Date: 9th of July 2009
Location: Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca

Four speakers:

1. Vicente Verdú, speaker and director. (ESP).
2. Inés Sánchez de Madariaga. (ESP).
3. Patrick Tacussel. (FR).
4. Juan Antonio Ramírez. (ESP).

Unload program: english (PDF)

Photographic Gallery: Photographic Gallery Creativity in times of Scarcity

Channel ARQUISOC: Video Gallery Creativity in times of Scarcity

The Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad and this seminar enjoy the generous sponsorship of Spain’s Ministry of Culture, the Regional Government of Navarre, the Urban Planning Office of the City Council of Palma de Mallorca, Mangado y Asociados Architect Bureau, DYNAMOBEL and ASCER Association of Spanish Tiles. 

Sponsors:

General Theme:

Creativity in Times of Scarcity, Laboratory of Trends in the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad examines models of social change in a period of crisis. The aim is to launch a discussion of other historical periods of scarcity and how they were addressed. Are times of hardship best for seeking different, more austere and more imaginative solutions?

In this regard it is possible that part of the solution to this systemic crisis calls for certain models of growth and consumption to be re-examined. A reflection on Creativity in Times of Scarcity may lead us to a new way of looking at the city, the organization of schedules and flows, a work regime linked to a more or less virtual place or space, and even a different model of personal relations in the contemporary city.

At all events, times of crisis and of social upheavals, notwithstanding the insecurity and difficulties that they bring, may operate as huge, collective rites of passage from one era to another. And this is how they are remembered, as if they were midwives helping to give birth to new states of affairs.

Are we in a period that is discredited to the extent that a series of models of transnational economic and political management appear to have failed? This first global crisis casts doubts on our values, which are overturned by unfulfilled expectations and undermined by the primacy of the uncertainty principle.

Creativity in Times of Scarcity, Laboratory of Trends in the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad, in its debut, is intended to pose questions that also touch upon environmental issues and sustainability. What will our future homes and environment be like? There is talk about domotics and intelligent homes, but here there needs to be a productive encounter of domotics programmers, architects and builders, lawmakers, and analysts of social trends. (What will people want? How will people live? How will they consume? How will lives be conducted within the home?)

It is not a matter of advanced technology making a spectacular appearance, but of serving the citizen: this is a transversal discussion that encompasses the knowledge and research of technologies, with the participation of social scientists, architects, political and cultural managers, and designers of trends.
 
Can it be said, in this critical scenario, that something is emerging, perhaps a new horizon, that is still unknown? Are we really entering into a new 21st century, different from the one we expected, with new technological and social parameters and visions? What will our feelings, consumption, and sense of happiness be like in the city of tomorrow? Is the so-called “ungrowth” model a real possibility?

All this and more will be discussed in Creativity in Times of Scarcity, Laboratory of Trends in the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad. www.arquitecturaysociedad.com