MoMA presents tactical urbanism strategies for expanding megacities

lagos tomorrow, 2014
transportation
image courtesy of NLÉ and zoohaus/inteligencias colectivas

uneven growth: tactical urbanisms for expanding megacities
the museum of modern art, new york, in collaboration with the museum of applied arts, vienna
november 22, 2014–may 10, 2015

as the culmination of a 14-month projective design initiative, the museum of modern art in new york in collaboration with the museum of applied arts (MAK) in vienna will be presenting ‘uneven growth: tactical urbanisms for expanding megacities’, which is comprised of investigations on new strategies for development in large city settings. the effort results from the contributions by various international studios, who focused their attention on six specific metropolises: hong kong, istanbul, lagos, mumbai, new york, and rio de janeiro.

the exhibition, which opens tomorrow november 22, 2014, displays drawings, renderings, animations, and videos that envision pragmatic and forward thinking conditions for productive expansion and living conditions.

lagos tomorrow, 2014
water
image courtesy of NLÉ and zoohaus/inteligencias colectivas

each of the six teams looked to emerging urban conditions that tend to operate with a bottom-up organization rather than a top-down notion of planning. these include small and large scale interventions that often engage community members to participate rather than deal with imposed conditions. within the same mindset, the exhibition is complemented by an online platform that allows the public to submit examples of tactical urbanisms around the world, which can be accessed here.

lagos tomorrow, 2014
energy
image courtesy of NLÉ and zoohaus/inteligencias colectivas

the team investigating visions for lagos, nigeria was comprised of architecture office NLÉ and the online platform studio zoohaus/inteligencias colectiva. the collaboration imagined strategies specifically concerning transportation, water, and energy systems, with architectural typologies that employ a contextually relevant framework for life. in relation to the globally conscious state as well as a locally relevant goal, the infrastructural transformation, ‘features a series of physical and strategic prototypes that enrich the city fabric, merging its local intelligence with global technologies.’

reclaiming growth, 2014
perspective of mumbai with ultra-light growth and supragrowth
image courtesy of ensamble studio/MIT-POPlab

the mumbai team was comprised of URBZ: user-generated cities and ensamble studio/MIT-POPlab, who envisioned a reorganization of infrastructure to allow for live-work conditions. central to the scheme is an expanded responsibility of the individual to shape their community. the designers remark, ‘it is the users themselves who will make the final difference by seizing the tools of institutions and experts to continue doing what they have always done—to control and shape their environments with higher levels of professionalism and good sense.’

reclaiming growth, 2014
mumbai
image courtesy of URBZ: user-generated cities

to clarify the overall aims of ‘unexpected growth’, the exhibition’s organizer pedro gadanho states, ‘the exhibition features design scenarios for future developments that simultaneously raise awareness of the prevailing inequalities in specific urban areas and confront the changing roles of architects vis-à-vis ever-increasing urbanization. each team in the exhibition was asked to consider how emergent forms of tactical urbanism can respond to alterations in the nature of public space, housing, mobility, spatial justice, environmental conditions, and other major issues in near-future urban contexts.’

(rio de janeiro) the carioca way of city making, 2014
varanda products panorama
images courtesy of RUA arquitetos and MAS urban design, ETH zurich

the efforts of RUA arquitetos and MAS urban design at ETH zurich conceived new economic conditions for rio de janeiro, brazil, by proposing a series of ‘varanda products’. this series of everyday consumer goods promotes collective engagement, described as, ‘an interface between individual and community, [which] offers a middle ground for negotiation, gathering, and play.’

(rio de janeiro) the carioca way of city making, 2014
varanda products panorama
image courtesy of RUA arquitetos and MAS urban design, ETH zurich

the new york team, made of SITU studio and cohabitation strategies (cohstra), addressed housing crisis conditions in the city with two alternative approaches. cohabitation strategies has proposed ‘housing cooperative trusts’ that employ collectively owned land and buildings which aim to, ‘guarantee permanent affordable housing while building social equity for future generations.’

the other new york, 2014
community growth corporation infill typology. 2014
image courtesy of SITU studio

SITU studio envisioned a neighborhood-based ‘community growth corporations’ which repurposes underutilized spaces for economic and socially minded growth. ‘outer-borough neighborhoods leverage undeveloped air rights to collectively finance community-wide improvements that provide access to rooftops, backyards, and other occupiable spaces, facilitating a new informal rooftop urbanism for a city with scarce remaining land.’

the other new york, 2014
axonometric view
courtesy SITU studio and cohabitation strategies (cohstra)

MAP office and network architecture lab collaborated to imagine tactical strategies for hong kong. the scheme proposes eight new artificial islands off the coast, including ‘island of sea’, ‘island of resources’, ‘island of surplus’, and ‘island of self’. the team describes the model, ‘is based on a process of decontextualization and ‘reterritorialization’ of existing scenarios. each island epitomizes one of hong kong’s characteristic values from a territorial, social, economic, and futuristic perspective.’

hong kong is land, 2014
the island of resources
image courtesy of MAP office

hong kong is land, 2014
the island of surplus
image courtesy of MAP office

istanbul’s team was comprised of the two studios superpool and atelier d’architecture autogérée, whose projection – KITO – responds to post-industrial development by transforming existing housing complexes. ‘KITO works at different scales and levels of resilient action to retrofit spaces, equipment, services, and institutions, [and] is facilitated via KITO’da, an online network that creates an alternative economy, assigning value to local actions and empowering people to make, give, share, and save energy, services, goods, knowledge, and skills.’