II

lz S1ngapura s ljubavlju

Voditelj intervjua: NajveCi izum ovog stoljeca je ... ? Lee Kuan Yew: Klima uredaj, za mene. (Kuan Yew, 2008.)

, U Singapuru jednostavno sve funkcionira. Klimatizacijski uredaj hladi, vlakovi dolaze na vrijeme, ulice su uvijek Ciste, kisa pada uvijek u s poslije podne, lica su nasmijana, nezapo­slenost je 2 %. Sve funkcionira, svi su sretni. Prosjecna vanj­ska temperatura je 32 stupnja, dok je unutarnja 22 stupnja. Prostitucija je legalna. Pornografija nije, kao ni zvakace gume. U Si11yapuru koegzistiraju budizam, islam, krscanstvo. taoi­zam, hiduizam, Kinezi, Malajci, lndijci i sve vise zapadnjaka. Lako je pomisliti da je rijec o melting potu, fuzijskoj kuhinji. no u Singapuru se stanovnistvo ne mije5a, bas kao sto se ne

oris. bro1 95. godina 2015

nap1sali written by

Peua Tomljanov1t Miro Roman

Interviewer: The greatl!st invention of this century must be ... ? Lee Kuan Yew: The air-conditioner, for me. (Kuan Yew, 2008)

, In Singapore, everything simply works. Air-conditioners cool, trains arrive on time, streets are always clean, rain always falls at s p.m., everybody has a smile on their faces, and unemployment is 2 per cent. Everything works, everyone is happy. The aver­age outdoor temperature is 32 degrees Celsius, while the room temperature is 22. Prostitution is legal. Pornography is not, and neither are chewing gums. In Singapore, Buddhism coexists with Islam, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, the Chinese with the Malay, the Indian, and more and more westerners. It is easy to think that it is a melting pot, a fusion cuisine. but in Singapore.

ons. number 9S. year 201s

fotogranJe photographs by Asier Ramirez (AR)

Miro Roman (MR)

From Singapore with Love

mijesaju sastojci u etnickim kuhinjama. Omjeri i brojevi uvijek moraju biti poznati. Tu su pravila i zakoni koji kroje najsitnije detalje ljudskih djelatnosti. To je drustvo koje funkcionira vise kao molekularna kuhinja negoli fuzija. Diskurs koji bi sam grad preuzeo opisujuCi sebe vjerojatno bi bio onaj cinjenicni, poduprt statistikama, metodama sistematizacije, abrade i primjene podataka pod parolom: Zato sto vjerujemo u sta­tistiku. , Kako prieati o gradu koji se razvio u posljednjih so godina? Koji je postojao kao ribarsko selo, kao kompung, kao mocvara, kao priroda, polje i trgovacka Iuka? On je utjelovlje­nje ekonomskog napretka, azijski tigar, ostvarenje 50-godis­nje vladavine Leeja Kuana Yewa. Tu je izuzetno otvoreno i potpuno nekorumpirono trziste stabilnih cijena is jednim od

" ' RO ROMAN. PETRA TOMLJANOVIC, Putop1s

the population does not mix, just as they do not mix the ingre­dients in their ethnic cuisines. Ratios and numbers must always be famil iar. There are rules and laws that tailor even the smallest details of human activity. It is a society that works more like a molecular than a fusion cuisine. A discourse the city itself would adopt in describing itself would probably be the one of a fact, supported by statistics, methods of systematization, processing and application of data under the banner because we believe in statistics. , How to talk about a city that has developed in the last fifty years? A city which existed as a fishing village, a kampung, a swamp, nature, a field and a commercial port? It is the embodiment of economic progress, the Asian Tiger. the achievement of the fifty-year rule of ~ee Kuan Yew. Here we

MIRO ROMAN, PETRA TOMLJANOVIC, Travelogue

"' Panoramski pogled na srediite grada, gradsku vijecnicu i park Esplanade

"' View of the cao skyline. City Hall. and Esplanade Park

(MR)

149

·I

ii

I

(MR)

(MR)

West Coast,

su!ivot hramova. kondominija

ijavne

stanogradnje T

West Coast, coexistence

of temples,

condominiums and public

housing T

najvisih BOP-a u svijetu. Singapur je zeleni ekoloski odrzivi pametni grad - sto god to znaci lo.

