Two-day conference, 3 and 4 May 2010, auditorium Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam. With Jolyon Leslie, Kai Vöckler, Sultan Barakat, a.o. Time: 9.30 am-5 pm (Mon), 10.00 am-5 pm (Tue). Language: English. Click here for the full program of the conference. Please scroll down for details regarding reservation. Architecture of Peace is an international long-term research and action project in which a large number of stakeholders are involved. The project will consist of local case studies, interventions, university research studios, debates, publications and exhibitions. The public kick-off of the programme will be a two-day conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on the 3rd and 4th of May, 2010. Participants include architects, urbanists and professionals from the fields of development studies, sociology and conflict studies.

As a team coordinating from multiple time zones, the most effective way to collect and distribute relevant articles into the pool of collective research was to use the online bookmarking service Delicious as a universal reference location. By the conclusion of research in March 2010, we had over 1200 articles and 143 different tags. This by no means qualifies the entirety of the research but presents a cross-section of materials utilized to the research community. Delicious provides a simple means of collection, but lacks the ability to view the material from an alternative perspective. The Al Manakh Research calendar is the first step in the development of a tool to investigate these relationships, a way to understand the volume of our research database. While still in its infancy of development as a research tool, it prompts insightful questions about both the content and our individual research activity. Viewbook Download PDF version —This visualization was created by Jonathan Hanahan.

16-18 April, 2010, Villa Sonsbeek, Arnhem, The Netherlands. With Arjen Oosterman (Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Archis/Volume) and others. More information here. O.K. Festival is the first event in the Netherlands that offers a survey of independent magazines from all over the world. Under the title 'Welcome Magazines' O.K. Festival presents the energy and the visual explosion of strange, beautiful and original magazines. One by one they present an answer to the uniformity of the mass media. The printed media are falling victim to increasingly strict formats. Sales figures reign. In the gaping hole they leave behind the independent magazine manifests itself. Everything that is excluded by the mainstream media finds its place here. In this sense, the independent magazine offers a sanctuary to designers, illustrators and writers. It is at times defiant and headstrong, but always brimming with energy and playfulness. Readers from across the world are increasingly drawn to its versatility, originality and creativity. O.K. Festival offers an insight into the full spectrum of independent magazines through various activities.

25 March-2 July, 2010, Pacific Design Center (PDC), West Hollywood, CA. Superfront, an L.A. based exposition centre presents the exhibit Unplanned: Research and Experiments at the Urban Scale. The exhibit boldly presents a collection of radical methods for envisioning and producing space at the urban scale. Unplanned is a group exhibit with more than twenty participants a.o Ae-i-ou, Tomorrows Thoughts Today and Alex Delaunay. It spans architecture, urban design, industrial design, conceptual art, and cartography to present an array of experimental work at the urban scale. Multi-disciplinary practitioners address emergent urbanism, 'wild building', and other alternatives to conventional urban planning. "Just as the discipline of architecture faces a re-imagination of itself in this era of slow-motion global capitalism, the human population finds itself crossing the threshold to a predominantly urban existence. Many of the basic tenets underpinning urban planning – Cartesian geometry, programmatic taxonomy, contextualism – have been subject to skeptical investigation and rebellion in architecture throughout the past decade. Yet conventional urban planning continues, the discipline of urban planning operating much as it has since the 1960s (if not the 1860s)."

Cartagen, the institute that describes itself as "a framework for dynamic mapping", has presented a new way of styling of geographical maps. GSS strongly reminds of famous CSS, the style sheets that are used to design the look and feel of webpages. Investigating a GSS file of a map of Rome, it even looks more or less the same. "Just like CSS for styling web pages, GSS is a specification for designing maps. Adapted for dynamic data sources, GSS can define changing geographic elements, display multiple datasets, and even respond to contextual tags like 'condition:poor'. (...) Instead of sending pre-rendered tiles for every zoom level, Cartagen draws maps dynamically on the client side. This means maps can move, adapt, and redraw, and can include as many layers of data as needed." Interesting to mention is that GSS follows the open up of maps and geographical data, and goes even further by placing an open source style layer upon it. It could be a useful tool for people to easily design maps, even without specific cartographic knowledge.

A while ago Jason Kottke spent an article on the mysterious Project Cybersyn, which is described as a "a Chilean attempt at real-time computer-controlled planned economy in the years 1970–1973". Project Cybersyn existed during the government of president Salvador Allende and consisted of a network of telex machines that linked factories with a single computer center in Santiago. From here the principles of cybernetics were used to control the modes of production in real-time, or, as The Guardian describes it: "Voters, workplaces and the government were to be linked together by a new, interactive national communications network, which would transform their relationship into something profoundly more equal and responsive than before — a sort of socialist internet, decades ahead of its time."

