHATT BEING RELEGATED TO SIDEWALKS .

WHAT IF I T DIDN'T T INTERNATI ONALLY KNO TO HAVE T HIS EXPERI

YOU BE ABLE TO RUN ATBUSH AVENUE RIGHT TAN BRIDGE WITHOUT NARROW AND CROWDED

TAKE AN OWN HALF MARATHON IENCE?_ SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

RUN THIS CITY Sarah Mawdsley | M.S.UP '22 I was running up FDR, the world was silent except for

down to the tip of Manhattan and all the way up to Canada. I

the sounds of hundreds of running shoes on the asphalt and

could run for miles and miles without having to interact with

heavy breathing. Running up the exit ramp onto 42nd Street

cars for much more than a single block.

everything changed. Suddenly I was running on one of the city’s most traversed streets, a street I would otherwise avoid

Running hasn’t always been this ideal though. Growing up I

even being on the sidewalk on. The crowd built as I put the UN

lived in a town without sidewalks, most of my runs were on the

behind me, growing as I passed Grand Central and the New York

shoulder of roads where drivers flew by without much concern

Public Library, decked out with homemade posters and cow

for pedestrians or cyclists that might be just around the bend.

bells. I am directed to Times Square where the crowds cheer

Not much was different when I went off to college either. My

for the runners so loud that I can hardly hear myself struggling

cross country and track teams would run from school almost

for breath, but then it dawns on me, I’m running through Times

everyday into town, dodging cars and dealing with complaints

Square. It seems so surreal, how many other opportunities exist

from drivers that we were being an obstruction. But it was worth

to run through there besides the New York City Half Marathon?

it. By the end of my first season running at Roger Williams I

My time in Times Square however is limited; less than two

knew the town like the back of my hand. I knew the road names

miles to the finish now, so it's time to start racing. Up I go into

and how to get anywhere. I’d seen the bay at sunset and sunrise,

Central Park for the finish, onto a road I’ve come to know well

my campus grew beyond the rec center and the library. I got to

from training.

see a part of Bristol that none of my classmates ever did.

Running has given me the opportunity to connect with New

In 2018 I moved to Berlin for the summer and for the first time

York in a way that would not otherwise be possible. When

I had to do my runs in a city. I was terrified. If it was so unsafe

I moved to West Harlem almost two years ago I had not only

to run on the roads in small New England towns, how would it

secured my first NYC apartment with a great Covid deal, but

feel to run in Germany’s capital city? I started running in the

also gained access to some of the best running routes in the

morning to avoid people on the sidewalk and cars in the street.

city. To the South, there was Central Park, which I could easily

In the 30 minutes to an hour before the rest of the city woke up,

access without having to stop every block by running through

the streets were mine to do with what I wanted. I would run

Morningside Park. To the West, I could access Riverside Park

by bakeries opening their doors and getting a whiff of the day’s

and the Hudson River Bike Path, which extends all the way

fresh pastries. Other runners would go by and wave. Despite

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VOLUME 31

never saying more than a hello to them in passing, they had

FDR or down Flatbush Avenue right up to the Manhattan Bridge

become my community. Like when I first moved to Rhode

without being relegated to narrow and crowded sidewalks.

Island, running gave me the opportunity to quickly explore and discover parts of my neighborhood I never would have been

What if it didn’t take an internationally known half marathon

able to reach just by walking.

to have this experience? What if this was possible every day?

Regularly the city shuts down city streets for races that last for

As running in cities became an exciting endeavor, I added specific

hours. And the pandemic has shown New Yorkers that they

runs to my bucket list. In July of 2018 I woke up before the sun,

don’t need to give their precious space over to cars. Over the

put on my running shoes, and made my way to the Eiffel Tower

past two years the City has created miles of open streets, which

so that I could run around it as the sun rose. Unfortunately, the

people love to run and bike along, but they’re ad hoc and few

day was overcast so the views were underwhelming, but on the

and far between. The city needs networks. Open streets need to

way there from my hostel I passed places I didn’t even know

not just be in every neighborhood, they need to connect every

existed. When I was in college I would urge my cross country

neighborhood. Imagine hundreds of miles of car free streets

coach to let us do an international trip like some of the other

for uninterrupted runs, bicycle rides, and programming. Less

teams did. He asked me, “but where would we go?” The thing is

cars on our streets are better for everyone, it makes them safer,

though, we could go anywhere. Running requires nothing more

makes them healthier, and emits less emissions.

than a good pair of shoes and somewhere to go.

