Chris Stewart

‘There has been a renewal of interest in the ideas and planning philosophy of Sir Patrick Geddes’, words of hope from Helen Meller written in 1990. The opening line to her definitive publication about that great social evolutionist and city planner. Back then Post Modernism was well underway, Thatcher and Regan’s policies were starting to bite and here in Glasgow we were knocking down our peripheral estates. Thousands on thousands of faceless homes built in Castlemilk, Drumchapel and Easterhouse to house the slum clearances. More than 25 years have passed since Helen Meller published her book and today we are blowing up our tower blocks, neoliberalism is the accepted norm and in response there has again been a renewal of interest in the ideas and planning philosophy of Sir Patrick Geddes.

Knock them down, build them up and knock them down again. Glasgow’s history of industrialisation, decline and disastrous sixties planning egged on by a gallus swagger, made a Geddes style incremental approach to planning difficult but not impossible. The misconception was that his approach was all about the careful retention of historic architecture when in fact it was the community he sought to hold together. The problem is previous redevelopments were so bad there was little worth saving, save the community. A blinkered focus on zoning left a place where you only live, a place where you only work and a place where you only shop. The result is a super-sized everything from schools to sports centres which rely on the car and make life difficult for the pedestrian and the cyclist.

Those interested in community and how these are dismantled after each redevelopment will be interested in Chris Leslie’s exhibition ‘Disappearing Glasgow’ currently on show at the Lighthouse. A fascinating event has been arranged by the Glasgow Institute of Architects to compliment the exhibition on the 16th February. Expect a screening of Chris Leslie’s film Re-imagining Glasgow followed by a debate around the question ‘todays solutions are tomorrows problems’. Today’s solutions will have to work with today’s rules of deregulation and consumption, think mega mall, business district and multiplex cinema rising from post war ruins near you soon.

The most cynical of the new rules is the luxury high rise flat or according to Jan Ghel gated mansions in the sky. Previously the high rise represented urban deprivation, now they are symbols of neoliberal wealth and an upward class segregation often without any one at home. The top few floors of London’s Shard houses some of the most expensive properties on the planet, they have yet to be lived in and are but a shiny investment opportunity. A far cry from the worlds depicted in films such as the ‘Last Resort’ (Pawlowski 2000) or Red Road (Arnold 2006) which highlight the social decay of the affordable high rise and the problems that plague them. The latter is of particular interest when set against Chris Leslie’s photographs of forgotten underground bars and bingo halls where the community used to nestle below the giant Red Road towers.

So where do we turn for our solution, to Holland of course and the world of MVRVD. You would think it would be Scotland that would have learnt the most from it’s famous son Patrick Geddes but apparently not. Ideas of walking, density, mixed use, improved public transport, reduced car dependency, increased city centre population spout forth from these Dutch architects like some hole in a dyke. Their aim is to create a happy accessible place that offers something for everyone disregarding age, income or mobility. In their eyes our Dear Green Place needs to be greener.

It is heartening that Glasgow faces up to past mistakes rather than burying them. That is why the films and photographs of Chris Leslie are so important, their depth captures more than demolished buildings but the communities that lived amongst these structures. Work is underway with the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre to measure disembodied energy. Not the normal embodied energy which measures the production of place but the energy produced by those who used it. How can a value be placed on such a matter never mind how that could then be applied, this is something to be discovered before it disappears.

The Glasgow Institute of Architects will host the second screening of ReImagining Glasgow as part of Chris Leslie’s exhibition of Dissapearing Glasgow at The Lighthouse on Thursday 16th February at 17.30 pm. Find out more about Disappearing Glasgow and the exhibition via the ink below;

http://www.disappearing-glasgow.com/

If you invested one Roman dinar at the birth of Jesus Christ by the death of Karl Marx it would be worth the weight of planet earth in gold. There are many variations of this statistic but the message is the same, capitalism is unsustainable and we are witnessing it's death.

We all have read that Nero played the fiddle as Rome burned, insured against arson this kickstarted an economic recovery of the Roman Empire. This included the construction of the Coliseum which became the classic device for controlling the mob through popularism. Today all is far more subtle and we live in a world of Neoliberalism of which very few are conscious.

