A special publication produced by Urban-Think Tank and the TdLab at ETH Zürich,Markets in the Tropicspresents the research, debates, and encounters that emerged from two summer schools with Universidad del Norte focused on thecentro histórico of Barranquilla, Colombia. Published as a limited edition newspaper, it gathers local and international expert opinions on the current trade-offs facing the city, and examines the potential of furthering participatory and trans-disciplinary methodologies in urban design. Encompassing historical recollections, future scenarios, interviews, and workshop findings, the publication also includes contributions from Armando Silva, Roland Krebs, Christian Sieber, Peter Mörtenböck, and Helge Mooshammer.

Markets in the Tropics

Publications

Can architecture and design respond to cities under stress? Capital flight, debt, and social crisis have left visible scars in urban environments worldwide. Buffeted by powerful forces, the endemic vacancy and deteriorating buildings that confront a visitor to Athens today are only the most immediate symptoms of longer-term decline. With its roots in a research and design initiative led by Urban-Think Tank, this book presents a collection of 101 spatial ideas that map a post-crisis vision for the city. Focusing on small and large-scale interventions alike, the authors identify and mobilize the latent potential found in the Greek capital by demonstrating how what already exists can be used in creative and unexpected ways. Targeting a range of challenges, from the economy and public space, to immigration, health, mobility, and poverty, Reactivate Athens: 101 Ideas can be read simultaneously as a both an in-depth toolkit and call to action. Alongside material produced by Urban-Think Tank, the book, which is written in Greek and English, includes contributions from Maria Kaltsa, Thomas Maloutas, and Panayotis Tournikiotis.

Reactivate Athens: 101 Ideas

Torre David, a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, has remained uncompleted since the Venezuelan economy collapsed in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home to more than 750 families living in an extra-legal and tenuous squat, that some have called a ‘vertical slum’. Urban-Think Tank spent a year studying the physical and social organization of this ruin-become home. Richly illustrated with photographs by Iwan Baan, Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities documents the residents’ occupation of the tower and how, in the absence of formal infrastructure, they organize themselves to provide for daily needs, with a hair salon, a gym, grocery shops, and more. Including contributions from Andres Lepik, André Kitagawa, Arno Schlueter, and Christian Schmid, this thought-provoking work not only investigates informal vertical communities and the architecture that supports them, but also issues a call for action: to see in informal settlements a potential for innovation and experimentation, with the goal of putting design in service to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities

Caracas is located some 1,000 meters above sea level, in a 20 kilometre wide valley. It is a megalopolis of 800 square kilometers, home to nearly six million people. To the extent that the rest of the world knows Caracas, they associate it with Venezuela’s staggering economic growth, its membership in OPEC, and the machinations and manipulations of its leadership. This is one Caracas. But Caracas is two cities: the formal city of tall buildings, gated homes, enormous wealth, and private transportation, and the informal city. The latter, sprawling to the east, covers an area four times larger than the 1950s-era metropolitan boundaries and is home to almost one million families.

Title	Urban Transformation
Authors	Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner
Release	January 2008
Editors	Ilka & Andreas Ruby
Publisher	Ruby Press
Pages	400

‘Caracas Metro Cable: Bridging the Formal/Informal City’

Urban Transformation