The hope of architecture in the UNECE region
Geneva, 1 July 2008 -- In the transition countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and South-Eastern Europe (SEE), three generations of buildings are identified with the names of the Soviet leaders at the time of their construction -Stalinka, Krushchevka and Brezhnevka. All three are now in serious need of renovation. Initially built quickly and with scant attention to the quality of materials and technologies, these buildings have seen little if any maintenance since the early 1990s. They are now experiencing a wide range of problems: water leaks due especially to faulty roofing, malfunctioning heating systems and no thermal insulation, structural damage and degradation of common spaces - all of which create poor living conditions for tenants.
While buildings and infrastructure in the city centres decay, urban sprawl is overtaking the outskirts of cities and towns. Informal and illegal settlements are spreading at an unprecedented pace in the urban areas of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region. In Albania, for example, informal settlements include up to a quarter of the population in major cities and account for 40 per cent of the country's built-up areas. In The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, they are home to 11 per cent of the population in the 14 largest cities. In Belgrade, 40 per cent of the residential areas are informal settlements, and in Bishkek, almost half of the urban population lives in very low-density informal settlements lying within city boundaries.
The critical situation of cities in the EECCA and SEE subregions was presented by the UNECE secretariat at the XXIII World Congress of Architecture held on 1 July in Turin, Italy. In a session dedicated to "The city in crisis and the hope of architecture", Ms. Christina von Schweinichen, Acting Director of the Environment, Housing and Land Management Division of UNECE, presented some of the key challenges facing cities in the UNECE region, in particular in transition countries, and discussed how architecture could help to reshape urban growth and improve governance. Ms. Schweinichen also stressed how urban management remains a challenge in these countries due to the lack of accountability and transparency in the public sector. This is accompanied by inadequate legislation, the implementation of which is often ineffective or non-existent.
Speaking on the potentials of architecture to resolve these problems, Ms. Schweinichen emphasized that the discipline of architecture should once again become the symbol of economic and social rebirth while at the same time safeguarding the environment. It can make an important contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the housing-related target of Millennium Development Goal 7, to improve the living conditions of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Welcoming the conference's message on the necessities and potentials of architecture, in particular that the discipline could "bring with it a message of democracy and social justice", Ms. von Schweinichen added, "In today's society, architects cannot afford simply to be artists or the developers of booming economies. They have to find again the important social function they have often lost in the past decades, to propose and shape the transformation of a changing society".
As a first step in this direction, the organizers of the Turin conference - the International Association of Architects - and UNECE have agreed to cooperate on a series of activities in the region, including on energy efficiency in buildings, outreach and fund-raising.
For more information, please see:
Ms. Paola Deda
Secretary to the Committee on Housing and Land Management
UNECE Environment, Housing and Land Management Division
Phone. +41 (0) 22 917 2553
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/hlm/welcome.html
Ref: ECE/ENV/08/P11