Film og debatt: Citizen Jane – the battle for the city

Habitat Norway

THE BATTLE FOR THE CITY

FILM: Citizen Jane – the battle for the city. Sat. 18th February 11:00, Tancred, Cinemateket, Dronningens gate 16, Oslo. Facebook-link.

DEBATT: The battle for the city. Sat 18th 17:00 Debattscenen. Facebook-link.

 

Movie screening

What is the purpose of a city? Who has the right to create and shape it? Faced with an unprecedented rapid urbanization, the cities of today are the battleground for a global and universal struggle. By 2050 it is expected that three quarters of the world’s population will live in cities, especially in the global south. This urbanization is associated with global urban challenges such as poverty, segregation, informality and lack of access to housing and basic services.

The documentary Citizen Jane – the battle for the city (2016) crystallizes two contradictive ideas about what a city should be like. In New York in the 1960’s, the battle stood between the technocrat Robert Moses and the humanist and activist Jane Jacobs.

Robert Moses, a powerful modernist city planner of New York, insisted that the planning of a functionally ordered city with adequate housing, recreation and new road structures for the motorcars, would make life better for the poor. On the other hand, the urban writer, researcher and activist Jane Jacobs insisted that the complex, interconnected and diverse city, where the development is following the actions and enterprises in the urban communities, have the capability of providing a living city for everybody.

After the film screening, a panel open to the audience will discuss: What can we learn today, both globally and here in Oslo, from this embodied struggle for the right to the city? In particular; what can we learn from the activism of Jane Jacobs? And how can urban development faced with challenges of poverty and segregation ensure the right to the city for everyone?

Panel:

  • Hanna E. Marcussen, Vice Mayor for Urban Development, Oslo municipality and member of the Green party.
  • Michael Mehaffy, senior researcher at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) in Stockholmc and director of Future of Places Research Network.
  • Elin Børrud, lecturer in architecture and urban planning and pro-rector at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).
  • Peter Schultz Jørgensen, urban planner and author of ”New York og kampen for byen”(2013, Fredriksberg, bokforlaget Frydenlund)
  • Kjersti Grut, moderator, Habitat Norway.

Link for more information: https://www.facebook.com/humanrightshumanwrongs/posts/1292377260800992