ABSTRACT
A dramatically new approach is required if we are to bring a human-centered perspective to designing livable and breathable cities around the world in the coming century. Landscape architects are in the midst of stealing the director’s chair on this global project while we are keenly aware that “it is always too early, or too late, to talk about the cities of the future” (Bhabha 2009). While the cities of Central and Eastern Europe are far from the microphone of urbanism and future cities discussions, the region is ripe with new ideas and new perspectives on bringing contemporary urban discourse and participatory design to bear on a complicated past, replete with medieval buildings and a post-communist/pre-modern mindset. reSITE in Prague is an initiative that is currently testing the limits of collaboration and design discussion, building on other bottom-up movements that have been swelling in the region since the onset of the Great Recession.
