People's Architecture
	BIO  |  QUOTE     NEVILLE MARS / DYNAMIC CITY FOUNDATION Beijing is now heading for something quite the opposite. As it used to be very heterogeneous, it is now slowly and maturely aiming for a very fixed and monotonous form of Chinese modernity. With these green bubbles, the fenced of bubbles, aimed for a very tight audience, the situation gets sort of skimmed, there is no room for alterations and flexibility. This is understandable because it makes the building process really the cheapest they can achieve and it also helps developers the get the largest amount of people in their buildings. So it is very understandable, but it is based on very short term thinking and acting and we see it emerging on an architectural and urban level. Both of them are very much concern. For Beijing I want now to investigate in what ways we can break this evolution open and change these typologies into much more flexible typologies, even working with the existing structures, like tearing down the walls and introducing new infrastructure, introducing a street life, introducing public space and public green, considering the state Beijing is in. These are almost utopian ideas but ultimately what we want to aim for. We are not responding with instant solutions, we are responding with long term solutions. Urbanus in a way does the opposite, as they are working in the field, in the dirty reality and trying to do fast projects that slow the city down. These are instant projects because their clients demand instant solutions, because they are working in the market, but the solutions they propose, as Hui Wang says, are as slow as possible and take a step backwards. This is the same goal as I mentioned before, introducing public space and green and all these aspects. For me this is a really nice mirrored approach between them and us. Neville Mars, interview with People's Architecture, New York, April 24, 2006