Hm The Horizontal Metropolis

Two contrasting terms are joined to conjugate the traditional idea of metropolis with horizontality; to combine the center of a vast territory--hierarchically organized, dense, vertical, and produced by polarization--with the idea of a more diffuse, isotropic urban condition, where center and periphery blur. Beyond a simplistic center versus periphery opposition, the concept of a horizontal metropolis reveals the dispersed condition as a potential asset, rather than a limit, to the construction of a sustainable and innovative urban dimension. Around 1990, Terry McGee, an urban researcher at University of British Columbia, coined the term desakota, deriving from Indonesian “desa” (village) and “kota” (city). Desakota areas typically occur in Asia, especially South East Asia. The term describes an area situated outside the periurban zone, often sprawling alongside arterial and communication roads, sometimes from one agglomeration to the next. They are characterized by high population density and intensive agricultural use, but differ from densely populated rural areas by more urban-like characteristics. The new book The Horizontal Metropolis investigates such areas alongside examples in the US, Italy, and Switzerland. The study highlights the advantages of the concept and its relevance under economical, ecological, and social aspects. The concept reflects a vision of global urbanization that does no longer allow for “outside” areas and that will test the urban ecosystem to its limits.

This book provides an overview of the Horizontal Metropolis concept, and of the theoretical, methodological and political implications for the interdisciplinary field in which it operates. The book investigates the contemporary emergence of a new type of extended urbanity across regions, territories and continents, up to the global scale. Further, it explores the diffusion of contemporary urban conditions in an interdisciplinary and original manner by analyzing essential case studies. Offering extensive content on the Horizontal Metropolis concept, the book presents a range of approaches intended to transcend various inherited spatial ontologies: urban/rural, town/country, city/non-city, and society/nature. The book is intended for all readers interested in the emergence and development of new approaches in cultural theory, urban and design education, landscape urbanism and geography.

This book draws together classic and contemporary texts on the “Horizontal Metropolis” concept. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it explores various theoretical, methodological and political implications of the Horizontal Metropolis hypothesis. Assembling a series of textual and cartographic interventions, this book explores those that supersede inherited spatial ontologies (urban/rural, town/country, city/non-city, society/nature). It investigates the emergence of a new type of extended urbanity across regions, territories and continents up to the global scale through the reconstruction of a fundamental but neglected tradition. This book responds to the radical nature of the changes underway today, calling for a rethinking of the Western Metropolis idea and form along with the emergence of new urban paradigms. The Horizontal Metropolis concept represents an ambitious attempt to offer new instruction to take on this challenge at the global scale. The book is intended for a wide audience interested in the emergence and development of new approaches in urbanism, architecture, cultural theory, urban and design education, landscape urbanism and geography.

Experimental Zone documents a remarkable experiment in spatial research at the interdisciplinary laboratory Image Knowledge Gestaltung at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Every two months, for four years, researchers reconfigured a 350-square meter workspace for forty scientists. The design-based collaborative experiment's focus was on the interrelation of space and knowledge production: What spatial qualities are required by interdisciplinary teams for their research work? With some 300 striking and straightforward graphics, Experimental Zone presents the findings of the experiment. It highlights the spatial conditions under which individual and collaborative research unfold, overlap, or merge and reveals the characteristics of an architecture that fosters interdisciplinary. The experiment's innovative interdisciplinary approach is also reflected in the book's design, with each of the five chapters and the comprehensive visual material reflecting publishing traditions in design, architecture, and the humanities.