Article by Theresa Konova
What changes are made in the city should be decisions, defined not only by municipality, but also coordinated with NGOs and residents, composing the character of the regions, which are to be transformed. ‘Layers of Urban Harmony’ is a case study, which explores the citizens initiatives in the neighborhoods ‘Vinkhuizen’ and ‘De Held’ in Groningen.
This article aims to present the book ‘Layers of Urban Harmony’, written by Theresa Konova (graduated Bachelor student of Spatial design (2024) from Hanze university in Groningen), whose goal was to write a thesis in the form of an artistic book that explores the topics of ‘community-based living’ and ‘social impact design’. It includes observations and volunteering in existing neighborhood organizations, the opinion and experience of the residents and their mutual connections. Gentrification is a problem that occurs in Groningen and brings multiple challenges in each re-designed region: it changes the people, the network, the developing culture. The book also discusses the concept of ‘the right to challenge’, meaning that a group of organized residents can take over tasks from municipalities, provided that things can be done better, smarter and cheaper. Can this be the case of certain groups of people in an area in Groningen, already trying to organize better co-existence in their surrounding? One of their main efforts, the ‘breeding ground’ of ‘Backbone 050’ may be torn down, so the book poses the question of how these people can preserve their spot in the city, as they play a major role in establishing a community. This region has a few places focused on food and energy production. Many of them would like to expand, reaching the inclusion of more people. Thus, another purpose of the book is the promotion of these places, showcasing their impact on residents and their overall importance in the city.
The writing style of the book is narrative and it has a personal approach to the topics and places described. As a spatial designer, my mission is developing concepts about the environment and about people in the environment, but the environment consists of so many more species, so it is about altogether species within this environment. It is discussed how humans in this civilization have contributed to unseen achievements, but have also contributed to unseen decay of the planet. The current system works in no unison with our nature, which provokes the urgent call for a change in it. In the following two chapters of the book, main inspirations are stated, which revolve around the topics of co-existence in the cities (book ‘Circular Communities’) and social design (book ‘Design for the real world’). For example, in ‘Design for the real world’ the reader is invited to explore what the actual meaning of responsible design is and how future designers can create it. Written after the Industrial Age period, in the mass production era of the 50ies and 60ies, it displays the contrast between commercial and superficial design that is empty of a greater mission and well-thought design that is useful and is actually contributable to people, not only to the capital. In the view of the author, ‘design has become the most powerful tool with which man shapes his tools and environments. This demands high social and moral responsibility from the designer. It also demands greater understanding of the people by those who practice design and more insight into design processes by the public.’ [Papanek, Victor. 1971. Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. New York: Pantheon Books] Smart design should be reached through conscious decisions that answer to a number of important questions concerning common problems.’
In ‘Circular communities’ the reader has the opportunity to learn about concepts, such as the ‘doughnut model’, which aim is to meet the needs of the people within the needs of the planet. The diagram of the doughnut represents 12 basic human needs (the social foundation) on its inner circle, while the outer ring is 9 supporting systems of the planet earth, the ‘ecological ceiling under which humanity should live’ [Raworth, Kate. 2020. ‘How the Dutch are reshaping their post-pandemic economy – BBC REEL, Youtube]. The most vital aspect of the book is that it represents how social organizations, connected with NGOs and government work together and make agreeable decisions for the urban changes in different cities in the Netherlands, notably in Amsterdam (‘Amsterdam City Doughnut’), Rotterdam, the Hague, Arnhem, Nijmegen and ties in with the new Dutch Environmental Planning Act. The reader can learn how regular people manage renewable resource flows, take care of recycling and reusing and maintain sustainable mobility. These actions are a proof that if people in the city organize in groups, representing their neighborhoods, they are able to make changes that contribute to more self-resilient and eco-friendly environment.
