Author Archives: clockword

Gazprom Tower Films Shown at INURA Conference

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Linked below are two intriguing films concerning the Gazprom Tower of St Petersburg, Russia:

The Tale of the Gazprom Tower

This is the fairy tale about the Gazprom Tower in beautiful St. Petersburg/Russia. About the kings and queens creating it, about their dreams and wishes, about the wonderful buildings preceding it and the kings and queens who built them. It’s about voices behind the curtain and subjects, who don’t obey.
It’s a long story cut short, but without an end. Because once you release the spirits you won’t get rid of them, or as Faust said: Spirits that I’ve cited, my commands ignore.

The Tower: A Songspiel

This film is based on an analysis of the conflict that has developed
 around the planned Okhta Center with a Gazprom skyscraper in Petersburg and on real
 documents from Russian social and political life.
 April 2010

Both of these films are darkly comic and visually engaging with deep and rich historical and geographical context. Enjoy and experience them.

Evicted for Sport

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:courtesy: Ravi Chaudhary/Governance Now.

This year, the commonwealth games are held in Delhi. Minister of Delhi 2010 Sheila Dikshit’s  concept of a “World Class” image has convinced local officials to  demolish any slums local to the commonwealth venues.

On the 7th of July 2010, during work hours, a government funded demolition team took bulldozers to the Yamuna Khada school (funded by donations) in order for it to be ruthlessly demolished. Those who attended and worked at the school were given three hours to vacate the property with no alternative. Police were present along with the construction teams and were seen destroying whatever could be demolished by hand in order to put fear into local residents. Many were removed with physical force.

After the destruction of the school, children as young as five years old were seen with teachers attempting to salvage items from the rubble of the school in order to save whatever they could for their community.  The children will have to relocate to the nearest alternative school three miles away in order to have an education. The school as part of the community was by no means a luxury but a necessity. With no immediate community to move to it is unknown when they are next able to continue their education and their lives.

Children from slums (including the Yamuna slums) have come together to produce a book of poems entitled “We Built This City” in order to save at least the memory of the community that they and their families have spent the last 25 years building. This emotional and reflective collection is the only weapon these children have against the bulldozers and police sent in by the government. With India hoping to host the 2016 Olympics it’s a wonder how far this abuse of the poor is going to go.

To find out more about what is happening concerning the destruction of the slum communities and to help support those who have suffered from the effects of the redevelopment of the Yamuna river, please visit Sarai and Governance now. If you would like to see how we have looked at this issue, please see our London / Delhi Project.

With similar effects seen in Beijing (Olympics 2008) and the UK (arguably with less government approved violence), it is questionable whether the development of these cities to create a “world class image” is necessary or progressive. The compaction of poor communities increases the class divide as well as reducing the opportunity for the poor to improve their standard of living.

Interestingly the official explanation for why the school needed to be demolished was “security”, the same reason given for demolishing the 100 year old Manor Gardens Allotments in London. These mega-events last only a few weeks- demolition is forever. There is only one difference between the events in London and Delhi. Eviction with a smile.

Remember- Its not losing that matters, its the taking part.

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See our Olympics project pages for more information and videos.
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Bulldozing Battersea Water Pumping station for profit

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Listed but not protected

Battersea Water Pumping Station is Grade II listed but not protected.

The usual safeguards against demolition of a heritage building are under scrutiny as REO, “developers” of Battersea Power Station, seek to bypass the criteria for demolishing a listed building and bulldoze the Victorian Battersea Water Pumping Station. Under new policy guidelines, REO will no longer need to administer the test criteria before destruction of a heritage site. REO state they “are not seeking to justify demolition on the basis of Policy HE9.2(ii)” Conveniently, REO is not in violation of policy and in effect giving them the right to proceed without obstacle.

A summary of the criteria for demolition under Policy HE9.2(ii) of PPS5 are to prove they are unable to:

  1. find a “new use” for the building
  2. maintain existing building  use
  3. find a charity group interested in the building
  4. get a local group willing to take on the building
  5. market the building – someone could use it for alternative means

The community group Battersea Power Station Company has in fact offered to purchase the building for a nominal sum for a community centre, the building is described as “fairly robust and would be restorable if somebody wanted to.” However, under Policy HE9.2(i), REO claim they will not need to go through the test criteria listed. REO claim they can reject applications for the building arguing “the requirement to market the property is not engaged, since that only relates to Policy HE9.2(ii) and not to Policy HE9.2(i).”

