Proposal Abstract

This study is a way of looking at midsize cities in terms of strips. From each city, a critical strip is selected, walked and photo-documented carefully, then displayed, drawn, analysed and contemplated collectively!

This exercise will be conducted in multiple cities to create comparative research and documentation as layers add, as stories add, as wildlife adds, as issues add for discussion!

Wrocław, Graz, Karlshamn, Aarhus, Berkeley, Klaipeda, Riga, Tallinn and Turku are cities to set in motion!

It is like a DNA sampling of the midsize cities to learn how we will make new cities! It is about accepting the fact that some cities will die and new ones will be born in the near future; It is also about how in this context, the documentation matters on understanding and finding new issues around the cities in this visual research!

As if these strips could flit into the new cities or these strips are our memories of the past and future at the same time! The work starts locally in Wrocław and soon becomes regional and global during the PhD.

The first stage is to focus on Wrocław as a reference, walking, documenting, and drawing; fine-tuning the method! The next stage is to look at the most critical midsize cities in Europe and Asia! The third stage is to look at Africa and America, and in the last stage of PhD, one would design these strips into new imaginary cities and models playfully!

Along with photo-documentation, we will be asking the local community to comment and write about the urban issues in public spaces as a way of recording collectively and seeing! Writing in public, both official and unofficial, would be in focus as well as gathering a collection of literature.

Moreover, the final product of the PhD is an exhibition of the strips and a book! From these strips, we can learn what worked and what did not in midsize cities for the new cities in the near future. This visual research would open a platform for discussion with colleagues and it will continue as a teaching practice method to analyse the cities furthermore!

Keywords: Walking, Asking, Photo-Documentation, Writing, Public Spaces, Urban Strips, Midsize Cities.