The Kinetic City

"In a larger south asian and tropical framework, Mehrotra extends Kenneth Frampton's concept of a critical regionalism as a mode of resisting the unreflective global domination of modernism and its successor forms; he demonstrates how modernism, as the house of style of twentieth-century prestige, ruined south asia's cities and seduced people into turning their backs on the well-tempered attentiveness to climate, material and technology that robust idioms of vernacular architecture have evolved in response to their surroundings."

The static city- "formal, monumental, permanent, established by elite groups on the plan, directed by protocols."

and the kinetic city- "informal, interstitial, ephemeral, improvised, by subaltern groups through recycling and bricolage, crafted by usage."

Interesting dialogue between the organized temporal nature of the festival and the informal permanent nature of the production space.

"As I intend it, utopia is the cultural and economic landscape of the city, and dystopia the physical landscape." but there is not necessarily an equivalence between the static city and the physical landscape. thought of more in association with the elite who dominate the static city.

Transaction

in the Kinetic city occurs via incremental and elastic appropriation of public space.

note- we see informality as invaluable cultural and economic agents especially to the middle class and poorer communities they serve. "Their typology is an expansive and highly functional display of innovation prompted by improvisation." "While most public policy condemns street vendors as menaces, it has been observed that these hawkers actually increase the safety and the quality of life of the public spaces they inhabit."

Instability

of meaning characterizes the kinetic city; meanings are not stable. the city and its architecture are nit synonymous and cannot contain a single meaning."

urban public space for communal use.

types of that use

• sometimes spectacle

  • public space made private spectacles by elites like in weddings.

patterns of occupation determine the form and perception of the kinetic city.

it is an indigenous urbanism that has a local logic. it is a temporal articulation and occupation of space, which not only creates a richer sensibility of spatial occupation but also suggests how spatial limits are expanded to include formally unimagined uses in dense urban conditions. The rapid assembly that momentarily consumes the public space and transforms it into an instance of high density and different use is remarkable. As quickly as it appears, the transformation dissipates and the public space is returned to its original state."

In postcolonial conditions where the creators and custodians of the built environment are two different cultures, new approaches are needed to conserve the past. An understanding that "cultural significance" evolves will truly clarify the role of the architect as an advocate of change (versus a preservationist who opposes change) who can engage with both the kinetic city and the static city on equal terms."

Spectacle

of the kinetic city is not its architecture. Festivals have emerged as the new spectacle.

Habitation

in the kinetic city is a fluid and dynamic phenomenon that is mobile and temporal (often as a strategy to defeat eviction) and leaves no ruins.

Representing Calcutta

"Cities and landscapes cannot be effectively studied simply as texts: they must be examined in terms of cultural practice."