We bring the link to an article published in the "Blog of José Fariña" by José Juan Barba, on the theme of diversity and urban complexity, with an excellent foreword by José Fariña professor ETSAM, UPM.

The original article was published on paper, among others, at number 017, of FORMS magazine with the title "Generic City and Queer City." Now and José Fariña would say: The idea is suggestive and Koolhaas quote that appears at the beginning of the article by José Juan is great because it gives a very clear idea of the terms in which the discussion arises in regard to the city...

(only in Spanish) ...el tema de la diversidad y complejidad urbana (en muchos casos perdidas entre la estandarización, las marcas y el monofuncionalismo) para poder pensar las ciudades como elementos complejos que permitan aceptar a todo tipo de ciudadanos, realizando una crítica implícita a la constante producción de guetos, tanto de ricos como de pobres, a la constante vigilancia en las ciudades y a las políticas de miedo hacia el inmigrante, el extraño, el diferente.

La palabra queer en inglés tiene dos acepciones: una muy bruta que se utiliza despectivamente para decir "maricón" y otra que habla de "lo extraño y lo diferente". Seguro que los españoles recordáis una serie de televisión (cuatro) que se llamaba "Queer as folk" cuya traducción podría ser: "extraño como la gente". Es un término desarrollado, con intensidad, por algunas investigadoras en Harvard para las cuestiones de género, pero también y desde hace unos años es utilizado para definir nuevas tácticas y técnicas para conseguir que nuestras ciudades sean el resultado de un paisaje multicultural más enriquecido. Para desarrollar esta idea en el texto me apoyo en tres puntos: la escala con que miramos la ciudad, la definición de lugar frente a la de espacio y las condiciones de identidad que enuncia Rem Koolhaas en su texto sobre la ciudad genérica. (Hice mi tesis doctoral sobre Delirious New York).
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Full article below: "Deconstructing the Generic City". (only in Spanish)

Basic Bibliography of subsistence:

- Yi-Fu Tuan, “Space and place: humanistic perspective”, in Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 6. London, 1974.

- Rem Koolhaas, “The Generic City”, in Domus, nº 791, March 1997. Spanish edition: Rem Koolhaas, La Ciudad Genérica, Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 2006.

- Walter Benjamin, El libro de los Pasajes, there is a great edition by Rolf Tiedemann published by Akal in 2004, which is highly recommended. This is the 1982 German edition translated by Luis Fernandez, Isidro Herrera and Fernando Guerrero.

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More information

José Juan Barba (1964) architect from ETSA Madrid in 1991. Special Mention in the National Finishing University Education Awards 1991. PhD in Architecture ETSAM, 2004. He founded his professional practice in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com). He has been an architecture critic and editor-in-chief of METALOCUS magazine since 1999, and he advised different NGOs until 1997. He has been a lecturer (in Design, Theory and Criticism, and Urban planning) and guest lecturer at different national and international universities (Roma TRE, Polytechnic Milan, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, UNAM Mexico, Univ. Iberoamericana Mexico, University of Thessaly Volos, FA de Montevideo, Washington, Medellin, IE School, U.Alicante, Univ. Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-U.I.C. Barcelona,...).

Maître de Conférences IUG-UPMF Grenoble 2013-14. Full assistant Professor, since 2003 up to now at the University of Alcalá School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain. And Jury in competitions as Quaderns editorial magazine (2011), Mies van der Rohe Awards, (2010-2024), Europan13 (2015). He has been invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione".

He has published several books, the last in 2016, "#positions" and in 2015 "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi " and collaborations on "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione", "La Mansana de la discordia" (2015), "Arquitectura Contemporánea de Japón: Nuevos territorios" (2015)...

Awards.-

- Award. RENOVATION OF SEGURA RIVER ENVIRONMENT, Murcia, Sapin, 2010.
- First Prize, RENOVATION GRAN VÍA, “Delirious Gran Vía”, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
- First Prize, “PANAYIOTI MIXELI Award”. SADAS-PEA, for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture Athens, 2005.
- First Prize, “SANTIAGO AMÓN Award," for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture. 2000.
- Award, “PIERRE VAGO Award." ICAC -International Committee of Art Critics. London, 2005.
- First Prize, C.O.A.M. Madrid, 2000. Shortlisted, World Architecture Festival. Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de los Ríos. Tera, Esla y Orbigo, Barcelona, 2008.
- First Prize. FAD AWARD 07 Ephemeral Interventions. “M.C.ESCHER”. Arquin-Fad. Barcelona, Sapin 2007.

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Published on: April 9, 2012
Cite: "Deconstructing the Generic City by José Juan Barba" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/deconstructing-generic-city-jose-juan-barba> ISSN 1139-6415
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