The real estate complex Diagonal Mar at Barcelona is an urban resort. Its realization is based on the alibi of sustainable development and the offering of a large landscaped park for the public. Symbol of the Spanish real estate frenzy of the 2000s, the Catalans criticize this mode to inhabit the contemporary city, while noting the issue of the public and private sector collaboration in the realization and the perception of a new urban landscape of skyscrapers, despite a relative ownership of the inhabitants of this new public space. On the Mediterranean, a hybrid form of gated community is needed, through a lifestyle completely in shift with the local culture.
Ecovillages and ecodistricts have recently been the focus of sociological researches. They tackle publicly funded habitats and rarely intentional communities. The study of the genesis of Ecovillage at Ithaca, in New York State (USA) is the scope of this article and shows the stakes and choices made to build a community and its dwelling simultaneously. Ecovillage at Ithaca is exemplar of an intentional community slowly emerging through the funneling of its location, its organizational, technical and financial model, the choice of its development manager, etc.
Toward the “capsularisation” of highways
Implications of noise barriers on the quality of the landscape and the urban space of the metropolitan area of Aix-Marseille
The apparatuses of acoustic protection con-stitute a generic response, required by law, in order to treat the nuisance caused from high-ways in urban and peri-urban environments. Although regulation and acoustic studies are capable in resolving the « problem » of noise, other aspects, such as the perception of the context, the quality of space they produce and their management, are generally neglected. Based on this observation, we ask what kind of landscapes to such noise barriers produce? What are their effects on the perception of highways, on the forms and uses of adjacent urban tissues? In order to respond to these questions, we analyze the noise barriers along highways A7 and A51 of the metropolitan area of Aix-Marseille-Provence. In face of the limited quality of the solutions systematically applied, the question is to examine other solu-tions adaptability to the urban and landscape issues of the different contexts the highway navigates today.