{"id":14088,"date":"2015-12-29T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/architizer.wpengine.com\/infra-eco-logi-urbanism\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T09:48:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T13:48:04","slug":"infra-eco-logi-urbanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/practice\/tools\/infra-eco-logi-urbanism\/","title":{"rendered":"Infra Eco Logi Urbanism: Future Utopia or Paradise Lost?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis century is seeing the emergence of a new type of human settlement \u2014 the megalopolis.\u201d \u2014 Constantinos Doxiadis, \u201cThe Emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis,\u201d 1968<\/i><\/p>\n

Much of our inherited urban landscape continues to be understood via early modernist notions of the city. These sweeping urban manifestos present visions of a static city with forms and spaces that follow patterns dictated solely by programmatic organization. With a desire to achieve clarity via the absence of multiplicity and conflict, these forms are found in spatial isolation from one another: an urbanism of single meanings and single use zones.<\/p>\n

Yet we have reached a point of urban and social crisis as the world has become smaller and the spaces between cities continue to shrink both physically \u2014 as a result of horizontal expansion \u2014 and virtually \u2014 through the interdependent flows of globalization. It is no longer enough to think of urbanism in terms of discrete cities clearly delineated in space: a new type of \u201chybrid city\u201d is needed. Because of a reconceptualization of the Great Lakes territory, Toronto-based design research practice RVTR<\/a> presents us with one such vision in its bookInfra Eco Logi Urbanism: A Project for the Great Lakes Megaregion<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 Adam Smith<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

As the culmination of a multiyear project, Infra Eco Logi Urbanism<\/i> is framed within this shift from the conventional city to a complex territory determined by an interconnected network of infrastructure, ecologies, and economies. For RVTR, the city \u201cno longer constitutes a construct possessing clear functions, boundaries, or distinctions from that which is not city.\u201d In order to disrupt the status quo, the firm explores the possibility of a new urban condition in the Great Lakes Megaregion, the largest and most-populated metropolitan network in North America.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 rvtr<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

With an estimated population of 60 million, the Great Lakes Megaregion encompasses major urban areas including Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, N.Y., Toronto, and Montreal. The Megaregion boasts a significant cache of natural resources \u2014 including one fifth of the world\u2019s fresh water by surface area \u2014 as well as thriving agricultural and manufacturing industries and numerous major research universities.<\/i><\/p>\n

The scale of this megaregion is daunting, and the task to analyze it seems herculean \u2014 requiring an ambitious exercise of power and total control of the territory. Yet RVTR comfortably navigates this terrain; it seamlessly shifts scale from the network at large to individual nodes of connectivity and proposes designs informed by a meticulous exercise in mapping. The intent of Infra Eco Logi Urbanism becomes clear: to find potential in the system and synthesize it to generate a new type of architecture.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 rvtr<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Using a series of cartographic exercises, RVTR visualized the many networks of the Great Lakes Megaregion \u2014 breaking down any preconceived boundaries. The resulting \u201cShed Cartographies\u201d organize geospatial boundaries into interconnected systems. (Clockwise from top-left: CommodityShed, EnviroShed, MediShed, and PotentialShed)<\/i><\/p>\n

Whereas early modernist schemes often regarded open space as independent of private or public distinction and streets as avenues solely for traffic, RVTR identifies these spaces (namely, the highway interchange) as places with overlapping possibilities for public space. Knowing that the effects of the interventions on strategic nodes will resonate with other parts of the system, Infra Eco Logi Urbanism presents vast architectural schemes in which infrastructure, ecologies, and logistics are all deployed to create a balanced urban future.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 rvtr<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

The Exchange<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 rvtr<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

The Crossing<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 rvtr<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

The Gateway<\/i><\/p>\n

RVTR developed three prototypical interchanges in detail. Though physically and operationally interconnected, these systems are urban artifacts of their own accord and question the role of a megaregion\u2019s public institutions. Firstly, The<\/i>Exchange \u2014<\/i> located along Chicago\u2019s Congress Parkway \u2014 is a linear assembly of infrastructure \u201cin resistance to the monopolization of the market for hegemonic gain and the systemic privatization of the city and its institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, The Crossing \u2014<\/i> located at the U.S.-Canada border between Detroit and Windsor \u2014 houses the headquarters of the Coalitions for the Governance of the Great Lakes \u201cin resistance to the privatization of government and environmental resources.\u201d Finally, The Gateway \u2014<\/i> located adjacent to Toronto\u2019s Pearson International Airport \u2014 is a monumental landform of \u201ccollective citizenship, orientation, physical, and spiritual life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t

\u00a9 Michel Brunelle<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Study Model of the Crossing<\/i><\/p>\n

By situating this brave new world amid the real-world problems of contemporary cities \u2014 global warming, international migration, excess resource extraction and depletion, for example \u2014 Infra Eco Logi Urbanism<\/i> calls forth an alternative to the status quo. These radical proposals present hopeful promise and highlight opportunities while simultaneously lamenting the flaws of our current urban conditions. RVTR invites you to wonder: is this a future utopia or paradise lost?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis century is seeing the emergence of a new type of human settlement \u2014 the megalopolis.\u201d \u2014 Constantinos Doxiadis, \u201cThe Emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis,\u201d 1968 Much of our inherited urban landscape continues to be understood via early modernist notions of the city. These sweeping urban manifestos present visions of a static city with forms and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"architizer_featured_type":"projects","architizer_featured_image":"1426374","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"architizer_project":[],"architizer_brand":[],"architizer_firm":[],"architizer_product":[],"class_list":["post-14088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practice","category-tools"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInfra Eco Logi Urbanism: Future Utopia or Paradise Lost? - Architizer Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/architizer.com\/blog\/practice\/tools\/infra-eco-logi-urbanism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Infra Eco Logi Urbanism: Future Utopia or Paradise Lost? - Architizer Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThis century is seeing the emergence of a new type of human settlement \u2014 the megalopolis.\u201d \u2014 Constantinos Doxiadis, \u201cThe Emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis,\u201d 1968 Much of our inherited urban landscape continues to be understood via early modernist notions of the city. 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