GRAD VA MA NA USLUZ I , Uzivajte u svom boravku! Znak dobrodoslice zraene luke Changi ~ Zasto dolaziti u Trgoviste, pitao sam se. I vec pozeljeh otiCi. 'Mozete nastaviti let kad gad pazelite'. rekli su mi, • ali stiCi cete u jos jedno Trgoviste, apsolutno jednako, do posljednje pojedinosti. Svijet prekriva jedno jedino Trgoviste koje niti paCinje niti zavr5ava. Mijenja se samo ime zracne Juke.' (Calvino, 1972.) , Stvoren je grad

150 oros, broJ 95. godina 2015.

have an extremely open and totally uncorrupt market with price stability and one of the highest cops in the world. Singapore is a green eco sustainable smart city-whatever that means.

THE CITY AT YOU R SERVICE. , Enjoy your stay! Changi Airport welcome sign , Why come to Trade I asked myself And I already wanted to leave. 'You can resume your ~ight whenever you like; they said to me, 'but you will arrive at another Trade, absolutely the same, detail by detail. The world is covered by a sole Trade

... Jurong West, javna stanogradnja poznatija pod imenom HOB u kojoj zivi oko 80% stanovn1!tva

<4 jurong West. public housing better known as HDB which houses around 80% of the population

oris. number 9S. year 2015

u kojem se eovjek konaeno vise ne mora prilagodavati onim nezgodnim stvarima dok putuje: novom mjestu, novoj kulturi iii jeziku - stvoren je grad koji ce se u potpunosti prilagoditi vasim potrebama. Grad vama i nama na usluzi - Singapur. Singapur utjelovljuje mjesto koje ne tezi biti stalno i trajno, nego jednostavno, lijepo i efikasno. l<ada bi Calvinov Marco Polo stigao u grad Singapur, onda bi zasigurno prosetao Bayfrontorn koji bi ga impresionirao slicnoscu s manhattan­skim skylineom, sjeo bi na Singapore flyer koji je raden prema The London Eyeu, obavio kupnju na Orchardu koji je projek­tiran prema Oxford Streetu, kupio suvenire Marie in China u Chinatownu, jeo indijsku hranu u Little lndiji, pusio sisu u Arab Streetu i zavrsio dan u lmax 30 kinu gledajuei novi LEGO

film ... , l<ako izgleda simbol grada koji je postao neka vrsta

MIRO ROMAN PETRA TOMLJANOVlt. Putopis

which does not begin and does not end. Only the name of the airport changes. (Calvino, 1972) , A city is created where man finally no longer has to adapt to those awkward things while traveling: a new place, culture or language-a city is created that adapts to your needs completely. A city at service to you and to us-Singapore. Singapore embodies a place that does not aspire to be continual, permanent, rather simple, beautiful and effective. Had Calvino's Marco Polo arrived in Singapore, he would have certainly taken a strol l along Bayfront whose similarity with the Manhattan skyline would have impressed him; he would have sat on the Singapore Flyer, designed after the model of the London Eye, done his shoi;ping at Orchard, modeled after Oxford Street, bought Made-in-China souvenirs in Chinatown, eaten Indian food in Little India, smoked shisha in

MIRO ROMAN. PETRA TOML)ANOVlt' Travelogue

... Most Benjamin

Sheares i luksuzni kondomin1J Costa

Rhu u pozadini

Benjamin Sheares Bndge and luxurious

condominium

Costa Rhu 1n the background

(AR)

151

A

East Coast Park, park - plafa u

jugoistocnom dijelu Singapura

A

East Coast Park, beach park in the

south· eastern part of Singapore

(MR)

generickog kolafa, azijska varijanta ozbiljnog Las Vegasa? To vise nije simbol vezan uz specificni dogadaj, kao sto ih utje­lovljuju l<ip slobode, egipatske piramide, Eiffelov toranj iii, primjerice, World Trade Center. l<ada u Google upisete Singa­pur, prva slika koja se pojavi je hotel. Hotel Marina Bay Sands srediste je nove ideologije grada - ona sugerira temporalnost mjesta u kojem je glavna instanca putn ik namjernik, onaj koji dolazi vidjeti, uloziti, potrositi, otici. Nemjesto hotela, kako ga vidi Marc Auge, postaje nositelj identiteta i simbol gene­rickog; genericko postaje brand.

