23 November: Seminar Excessive Urbanism

EXCESSIVE URBANISM

Seminar, launch party of Scapegoat Magazine
Saturday, 23 November 2013, 3pm
HKU/Shanghai Study Centre

Cities have become an extremely hostile environment to live in. Permanent urban transformation, pollution and a lack of room for nature have created an urban environment where ‘excess’ is no longer an exception, but a general condition. This does have a major impact of the well being of people – not only their physical, but also their mental state. As part of the the ‘Down to Earth’ lecture series, this seminar questions the role of architecture after the urban-rural divide.

In a discussion moderated by Daan Roggeveen and Xiaoyu Weng, Scapegoat editor Etienne Turpin will present the theme of “Excess” as a means to better understand past and present of the urban-rural assemblage. Scapegoat contributors Seth Denizen will discuss the therapeutic role of the rural in the psychosocial history of American urbanism. Melissa Cate Christ speaks about and the explosive growth of the rural as a factory in Spain’s miracle economy.

We will examine how this transition has entangled Asia, America and Europe in a hyper productive paradox of perpetual growth and its crises of resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and megacity pollution.  In this discussion, we hope to provoke a serious conversation about excessive urbanism, consumption, and the role of architecture in an environment of permanent change.

The seminar will be followed by drinks to celebrate the Chinese launch of the new issue of magazine Scapegoat, an independent, not-for-profit, bi-annual journal. designed to create a context for research and development regarding design practice, historical investigation, and theoretical inquiry.

Daan Roggeveen is a Shanghai based architect and researcher and curator at HKU/Shanghai Study Centre. Xiaoyu Weng is a writer and curator based in San Francisco. Etienne Turpin is a Jakarta based researcher and editor of Scapegoat. Seth Denizen is a research associate at HKU, trained in landscape architecture and evolutionary biology. Melissa Cate Christ is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at HKU.

The newest issue ‘Excess’ of magazine Scapegoat will be for sale at the event for 200 RMB.

Excessive Urbanism
Chinese launch of journal Scapegoat ‘Excess’
Saturday, November 23, 3pm
HKU/Shanghai Study Centre
298 Bei Suzhou Lu (Close to Sichuan Bei Lu)
Shanghai

ash.arch.hku.hk