I love running in cities because it allows me to explore where After I graduated and was no longer required to attend 5pm

I live, helps me build a sense of community, but I won’t live in

practice everyday, I took up running in the morning. I moved

West Harlem forever. If people don’t have access to parks and

to New York a few months into the pandemic. People were still

paths they’re not as likely to go for a run, because they don’t

wary of public transit and it seemed like everyone had taken up

feel safe near cars, or they’re frustrated by stopping each block

running or cycling simply as a way to leave their apartment for

to let cars go. We give people back their streets though, and

just a little bit. My favorite runs were the ones where I could

everything changes. █

completely avoid cars and just be with other runners, but getting to run through the streets of New York without a car in sight was my absolute favorite. No other time would you be able to run on

SPRING 2022

37

THE IMPOR TANCE OF V SYSTEMS A ND THE NEE INTEGRATI ON IN OUR IN ORDER TO LIVE, W OUR PHYSI CAL, EMOTI WELL-BEIN G ARE HIGH ONGOING C OVID-19 HE ESPECIALL Y FOR COMM ACCESS TO ADEQUATE

VIBRANT ECOLOGICAL ED FOR THEIR EVERYDAY PLANNING WORK AND SUSTAIN IONAL AND ECONOMIC HLIGHTED BY THE EALTH CRISIS, MUNITIES THAT LACK RESOURCES._ SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

TOWARDS AN ENGINEERED-TIMBER CIVIC REALM FOR POST-PANDEMIC WELL-BEING ON HUDSON VALLEY'S URBAN FRINGE Eleni Stefania Kalapoda | M.S.AUD '20 Menghan Zhang | M.S.AUD '20 Tian Hao | M.S.AUD '20 Kuan-I Wu | M.S.AUD '20

domestic spaces) in order to live, work and sustain our physical, emotional and economic well-being are highlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, especially for communities that lack access to adequate resources.

Acknowledging the connection between COVID-19 cases

Menghan Zhang (Meng), Eleni Stefania Kalapoda, Tian Hao, and

and poorer communities, as well as the historic systemic

Kuan-I Wu (Max) were students of the 2019-2020 M. Sc. In Archi-

environmental health inequities of low-income and Black

tecture & Urban Design Program (GSAPP). Their collaboration is

neighborhoods that lack access to green spaces, this proposal

driven by a people-first approach, tailored to the diverse eco-so-

harnesses the potential of urban forestry to a more central

cial and economic urban contexts, ecologically restorative, and

place in post-pandemic urban life and city structure.

flexible to adapt to long-term future growth. They are currently practicing architectural and urban design and research in both the

The project mitigates the environmental and socio-economic

United States and Asia.

pressures that a disruptive event, like a pandemic, poses on the urban setting and its inhabitants through transforming

Global health pandemics or other environmental and

marginalized and vacant land into public amenities to

socio-economic pressures are likely to become recurrent

immediately support the community’s health and wellbeing

urban concerns due to the continuing repercussions, such

in times of crisis. It simultaneously keeps the economy alive

as biodiversity loss, climate change and wildlife habitat

by placing shared forest-plant based economic strategies in

fragmentation

the

the spotlight as the main drivers for low-impact environmental

augmenting human population and the unsustainable global

growth, self-sufficiency, access to resources or goods that are

urban expansion pose to the ecological systems that sustain our

otherwise scarce in times of crisis.

on

the

urban-rural

interface,

that

life and support our well-being.