100 % KON TRO LIRANO, 100 % OPTIM IZIRANO, 100 % DIZA­

JNIRANO ., Vjerujemo da, kad gradimo gradevine, tak?aer gradimo i ljude. CapitaLand ., Sve denivelacije su poravnate, tropska vegetacija je ukrocena, svaka travka je na svom mje­stu: to je grad bez insekata, pri roda je samo u vrtovima -nekada je to mediteranski vrt u stakleniku, a nekada tropska prasuma u vrtu. To je otok, drfava, grad i korporacija. To je Smart City. I sve raste, sve je vece i sve bolje i sve efikasnije. Citava obala zapravo je dizajnirana Iuka koja funkcionira kao taktilna zona koja se brodovima i zrakoplovima veze na glo­balnu mrel.u. U zadnjih 40 godina otok je narastao za jednu cetvrtinu, populacija Se povecala 4 puta, infrastrukture SU

152 ons, broi 9S. godina 2015

Arab Street, and ended his day at the lmax 30 theater, watch­ing the new LEGO Movie ... ., What does the symbol of the city look like, the city that has become a kind of generic collage, an Asian version of a sober Las Vegas? It is no longer a symbol associated with a specific event, as is the case with the Statue of Liberty, the Egyptian pyramids, the Eiffel Tower or, for example, the World Trade Center. If you type Singapore into Google, the first image that appears is a hotel. The Marina Bay Sands Hotel is the heart of the new city ideology -it suggests the tempo­rality of the place where the main instance is the traveler, the one who comes to see, to invest, to spend, to go away. Instead of the non-place of the hotel- as perceived by Marc Auge-it becomes an identity carrier and a symbol of the generic; the generic becomes a brand.

100 PER CENT CONTROL, 100 PER CENT OPTIMIZED, 100 PER

CENT DESIGNED ., We believe that when we build buildings, we build people too. CapitaLand ., All grade separations are aligned, tropical vegetation is tamed, and every leaf of grass is in its place. It is a city without insects; nature is only in gardens. some­times it is a Mediterranean garden in a greenhouse, sometimes a tropical rainforest in a garden. It is an island, a state, a city, and a corporation. It is a Smart City. And everything is growing,

oris. number 95, year 201s

izgradene, BDP kontinuirano raste, vlada je stabilna. Sto jos maze biti izgradeno, koliko teritorija moze biti nadodano, sto jos maze biti sruseno i ponovno sagradeno? ., Tipieno singa­pursko novo naselje odnekud nam djeluje poznato. Blokovi identicnih visekatnica smjestenih u grid sa sred isnjim javnim prostorom, flankirani autocestom, povezanim javnim prome­tom. Pa to je Vers une Architecture, odveden u beskonafost. To je savrseni model Le Corbusierove vizije grada, funkc io­nalni model koji se odnosi prema stvarnosti l : l ; izgradena utopija moderne. Grad koji je u stanju svoj grad ski centar, bez poteskoca, transformirati u poligon Formule l na samo jedno poslijepodne. Grad koji slavi infrastrukturu. On je po naputku: 100 % kontroliran, 100 % optimiziran, loo% dizajniran i lOO % klimatiziran. Rast i kontrola shvaceni su kao nacionaln i ponos, jedna od odlika posebnosti, a sklonost k uspjehu trenira se od malih nogu . ., To je prikazano s ponosom, a ne so sramom. Oni misle da to nije nikakav zloCin. Mi mislimo da u tome ne moie biti nikakvog uiitka. (l<oolhaas et al., 1995.) ., No takvo opti­mizirano efikasno drustvo ima svoju cijenu - u njemu nema mjesta za diskusiju, ljenearenje. drame. komedije. razmisljanja i sanjarenja i sve one druge stvari koje radimo dok nismo efi­kasni. ZeleCi izbjeci neslaganja i sukobe, manipulira se identi­tetima kroz dizajnirano uvafavanje specificne kulture, njenog