By Jonathan Hanahan It is out of our hands and soon into yours: Volume’s special issue Al Manakh Gulf Cont’d — 536 pages on the Gulf region from 139 contributors based in over 20 countries will be launched in just under a month, on April 18, both in the Gulf and beyond. Over a year of researching, questioning, commentating, and evaluating topics that have evolved from the Gulf have been collated into this edition, limited only by the size of your postbox. For many of us, there is no finality in a topic that is eternally evolving, and as the title indicates, continuing. It would be very easy to wipe our hands clean, claim its completeness and move on. But with the excitement of the process and its result still fresh in our memory, we still look for ways to continue the dialogue this journey incited. The project of Al Manakh collects narratives over the year. And with a year of research comes a year of data. The intention now is to engage an alternative vantage into the making of Al Manakh. What we present is a series of visualizations – a quantitative appendix to supplement the qualitative publication – in hope that from looking back, and the reader looking forward, we can enhance the conclusions that represent this schism in time of a continuing Gulf. The forthcoming blog series focuses on the sources, content and relationships that develop through its making: From Process to Production. Visualization 1: A Year of Research A cross-section of the editorial research team: topics, activities, networks, and biases. Visualization 2/3: Sources to Subjects Illustrating where the source and type of information came from to what becomes of it in the print outcome. This prompts questions such as: if 48% of sources are from business news agencies, yet 61% of our content was written by cultural professionals, does Al Manakh what sort of commentary does the project make? Visualization 4: Looking Back and Forward What this analysis means to Al Manakh: Gulf Continued and how it may influence future publications.

Royal Haskoning, the Delta Alliance and the City of Rotterdam invite students from all over the world to enter the third edition of the DeltaCompetition and develop practical, innovative, sustainable solutions to the threats facing delta cities. The organization is looking for new, inspiring and daring ideas and practical solutions from a wide combination of disciplines that integrate urban development and flood risk reduction, fresh water provision and energy production, housing and sustainable infrastructure development, (water) transport and rainwater catchment, and/or smart tools to improve urban development policy, implementation and enforcement and water governance in delta cities. The best three will receive an award with a prize of € 3,000 each. Furthermore, the three winning participants are invited to present their ideas to an international audience of decision makers and experts during the Deltas in Times of Climate Change symposium, to be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from 28 September to 1 October 2010.

—Postcard of the 'Executive Park Motor Hotel' in Atlanta Mockitecture features a small series of American 'postcards from the future'. The cards are nearly fifty years old and unravel some nostalgic elements of modernism. Especially the text on the backside of the postcard of the 'Equitable Life Assurance Society Pavilion' for New York World's Fair speaks volumes about the urbanist's fascinations for showcasing data in the public domain as can be still found today. "The Equitable Pavilion, a contemporary open strecture located on the Pool of Inndustry, houses the famous Equitable Demograph, a 45-foot electronically controlled map of the United States. See for yourself America's growing population brought to life right before your eyes!"

13 March 2010, Trouw/De Verdieping, Amsterdam. More information here. Nature has always been complete, and yet it is never finished. Technology can expand nature infinitely, but should learn to play by some of the same rules. At the Transnatural symposium acknowledged designers, scientists, artists and architects explore the philosophical, cultural and practical implications of the fusion between technology and nature.

Last Saturday, the Studio Beirut collective launched Beyroutes in the city that it honours: Beirut. With many of the contributors packed into the tiny Papercup Bookstore, it became a happy, emotional, and shamelessly self-boosting affair. From an upper shelve of a book cabinet, Chris Fruneaux speeched about the deep friendships that underlie the making of the book. In a talk with the Royal Netherlands Embassy’s Cultural Attache, Joost Janmaat revealed some of the inner workings of the beast we refer to as Studio Beirut. In a far corner, Rani al Rajji could be found recruiting stunningly beautiful girls into the ranks of the Bounyaks. Joe Mounzer got into a signing frenzy of his own; brazenly scribbling away at every blank spot of paper that got near. And all along, Steve Eid and Pascale Hares were standing on the pavement outside Papercup, between them the intimidatingly pretty latest addition to the squad: baby Noa. Hardcore locals, engaged tourists and nostalgic diaspora: this guide was made by a broad array of committed amateurs that project themselves onto the city. For years, they have looked to this particular city to accommodate their dreams, ambitions, curiosities and insecurities.

Scientists of MIT’s Bits and Atoms Lab are helping people in the city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to turn pieces of board, wire, a plastic tub and some cans into reflectors for a wireless network named Fab Fi. The team has put up 25 nodes in the city, with locals now having access to a stable internet connection. With a little training, they even figured out to how to expand the network by copying reflectors and making new links. "You can’t always get nice plywood and wire mesh and acrylic and Shop Bot time when you want to make a link. Maybe it’s the middle of the night and the lab is closed. Maybe you spent all your money on a router and all you have left for a reflector is the junk in your back yard. That, dear world, is when you improvise." MIT is also shipping routers to Jalalabad to enable the city to further improve its network. The Fab Fi project is very interesting, especially since it proves the relevance to rethink foreign aid in terms of injecting knowledge and expertise to accelerate local progress instead of an injection of externally-managed aid money. "An 18-month World Bank funded infrastructure project to bring internet connectivity to Afghanistan began more than seven years ago and only made its first international link this June. That project, despite hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, is still far from being complete while FabLabbers are building useful infrastructure for pennies on the dollar out of their garbage."

