Kent Uçar, Yazı Kalır

Abstract

In this article, the role of shopping in urbanism as an activity is investigated through Almere master plan design and Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping. Rem Koolhaas is the common actor between the city plan and the book which was published concurrently. Parallel to a city centre formation process, a story of architects’ perplexity about urbanization and the self-critism which comes out due to the constructed city image is illustrated. Almere which was founded in 1970s, has experienced a radical change after the master plan design competition which OMA won the 1st prize, in 1994. After a while, Koolhaas with his students in Harvard Design School prepared Project on the City 2: Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping, and published it in 2001. In this paper, the correlation between the book and the city plan and how they contribute to current urbanization discussions, is illustrated by analyzing the role of shopping in two examples. A story of Almere’s change with plural actors reveals due to this analysis which contributes the role of shopping in urban design, and the role of architect in cities today.