The result is a world ever more divided, the rich are getting more rich while the poor get more poor. When were these new set of rules written, and who brought them down to us. Are we forced to follow this new star or dare we construct our own. These are thoughts of biblical proportion however we should at least try to fathom them and challenge our own methods. If we could all resolve to make one short step,change will result, may we begin;

A long time ago a man who thought a lot, we will call him Wittgenstein, wrote a book (his only book) called Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. He knew his book was flawed however he wrote it never the less, to show that humans to explain the world need to construct systems. These systems when viewed from afar cast a net or often better described as a cage across the world. The cage is limited by a number of factors, language being the most important, and the cage is constructed by a specific community usually sitting at the top where the air is more rarified. The constructs produced by the rarified become how this world exists. Wittgenstein knew this was nonsense and in itself a construct, to the extent that half way through writing the book he realised that humans were unable to construct anything better than God (or the omnipresent one), after all the world is not flat.

Unfortunately in too many respects we live in this nonsensical world which is not real but our own construct. Much of our constructed cage slips around us without us even knowing, hands up who has heard of Neoliberalism. Some say this Neoliberalism is a fiercely guarded secret guising as a biological law, a kind of Darwinian theory of evolution which has now become a truth. Neoliberalists believe competition is our defining characteristic and our democratic choice exists only in what we can buy and sell. Limit competition and you limit liberty, collective bargaining and organised labour is a distortion of this market and hinders the natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Wealth trickles gratefully down from the bold to enrich everyone and those with all the advantages of class, education and inheritance now embrace the nouveau riche when a hundred years ago they were shunned. Together they claim to have earned their unearned wealth through hard won entrepreneurialism. Those who fall behind become defined as losers and can only blame themselves.

Architecture is one of the key building blocks of our brave new constructed world, where the rarified stare through the looking glass and reinvent our language. Affordable housing is unaffordable, regeneration is any form of privatised development and sustainability can mean almost anything you wish it to. One of the rarified recently pulled back the veil, Mr Patrik Schumacher director of Zaha Hadid Architects and author of ‘Free Market Urbanism - Urbanism beyond Planning’  speaking at the recent World Architecture Festival in Berlin, proposed as a solution to the housing crisis in London; an end to social housing, scrapping regulations and the privatisation of public space. Headline grabbing, but it at least allowed us a glimpse back through the looking glass to a self correcting, self regulating, self organised neoliberal architecture and like some hideous Dorian Gray it stared back. For those who dare look Mr Gray in the eye I recommend ‘The Architecture of Neoliberalism or how architecture became an instrument of control and compliance’ by Douglas Spencer.

Right now we live amongst the breakup of Europe and the rise of plutocrat-populists such as Trump, somehow architecture needs to steer away from neoliberalism and return to clear environmental strategies. For our cities, which have been the most affected, this will require greater participation in urban programmes, understandable spatial structuring of cities and most importantly the vision to be wary of Kings bearing gifts.

The Architecture of Neoliberalism by Douglas Spencer is published by Bloomsbury Publishing as per the link below

http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-architecture-of-neoliberalism-9781472581532/

We try to ask each other this question as it is all to easy to stray. Is SEDA (Scottish Ecological Design Association) measured by it’s influence on the design community. Is it the number of members who pay their subscriptions. Do we help each other, offer support and enjoy ourselves. Can all our events promote ecological design. The answer lies in a mix of these, none of which can be measured without purpose, this is ours:

“SEDA aims to promote the design of communities, environments, projects, systems, services, materials and products which enhance the quality of life of and are not harmful to living species and planetary ecology"

What is real value, for some it can be a large sum of money, fame or power. Having these can provide sustenance and even meaning but for the most part people hold value through dear things; we think value should be based on our greatest need, life. SEDA’s purpose responds to life therefore our aims are important. These can be achieved by influence, in the main through events and activities, it is essential we are active and out there. This relies on vibrant contributors who have to be supported and encouraged. None of this can happen without the subscriptions of our membership. The sum of all these parts is an organisation of worth but each part needs to be constantly nurtured.