Furthermore, under the new policy, REO “justifies the demolition of the water pumping station by reference to Policy HE9.2(i) of PPS5. Our position is that the demolition of the pumping station is justified by the delivery of the substantial public benefits inherent to the regeneration scheme [REO] are promoting, that outweigh the building’s loss, and that retention of the building would compromise the delivery of the comprehensive scheme.”

REO’s superfluous argument that the water pump station must be demolish or it will jeopardize the entire regeneration project for this area remains unfounded.

In fact, there are approximately 20 hectares of land for redevelopment.  It is perplexing that the developers are not willing to revise their plans for redevelopment to include the heritage site. Alex Baldwin of the Victorian society confirms that the demolition of the site would be a “considerable loss and unnecessary waste of a valuable historic building.” She goes on to say that the Battersea Water Pumping station is “integral to the redevelopment and regeneration of the area.  Demolition would degrade the area of the site and call into question the listing process as a whole.  The developers have not fulfilled the testing criteria for demolition, nor have they gone through re-qualifying their scheme for regeneration.”

Examples of successful redevelopment of historical sites can be found in Nottingham, Crossness in East London, Abbey Mills, and Dean Clough Mills in Halifax. The rejuvenated historical sites have revitalized the community and the same could be done for Battersea. Governments should include historic sites in the redevelopment schemes and not deem them mutually exclusive to the social and economical regeneration linked to a community.

By proceeding with the redevelopment proposed by REO, a precedent is set forth in how to undergo regeneration schemes in London. It is not good practice to use this as a blank slate for developers to demolish historical sites for the profit of a selected few. It is imperative to uphold government policy regarding the demolition of these irreplaceable iconic symbols. Once they are gone, we will never be able to get them back.

Quit putting a goddamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet – Bill Hicks

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Police State Tactics in Toronto: Call for Support

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Signatories sought for appeal against Canadian authoritarian policing strategies:

We believe it is urgent to respond to the police actions in Toronto duringthe G8/G20.  We are writing to invite you to sign on to The Toronto Call. We are hoping to get signatures from trade unionists, faculty, students, community activists, legal workers and cultural workers among others (including those arrested and detained around the G20).   We believe it is possible to shift the terms to debate, and to shine a spotlight on the abusive police practices during the G8/G20.  But we need your help to do that.

Please sign on and circulate the call widely to friends, colleagues, allies and networks who might be willing to sign.

If you want *TO SIGN ON, PLEASE WRITE TO* TheTorontoCall@gmail.com and with your name, affiliation (as you would want it in the final version) and which category you prefer to be placed in (trade unionists, faculty, students, community activists, legal workers, teachers, cultural workers, arrested and detained)  if we decide to arrange signatures in that format.  We ask you to sign on as soon as possible.  We will continue *collecting signatures until Monday, July 5 at 6:00pm* but may publish versions if it becomes useful to do so before that time.

*NOTE:* Please feel free to place a  * beside your institutional affiliation if you want indicate you are signing in a personal capacity

Thanks very much – please pass the message on …

Follow this link for a bit more information on what happened:

http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=1262

The comments here: http://wmtc.blogspot.com/

And here is a little information on the G20 itself:

http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/06/g20-global-menace-invented-larry-summers

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Gagging for Olympic Funding?

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The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) have recently advertised some (Arts Council backed) opportunities for arts organisations, curators and producers to establish some participatory projects and temporary commissions for the areas immediately surrounding the Olympic Park site August 2010 to December 2011.

The applications can be made on the London 2012 organisers and the London Development Agency (LDA)’s online ‘dating agency’ website set up for the purpose of securing business contracts for London 2012 public sector work and other major contract opportunities.

Seeing as it’s necessary to register on the CompeteFor website to view these opportunities, my eyes were drawn to the final part of  section number 14.4 of their terms and conditions. Particularly section C:

14.4 You further agree not to:

(c) do anything which would have an adverse effect on or embarrass any Games Body, or any official supporter or sponsor of the Games.


The site’s facilities are available only to those who agree with these terms and conditions. Therefore anything which might potentially embarrass the Games Bodies, supporters or sponsors is forbidden for organisations who wish to sign up. Surely the sponsors of the 2012 Olympic have nothing to be embarrassed or even criticised about?


Oh right…

When they said “warming up”, perhaps BP and EDF took that literally? Which other sponsors might illicit some controversies? Surely not Coca Cola, McDonalds or Lloyds? Or British Airways even?

The page does not signify whether signing up to these terms and conditions includes any prior or future ’embarrassments’, potentially any groups, producers or curators who apply for the commission are blocked from it if in the past they have made any ’embarrassing’ comments or gestures towards any of these sponsors or the ODA.

