How to Rural
A Scenario-Based Investigation of the Countryside’s Role in a Post-Industrial Future
M.J. Wachala (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
S. Milinović – Mentor (TU Delft - Urban Design)
F.J. Speksnijder – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
Alex Wandl – Mentor (TU Delft - Environmental Technology and Design)
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Abstract
Land prices and rents are constantly increasing in core cities around the globe. They are becoming an object of speculation and investment. Current progressions suggest a development in the outskirts through a process of post-urbanisation. While the suburbs and adjoining villages in the satellite sprawl experienced popularity among young families rather early, the core city remained as the main habitat for professional utilisations. People commuted for that purpose to the centre.
However, with rising land prices: industry, education, and cultural facilities move to the suburbs. New centres outside of the core city arise. The planned and rapidly constructed extensions seem to lack in qualities of traditional core cities like their diverse supply or compared to their individual characteristics. Moreover, the density of cities in combination with their anonymity causes social stress. Architecture becomes a commodity in the suburbs.
Although a trend of people moving to the space outside of the city, or as commonly referred to as the countryside, can be observed, the majority of the population lives and moves towards the city. This attraction may be routed in the diversity of the city. Nevertheless, the countryside needs to be maintained for the function of the city and still, it lacks qualities and is out of the scope of most spatial practitioners.
Opposing the uneven living conditions, considering the necessity of maintaining the hinterland, and recognising the countryside’s potential, this research raises the question: How can rural life patterns be adapted to substitute qualities of urban density in the countryside?