Saturday, April 4, 2009

Mike Davis on Koolhaas' Lagos - By Guest Blogger Orhan Ayyuce

Orhan Ayyuce is an architect and writer from Los Angeles. He is also a senior editor at archinect and is the author of elseplace.

Orhan sent us a section of an interview he held with Mike Davis:

Orhan Ayyuce:
What do you think of the current interest in slum communities. It is almost unfortunately 'interesting' to talk about slums and their informality. May I say that the trend started around the time you published Planet of Slums?”

Mike Davis:
You know, in architecture school most people talk about icons and counter icons, rather than try to understand the larger social networks, hierarchies, and conditions that produce particular types of urbanisms. That is taken to its highest level of trendiness by Rem Koolhaas. His stuff on Lagos is crazy... In my mind it is a sleazy apology for social evil.

If you want to see human self organization at work, go to Lagos, but face the poverty and oppression by the military regime ... Maybe he should talk to my friend *Chris Abani about that stuff... Chris would laugh at his hyperbolic exercise...

*http://www.chrisabani.com/Abani_Fiction/Graceland.htm

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