Al Manakh Gulf Continued

Al Manakh Gulf Continued will offer the public once again its overview of the Gulf cities, this time focusing on how, amid a quickly changing economic landscape, these cities are reexamining their methods and their relationships with the rest of the world. Tempered by economic slow-down but equipped with financial and development know-how, these cities are reaching out beyond their borders to export development and urbanization to parts of the world not yet participating in global urban investment. This issue of Al Manakh will cover the geopolitical, technological, environmental and financial aspects of this ongoing transformation. Cities of Saudi Arabia and Iran are also added to the scope.

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Collective City

The city gave the opportunity to every individual to live free and chose new alliances outside the traditional ties of family and community. The city gave rise to new forms of collectivity, manifesting as majestically orchestrated public spaces or angry mobs that organize themselves in order to take a stand for what they want and/or believe in. Our contemporary cities have been shaped by top-down planning and bottom-up initiatives. City dwellers are housed in endless plattenbau neighborhoods, or they build their own shanty towns. This dossier explores the ways how the collective organizes itself and how it's catered to in a multitude of fashions.

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Suburbia After the Crash

The world is facing a crisis of debt, a crisis of truth, a crisis of sprawl and a crisis of purpose, what can design do? Volume #9 predicted the crisis and its effects on suburbia, Archis RSVP #13 came together to record the aftermath of the crisis in the Detroit suburb of Warren. C-LAB's Imagining Recovery competition gathered ideas for how to move forward. This dossier accumulates approaches and strategies ranging from design proposals to grass roots activities that are dealing with the heritage of the suburban sprawl in the aftermath of the crisis.

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Sustainability Reloaded

Originally a wacko, hippy-esque ideology, ‘sustainability’ - aka ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘green’ - has now become globally accepted. But as what - an environmental urgency, a political issue, a technical problem, a historic destiny, a new world order? And what are the consequences of this acceptance? The sustainability consensus is dangerous since the concept has no political content and can be used for any cause. Carbon neutrality and zero emissions are like magic formulas, cover-ups for complicated ethical questions about the inequalities in our societies.Yet striving for zeros or hiding in neutrality does not lead to a better life in a more desirable house in a superior city for everyone. This dossier continues the Sustainability blog, a collaboratively edited blog by Volume and Abitare.

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The Moon

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