Île de Nantes – Designedly Ways of Recognition

TY - CONF

T1 - Île de Nantes – Designedly Ways of Recognition

AU - Braae, Ellen Marie

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - The increasing number of abandoned industrial sites over the last half century can be considered a waste- or byproduct of urban development. What we understand as waste in an urban development perspective, and not least what we do with it, are central themes in the sustainability discussion. This is a discussion that is increasingly reduced to a question of technology (Hauxner 2010: 244), which in industrial areas is primarily pollution issues. Seen from this perspective, the French landscape architect and architect Alexandre Chemetoff is of particular interest due to his Île de Nantes project. Here he provides a new framework for understanding urban metabolism from a development perspective, and demonstrates how urban development can be seen as an open-ended process. This article presents and discusses Chemetoff’s innovative approach using a theoretical framework drawing on contemporary philosophical discussions of the convergence between ethics and aesthetics, and the ethics of recognition. This article focuses on the transformation of the island, Île de Nantes, located in the Loire River in southwest France. Between 2000 and 2010, Chemetoff conducted the process of transforming the island, which formerly housed industrial and port activities, into an integral part of the city of Nantes. Based on on-site observations, published project material, literature studies and interviews with Chemetoff himself, Chemetoff’s work and working methods are examined and discussed, on the theory that the completed transformations may articulate both the transition’s implicit value, and the working methods employed. This work appears to be grounded on an appreciative approach, with parallels in the ethics of recognition found in recent social and political philosophy. This leads to a new starting point for design practice and further connects Chemetoff’s principles concerning “cultivating differences” and “economizing sites”, the recognition discussion, and in a wider perspective the identity discussion, with a rejection on what we understand by sustainability. A design practice praising the relational, dynamic and fluid rather than the object and the static.

AB - The increasing number of abandoned industrial sites over the last half century can be considered a waste- or byproduct of urban development. What we understand as waste in an urban development perspective, and not least what we do with it, are central themes in the sustainability discussion. This is a discussion that is increasingly reduced to a question of technology (Hauxner 2010: 244), which in industrial areas is primarily pollution issues. Seen from this perspective, the French landscape architect and architect Alexandre Chemetoff is of particular interest due to his Île de Nantes project. Here he provides a new framework for understanding urban metabolism from a development perspective, and demonstrates how urban development can be seen as an open-ended process. This article presents and discusses Chemetoff’s innovative approach using a theoretical framework drawing on contemporary philosophical discussions of the convergence between ethics and aesthetics, and the ethics of recognition. This article focuses on the transformation of the island, Île de Nantes, located in the Loire River in southwest France. Between 2000 and 2010, Chemetoff conducted the process of transforming the island, which formerly housed industrial and port activities, into an integral part of the city of Nantes. Based on on-site observations, published project material, literature studies and interviews with Chemetoff himself, Chemetoff’s work and working methods are examined and discussed, on the theory that the completed transformations may articulate both the transition’s implicit value, and the working methods employed. This work appears to be grounded on an appreciative approach, with parallels in the ethics of recognition found in recent social and political philosophy. This leads to a new starting point for design practice and further connects Chemetoff’s principles concerning “cultivating differences” and “economizing sites”, the recognition discussion, and in a wider perspective the identity discussion, with a rejection on what we understand by sustainability. A design practice praising the relational, dynamic and fluid rather than the object and the static.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - new constellations

KW - new ecologies

KW - landscape architecture

KW - transformation theory

M3 - Paper

ER -