More specifically, the project aims to repurpose 2,000 acres The importance of vibrant ecological systems and the need

of underperforming and marginalized land for shared

for their integration in our everyday planning (for instance

timber farming in order to enact a more adequate synergistic

more green balconies, park networks and linked outdoor green

relationship (socio-economically and environmentally) between

public spaces in both our shared urban settings and private

the built space and the fragmented Hudson Valley’s forest.

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THE PROJECT AIMS TO REPURPOSE 2,000 ACRES OF UNDERPERFORMING AND MARGINALIZED LAND FOR SHARED TIMBER FARMING IN ORDER TO ENACT A MORE ADEQUATE SYNERGISTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BUILT SPACE AND THE FRAGMENTED HUDSON VALLEY'S FOREST._ SPRING 2022

41

In Hudson Valley, most of the trees are privately owned, growing

of researching, harvesting, manufacturing and retail, waste-

on land at the fringe of urban development. Hudson Valley’s

recycling and branding for their timber product. By creating

Wildland Urban Intermix land is currently underperforming

a shared collaborative infrastructure for local forest and

environmentally and economically. It demonstrates the typical,

small-timber-business owners and entrepreneurs, new social

unsustainable conditions present in contemporary rural

partnerships and equally-distributed amenities will be created,

American towns - large-scale, impervious surfaces that fragment

boosting local economies, while preserving the local and

the regional forest corridors, defunct industrial, commercial

regional forest ecologies.

and transportation infrastructure demand innovative schemes for sustainable vegetative strategies and green infrastructure,

By

as well as hyperactive development potential on the near future

development through this shared co-op system, Hudson Valley’s

that threatens the biodiversity of the remaining Greenfields,

scaled-down timber industry will be funneled, while diverse

tree-covered areas and accessible open green public spaces that

communities will receive a more socially adequate distribution

are already significantly shrunk and ecologically undervalued

of profits. Composed by four entities, the Center for Resilient

due to the unregulated urban sprawl of the last decades.

Forestry which is clustered with Wood Innovation Facilities,

sustaining

long-term

forest-plant-based

economic

the Certification Centers, the Sawmill and Distribution The major economic engines of Hudson Valley, traditional

Center with additional facilities for Recycling and Storage and

building materials and farming, are currently unsustainable

Renewable Energy Generation, this project provides a lasting

under the current context of Climate Change.or this project,

infrastructure that promotes a holistic framework for profitable

the economies acknowledged as already obsolete. Following

and sustainable timber agroforestry that ensures the wellbeing

this urgent need for climate-responsive economic reform and

of both the forest and its inhabitants. █

taking into consideration the 2018 Timber Innovation Act and the forthcoming 2021 IBC Engineered Timber update that both harness the potential of mass timber building elements manufactured from sustainably managed-forests as a viable option for reducing the built space’s impact on the environment in the years to come, this project investigates the utilization of timber farming as a catalyst for environmentally and socioeconomically beneficial civic space design.

Tackling the large-scale U.S. monopoly of engineered-timber products, the project envisions a bottom-up timber economy - a vertically integrated, resilient timber supply chain - as a way to incentivize private landowners to sustainably manage their own forests, while directly accessing a shared infrastructure

SPRING 2022

43

THE FORMATION OF INFO HAS ACCELERATED, AND SIGNIFICANT PRESSURES SOLUTIONS AND URBAN I VULNERABLE RESIDENTS UNDER EXTREME CONDITI A LARGE PART OF THE I POPULATION CANNOT ACC HOUSING MARKET AND MU HOUSING SOLUTIONS._

ORMAL SETTLEMENTS THERE ARE S TO DEVELOP HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR AND MIGRANTS LIVING IONS. IMMIGRANT CESS THE FORMAL UST RELY ON INFORMAL SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

