This week’s articles focus on the role of urbanism and public space had in the unrest in the Middle East:
Liberation Squares: How urban space, specifically spaces of public assembly, reflects the political priorities of those in power and enhances or prohibits social change. (Urban Omnibus)
- How Urban Planning Fans the Flames of Revolution: A look recent Middle Eastern protests through an architecture lens. (Fast Company)
- The Square Revolutions: A common thread running through the recent protest movements is that they all occurred in places with a dense urban fabric. (Pattern Cities)
- Designing a city for safe protests: Architects and city planners should design useful and effective spaces to allow for widespread assembly and civil participation. (EurekAlert)
- Where does a revolution happen? All the tweets and texts flying through the airwaves did not change the fact that a physical place, will always be a necessary stage for any kind of action. (Discovering Urbanism)
Bonus Entry:
- Design and History of Tahrir Square: With the recent Egyptian protests and with Tahrir Square entering the popular American lexicon, here is some background about the design, history, and spirit of the place. (Dwell)
Super Bonus Entry:
Sarah Goodyear at Grist was one of the first to make the connection between urbanism and revolution in Egypt. In fact she was so quick out of the gates that I overlooked her article in the above list. Here it is:
- In Egypt, you can switch off the internet but not the streets: The government of Hosni Mubarak has shut down the internet. It has blocked cell phone service. But the public spaces of Cairo, so far, have belonged to the people. (Grist)