Multimedia Explorations in Urban Policy and Planning: Beyond the Flatlands

ISBN-13: 9789400732193 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 390 str.

Leonie Sandercock; Giovanni Attili

Opis

The book is a collection of essays exploring the potential of multimedia to enrich and transform the planning field. By multimedia the authors refer to a broad range of new information and communication technologies (from film and video to digital ethnography and the internet), which are opening up new possibilities in planning practices, processes, pedagogy and research. The authors document the ways in which these ICTs can expand the language of planning and the creativity of planners; can evoke the lived experience (the spirit, memories, desires) of our 21^st century mongrel cities by engaging with stories and storytelling; and can democratise planning practices.The text is epistemologically radical, in presenting an argument for the importance of "multiple languages" (ways of knowing) in the planning field, and making the connection between this epistemology and the almost infinite potential of Multimedia to provide varied tools to accomplish this transformation, displacing the supremacy of the rational, linear and hierarchical with more open, playful and imaginative approaches. Each of the authors brings practical experience with different forms of Multimedia use and reflects on the different potentialities offered by Multimedia for critical intervention in urban and regional issues, and the power dynamics embedded in such interventions.

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This is a very admirable collection of essays, which greatly advances the intellectual project of treating stories and storytelling as crucial parts of planning and urban transformation. ... essays are meritorious, I find several of them to be especially valuable. ... the book is well worth reading by anyone interested in this particular frontier. ... Sandercock and Attili have provided a very fine piece of work ... . I would strongly encourage Sandercock and Attili to expand on this brilliant exploration of the frontier ... ." (James Throgmorton, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 31 (1), 2011)

Spis treści

Introduction.- Part One: Ethnography, Epistemology, History. Digital Ethnographies in the Planning Field. An Epistemology of Multiplicity: the story turn in planning. Film performs miracles: an exploration of the historical role of documentary films in planning.- Part Two: Contemporary Practices. Multimedia in urban policy and community development. Internet-based tools for Neighbourhood Planning and disaster recovery in New Orleans. (Re)Presenting the Street: Video and Visual Culture in Planning. Planning and Communication Technology: a universe of possibilities.Video as a Tool in Community Engagement: stories from an evolving practice. 'La campagna che si fa metropoli': a video camera, a script and a pc editing programme transform an occasion to describe a regional area in North East Italy into an instrument to discover it. Pigneto: film as stimulus to urban conversation. Seeing and Being Seen: Multimedia as a Reflexive Planning Methodology. Part Three: Teaching and Research with/without Multimedia in Planning. Digital Pedagogies in Planning. Where Strangers become Neighbours: digital ethnography in teaching and research. Does Participatory Design really matter? Film as an answer. Nurturing progressive imaginations through Multimedia: a story from Tijuana. How Robert Frost, DVDs, Your Students, and You Can Lift the Blinders of Social Segregation and Self-Censorship in Planning Education: a film and writing course.- Conclusions.

O autorze

Leonie Sandercock is the author of ten books, the most recent of which include Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities (1998) and Cosmopolis 2: Mongrel Cities of the 21^st Century (2003). The latter book won the Paul Davidoff Award for best book awarded by the American Collegiate Schools of Planning. She also received the Dale Prize for Community Planning (2005), and the BMW Award for Intercultural Learning (2007), for her paper on 'Cosmopolitan Urbanism'. She co-authored with Giovanni Attili the book and DVD package Where Strangers become Neighbours: Integrating Immigrants in Vancouver, Canada (Springer, 2009).

Giovanni Attili is an Urban Planning PHD, Research Fellow at the University of Rome (La Sapienza) and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia (UBC, Vancouver). He is recipient of the G.Ferraro Award for the best Urban Planning PhD Thesis in Italy in 2005. He is co-editor of the book "Storie di Citta" (Edizioni Interculturali, 2007), author of the book "La citta dei migranti" (Jaca Book, 2008) and co-author of the book and DVD package Where Strangers become Neighbours: Integrating Immigrants in Vancouver, Canada (Springer, 2009).

Blurb

This book explores the potential of multimedia to enrich and transform the planning field. By ‘multimedia’ the authors refer to the combination of multiple contents (both traditional and digital: texts, still images, animations, audio and video productions) and interactive platforms (offline interactive cd roms, online websites and forums, digital environments) which are opening up new possibilities in planning practice, pedagogy and research. The authors document the ways in which multimedia can expand the language of planning and the creativity of planners; can evoke the lived experience (the spirit, memories, desires) of the mongrel cities of the 21^st century by engaging with stories and storytelling; and can help democratize planning processes.

The diverse contributions demonstrate multimedia’s potential for layered, complex and open-ended representations of urban life; for enabling multiple forms of voice, participation and empowerment; for stimulating dialogue and influencing policy; for nurturing community engagement and community development; for expanding the horizons of qualitative and quantitative research; and for transformative learning experiences.

The book conveys an excitement about the ways in which multimedia can be used by activists, immigrant and indigenous communities, planning scholars and educators, wherever urban policy and planning strategies are being debated and communities are struggling to shape, improve or protect their life spaces. But the authors go beyond enthusiasm for the new, incorporating a critical stance about the power relations embedded in these new information and communication technologies; raising questions about audience and political intentions; and outlining ethical dilemmas around authorship and ownership, collaborative processes, and the politics of voice.

Leonie Sandercock is the author of eleven books, including Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities (1998) and Cosmopolis 2: Mongrel Cities of the 21^st Century (2003). The latter won the Paul Davidoff Award for best book from the American Collegiate Schools of Planning. She also received the Dale Prize for community engagement (2005) and the BMW Award for Intercultural Learning (2007).

Giovanni Attili is the recipient of the G. Ferraro Award for Best Urban Planning PhD Thesis in Italy in 2005. He is co-editor of Storie di Citta (2007) and author of La citta dei migranti (2008), and co-author, with Leonie Sandercock, of the book and DVD package Where Strangers become Neighbours: Integrating Immigrants in Vancouver, Canada (2009).