Fukushima

In design studio, myself and a partner are studying "Drosscape" and what a drosscape is in relation to Redfern and Redfern Station. We are doing this in reference to articles written bu Lars Lerup, Manuel De Sola-Morales, and Alan Berger.  

Drosscape, as written by Berger whom based his writing on a manifesto by Lerup, essentially describes drosscape as wasteland left over from past politico-economic regimes. They formed from two main processes, rapid horizontal growth (i.e. urban sprawl) or left over fragments from industrial regimes within the city (i.e. the industrial core). 

One of the waste landscape "types" is the "waste landscape of contamination", and in a presentation to my Studio class I included an aerial photo of Fukushima and the surrounding landscape. And then last night,  my boyfriend sent me a link to something he had seen on the internet, where Google took a car to one of the deserted cities Namie. 

Virtually driving through the streets is simultaneously both fascinating and highly emotive. What happens to a place like this in 10, 20, 50 years? Where are all the people? How will the government deal with the situation, will they eventually rebuild or leave the city to crumble? One of the main points Berger makes is that drosscapes are not always negative as they have the potential to be regenerated. It begs the question of what is the potential of Namie? 

Also looking at drosscapes and urban sprawl took us to looking at photos of American suburbs and cities such as Los Angeles, where aerial photos in Bergers Drosscape book showed the grid with single detached homes stretching into the horizon. It makes me wonder what it is like to live in a city where a vast area of it is repetitive can only be traversed by car. 

Ashleigh