Conflictual Relations

Mostafavi describes the “ethico-aesthetic design practice” as the unity of “architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism,” but also as an approach that “does not rely on image, nor on social homogeneity and nostalgia, as its primary sources of inspiration but rather recognizes the importance of the urban as the necessary site of conflictual relations.” I like this idea of “conflictual relations,” because it is important for us as designers because we are constantly battling with conflicts within the built and social realm. One of my favorite quotes from this reading that highlights this better than I could is:

“The city, for all its importance, can no longer be thought of only as a physical artifact; instead, we must be aware of the dynamic relationships, both visible and invisible, that exist among the various domains of a larger terrain of urban as well as rural ecologies. Distinctions between rural and urban contingencies can lead to uncertainties and contradictions – calling for unconventional solutions” (Mostafavi)

Sustainability as a buzzword that gets tossed around pretty lightly, in my opinion, and often is not valued or appreciated in our society from a global or urban setting. Many, if not the majority, of architects seem to dwell in either a “hi-tech” or “low-tech” approaches as described by Abalos: “some of the few architects who have adopted viewpoints far from hi-tech to approach sustainability, points of view that have focused on subtraction processes instead of addition ones and in increasing energy performance with very economic, low-tech technologies with a clear social dimension.” However, what we should be thinking about is sustainability from a global and urban approach as part of our architectural decisions. We need to stop allowing ourselves to come up with excuses and start making changes now: “It is always too early, or too late, to talk about the cities of the future” (Bhabha) With that being said, I think a lot of these decisions need to be made a political level so how can we, as future architects, ensure that these decisions are made at that higher level if we don’t always get to make those decisions? Should more architects join the political world or is there a less extreme answer that is as easy as educating the public of the importance of urban and global sustainability?