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Travelling Ideas of Open Space Design and Planning | Ecosistema Urbano lecturing in Copenhagen

Category: ⚐ EN+events+news

World in Denmark 2014

Next June 12 Belinda Tato will be lecturing in Copenhagen at the 10th International ‘World in Denmark’ Conference, which is hosted by the University of Copenhagen and carries the title ‘Nordic Encounters Travelling Ideas of Open Space Design and Planning’.

The lecture, entitled ‘From ego-design, to eco-design towards network design’ fits among the proposed topics of liveability, welfare and democracy. Belinda will explain the office’s approach and experiences based on the projects we have developed in the Scandinavian countries and many other places across the globe.

Here is a brief description of the topic of the conference:

Landscape architects and urban designers from Denmark and the other Nordic countries have increasingly become exporters of design solutions to places like Beijing, New York and Christchurch, while Copenhagen repeatedly receives awards for its liveability. Nordic planning is often promoted as particularly human, ecologically sustainable and democratic.

However, looking beyond the immediate branding effect, what themes and values, methods and challenges are current in Nordic urban space design and planning in these years? Where are the gaps between imaginary and reality? How does the  nordicness relate to what is going on in other regions and cultures and what does it potentially have to offer? Which movements, paradoxes, conflicts and challenges exist? Where are the blind alleys? And how do these current trends reflect traditions of design and placemaking?

The issue goes beyond Denmark and the Nordic countries. It concerns what it means to intervene in cities and landscapes in a global era. What happens when western designers work in places whose local languages are new to them? How do general ideas about improving cities migrate and mutate, synergize and conflict in the encounter with specific contexts? What are the potentials and losses of producing traditions – such as the Danish or Nordic – in open space design and planning?

Interested? Check the official site and the programme (PDF)

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Ecosistema Urbano in Hamar

Category: ⚐ EN+competitions+work in progress


We are glad to report you that Ecosistema Urbano’s principals Belinda Tato and José Luis Vallejo visited Hamar last week to present the ONETHOUSANDSQUARE project to the city’s politicians.

Work on the project has not yet begun and another article was published in the local newspaper, supporting it in the name of democracy – “Invitasjon til demokrati” (invitation to democracy) was last week’s title in Hamar Dagblad, a local newspaper.
I think the Spanish project is exciting, especially because it invites us to participate in a democratic process’ says Brox Haugen (..) Today the square is large, sloping, gray and noisy. We, the local residents, must find out, preferably together, how we can make it more inviting.’”.

Please see bellow for the complete article (in Norwegian). For more information about the project please visit the website ONETHOUSANDSQUARE. continue reading

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MetaBoulevard: democratizing the Chicago boulevard network

Category: ⚐ EN+competitions+urbanism

Ecosistema Urbano is pleased to present the project of our collaborator Noa Peer, awarded an Honorable Mention in the international competition “NETWORK RESET” an international design competition to rethink the Chicago Boulevard System.

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CDI, Committee for Democracy in Information Technology

Category: ⚐ EN+espacios sensibles | sentient city+internet

During the 5th social responsibility forum in Madrid organized by Net Impact and IE, I had the occasion to listen to a talk by Ashoka fellow Rodrigo Baggio, a devoted social entrepreneur and the founder of CDI – Committee for Democracy in Information Technology, a non-profit organization promoting social inclusion by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a tool for building active citizenship.
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