CAFx - Conversation with the city by Lucia Concetta Vincelli

Conversation with the city

Lucia Concetta Vincelli

Denmark

Conversation with the city' explores the process of welcoming in Copenhagen, through the stories of two strangers at different times. The Norrebro neighborhood has become the place where both of them belong: its diversities shaped the area in a welcoming architecture. Actually, it is a process, that starts from Norreport Station and continues until Superkilen Park. It has to be a process of care for humans, for their perceptions, and for places as well: in that sense, it is similar to the first conversations we make in order to feel welcomed in a new city.

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On the shore of the Caspian Sea

Baku is an industrial oil city and the country's primary export - oil and gas is sucked off from the Caspian Sea which has a significant contribution to the city's identity, infrastructure, design, and culture as well as its economy. The oil industry has been expanding and shaping the destiny of Baku for almost more than 5 decades now and without it, neither the city could be the way it is now, nor the country. The industry brings major challenges to the city during resource-demanding oil production by emitting alarming levels of greenhouse gases, polluting air and water bodies, degrading land, and mismanaging toxic oil waste. As a result of it, the Caspian Sea is highly polluted, and most coastal areas of the sea even have a hazardous level of toxicity for swimming. On top of everything, most citizens are very irresponsible with their trash around the coast and it adds up to the catastrophic pollution of the Caspian. The city’s major identity comes from the Caspian Sea, however, it is heartbreaking to see the trash and oil leakage pounding the shores of the 16 KM long Baku Boulevard when you walk along it. Due to the mismanagement of waste and lack of public awareness the shores are getting dirtier every other day and it is becoming impossible to find a clean spot to swim in the summer to survive the heat waves. Also, the privatization of the beaches is another challenge, and access to clean shores is becoming more and more commercialized and expensive to enter. Thus, access to swimming is becoming very exclusive for the working class and many had to bear the smell, inconvenience, and ugliness of public beaches.

IMAL BY CENTRAL / NP2F

Second episode of a mini series about Belgian contemporary architecture commissioned by Wallonie-Bruxelles Architecture in the framework of EUMiesAward 2022 . Let’s discover iMAL, the Brussels based Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology designed by Central Ofaau and Np2f.

Most streets of Baku are unsafe and hostile for women and queers due to their design and location. There is a cultural practice that women* need a company to go out in the streets in the dark or even sometimes in daylight to have more security. Unfortunately, there are many reported (and mostly unreported or uninvestigated) cases of women* facing harassment in public spaces in Baku. Most of the incidents happen in side streets with poor lighting and narrow sidewalks. Also, the local chaikhanas (where mostly cishet men come together to play board games and drink tea) cover the corners of the inner streets of suburban areas, making it very hard for women to pass by due to the risk of harassment or general discomfort of being subjected by men.