Our strategy over the last few years has been an emphasis to increase awareness of SEDA through events. This has been very successful with a number of activities now becoming mainstream and entering the consciousness of Scotland’s design community. We set out to develop four strong events, one for each season around which we could focus, these are:

Autumn - Sandy Halliday organises our Howard Liddell Memorial Lecture and we are fortunate that A+DS annually hold the KJ Award Exhibition at the Lighthouse. This year our lecture (more of a play) considered the life and legacy of Rachel Carson, next year expect something completely different.

Winter - Our Christmas Show and Tell will this year be held on 07th December in Edinburgh. There is still time to book a ticket please refer below for details.

Spring - Research Summit: We have held successful summits at Edinburgh University and at the RIAS.

Summer - SEDA conference and AGM: Last year Comrie was a great success, this year we will hold our conference in Stirling and focus on retrofit.

Interspersed amongst our key events are individual activities centred around Green Drinks, next week on the 01st December in Edinburgh we will show a screening of Underkastelsen/Submission by filmmaker Stefan Jarl, again please refer below for details. This year we have also been fortunate to obtain funding from the Festival of Architecture 2016 and the Post Code Lottery to enable the following;

Green Drinks Festival - Walks and talks through Edinburgh organised by David Seel considering subjects such as Colony Housing and the work of City Architect Ebenezer MacRae. Maps showing these routes can be downloaded from our web site, please refer below.

100 Sustainable Buildings Publication - Chosen from a list of member nominated projects the publication will include a forward by Robin Harper and a number of essays from important ecologists. he book will be published this spring.

Urban Interventions - Matt Bridgestock has recently completed  cycling and jogging maps around sustainable points of interest in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness. Further maps are planned for Stirling and Dundee, for further information please refer below.

This work has helped establish SEDA as a well known organisation in Scotland with greater opportunity to promote our raison d’etre. None of this can happen without our membership and we constantly encourage others to join by understanding the importance of our purpose. We do this with a genuine smile, it is important to enjoy your work.

To join SEDA  please visit the membership page on our web site at the following link http://www.seda.uk.net

To download maps for Urban Expeditions and our Green Drinks Festival please follow the following link http://seda.uk.net/architectural-tours/

To obtain tickets for  the screening of screening of Underkastelsen/Submission by filmmaker Stefan Jarl on the 01st December or our Show and Tell on the 07th December please visit the events page on our web site at the following link http://www.seda.uk.net

A film, a play, a discussion, following the theme of Eco-Max, this year SEDA will focus on the life and legacy of Rachel Carson. Her book Silent Spring, is widely recognised as a catalyst for the environmental movement and was written in 1952 when Rachel was herself suffering from cancer. She brought to the attention of a contented America enjoying homespun rock & roll and Walt Disney, stories of dead fish in rivers, silent songbirds in hedgerows and children storing up toxins.

Eco-Max was set out by our own Sandy Halliday in last years inaugural  Howard Liddell memorial lecture. Paying respect to a number of eco pioneers, Eco-Max questioned whether with everything to gain, ecological design is still marginalised and largely perceived as counter cultural. She noted that we continue to ignore science and common sense and pondered whether we will ever be able to create a radical change of direction. Each year Sandy will choose an eco pioneer to develop both Howard’s and her own ideas. We are all delighted that this year, together with Liz Rothschild, she has chosen marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson.

Having first read Silent Spring in bursts over the last half decade, it is not the science Rachel Carson lays bare but the dark beauty of her writing which keeps drawing me back. In 1952 science was quite different to what it is now but the poetic prose continues to perceive the negative effect humans can have on the natural world;

‘the lifeless remains of the birds that fell before the unselective bludgeon of insecticidal poison'

For those who are unfamiliar with Rachel Carson, her main argument is that pesticides and their poison are never limited just to the target, they concentrate inside the bodies of all living things. Most of the book is devoted to their devastation of natural ecosystems but four chapters are specifically devoted to human misery, accusing the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and officials who unquestioningly accept industry claims.