MIRO ROMAN , PETRA TOMLJANOVIC. Putopis

everything is bigger, and increasingly better, and more and more .,. Kotejnerski terminal efficient. The entire coast is actually a designed port that fu nc- Keppel, dio singapurske

luke, druge najvece tions as a tactile zone, linked to the global network via ships and planes. In the last 40 years, the island has grown by one quarter, the population has increased four times, infrastructure is built, the GDP has been growing continuously, and the government is stable. What else can be built, how much terri tory can be added, what else can be demolished and rebuilt?., A typical new Singa­pore village somehow looks familiar - blocks of identical multi­story buildings, arranged in a grid with a central publ ic space, nanked by a highway, connected by public transport. Well, it is Vers une Architecture, taken to infinity. It is a perfect model of Le Corbusier's vision of the city. a functional model that is referentia l to real ity in a 1:1 scale. It is a constructed utopia of modernism. A city that is capable of transforming its own city center, without any difficulty, into a Formula 1 street circuit­for a single afternoon. A city that celebrates infrastructure. A city according to instructions: lOO per cent controlled, 100 per cent optimized, 100 per cent designed, and 100 per cent air­conditioned. Growth and control are seen as national pride, one of the attributes of their distinctiveness, and the inclination for success is practiced from an early age . ., It is shown with pride, not shame. They think there will be no crime. We think there can be no pleasure. (Koolhaas et al .. 1995) ., But such optimized, efficient society comes at a price-in it there is no room for discussion, id leness, drama, comedy, thoughts and dreams, and all those other things people do while they are not productive. Wishing to avoid disagreements and conflicts, the identi ties are manipulated through a designed appreciation of a specific cul­ture, of its ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Culture and public practice become a decoration, a commodification. not an open field for dialogue. At a point where culture becomes too loud. the economy slows down; Poetry is a luxury we cannot afford. says Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the father of the homeland . ., Singa­pore has not decided on accepting any of the standard types of government. such as democracy, communism, or monar­chy; instead it relies on the patterns of corporate policies. The Government is a brand where every sector is depoliticized; it is stubbornly insisted only on the politics of profitability and economic growth. Singapore pushes the limits of the concept of state company, placing every society-building segment under its authority, and governing the city by a corporate logic. Thanks to the specific situation characterized by the absence of a strong cultural and historical identity, paired with a 100 per cent contml over a relatively small area, an ideal ground was prepared for the creation of Singapore Inc., a brand that creates a simulation in lieu of society . ., I am o~en accused of interfering in the private

MIRO ROM AN . PETRA TOMLJANOVIC, Travelogue

teretne luke na svijetu

'4 Keppel Container Terminal, a part of the Port of Singapore, the 2nd largest cargo port in the world

(MR)

1S3

I.

r I

,,

II

I: ! I

zaljev Marina

... A view of

Marina Bay

(AR)

154

etnickog i ku lturnog zaleda. Kultura i javne prakse postaju ukras, komodifikacija, a ne otvoreno polje dijaloga. U trenutku kada kultu ra postaje preglasna, ekonomija usporava: Poe­zija je luksuz koji sine mozemo priustiti, kaze otac domovine Lee Kuan Yew. ~ Singapur se ne odlui'uje preuzeti jedan od ustaljenih oblika upravljanja poput demokracije, komunizma, monarhije, vec se oslanja na obrasce korporativnih politika. Vlada je brand u kojem je svaki sektor depolitiziran, a tvrdo­glavo se ustraje samo na politici profitabilnosti i ekonom ­skog rasta. Singapur pomice granice shvaeanja driavne (1rme, stav ljajuci svaki drustvotvorni segment pod svoju qvlast, up ravljajuci logikom korporacija. Zahvaljujuci specificnoj si tuaciji nepostojanja jakog kulturno-povijesnog identiteta i uz stopostotnu kontro lu relativno male povrsine, pripre­mljeno je idealno tlo za stvaranje Singapore lnc.-a, branda koji umjesto drustva stvara simulaciju. ~ Cesto me optuiuju za uplitanje u privatni zivot gradana. Da, da se ne uplicem, da se nisam uplitao, mi donas ne bismo bili ovdje. J kazem bez i najmanje griinje savjesti da mi donas ne bismo bili ovdje, ne bismo postigli ekonomski napredak da nismo intervenirali u vr/o osobne stvari - tko vam je susjed, kako zivite, buku koju

oris. broj 95. god1na 2015

lives of citizens. Yes, if J did not, had J not done that, we wouldn't be here today. And J say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would not hove mode economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters - who your neighbor is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is righ t. Never mind what the people think. (l<uan Yew, 1987) ~ Or as Gibson wou ld say for Singapore, [. .. ] on affluent microcosm whose citizens inhabit something that feels like, well, Disneyland. Disneyland with the death penalty. (Gibson, 1993)

