Лилия Сабирова

Arbeitsproben
von Sabirova Liliia /
Architektur
Internetblog ‚Sekta Ulitc‘
1. Mental cities and urban spaces
2. Skyscraper city
3. The city and its borders
The space of the city, first of all, is our imagination, it exists
in the citizens minds. As cognitive maps, described
by Kevin Lynch, as particular pictures of iconic places,
as smells and sensations. Urban space in our minds may
differ from the actual one, it could have some «gaps»
unknown or forgotten places. It could be transformed
in time, and, of course, it is individual...
To the fact that many cities, especially those we haven’t
been in, exist in our mentality conventionally, like a
composite image formed from cliches, added by facts
from articles, movies, «professional» sites of interest
and books. The last source would be better to highlight
especially. First of all, because the literature from
an information point of view can be scientific, then the
reader receives actual knowledge about a space or a
place; or it can be a fiction, which allows reader to feel
the described environment, hypothetically put himself
in the place of the author / protagonist. In this moment
the described place or space acquires an environmental
quality. That is the concept of «environment» is personal,
perceptional.
The space of the blog «SektaUlitc» («СектаУлиц») is
an experimental space of a Mental City. Only here, this
mentality will be revealed on the level of infographic
and urban theory. We will try to connect different grids
of different cities, various themes of urban growth,
models and theories of urban development. All in order
to get an unfinished, but a broad image of opportunities
of urban modeling and cultural scenarios. This the
first post/article is an experiment of the connection of
urban planning, literature and culture and the arts in
general. On the cover picture of the article there is a
writer Truman Capote...
The idea of the skyscraper has always been regarded
in the genre of utopia, which, firstly, allowed a person
to get closer to heaven; secondly, it conveys it’s understandable
for most of people logic of stories build
one above another; thirdly, in contrast to the complex,
naturally formed over time composition of the city it
uses an idea of a vertical «sculpture», created by one
architect or a team. And most importantly, a skyscraper
provides autonomy from the city, control of internal
flows, and separation of access to floors. It embodies,
as nearly any vertically organized structure, class rules,
where the upper floors are inaccessible for the most
of users. However, the irony is that often deliberately
emphasized roof hides the utilities served by ordinary
workers, as well as basement floors...
n order to move away from the line utopia-dystopia in
the idea of the skyscraper city, the concept could be considered
as a mental city – city of memory, of perception,
consumer city. That helps to rate, hypothetically, what
opportunities it gives, and as comfortable to perceive
it: in the surroundings (such as other towers, or in the
desert, happen as a result of concentration within one
building or in a classic policy which would exist as an
alternative), and from the inside. Obviously, being right
next to a tower, a person is unable to perceive it properly,
firstly, because of terrible perspective distortions, and
secondly, because of a terrifying scale, because of which
the one can get dizziness. A skyscraper as an architectural
object appears more pleasant for those who look at it
from a sufficiently remote distance, to those who see it
(or group of skyscrapers) as «sky frontier”. So, skyscrapers
allow you to make a city more «sculptural», they work
as advertising of the city for those who are far away from
it, and convey great opportunities that await them here...
Town - permeable space. However, it is divided by geography,
administrative orders, transport communications
and other important life factors on individual
sites. Some of those factors or borders could belong
to a formal nature and do not present particular barriers
to their intersection, the other part, on the contrary,
closes inside itself, emphasizing the difference formed
the urban localities on the both sides...
Considering the aspect of the city borders, not to mention
«neighborhood», since the boundaries rather feel,
are formed due to the difference of the two urban areas,
between where those boundaries lie. In the modern
city boundaries can be overcome, and rather serve to
self-determination of the area and its residents. Neighborhood
as the interaction as a positive experience of
various areas of the city, is a unifying factor and reducing
the influence of the boundaries, thus carrying out
functional and cultural exchanges between areas of
«neighbors»...
The city is growing gradually, new areas and new symbolic
objects to which they are attached. New urban
areas and residential areas acquire the title, rooted in
the urban culture. These names specify the «city spots»
and the concept of borders gives way to the notion of
locality. The locality is less certain from the perspective
of the border, turning into another, formed around the
local centre. Accordingly, its boundaries are blurred,
between localities there is a live interaction, which consists
in the joint use of its public goods of residents of
other localities. Thus place becomes semioriental, a
marker of identity.
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