Not only then are the proposed artists or groups commissioned for the project gagged from making any criticisms of these illustrious sponsors. But any who may have previously criticised these sponsors are not only excluded from the selection process but they’re not even allowed to use the CompeteFor website. The website claims it wants: “To ensure the transparency and availability of London 2012 opportunities maximising the number and diversity of businesses contributing to the London 2012 programme, and create a legacy of increased capacity and expertise.” Perhaps making organisations agree to their gagging order isn’t the best way to encourage ‘transparency’.

Treasury Holdings Northern Line Battersea Extension Plans

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As we have mentioned here on the Spectacle blog previously; owners of Battersea Power Station, REO (Real Estate Opportunities), have some illustrious plans to bring the Northern line to the Power Station. The project has received support from the mayor’s office but no public money is being put towards it from either the mayor’s office or the Department of Transport. This extension would serve to sever the two branches of the Northern Line so that only Bank services would travel to Morden and Charing Cross services would end in Battersea. As it is very few Charing Cross branch trains travel past Kennington. Far from benefiting the local community, this extension is effectively an attempt to build a private station for a private development with little to no concern for the local people.

In typical architectural consultation manner, they’ve produced 4 proposals and asked people to choose which one they believe will be the most beneficial. One of these maps is reproduced below and they can also be found over at London Reconnections along with some other useful information about the extension plans.

As can be observed on the below map taken from OpenStreetMap, REO’s consultation map conveniently crops Victoria station and forgets to label Queenstown Road and Battersea Park stations. The South London Line which runs from Victoria and London Bridge passes through Battersea Park station thus the Power Station site is already connected to these two major stations. Additionally Queenstown Road station, five minutes walk from the Power Station site, is one stop away from Vauxhall Station. With these two connections to major stations very nearby, surely extending the tube to the area is a bit over the top? Tunneling is not a cheap process after all.

Another proposal suggests extending the Northern Line to Vauxhall en route to the new Battersea station, but as we mentioned, Vauxhall is already easily reachable from Queenstown Road station and is in fact actually quite a crowded station already. The other two proposals suggest an intermediary station in Nine Elms, either around New Covent Garden Market or at the site of the current Sainsburys. The intention here is to serve the Nine Elms opportunity area and the new planned US Embassy (allegedly their 12 storey embassy building requires some underground facilities). However a few more buses in the area could easily serve this purpose or even a small tram service which would be far cheaper than costly tunneling. Besides, Vauxhall is really only a short walk away.

The consultation has included a Freepost Questionnaire for anyone who would like to inform Treasury/REO how they feel about the proposals. It is also worth considering that Treasury Holdings are conducting the consultation themselves and likely have no obligation to share the results. Either way, how would the public know that any published results of the consultation would match up with the actual results?

Visit Spectacle’s on-going Battersea Power Station Project

Watch a video trailer here: Battersea Power Station – The Story So Far

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If you live in the neighbourhood and would like to get involved, contact us here putting Battersea Power Station in your message.

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Bordon – The Next Tesco Town?

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In a recent interview with Jack Warshaw, a local resident to the Bordon area and member of the Bordon Area Action Group (BAAG) committee, the suggestion that the Eco-Town development could lead to the decline of Bordon from a small and quaint town to becoming one of the many new emerging ‘Tesco Town‘ arose.

I hear you all now, what is a ‘Tesco Town’? We all, whether we like it or not have some association with this vast supermarket chain; whether it be the place you do your weekly food shop, your mobile phone provider or where you go for travel insurance – let’s face it, Tesco are taking over the world, well the UK at least.

But what does this mean for other businesses? It cannot have gone unnoticed that over the last few years, independent petrol stations have slowly been disintegrating and being replaced with Tesco, Sainsburys or Morrisons petrol stations, your good old corner shops which used to stock weird and wonderful products are now Tesco Express or Coop Local and fashion magazines are now filled with the latest bargains from George at Asda or Cherokee at Tesco.

This new supermarket craze is helping the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Tesco controls over 30% of the grocery market and certainly does not seem to be suffering the recession blues.

The problem. Towns and villages are losing their charm, for each new Tesco store that opens up, a small part of that town vanishes being replaced by a  superstore with no local history. The days when shoppers knew which family owned which business and each store had a purpose are slowly disappearing as everything you could possibly ever need can now be found under one roof or online.