MIGRATORY SPACES IN NORTHERN CHILE Sebastián Salas | M.S.UP+M.S.RED '22 León Duval | M.S.AAD '22

shelters, and homelessness, where migrant families in extreme circumstances are sleeping in public open spaces, parks, and bus stations, among others. Between 2011 and 2019, the percentage of foreign heads of households residing in informal

due to political and

settlements increased from 1.2% to 30%, and it is estimated

economic issues is not a recent phenomenon; in fact, it has

that 27% of households living in informal settlements today

always fueled the growth of cities. However, contemporary

have foreign nationality. The Tarapaca Region in the North

migrations present different patterns than those of the past.

of Chile has the most dramatic situation, with 72% of foreign

Globalization, climate crisis, political conflicts and technology

heads of household residing in informal settlements ( CES,

have accelerated the pace and magnitude of migrations,

2021). Addressing the increasing housing deficit, neighborhood

impacting regions suddenly under intercultural clashing and

deterioration, and social-spatial segregation of migrants

significant social, political, and economic pressures on cities

arriving in Chile has become a national priority (CNDU, 2021).

The

migration

of

refugees

that receive new waves of migration. One of the most relevant and impactful migration processes of modern history has been

At a different dimension and scale, migration has also impacted

the Venezuelan humanitarian and refugee crisis caused by a

rural areas and the local indigenous communities living in the

severe socio-political and economic crisis the country has faced

Chilean border territory between Bolivia, Perú, and Argentina.

for several years. More than 6.05 million Venezuelans have

Rapid migration through border villages located in the

left their homes, most of them looking to settle in other Latin

northern desert of Chile has impacted indigenous communities

American and Caribbean countries.

struggling to maintain their identity, cultural heritage, and customs while adapting themselves to cohabitate in a shared

The proportion of the immigrant population in Chile, with

space with the globalized urban culture. The rapid proliferation

respect to the total of all Latin American countries, increased

of migrant populations in border villages and the effects of

the most between 2016 and 2019, going from 2.15% to 8%. The

unbalanced and informal urbanization are generating the

formation of informal settlements has accelerated, and there

loss of land rich in natural, and agricultural resources as well

are significant pressures to develop housing solutions and

as cultural heritage. Unplanned urbanization of the rural may

urban infrastructure for vulnerable residents and migrants

cause irreversible cultural and environmental impacts, such as

living under extreme conditions. A large part of the immigrant

the dismemberment of the ecological mosaic, fragmentation

population cannot access the formal housing market and

of biodiversity corridors, and overload of municipal services,

must rely on informal housing solutions. This situation has

without internalizing the social and environmental costs of

caused an increase in irregular or self-built houses, temporary

hidden suburbanization and informal settlements. █

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ANINAT,

ISABEL,

AND

RODRIGO

VERGARA

(ED.).

Inmigración en Chile, Una Mirada Multidimensional. Centro de Estudios Públicos (CEP), and Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), 2019.

F R A N C I S C O . “La crisis de la inmigración ilegal y la violencia en el norte.” La Tercera. Last modified September 28, 2021. https://www.latercera.com/podcast/noticia/lacrisis-de-la-inmigracion-ilegal-y-la-violencia-en-el-norte/ MADZ7GSORVENTFW7WLESTZIJHA/

ARAVENA,

T E C H O , F U N D A C I Ó N V I V I E N D A , “Catastro Nacional de Campamentos 2020-2021. Informe Ejecutivo.” (March 2021). https://ceschile.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Informe%20 Ejecutivo_Catastro%20Campamentos%202020-2021.pdf

CES,

T E D D Y , A N D F O N N A F O R M A N . “Unwalling Citizenship.” e-flux, (November 2020). https://www.e-flux.com/ architecture/at-the-border/358908/unwalling-citizenship/

CRUZ,

T E D D Y , A N D F O N N A F O R M A N . “Unwalling Citizenship.” The Avery Review, issue 2, (January 20, 2017): 65-76.

CRUZ,

CONSEJO

NACIONAL

DE

DESARROLLO

URBANO

(CNDU),

P N U D , “Propuestas para la regeneración urbana de las

ciudades chilenas. Primer Informe CNDU 2021” (2021). https:// cndu.gob.cl/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/PROPUESTAS-PARALA-REGENERACION-URBANA-DE-LAS-CIUDADES-CHILENASCNDU.pdf C O N T R E R A S , D A N T E , A N D S E B A S T I A N G A L L A R D O . The Effects Of Mass Migration On Natives’ Wages. Evidence From Chile. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 2020.

