Review: TED Talks
Who belongs in a city?
I'll be honest here, the speaker felt to dissociated from the speech that she was giving. It kept feeling like she was reading straight from a transcript of the piece. It seemed like if I was given the same speech, it would sound the same coming from me or from anyone else. For me, I want to feel like the speaker is talking to the audience, not at them. But that's just being critical of superficial aspects of the talk.
The point of the TED talk is to talk about how Lagos is being ripped apart to make room for a modernized, rich-life experience. The old homes and villages are being uprooted to make room for the "new Dubai". This is a prime example of gentrification, where the culture and characteristics of the people of Lagos are being lost to make way for the high-life. The speaker says the issue isn't the slums that exist, it's the societal inequality that put the people in the situation. The slum dwellers aren't the issue, the government is turning their backs on these people. This gives a ground for what is gentrification.
Architecture that's built to heal
Architecture school promotes the unique. Those with ideas that are out of the norm are what is seen as ideal. Murphy focuses on developing architecture for those in need, not targeting the wealthy. When in Rowanda, he learned how reliance on modern technology isolates the individual. They approached the building of the hospital in a communal way, making the hospital feel more inclusive from the roots up.
Murphy and his group have been building establishments that target the specific needs of the community. I find this interesting because we always here about places in need getting new hospitals or housing developments. But if they are just generic and cheap buildings made without the specific needs of the community, are they actually beneficial. In each of the areas Murphy targets, a traditional building that would be acceptable in 'normal' America would not reach the community in the same way. This is a way to accept change without removing the culture and community from the area. This is how to approach gentrification, without destroying history.
What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them?
Ogbu takes her work to building for the individuals who aren't normally expressed. The local populace of the town she focuses on has seen a push for gentrification as a product of large scale companies having headquarters there. This puts the residents in the shadow of these giants, slowly getting removed as people come in to build condos and luxury apartments to fit the standard of those companies. She gives a great metaphor on how gentrification works, saying that even if the residents' didn't want to leave, it's not their choice to make.
She wants to approach gentrification where the focus should acknowledge past injustices. Buildings should be made to encompass the history, not push it away. The idea behind this talk is that people need to heal the area by accepting the pain. Trying to mask it with the events focused on joy should not be the only thing done.
I'll be honest here, the speaker felt to dissociated from the speech that she was giving. It kept feeling like she was reading straight from a transcript of the piece. It seemed like if I was given the same speech, it would sound the same coming from me or from anyone else. For me, I want to feel like the speaker is talking to the audience, not at them. But that's just being critical of superficial aspects of the talk.
The point of the TED talk is to talk about how Lagos is being ripped apart to make room for a modernized, rich-life experience. The old homes and villages are being uprooted to make room for the "new Dubai". This is a prime example of gentrification, where the culture and characteristics of the people of Lagos are being lost to make way for the high-life. The speaker says the issue isn't the slums that exist, it's the societal inequality that put the people in the situation. The slum dwellers aren't the issue, the government is turning their backs on these people. This gives a ground for what is gentrification.
Architecture that's built to heal
Architecture school promotes the unique. Those with ideas that are out of the norm are what is seen as ideal. Murphy focuses on developing architecture for those in need, not targeting the wealthy. When in Rowanda, he learned how reliance on modern technology isolates the individual. They approached the building of the hospital in a communal way, making the hospital feel more inclusive from the roots up.
Murphy and his group have been building establishments that target the specific needs of the community. I find this interesting because we always here about places in need getting new hospitals or housing developments. But if they are just generic and cheap buildings made without the specific needs of the community, are they actually beneficial. In each of the areas Murphy targets, a traditional building that would be acceptable in 'normal' America would not reach the community in the same way. This is a way to accept change without removing the culture and community from the area. This is how to approach gentrification, without destroying history.
What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them?
Ogbu takes her work to building for the individuals who aren't normally expressed. The local populace of the town she focuses on has seen a push for gentrification as a product of large scale companies having headquarters there. This puts the residents in the shadow of these giants, slowly getting removed as people come in to build condos and luxury apartments to fit the standard of those companies. She gives a great metaphor on how gentrification works, saying that even if the residents' didn't want to leave, it's not their choice to make.
She wants to approach gentrification where the focus should acknowledge past injustices. Buildings should be made to encompass the history, not push it away. The idea behind this talk is that people need to heal the area by accepting the pain. Trying to mask it with the events focused on joy should not be the only thing done.
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