Just a failed shopping-scape? Urban and public values of Le Mirail’s dalle

The famous plan for Toulouse-Le Mirail, by Candilis/Josic/Woods (1961), proposed a radical and hitherto new public space, the dalle, an elevated linear ?stem? that wove the whole urban intervention and concentrated all the commercial, social and cultural activity of the neighbourhood. However, the project is today stigmatized as a total social failure. The dalle has been demolished and a traditional commercial street has been implemented. Was demolition the sole alternative for Le Mirail?s future? This paper aims at identifying certain themes around the conception of the dalle, capable of informing today?s theory and practice in the design of new shopping/public-scapes. It reflects on both the most positive values of the project and on its naiveties and mistakes, conscious of the social unrest that aggrandized them. Ultimately, it calls for a deeper reflection on the urban proposals of the Modern Movement, beyond demolition as the only possible solution.

COST Action Urban Agriculture Europe Training School «Urban agriculture inside the city:alternatives for vacant lots and public space»

The third Training School of the Action took place in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque country, Spain) from 24th to 26th September 2014. Vitoria-Gateiz has experimented an important urban outgrowth in the last decade, mainly through the planning and development of two new neighborhoods, Zabalgana and Salburúa, situated at the eastern and western border of the city, by the Greenbelt. These new development are well-equipped and designed according to sustainability principles. Nevertheless, among the main problems they present is their over-dimensioned public space, which creates some areas lacking enough density and mix of uses. On the other hand it is very expensive for the municipality to maintain these public space with the high Vitorian urban standards for public space. The proposed solution for this problem is a strategy of "re-densification" through the insertion of new uses The debate has arisen about which are the most adequate uses to insert in order to get an increasing of urban vitality, specially considering that housing has reached its peak and that Vitoria-Gasteiz is well served with social and sport amenities. The main goal of the TS was to offer an opportunity for the reflection about how urban agriculture might be an optimal alternative for the re-qualifying of this over-dimensioned public space in the new neighbourhoods, especially considering it synergic potential as a tool for production, leisure and landscaping, including the possibility of energy crops within the limits of urban space. Continuity with rural and natural surrounding area through alternatives for urban fringe at the small scale is a relevant issue to be considered as well within the reflection. Taking Zabalgana neighbourhood as a practical field for experiment, the Training School is conceived as a practical and intensive design charrette to be held during a whole day after two days of local knowledge-deepening through field visits and presentations.