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Last Issue: #31 The Journey
Twenty thousand leagues under the sea by Jules Verne (1825-1905). This book is the answer to my thoughts on travel. It certainly anticipated the saga...Read more
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Loading ...I’d only been at the Architecture Biennale for seven seconds when I saw a red number appear regarding my city: while every city in the world was growing by 25, 50 or 172 inhabitants each hour, the only one with a minus 1 was Milan. There and then, my pride was hurt, as it makes you think “We’re disappearing!” One less person, one less every hour. It’s impressive… 24 people every day.
Then you pause, and think that compared to other places, Milan is a healthy city, as it is much smaller than its metropolitan area, because people mistake its real size, because the real Milan isn’t found within the municipal borders. But Milan is bigger than that. This is where you begin to understand that Milan has been rather betrayed by its administrators, even in the way it is represented. Milan isn’t even capable of representing itself, and perhaps now there is a need to ensure that we start thinking about it as a metropolitan city.
Now we go to China, and 50% of Italian cultural associations come from Milan, 20% from Emilia Romagna… but they say that everything happens in Rome. Strange, isn’t it?
At this wonderful Biennale, looking at the great observations on every city in the world, it strikes me that I’ve dedicated my life to a single city. After all, I produce theatre performances for one city, I’m working to set up a theatre there… we’re building a very Milanese theatre: it has no façade – everything will be hidden. The Puccini: three auditoriums, an entrance tunnel, very Milanese… there’s this idea of hiding public spaces. But we need to start again, to say that Milan, in its own small world, can no longer exist. Take what’s happening in Monza, for example, where the mayor (an architect) is completely redesigning the city… let’s hope the people of Monza understand him. The station area, which used to be a disgrace, has been opened up. Rather like if they were to open up the port at Palermo. Now, behind the station, there’s a theatre, which they’ve built by restoring a building from the Fascist era, the former headquarters of the GIL, the Italian fascist youth organisation. From this new part of the station, you can see part of Monza which is being reborn, and in the process it is changing the habits of Monza’s train users. This morning, I parked my car there and took the train. It has changed my life. So this Biennale, leading us to think of the small city of Milan and the tiny city of Monza, is showing us our need to start planning our existence. We need to leave the 20th century behind, and also the idea that this is a time of war. We have to think that we need to design the future. The great thing about this Biennale is that, for once, visitors, whether they live in Bogota or London, can understand the cities that grow by expanding, and those that grow by increasing the density of the population per square metre. Here’s London, growing healthily, and Shanghai, growing crazily: it really makes you think. Everyone should bring something to their own little town or city. The first to do so should be the public administrators, artists, architects……….who should say: now we need to plan, and say no to this ignorance. We’ve had governments that have been ignorant. I thought they were ignorant about culture and the theatre, but perhaps they were ignorant about cities. This can’t be allowed to happen any longer, because no plan is possible in the face of rampant individualism. Everyone thinks about his own career, his own personal plans, and acts accordingly. But no artist or genius can do all the work that a city requires. Or a country, or the world.
It is a network, and the network has to start thinking, thinking much more. This is the great eye-opener of this Biennale.
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