THE GENERIC S I NGAPORE ~ Is this your grandfather's road?, Resi­dents' Committee's kindness movement campaign ~ McLuhan's global village, Saskia Sassen's global city, Koolhas' generic city - they all tell a story of a ioo per cent city ... It is a cont inuous urban space wi th no beginning or end that accumulates every­thing: a space of exchange, housing, commerce, communica­tions, transport, production, and consumption. The generic city is a city of constant change, a place without a defined center. The topics of the generic are the infrastructure, technology, systems, control and optimization. All the worlds are becoming

oris. number 95. year 2015

stvara te, kako pljujete iii jezik koji koristite. Mi odlucujemo sto je isprovno. Nema veze sto ljudi misle. (Kuan Yew, i987.) , Iii kako bi Gibson rekao za Singapur: (. . .) napredan mikro­kozmos ciji grodoni nostonjuju nesto poput Disneylondo u kojem postoji smrtno kozna. (Gibson 1993.)

GENERIC!< ! SI NGAPU R ~ je Ii OVO u/ica vaseg djeda?, kam panja Pokreta za ljubaznost Odbora stanovnika ~ McLuhanovo glo­balno selo, globalni grad Saskije Sassen, Koolhasov genericki grad - svi oni pricaju prii'u o stopostotnom gradu ... To je kontinuirani urbani prostor bez pocetka i kraja koji akumu­li ra sve: prostor razmjene, stanovanja, t rgovine, komunika­cije, prometa, produkcije i potrosnje. Genericki grad je grad stalne promjene, mjesto bez fiksnog centra. Te rna generic­kog je infrastruktura, tehnologija, sustavi, kontrola, optimi­zacija. Svi svjetovi postaju is ti, opokalipso donas personifi ­cirana je smogom zagadenog metropoli sa, djetinstvom na smetlist ima, tornadima. jazom bogatih i siromasnih. dok je romantika donas predocena globalnom egzotikom prepunih trznica, ljud i razlii'itih boja koze, potpuno politicki korektna i sazdana od ikonickih instagram-momenata. U konai'n ic i,

MIRO RO MAN , PETRA TOML/ ANOV IC , Putop1s

the same. The apocalypse now is personified in the smog of the polluted metropolis, a childhood on dumpsites, the tornadoes, the gap between the rich and the poor, while the romance now is presen ted through the global exotic of crowded markets, people of different colors, totally polit ically correct, and com­posed of iconic lnstagram moments. Ultimately, these are the elements of which we can put together the picture of any city: New York City, Jakarta, Cairo, Athens, Singapore ... , a generic city, or as McLuhan would say: The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village. (McLuhan, 1962) ~ The same global vi llage, a generic city, offers another side to it. Like familiar strangers, everything around us is new, yet we are not lost. There is a certain beauty in the generic, or better yet, in the familiarity of the unknown occurring through globalization. In an unfamiliar country, the infrastructure, both the physical and the digital, becomes something like a universal language. All roads, paths, t rains, shortcuts, spaces- every­thing is in our pockets. Just like in Star Trek, you have your own teleporter and you feel safe. The sameness and a set of global standards managed to create a village of exceedingly dense population of residents of high longevity and high literacy with

MIRO ROMAN, PETRA TOMLIANOVIC. Travelogue

Srediste grada s cent rom za izvedbene umjetnosti Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay u prvom planu

... Singapore"s CBD with

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. a centre for t he performing arts, 1n the foreground

(AR)

lSS

I· I t

Singapur je utje lovljenje ekonomskog napretka, azijski tigar, ostvarenje 50-godisnje vladavine Leeja l<uana Yewa

Singapor is the embodiment of economic progress, the Asian Tiger, the achievement of the fifty-year ru le of Lee l<uan Yew

to su elementi od kojih mozemo napraviti sl iku bilo kojega grada: New Yo rka, Jakarte, Kaira, Atene, Singapura ... gene­rickog grada, ii i kako bi McLuhan rekao: Nova e/ektronicka meduzavisnost ponovno stvara svijet po uzoru na globalno selo. (McLuhan 1962.) ., To isto globalno selo, genericki grad, nudi svoju drugu stranu. Poput bliskih stranaca, sve oko nas je novo, a nismo izgubljeni. Ima neke ljepote u generickom, ii i bolje, famil ijarnosti nepoznatog koja nastaje uslijed globaliza­cije. lnfrast ruktura, ona fizicka i digitalna, u nepoznatoj zemlj i postaje poput univerzalnog jezika. Sve ceste, putevi, vlakovi, precaci, prostori - sve nam je u dzepu. Bas kao u Zvjezdanim stazama, posjedujes svoj mal i teleporter i osjecas se sigurno. lstost i set globalnih normi uspjeli su stvoriti selo neizmjerne napucenosti stanovnicima dugog zivotnog vijeka i visoke pismenosti s neogranicenom mogucnosti pristupa znanj u. Posljedica genericke globalizacije jest metropolis izgubljen u limbu stalne urbane renovacije zbog koje ce vjeeno izgledati kao da je izgraden tek prije par dana. Grad koji smo poz_navali jucer, su tra vise nece postojati. Gdje je moja ulica? (Is this your grandfather's road?), pitaju se stanovnici Singapura. To je 100% urbanizam, platforma na kojoj stojimo, ni posve negativna, niti pozitivna.