Jack states, ‘Tesco would be delighted if there was an Eco Town here because they would instantly try to expand to be even bigger… once again you’re looking at a clone town, a Tesco town, an anywhere town, the type of place where all the potential for individual character is eroded and lost’

You don’t need to look far for examples of Tesco towns, towns where the high street is dominated by chain stores and pleasant pedestrianized streets have been turned into car parks – there is even an online society concerned with the power these supermarkets have over the consumer market. This is of course not just happening here, the US are dominated with the giant supermarket chain Walmart and that too, is slowly taking over.

One thing is for sure; there are plenty of people unhappy with this supermarket domination and Bordon residents are no exception. Eco town or no eco town, surely the voice of the locals should be considered before turning what was a small and delightful town into a large and generic housing area.

To see interviews with Bordon Councillors, residents and Bordon Area Action Group members see our Eco Towns and Villages project page or our read the latest blog here.

Or visit PlanA our general blog on urbanism, planning and architecture.

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Eco Town? Everyone is doing it…

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Malmö in Sweden, Freiburg in Germany and Amersfoort in Holland, they’re all doing it – Eco Town’s appear to be the next big thing and the UK is not far behind. With potential eco projects already planned in Cornwall, Oxfordshire and Norfolk,  Spectacle have now turned their focus closer to home and onto the small town of Bordon in East Hampshire.

The town is looking to go through an enormous makeover with 5000 new homes built to the Government’s criteria on ‘Eco-towns‘ resulting in a vast amount of funding to aid the development of the Council’s Master plan.

The catch. The town’s population will double in size, the new homes may interfere with green spaces and wildlife, the development is proposed over 20 years and Bordon seems unlikely to be able to cope with the increase of people due to the lack of infrastructure and facilities already present.

It would seem Bordon residents are content with their small town status and although happy to foresee some improvements and increases in housing, the proposed 5000 new homes has generated  controversy.

Residents were generally satisfied with the initial plans of 2000 homes but the new plan of 5000 has triggered the locals to speak up and appeal this huge proposal for the area.

The Bordon Area Action Group (BAAG) has been formed to protest the plans and has attracted a lot of local interest. Spectacle visited the area on the 24th of April and interviewed several of the groups members and supporters as well as one of East Hampshire’s Council members and the interviews can now be found online on the Spectacle project page.

It seems the question everyone wants to know the answer to is what makes this new development Eco? Is this really an effective answer to going green or simply an excuse to solve wider issues such as housing and funding?

Click Eco Towns and Villages for more blogs
Or visit PlanA our general blog on urbanism, planning and architecture.
See our Eco Towns and Villages project pages for more information and videos.

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Greenwich Park, a centre for Equestrian Excellence? Perhaps not.

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Just another sunny day in Greenwich Park

‘The message from tonight is loud and clear. This great park is on loan to the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and the people of the world.’

Those were the words spoken by the London 2012 organiser Sebastian Coe on the 23rd March 2010 when plans for a new Olympic site were finally approved. Unfortunately, the park in question is Greenwich and to say that makes a few of us slightly irate is a mockery in itself.

Right from the start, the Olympic Committee have been focused on extravagantly splashing the cash whilst seemingly simple solutions to oversee controversial plans have been overlooked. From crushing allotments to de-housing local communities, next on the list is the iconic green area of Greenwich Park.

Home to an abundance of wildlife, 300 year-old trees and not to mention a World Heritage site renowned for its historical and cultural artefacts, what better way to celebrate this institution of London life than to bring in the bricks and mortar. The organisers are relying on the notion of creating a sporting legacy in the area for local support although it seems they failed to highlight the fact that the world of Equestrian sporting is quite out of reach to most they are preaching to.

In a nutshell, how Greenwich park should remain is as an area of tranquil relaxation away from the direct hive of Olympic activity. The park could be the place to take in the city views, enjoy picnics and light banter about who wins and loses, not to mention the fact that there are permanent facilities already available for Equestrian Sporting Events around London. Why should it take millions of pounds, large camera crews and thousands of Olympic-goers to validate the significance of Greenwich Park; anyone fond of London will already hold this area close to their hearts.

Please join us and sign the petition to appeal this decision; there is still time for changes to be made.

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Micronomics

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New to the Spectacle Archive

Interviews from the Waffle Bank shoot with Refugee Youth are now available via the Spectacle Archive.

Waffle Bank Investment Bank is a skill exchange programme using Belgian waffles as currency.  The process encourages participants to consider what  skills they bring to the table and find ways to connect and share these.

Watch the interviews now.

Details about the Micronomics project are now available, visit the Project Page for more details.

Watch all Micronomics clips.

Learn about the group Bicycology which features in the project. Watch the Bicycology interviews.

Information about Cycle Training UK and watch the interviews.