IMILAN,

WALTER,

CAROLINA

FRANCISCA

STEFONI

MÁRQUEZ,

AND

( E D . ) . Rutas Migrantes En Chile:

Habitar, Festejar Y Trabajar: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado, 2015.

INSTITUTO

NACIONAL

DE

ESTADÍSTICAS

(INE).

“Censos de Población y Vivienda: Censo 2017.”, accessed April 5, 2022, https://www.ine.cl/estadisticas/sociales/censosde-poblacion-y-vivienda/informacion-historica-censo-depoblacion-y-vivienda R O J A S , J O R G E . Nosotros No Estamos Acá: Crónicas De Migrantes En Chile. Editorial Catalonia, 2021.

ROJAS ORIGINAL PHOTOS PRESS, PROVIDED

BY BY

MATIAS DELACROIX FOR ASSOCIATED THE AUTHORS | @ MATIASDELACROIX

PEDEMONTE,

NICOLAS,

AND

JOSÉ

TOMÁS

Migración En Chile: Evidencia Y Mitos De Una Nueva Realidad. LOM Ediciones, 2019.

VICUÑA

UNDURRAGA.

OJOS DE A GUA ARE CO THAT ATTR ACT TO THE ECOSYSTEM ...

IT IS BEC AUSE OF TH INTERSECT IONALITY O THESE RES OURCES ARE NODES THAT DEFI NE A TERRITORI AL DYNAMIC

ONS TELLATIONS EIR ORBIT A UNIQUE

HIS OF FORCES THAT E GEOPOLITI CAL A LARGE PART OF OUR CS._ SPRING 2022

L OAD I N G . . .

OJOS DE AGUA

Nicaraguan Geopolitical Water Nodes Oscar M. Caballero | M.S.AAD '21

“Ojos de agua'' are natural resources rich in flora and fauna with unique geographic, geological and hydrological properties.

They also represent unspoken powerful geopolitical nodes that have shaped our demography, history, economy, and both urban & rural memory. In recent years, these natural resources have become a testament of government mismanagement, territorial displacement, pollution and economic segregation.

The current socio-political situation in Nicaragua comprises many of these individual issues. Therefore, understanding the neglect and decline of our natural resources is necessary to build the foundations of future mobilization to raise awareness and develop equitable resources management plans for Nicaraguan communities.

The history of Nicaragua is changing abruptly. Unfortunately, the current regime has diminished, impoverished and even distorted most of the national academic resources. The injection of propaganda by the Sandinista political party led

by Daniel Ortega and under the yoke of Rosario Murillo, has completely infected any state resource in Nicaragua. In each logo, in each government website, on the streets, on buildings, in schools where children are indoctrinated and especially on television channels, we have been saturated by “Danielista” propaganda, as a method of clinging to power and establishing a dictatorial dynamic on information platforms. The censored media coverage by government forces have tried to keep issues

Nicaragua has an inherent relationship with water. Although

of territorial relevance hidden from the public eye. Until today,

there is no exact translation of the Nahuatl language, different

the monopoly of projects along the shores of water resources

versions opt for translations such as: "land surrounded by

keeps gentrifying rural communities and diverting attention to

water" or "Here by the water." The Pacific Ocean represents the

the importance of preserving natural resources.

western border and the Atlantic Ocean the eastern border of the

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country. The Nicaraguan territory has two great lakes (Cocibolca

Ojos de agua are constellations that attract to their orbit a unique

and Xolotlán), around 30 recognized lagoons of which at least

ecosystem, migratory animal species, human settlements,

11 are of volcanic origin. Coastal lagoons, bays and an artificial

investments, tourism, international agents, political incentives,

lake are other hydrological resources of the country.

economic impacts, etc. It is because of this intersectionality of forces that these resources are geopolitical nodes that define a

Each “ojo de agua” in Nicaragua is an agent of change and

large part of our territorial dynamics.

highly determinant in shaping the communities around them.

