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Mark

In-Commons: Planting Vines (2021)


Competition Proposal for the International Building Exhibition IBA’27 Stuttgart

Humanity has become a geologically decisive factor that is transforming our planet. The rapid change of ecosystems caused by human impact is branding a transnational collective memory: climate threats, global exploitation of resources and the global network, shortening the transmission routes and thus dramatically accelerating the spread of diseases, testing social solidarity and our democratic model of civilization, also in connection with the current COVID-19 pandemic to the test. The shift towards a climate-friendly society requires an ecology of community that proves ways of cultural restoration and the development of new structures and models for the distribution of resources.



In-Transit:
Who owns water, soil and air?


How are natural resources distributed and who can dispose of them? This process of transformation raises questions about solidarity and responsibility for the common use and management of common property, which hasn’t been clarified legally even in democratic constitutional states.


With her research on commons, the economist and Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom has shown a way beyond private-sectors or state organizations and has proved that local communities can manage resources sustainably on their own.



Q. How can natural resources be managed to remain for everyone so that distribution does not automatically lead to overexploitation?



The cooperative urban space as a test ground deals with the invasive expansion of the Martin-Mayer bridge, a partial redesign into a communal urban city garden for the purpose of wine-growing, and creates a discourse on the handling and distribution of common goods. The construction consists of recycled and sustainable materials: carrier systems and other components are installed on the handrails and implemented to blend into the bridge. The constructed transplantation of a wine-growing area into a highly frequented traffic junction of the city.


Producing a wine that reflects the local conditions creating a dialogue between passers-by and local residents: will the installation and the possibility of joint management be accepted, will a long-term and cooperative community develop that will bear fruit? The mobility conflict between the city and the periphery as part of the test field; the less individual traffic by car, the more local public transport is being used, the fewer emissions residues and pollutants will be found in the wine.