Today we present here a new initiative in which we have been working for the last months and we are asking for your participation.
We are trying to imagine what would happen if we were able to think about real solutions but…new / alternative / revolutionary … which together were capable of generating an alternative urbanity implemented over the contemporary city?
The idea is to be as close as possible to the thin line that separates what is possible and desirable / imaginary / utopian … without ever losing sight of reality. This is the way to demonstrate that an alternative urbanity is much closer than we believe.
This is a small effort to make visible that small actions can generate huge reactions.
This project will be exhibited during the summer of 2009 in a beautiful place in Denmark (Louisiana Museum of Modern Art). It will be a laboratory-installation inside the exhibition “Green architecture for the future.”
The proposal of [ecosistema urbano] will grow online with the input of many citizens “real and virtual” convinced that it is possible to improve cities.
All these contributions will be displayed in the spaces of Louisiana through a series of screens connected to flickr. They will include all the new contents generated in a participative way.
We are only asking for a sentence that contains that idea of transformation expressed in less than 160 characters, however it would be fantastic to attach an image that expresses your thoughts SIZE (16/9 format, widht min. 980px).

Here are some detailed instructions and a small introductory text:

Since we believe that many of the world’s most difficult environmental challenges can be addressed and solved by cities… the project “what if…?cities” will be a collection of ideas from people with different backgrounds from all over the world presenting their own visions for an alternative future urbanity.

We invite you to participate by sending your own idea to build up a myriad of fresh, creative and visionary urban solutions.

The material collected will be part of the exhibition and there will be credits for all external contributions. The exhibition will be on from June to October 2009.

If you are interested in taking part, please send an e-mail to:

whatifcities@ecosistemaurbano.com

With:
+ your visionary, but real idea briefly expressed in one sentence (max. 160 characters)
+ your name, profession and home city.

Some examples:

“WHAT IF…every commercial sign in the city was a shading device.”
(Darren Petrucci / Architect / Phoenix)
“WHAT IF…cities mimic ecosystems in nature as human-made urban ecosystems which contain a balance of biotic and abiotic constituents acting together to form a whole”
(Ken Yeang / Architect and Ecologist / London)
“WHAT IF…we can go through any ground floor of buildings”
(MASAtoshi Oka / Architect / Kyoto)

“WHAT IF… all new housing incorporated “useless” small commercial spaces on their ground level floors that could be rented or sold to individuals at ridiculous prices? (David Cohn / Architecture Critic / Madrid)

More info: http://www.ecosistemaurbano.org/whatifcities/