Sketches for future cities and utopian buildings are often circular-shaped. Apparently a huge group of futurists, architects and urbanists prefers society to be rounded-up and dome-like. It's hard to find out why, but one of the main reasons might be that the future city in essence has to stay away from current urban forms. A utopian sketch containing family houses in a row would be pretty boring and not really interesting as a futuristic vision. Here's a way to create your own circular utopian future city in 3D. The ForCG website hosts a great tutorial explaining step by step how to make a utopian dream into a pretty render while using Autodesk’s 3DS Max. Here's part 1 and part 2 of the tutorial.

What to do with the big hole in downtown Chicago? That essentially is what the Chicago Architectural Club wants to know. Therefore they announced the competition 'Mine the Gap'. "'Mine the Gap' is a single-stage international design ideas competition dedicated to examining one of the most visible scars left after the collapse of the real estate market in Chicago: the massive hole along the Lake Michigan shore that was to have been—and may yet be—the foundation for a singular 150-story condominium tower designed by an internationally-renowned Spanish architect, a tower which was to have become a new icon for the city and region. What to do with the gap? Whether or not the project is resuscitated, what else can we do with this strategic and highly-charged site? Once the motor of real-estate speculation has stalled, what can we use to propel ourselves, and the discipline, forward?" More information about entry fee, jury, deadlines and registration can be found at the Chicago Architectural Club's webpage. Competitors may submit material online anytime between March 22, 2010 and May 3, 2010. Registration is open, and may be completed anytime before the deadline. The first prize is $ 3,500, the second is prize $ 1,500 and the third prize is $ 750. Up to 3 Honorable Mentions will be awarded.

Last week's item on Foodprint NYC made me think of an article I stumbled upon some time ago. It deals with the topic of so-called agro-imperialism. Issues such as rising global food prices, growing populations and scarcity of water make financially wealthy but recource-poor nations in the Middle East and Asia feel uncomfortable about their food security. In order to attempt to ensure food security, a number of these countries decided to "outsource their food production to places where fields are cheap and abundant" by buying large pieces of arable land in Africa, mostly in regions that are "least touched by development".

19 February - 16 May 2010, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam. 24 Architecture designers take the lead, assessing what society needs now. Pursuing strategies the market is hesitant to explore. The designs that are presented are the fruits of an ambition to find sustainable designs for the future. The international travelling exhibition 'Architecture of Consequence' highlights a changing selection of the same urban designers included in the accompanying book. After Sao Paulo and Moscow, the exhibition will travel to the NAi in Rotterdam in February. The designs that are presented are the fruits of an ambition to find sustainable designs for the future. The theme is expanded by exhibiting the selected designs in different scales. With contributions by 2by4-architects, De Zwarte Hond, Doepel Strijkers Architecten, MVRDV, Studio Marco Vermeulen, West 8, CONCEPT0031, Anne Holtrop, Next Architects, seARCH, 2012 Architecten, Atelier Kempe Thill, Biq Stadsontwerp, MUST Urbanism, OMA/AMO, ONIX, Powerhouse Company, Rietveld Landscape, Stealth.ultd, Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten, Venhoeven CS, ZUS.

27 February 2010, Studio-X, New York City. 1 pm to 5:30 pm. (More information here.) Foodprint NYC is the first in a series of international conversations about food and the city. From a cluster analysis of bodega inventories to the cultural impact of the ice-box, and from food deserts to peak phosphorus, panelists will examine the hidden corsetry that gives shape to urban foodscapes, and collaboratively speculate on how to feed New York in the future. The free afternoon program will include designers, policy-makers, flavor scientists, culinary historians, food retailers, and others, for a wide-ranging discussion of New York’s food systems, past and present, as well as opportunities to transform our edible landscape through technology, architecture, legislation, and education. Program Schedule: Zoning Diet: Sean Basinski, Joel Berg, Nevin Cohen, Stanley Fleishman Culinary Cartography: Jonathan Bogarín, Makalé Faber Cullen, David Haskell, Naa Oyo A. Kwate Edible Archaeology: Rebecca Federman, William Grimes, Annie Hauck-Lawson, David Sax Feast, Famine, and Other Scenarios: Amale Andraos, Marcelo Coelho, Natalie Jeremijenko, Beverly Tepper In May 2009 the centre for architecture and arts in The Hague (Netherlands) started a manifestation about the same subject, which also called Foodprint. Check here the Dutch Foodprint program organized by Stroom.