The relationship with the water resources of urban and rural centers define part of the cultural identity and relationship with nature. Much of the attraction and uniqueness of the volcanic lagoons across Nicaragua, consist in their endemic properties that have made the flora and fauna evolve in unprecedented ways. This effect extends to human dynamics and is reflected by seeing aerial views of the urban developments around these hydrological resources. Unfortunately, the gentrification in areas surrounding lakes and lagoons has led to misguided solutions like privatization of land, use of lagoons and lakes as human waste landfills.

This problem is intertwined with the Nicaraguan government’s deployment of propaganda that subverts plans to privatize natural lands under the guise of tourism that should be conserved and open to the public.

APOYO LAGOON | NATURAL RESERVE OR TOURIST MONOPOLY? Tourism in Apoyo Lagoon has been a two-sided story, a smokescreen that has been marketed as great works of progress by the Nicaraguan governments. The tourist monopoly in Apoyo Lagoon has been marketed as something that stabilizes the country's economy when it has actually only privatized SPRING 2022

53

lands that should not be private; especially after considering that the natural areas around this lagoon were established as a natural reserve in 1991. Therefore, the projects carried out in natural areas of Nicaragua cannot continue to be approved by local authorities under the argument that they provide “jobs” for the community.

The privatization of land in the Natural Reserve Apoyo Lagoon has only profited a very low percentage of the population.

Owners of restaurants, hostels and private residences on the slopes of the reserve mostly belong to a specific sector of Nicaragua with a high social or foreign stratum or in some cases from close relationships with government forces. The real outcome of these unlawful activities is evident in the journey to the lagoon where communities are withdrawn from the lagoon. There is a high contrast between these communities that also have economic and infrastructural limitations and many of the new luxurious constructions on the shore and slope of the lagoon that, precisely because of their high cost, become inaccessible for most of the Nicaraguan population. A natural reserve should not be privatized and instead should be able to breathe from private tourism to open its resources to the communities around it.

The lack of regulations has directly influenced the architectural

the lagoon are conditioned to go to one of these private touristic

development of the area in which we see a clear social pyramidal

places, since they have better conditions to enjoy this natural

hierarchy in the buildings that have populated the lagoon in

resource or sneak between informal trails to reach to a shore

previous decades and the native constructions with limited

that has been appropriated by all these businesses around the

resources that have been relegated to adjacent areas. Despite

Lagoon. As Nicaraguans we should be able to enjoy our own

some initiatives in past years to build public spaces in the area,

tourism at its best, a tourism that is suitable for everyone.

there is much work to be done to balance the amount of private property that continues to appropriate the immediate shore of

OJOS DE AGUA IN DANGER

the Lagoon. It is also important to consider a plan for public accessibility from urban centers to the shore of the Lagoon.

Generations born in Nicaragua for the last few decades

Due to the lack of infrastructural plans and public spaces that

understand that our “Ojos de agua” are slowly dying. The

are accessible and dignified, the population who want to visit

excitement of visiting these incredible natural gifts reaches a

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bittersweet end once you learn that because of the wrongful

to sanitize our water resources without a transformation in the

urban planning conducted by Nicaraguan Governments. We are

planning of our urban settlements or the wrongful rainwater

losing part of the greatness of our land. This problem is now

urban infrastructure with sewers that continue to pollute these

systemic, deep-rooted in our culture and lifestyle. The Ortega-

resources. Finally and perhaps most importantly, we cannot

Murillo regime uses their propaganda to present an intention

save our lakes and lagoons if we don’t change our human

of change. They have carried out what looks like projects that

culture. This last item is problematic for the current regime

are meant to save some of these resources like the Sanitation

because it involves education. In order to create real change

Project in Lake Xolotlán (2012) and the Oxygenation Project in

in our country we need to empower our communities with

Tiscapa Lagoon (2019).

access to good free education. The Ortega-Murillo regime is aware of this and that’s precisely why they have hacked and

The failure of these projects quickly became evident,

infected the education system with propaganda. There cannot

precipitated by misguided leadership. There cannot be a plan

be a significant change in Nicaragua, if the population doesn't

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2.

