Capitalism is waging a war on the city by direct or indirect means: through military technology, aggressive urban development, or ‘natural’ disasters. What does it mean to challenge the destruction of urban ecologies?
During the two-day workshop focused on this question, we encountered the limits of language when we talk about war and disaster: people from different backgrounds and with different personal histories can attach very different meanings to the concepts we use to make sense of war, disaster, and their causes and consequences.
We have therefore developed a methodology that helps to delve into the complexities of urban ecologies and the effects of war and capitalism. We created a card play that provides a structure for a horizontal, deliberative and exploratory process in which participants engage with concepts and questions on cards to share narratives and explore tensions and conflicts within urban ecologies.
The Structure of the Card Play
At the heart of our discussions were several core concepts, grouped into three main themes and symbolized as suites of cards:
Living Together (L): Focused on the communal and infrastructural aspects of urban life.
Solidarity (S): Aimed at understanding and reinforcing the support networks within cities.
Destruction (D): Explored the various forms of destruction – both overt and covert – that cities face.
In the process of formulating the idea, we noticed that our discussion was never linear or consistent: it constantly changed direction, with one topic leading to another, and after starting with one thought, we would find ourselves discussing a completely different topic five minutes later. We realized that we were constantly running into contradictions, trapping ourselves in binary oppositions, and then trying to disentangle ourselves, only to fall into new traps.
We concluded that this was no accident – this is the nature of conversations about life in today’s complex world, especially if you are grounded in reality rather than lost in the clouds of abstract analysis. This is the ecology of life and the nature of discussion.
We embedded this principle into our play: we included several mechanisms (cards) capable of radically altering the course of the discussion, and players must be prepared for this. This helps make our play closer to real life, simulating a real discussion as it often unfolds, and developing the skills necessary to participate in such conversations. At the same time, it provides an opportunity to observe – and perhaps reflect upon – the kind of dialog we engage in every day.
To facilitate the discussion, we used different categories of cards, each designed to guide the discussion and encourage different perspectives:
- Concept cards: Introduce specific ideas or theories related to urban ecologies.
- Question cards: Pose challenging questions to provoke thought and debate.
- Citation cards: Bring academic and theoretical support to the arguments presented.
- Blank cards: Offer a chance for participants to introduce new topics or ideas into the discussion.
- Performative cards: Encourage real-time examples or counterexamples to be shared.
- Joker cards: Allow for dynamic changes in the discussion’s flow or category, ensuring no session was predictable or static.
We decided to call it a “play” rather than a “game”. A game usually has fixed rules that players are expected to follow. Instead, we proposed only a framework and a general direction, leaving plenty of room to invent new rules. By calling it a “play,” we wanted to emphasize the playful nature of life and the player’s freedom and ability to improvise along the way.
The ‘War-Torn Urban Ecologies’ workshop was facilitated by Nina Pohler and Sotiris Sideris. Particpants were: Stephen Bouquin, Özgün Eylül İşcen, Oleg Pachenkov, Gabriele Schliwa, Lilia Voronkova, Rose Wanjiku.
This project was conceived at the BG | berlinergazette.de annual conference 2024 entitled KIN CITY.
All text and images: Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0.