Diving in these topics, I was personally engaged to look for places in Groningen that use similar approach and follow principles of circularity, permaculture design, creating social values. As a spatial designer, I was making observations of the regions, for which I already found information to have existing initiatives. Between the end of ‘Vinhuizen’ and ‘De Held’ quartiers lies the building of ‘Backbone 050’, which encompasses start-up companies, music bands, crafts & repairs workshops, canteen, skatepark, dancing groups and other social activities. My focus was to understand how and why volunteers participate there and who are the main characters, who set up the organizations. In ‘Mutual Aid’ bike & repair workshop, the values and ideas of the founder Emil were exposed in his interview, where he explains what are the motives behind it. His goal is to attract people that would like to learn how to repair a bike, or create their own, and in exchange they get their creation for free or help someone else pick up their skills. The idea is that through such interaction, the visitor is ‘paying’ through and with knowledge, rather than with money. ‘Free Café’ canteen has similar idea: they want to attract volunteers that are open to cook free meals and share it with visitors from all around the region. These volunteers gather left over food products from the city market and supermarkets that would otherwise be thrown out just because it does not have the ‘commercial appearance’ anymore. In this way, not only do they offer cooked meals for free, but they reduce food waste, contributing to circularity.
Meanwhile, a huge self-resilient ecosystem is flourishing in ‘De Held’. In the ‘Tiny house movement’ participants have built their own houses, many of them reusing materials and have established a network of renewable energy production. Across of them, ‘Tuin in de Stad’ owners have built their own clay canteen, in which every week they invite specialists in the field of city policies or politics that open discussions, aiming to involve citizens’ opinions and exchange ideas or speak openly about current problems in the city or in society. Furthermore, this place offers moments for musical performances, has camping facilities and kids playgrounds, where they have events. They produce their own food and have plated hundreds of trees in the region.
Mentioning the food production, I must pay attention to two other notable places in the region, one of them the food forest ‘PlukN’, which is an open agroforestry park with their own commerce, in which they sell fruits from their orchards, but also pork and poultry meat, animals, which are freely growing in the open grounds of the food forest. Meanwhile, their neighbor Bas is the founder of a communal permaculture garden: ‘De Blije Bodem’, which offers various vegetables and flowers, planted in gardens, designed and grown by the volunteers. You can participate in the process and learn a lot about raising your own food and using compost to fertilize it, or subscribe to their production, so you can get local bio food. The efforts of the municipality, aiming at teaching young kids where and how food grows are organized in a big school garden with few locations, called ‘Natuur en Duurzaamheid Educatie Gronigen’.
Upon exploring these places, I found out that the biggest problem is the gentrification issue, threatening the destruction of the breeding ground of ‘Backbone 050’. In the last few chapters of the book, similar breeding grounds in Groningen or around are presented, which have fought for and won a permanent place on the map for the moment. Through such examples, I have aimed to present to the reader what are the most important social values, being preserved there and why that matters for the city dynamics. In my design project that follows the book, I have made suggestions of how ‘Backbone 050’ can be redesigned, so it answers to the needs of both residents and municipality. Hopefully, a wise decision can be made, providing a secure future for the breeding ground.
References:
‘De Blije Bodem’, available on: https://deblijebodem.nl/
Papanek, Victor (1971), Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. New York: Pantheon Books
Leclercq, Els, Mo Smit (2022): Circular communities, Delft, nai010 publishers, ISBN 978-94-6208-759-0, online publishing: https://books.open.tudelft.nl/home/catalog/view/62/94/164
‘Natuur en Duurzaamheid Educatie Groningen’ (2023), available on: https://ndegroningen.nl/over-ons/
‘PlukN’, availabe on: https://www.plukn.nl/
Raworth, Kate (2018): ‘A healthy economy should be designer to thrive, not grow’, available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhcrbcg8HBw
Raworth, Kate (2020): ‘How the Dutch are reshaping their post-pandemic economy – BBC REEL’, available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziw-wK03TSw
‘Tiny Houses Westpark’, available on: https://tinyhouseswestpark.nl/
‘Tuin in de Stad’ (2023), available on: https://detuinindestad.nl/