Editorial

摘要

Forming a community rather than segregating - in historical terms this is a relatively new ideal for architecture. In pre-modern times each social group lived separately, town and country were strictly divided into special zones for each class and every activity. Modernism made much rhetorical use of the concept of equality and designed romantically egalitarian social orders with community buildings and other collective facilities. In practice, however, for reasons of "hygiene" it built the completely dispersed city with uninviting mono-functional districts. It was only with the criticism of function-alism in the 1960s, the participation movements of the 1970s, the oil crisis and old city renovation projects in the 1980s that mixing social groups and functions became acceptable once again. Since then this has developed into an ideal but one that repeatedly meets its economic limits - for instance with regard to ground floor zones that are difficult to find a use for. Without politically shaped outline conditions - subsidies, building regulations zoning - it seems to function only with difficulty. Must this be the case? In the current issue we offer a reality check. Can the diverse, green city with short routes only be achieved through decreed top-down planning or can it develop organically through bottom-up movements? Part of the answer appears to lie in the scale and the size. Tyrolean village dwellers such as those in Fliess or Kals took matters into their own hands in order to stop migration and functional atrophy and to work out and implement successful new, communal and sustainable development concepts in a democratic way. Two exemplary new diverse urban districts in Zurich show the urban context for such projects. Here the anniversary of a cooperative ignited the spark for consistently communitarian and inclusive approaches to planning, which are already the subject of widespread discussion. Therefore, in order to reform our large cities there is a need for both factors -bottom-up and top-down, in short: social consensus. Creating this is, in turn, an educational problem - once again everything begins with enlightenment. In this regard with its Vienna Biennale MAK in Vienna is making a valuable contribution - we report about this online and in the journal. Change is picking up speed.