Senior citizens in general have different expectations regarding their life concepts and the spatial localization of such following their retirement. The ongoing scientific research on the residential mobility of the elderly discerns two contrary processes. Some presume the future senior citizens will act in an analogous way to the elderly nowadays. Thus upon retiring they will leave the city to relocate to the suburbs. Others foresee a trend reversal towards a re-urbanisation accompanied by the renaissance of the city for all age groups including the generation 50plus. These developments were the focus of a study conducted in three major metropolitan areas; the results are discussed in this article. The study assumed that as the generation 50plus grows older their lifestyles and places of residence among other things will differ from the senior citizens of today. The evaluation of the empirical data showed, that the respondents in the greater metropolitan areas did not intend to move to the suburbs upon retirement. Neither do the respondents in the suburbs plan to move to the city. In other words a tendency towards remaining in the current residential areas was detected for the majority of the respondents. Thus if one defines the renaissance of the city by the decreasing number of people leaving the cities, then we can also identify tendencies towards re-urbanisation in the generation 50plus.
The article examines some paradoxes of urban planning by referring to Lefebvre’s concept of space. It shows how one of the most prestigious projects of waterfront development and new urban planning in Europe struggles with the complexity of urbanity. The latter is taken as a spontaneous, non-instrumental experience of urban spaces which is strongly related to Lefebvre’s espace vécu and is hardly to establish within the rationales of modern planning. To show this, the article examines empirical data, pictoral representations and pieces of the masterplan to develop the idea that planned urbanity is an antinomy in the Žižekian sense: it makes urbanity impossible. Some insights are given into this problem which is regarded as a severe restriction of—albeit reflexive and well informed—urban redevelopment projects. In getting aware of these antinomies, further critical thinking on enhancing urban performances is hopefully fostered.
Publicado en línea: 30 Apr 2011 Páginas: 105 - 118
Resumen
Abstract
The forced expansion of renewable energy sources has induced within a few years time a cultural landscape of a new kind. The traditional natural scenery, dominated by agricultural parcels, islands of forest, and condensed areas of settlement, is continually being amended by decentralized power plants such as wind parks, solar and biomass power plants. Still we are far from the development of pure energy landscapes, as it is feared by local historic associations and nature conservation organisations. Restrictive regional planning, annual amendments to the principles of remuneration given in the Renewable Energies Act, as well as declining government aid are putting hard spatial strain on the renewable energy system. Yet pressure on the usage of rural space has been augmented by the present development and has led to new dimensions of competition for the usage of acreage. Thus, a discussion of the future role of rural areas as a location for new technologies seems appropriate.
Publicado en línea: 30 Apr 2011 Páginas: 119 - 128
Resumen
Abstract
The increasing number of elderly people necessitates enhancing the local planning of municipalities for this target group and creating adequate conditions for the preservation of quality of life. As part of a project concerning planning for elderly people in the Rhineland-Palatinate city of Pirmasens, besides a representative survey and interviews with experts, the participative process “Zukunftswerkstatt”, a form of creative workshops, was accomplished in six different districts. This article points out, to what extent the creative workshops represent a suitable instrument to identify the desires and needs of the elderly and if these workshops can activate the older people to engage in the realization of their expressed needs.
Senior citizens in general have different expectations regarding their life concepts and the spatial localization of such following their retirement. The ongoing scientific research on the residential mobility of the elderly discerns two contrary processes. Some presume the future senior citizens will act in an analogous way to the elderly nowadays. Thus upon retiring they will leave the city to relocate to the suburbs. Others foresee a trend reversal towards a re-urbanisation accompanied by the renaissance of the city for all age groups including the generation 50plus. These developments were the focus of a study conducted in three major metropolitan areas; the results are discussed in this article. The study assumed that as the generation 50plus grows older their lifestyles and places of residence among other things will differ from the senior citizens of today. The evaluation of the empirical data showed, that the respondents in the greater metropolitan areas did not intend to move to the suburbs upon retirement. Neither do the respondents in the suburbs plan to move to the city. In other words a tendency towards remaining in the current residential areas was detected for the majority of the respondents. Thus if one defines the renaissance of the city by the decreasing number of people leaving the cities, then we can also identify tendencies towards re-urbanisation in the generation 50plus.
The article examines some paradoxes of urban planning by referring to Lefebvre’s concept of space. It shows how one of the most prestigious projects of waterfront development and new urban planning in Europe struggles with the complexity of urbanity. The latter is taken as a spontaneous, non-instrumental experience of urban spaces which is strongly related to Lefebvre’s espace vécu and is hardly to establish within the rationales of modern planning. To show this, the article examines empirical data, pictoral representations and pieces of the masterplan to develop the idea that planned urbanity is an antinomy in the Žižekian sense: it makes urbanity impossible. Some insights are given into this problem which is regarded as a severe restriction of—albeit reflexive and well informed—urban redevelopment projects. In getting aware of these antinomies, further critical thinking on enhancing urban performances is hopefully fostered.
The forced expansion of renewable energy sources has induced within a few years time a cultural landscape of a new kind. The traditional natural scenery, dominated by agricultural parcels, islands of forest, and condensed areas of settlement, is continually being amended by decentralized power plants such as wind parks, solar and biomass power plants. Still we are far from the development of pure energy landscapes, as it is feared by local historic associations and nature conservation organisations. Restrictive regional planning, annual amendments to the principles of remuneration given in the Renewable Energies Act, as well as declining government aid are putting hard spatial strain on the renewable energy system. Yet pressure on the usage of rural space has been augmented by the present development and has led to new dimensions of competition for the usage of acreage. Thus, a discussion of the future role of rural areas as a location for new technologies seems appropriate.
The increasing number of elderly people necessitates enhancing the local planning of municipalities for this target group and creating adequate conditions for the preservation of quality of life. As part of a project concerning planning for elderly people in the Rhineland-Palatinate city of Pirmasens, besides a representative survey and interviews with experts, the participative process “Zukunftswerkstatt”, a form of creative workshops, was accomplished in six different districts. This article points out, to what extent the creative workshops represent a suitable instrument to identify the desires and needs of the elderly and if these workshops can activate the older people to engage in the realization of their expressed needs.