Our friends over at the Third Lisbon Architecture Triennale Close, Closer have put together a small grant program for architects to propose start-up civic projects in the city of Lisbon. Aptly titled Crisis Buster the program is close to our hearts, in offering opportunities for civic engagement and unsolicited urban interventions. Deadline for applications is February 18th 2013.
After a successful first edition in 2011, coming September the second edition of the Urbanism Week will be held, organized by POLIS – platform for urbanism TU Delft. Last year more than 200 students and 80 professionals from different nationalities took part in the workshops, lectures and debates. This year’s theme will be “Second Hand Cities, re-thinking practice in times of standstill”. The reason for this year’s theme was to share alternative solutions to the same problems cities all over the world have been experiencing for the last years during this recession. New cities are no longer designed in Europe. Instead we have to deal with what we have and redesign them such that they can sustain after their first lifespan. Many questions come to mind, questions such as: What is the role of the citizen these days? What is the best way of engaging with citizens and getting them involved in projects? It is time to explore new ways of making city. How can virtual networks help us find these ways?
