Envisioning the future(s) of the Czech Republic
SS 2023
Assignment
In the Spring Semester 2023, The Why Factory will take up a long tradition of context-based research, that allow to test the future city on different situations: following the path of prior work done about Hong Kong, Saint Petersburg, Eindhoven, Marseille or Amsterdam, this time students are invited to envision the future(s) of the Czech Republic as a whole.
Thirty years after the Fall of the Berlin wall, countries in Central Europe, including the Czech Republic, have been facing a system transition from socialism into a newly established market economy, and the socialist (now post-socialist) city has witnessed —to name a few of the deep changes in the built environment— a shift in modes of collective life, in the use of public space or in the public housing policies. In the meantime,this part of Europe gained geo political importance given its proximity and relationships with former USSR states and turkey. At the same time, the Czech Republic must tackle a series of mounting challenges, commonly shared with the rest of the planet, due to unsustainable anthropogenic actions.
Based on a multifaceted analysis, mapping, and evaluation of the current context (from urban spaces, to food, to water, to energy, to mobility, or to forests) during the Why Factory’s design studio students will produce, visualize and asses a multitude of ideas for the future of the Czech Republic.
The studio will be held in collaboration between the Faculty of Architecture at CTU University in Prague, Delft University of Technology Delft, ARCHIP, University of Brno FA VUT and University of Liberec FUA TUL, whose students will be participating in a parallel studios. In this framework, two joint workshops will be organized during the semester.
The results of the studio will be part of the large model to be exhibited in Prague at the end of the semester.