3.

L A R A , R A F A E L . “Managua y sus cinco lagunas en peligro”. El Nuevo Diario, 09 de octubre, 2016. <https://www.elnuevodiario. com.ni/nacionales/406804-managua-sus-cinco-lagunas-peligro/> G U E V A R A , K A R E N & C L A R E T , J E A N E T T E . ““Causas y consecuencias de la contaminación en el lago de Nicaragua”. UNAN Managua, Enero, 2015. Á L V A R O . “Laguna de Apoyo: el santuario tropical”.

Confidencial, 23 de Marzo, 2016. <https://confidencial.com.ni/ laguna-apoyo-santuario-tropical/>

4.

NAVARRO,

5.

LAGUNA

6.

LAGUNA

7.

LAGUNA

8.

BARRIOS,

9.

LAGUNA

D E A P O Y O , el mejor destino turístico, más cerca de Managua. Confidencial, 20 de Marzo, 2016. <https://confidencial. com.ni/la-laguna-apoyo-mejor-destino-turistico-mas-cerca-managua/>

D E P E R L A S . Travel Guide de Nicaragua.<http://travelguidenicaragua.com/destinos/area-atlantico/laguna-de-perlas/> D E P E R L A S . Vianica. <https://vianica.com/sp/atractivo/180/laguna-de-perla>

O R L A N D O . Contaminación en Laguna de Masaya no se detiene. El Nuevo Diario, 25 de Enero, 2017. <https://www. elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/416720-contaminacion-laguna-masaya-no-se-detiene/> D E P E R L A S . EcuRed. <https://www.ecured.cu/Laguna_de_Perlas_(Nicaragua)>

N A T U R A L D E W A W A S H A N G . Vianica. <https://vianica. com/sp/atractivo/97/reserva-natural-de-wawashang>

10. RESERVA

C I N T H Y A . “Le tomarán el pulso al saneamiento del lado Xolotlán. La Prensa, 27 de Junio, 2017. <https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2017/06/27/nacionales/2253052-le-tomaran-el-pulso-al-saneamiento-del-lago-xolotlan>

11. TÓRREZ,

change their mindset. What is the purpose of cleaning the lakes and lagoons? If the lack of education and proper infrastructure

12.

keeps polluting them? Each element is interconnected. The problem is that empowering the Nicaraguan population would

T O M Á S . Canal de Nicaragua, el viejo sueño interoceánico que se resiste a morir. El País Costa Rica, 10 de Julio, 2020. <https://www.elpais.cr/2020/07/10/canal-de-nicaragua-el-viejo-sueno-interoceanico-que-se-resiste-a-morir/>

13. LOBO,

mean the end of their dictatorship. █

1.

GONZÁLEZ,

M A U R I C I O . “Contaminación asfixia a la laguna

R O Y & S I L V A , J O S É . El gran canal de Nicaragua, el megaproyecto que quedó en papel. La Prensa, 19 de Diciembre, 2019. <https://www.laprensa.com.ni/2019/12/19/nacionales/2623304-el-gran-canal-de-nicaragua-el-megaproyecto-quequedo-en-papel>

14. MONCADA,

de Tiscapa”. El Nuevo Diario, 25 de enero, 2018.<https://www. elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/453778-contaminacion-asfixia-laguna-tiscapa/>

56

Canal interoceánico en Nicaragua: ¿cortina de humo o plan secreto?. DW. <https://www.dw.com/es/canal-interoce%C3%A1nico-en-nicaragua-cortina-de-humo-o-plan-secreto/a-50059308>

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senior copy editor

EVE PASSMAN

senior publishing editor

SHERRY AINE TE

senior design editor

WILL CAO