PRIJED LOG ZA D RUGACIJE CITANJE GENERICKOG ., Sjajan naein za letenje! Singapore Airlines ., Sta aka svjedoeimo globalnom pokretu za oslobodenje: dolje karakter' Sto ostaje kada ogolimo identitet? Nesta genericko? (Koolhaas et al., 1995.a) ., Koji su nedostaci identiteta, i slijedom, koje su

156 oris. broj 9 5 . godina 201s

I I.

j iii 'f !!

- _ __, - - -·· - - - - - - - - ---,

,. ~-

unlimited possibilities of access to knowledge. The consequence of generic globalization is a metropolis lost in the limbo of per­manent urban renovation for which it will forever seem like it was built just a few days ago. The city we knew yesterday will no longer exist tomorrow. Where is my street (Is this your grand­father's road?), the Singaporeans wonder. It is the lOO per cent town planning, the platform on which we stand, neither entirely negative nor positive.

T HE PROPOSAL FOR A DIFFERENT READING OF THE GENERIC ., A

Great Way to Fly! Singapore Airlines ., What if we are witness­ing a global liberation movement: down with character! What is le~ a~er identity is stripped? The Generic? (l<oolhaas et al., 1995a) ., What are the disadvantages of identity, and conse­quently. what are the advantages of the generic, Koolhaas asks. Perhaps it is the process of homogenization, which. seemingly

ons, number 95, year 201s

! - .r _ - - 'CS _ , __ , _

prednosti generickog, pita se Koolhaas. Mozdaje upravo pro­ces homogenizacije, koji se naizgled slucajno globalno manife­stira, zapravo svjestan korak iz razlicitosti ka slicnosti. Mazda su identitet i karakter samo maske za prikrivanje generickog. Mozdaje genericki grad osloboden zatocenistva centralizacije i jednosmjernosti identiteta. Mazda ga ne treba promatrati iskljucivo kroz J<oolhaasovu kritiku, vec traziti njegove moguce artikulacije. Kod generickog je rijec o inverziji povijesti i tra­dicije. Povijest planiranja postaje planiranje povijesti. Vrijeme postoji samo u odnosu na buducnost. Ne postoje pravila i upute za koristenje, samo osobne interpretacije. Granice lik­snih kategorija izgubljene su u kontinuiranom gradu. Genericki grad je grad koji sam sebe uvijek nanovo stvara. Genericki grad postaje kopija za koju ne postoji original, simulakrum gradsko­sti digitalnog drustva. Pitanje je kako ocuvati, pronaCi i redefi­ni rati sto je to gradskost unutar konteksta generickog grada?

MI RO ROMAN, PETRA TOMLJANOVI C. Putop1s

accidentally, manifests itself globally, that is in fact a deliber­ate step from diversity towards similarity. Perhaps identity and character are only masks concealing the generic. Perhaps the generic city is freed from the captivity of centralization and the unidirectionality of identity. Perhaps it should not be viewed solely through l<oolhaas' critique, but its possible articulations should be sought. When it comes to the generic, it is about the inversion of history and tradition. The history of planning becomes the planning of history. Time exists only in relation to the future. There are no rules or instructions for use, only personal interpretations. The limits of fixed categories are lost in the continuous city. The generic city is a city that reinvents itself. The generic city becomes a copy of which there is no original, a simulacrum of the townishness of digital society. The question is how to maintain, find and redefine what townishness actually is within the context of a generic city?

M IRO ROMAN, PETRA TOMLJANOvrc . Travelogue

A

Gardens by the Boy, 101 hektar gradskih parkova

" Gardens by the Bay. 101 hectare of urban parks

(AR}

157