BURO II & ARCHI+I organiseert elk kwartaal ‘Open Academy’, een open platform voor wie geïnteresseerd is in hedendaagse maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen en de ruimtelijke gevolgen voor de woon- en leefomgeving.
Het doel van de Open Academy is een debat te activeren, dat vertrekt vanuit hedendaagse maatschappelijke evoluties. De Open Academy wil onderliggende structuren en processen belichten, samen met hun ruimtelijke consequenties. Dit vormt de basis voor het herdenken en het actualiseren van de huidige architecturale en stedenbouwkundige praktijk.
De achtste lezing wordt gegeven door Caroline Fernolend
Reserveren via open.academy@buro2.be
Wordt vervolgd in het Engels.
The Whole village project in Transylvania
Transylvania is situated in the centre of Romania. Until the end of 1989 the German speaking Saxons were the majority of the population. After the liquidation of Nicola Ceaucescu all villages and small towns lost their significant Saxon majority. Most of them emigrated to Germany. The new population is predominantly existing of Roma gypsies, evoking tremendous economical, social, cultural, ecological challenges which urge for an urban and regional planning on the macro as well as on the micro scale. Next to a continuous threath of the loss of remarkable European heritage, there is an urgent need of renewed and sustainable infrastructure, integration programs in favour of the new population, rehabilitation actions for the agricultural areas.
Ten years ago, a U.K. inspired non-profit organisation, the Mihai Eminescu Trust (under the patronage of the Prince of Wales), pioneered the whole village project aiming at revitalising these small communities and improving local livelihoods through the sensitive use of their national and cultural heritage, with the support of the new inhabitants.
This approach, concerning the infill of the local needs, is an exemplary exponent of the ‘Territorial Manifest’, launched recently by professor Alberto Magnaghi (Milano/Firenze), leading since 25 years a research program to valorize the local heritage within different regions. With the sustainable rehabilitation of her own village Viscri (Unesco World Heritage) and the integration of the new population, Caroline Fernolend and the M.E.T. gave an eminent example which creates a concrete snowballeffect in many other villages and small communities.