The evening will commence with the film, The Power of One Voice: A 50-Year Perspective on the Life of Rachel Carson a documentary examining the life of Rachel Carson and the profound implications of her environmental work. This will be followed by a reading by Liz Rothschild, a writer, performer and celebrant. Liz worked as a community arts worker and then trained at the Bristol Old Vic. She worked in rep and small scale touring. Knowing the SEDA crowd expect a lively debate to follow, which will spill out into the streets and pubs after the Lighthouse has shut it’s doors.

So join us for a film, a play and a discussion, about a book and the woman who wrote it. Come along on the 29th to meet Sandy and Liz and discover how deep the legacy of Rachael Carson does truly run.

The second Howard Liddell Memorial Lecture will be held at the Lighthouse, Glasgow  on the 29th September 2016 at 6.00 pm - 9.00 pm. For more information and to reserve tickets please refer to the link below. Please note that spaces are limited and it is recommended to book early.

Link for tickets through Collective Architecture Web Site here http://collective-architecture.tumblr.com

Aware how Jude Barber can weave politics, art and architecture, I took time out during a frantic early summer to drop into the last few days of this passing exhibition. The components are simple, an intriguing title; the foreword to a book; identical letters addressed to each of the 129 Scottish Members of Parliament and the same number of small elegant ceramics laid out on a large table.

Exhibition titles in themselves have become important and on arriving, my first point of enquiry was when or when to be, were ‘the better days’. Knowing that the exhibition formed part of the Saltire Society’s 80th Anniversary, I had come prepared for a nostalgic journey through the history of their housing awards. It was therefore immediately enlightening to discover that the exhibition title had been gleamed from Thomas Johnston’s forward to the Saltire Society’s 1944 publication ‘ Building Scotland’ and informed us that ‘the better days’ are to be.

The complete forward written by Thomas Johnston, is hung in a large format banner on one wall and makes powerful reading, reflecting on the spirituality of John Ruskin and looking forward to a heroic post second world war construction boom. Thomas Johnston, was the then Secretary of State for Scotland, a one time Red Clyde-sider, long supporter of Home Rule and one of the most inspiring politicians of his era as this short extract from the forward demonstrates;

“And in this beautiful land of ours, the free people who inhabit it, and who have paid such a high price for their freedom, will, in the better days that are to be, surely insist that the architecture of their buildings, public and private, shall be worthy of them."

1944 was a while ago, plenty of time for these better days to have already passed by and the product of the heroic second world war construction boom is currently undergoing mass demolition.

The opposite wall is covered in the 129 letters still to be sent to all the Scottish Members of Parliament and are signed and dated the 08th July 2016. They bring to the attention of the newly elected representatives of Holyrood the value of architecture and the role environment plays in health and it’s impact on opportunity. Health has always been a crucial factor in housing, previously this has been evidenced in obvious physical need. An indoor toilet, decent private space, uncrowded room to sleep, a place to cook a decent meal. It is heartening to sense that having some control of your personal environment ranks amongst these needs and it is now understood can affect both physical and mental well being.

The exhibition is housed in two rooms straddling the main entrance to the Briggait, I moved on to the second room which in the centre sits the table laid with the ceramic objects. The ceramics have been produced by female architects and collaborators, formed in shapes and adorned with words taken from the 1944 publication. They cover the table top forming a pattern but each retain the individuality of different hands and the irregularity that comes through the firing of clay. Each one will be matched with one of the letters hung on the wall next door and ready made packaging for both sit waiting to be posted out on the 8th July. We all hope the politicians take heed.

There is something enjoyable about the smaller exhibition when the content is simple, the message complex but the effect hard hitting. I left still unsure if the better days have been and gone, still to arrive, or are always with us. Perhaps we just have to look more closely or try a bit harder.

The exhibition runs until the 08th July at the Wasps, Briggait Project Spaces, 141 Bridgegate, Glasgow G1 5HZ . There will be a panel discussion on Thursday 7th July at 6 pm close by in the South Block, Glasgow. Please refer to the link below for further information.

http://www.saltiresociety.org.uk/event/building-scotland-past-and-future

The project also forms part of the Archi-Fringe 2016 programme and has been inspired and supported by The Saltire Society. Please refer to the link below for further information.

http://architecturefringe.com/