Urban Probes: Encountering our Emerging Urban Athmospheres

Part of the Urban Athmospheres research program, Urban Probes is a project from Intel Research Berkley described as:

-A lightweight, provocative, intervention methodology designed to rapidly deconstruct urban situations, reveal new opportunities for technology in urban spaces, and guide future long term research in urban computing.

Urban Probes draw large inspiration from the work of several leading researchers in developing technology probes and domestic probes. Such probes combine the social science goal of collecting information about the use and the users of the technology in a real world setting, the engineering goal of field-testing the technology, and the design goal of inspiring users and designers to imagine new kinds of technology to support their needs and desires.

Urban Probes complements these bodies of work by addressing similar themes with respect to urban life. As technology moves from office to home to street, we want to avoid bringing along with it 'workplace' values such as efficiency and productivity at the expense of other possibilities. Urban Probes provide methods that aid researchers in gathering fragmentary glimpses into the rich texture of people's daily urban street life... - taken from the original website

Culture and City - call for papers

EUROPEAN FELLOWSHIPS FOR
TRAINING IN URBAN STUDIES
ISSUE 2007:

CULTURE AND CITY
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The importance of the European city for the process of European integration lies to a great deal in the cultural heritage it provides for present urban residents and future generations. On the basis of this strong backbone of identity, cultural heritage as well as cultural expression will generate a place where economic, social and political changes can be collectively faced.

The workshop and the conference will develop scientific research on:
- Culture as a factor for urban regeneration
- Culture as a strategy for social cohesion
- Culture and the creation of innovative milieus

The role of culture has been recognized by cities in order to boost economic development by subsidies to cultural events and investment in cultural buildings. In which way can culture provide a sustainable urban development in ways that attract visitors and enterprise and at the same time enhance citizens’ identity and everyday life? In what ways can cultural and urban regeneration support social cohesion?

VENUE: Karlskrona, Sweden

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION 1st of April 2007
WORKSHOP: 29th June – 6th July 2007
CONFERENCE: 16th – 18th November 2007

For further information about the programme and application procedure, please visit: www.urban-future.net

Tallinn new tramlines

4 different plans of tram road development in Tallinn

SAY SOMETHING!!!

there is hot discussion going on about new tram roads in Tallinn. If you have an opinion about it feel free to comment.

You can also send your comment about tram roads by e-mail hendrikson@hendrikson.ee

More information:

http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/368872

http://www.hendrikson.ee/?m1=66&m2=67

The 3rd Christina Conference on Women's Studies

GENDER, IMAGES, AND GLOBAL CONTEXTS
March 8-10, 2007, University of Helsinki, Finland

Programme and registration:
http://www.helsinki.fi/kristiina-instituutti/conference/index.htm

Early bird registration closes Monday 15 January!

Registration (by January 15th, 2007)
120 euros
Late registration (after January 15th, 2007)
150 euros

Student fee (by 15th January, 2007)
50 euros
Student fee (after January 15th, 2007)
70 euros

Modelling Paldiski

work by Helen Rebane

Landscape architecture course for 2nd year architecture students- 22-24 september 2006

The aim of the introductional course was to open minds towards the environment and the surface that we are walking on – the landscape – and interpret it in models according to given themes.

Modelling helps to analyse the characters of the landscape’s different aspects. The idea of the modelling is similar to creative mapping – the process of searching for original materials and testing different ways of compatibility are already part of active imagination, not just rigid analyse. Students were encouraged to invent their own techniques for modelling. Materials have their own character and „message” that is not universal but unique.

The chosen place was Paldiski and especially the bastions from czar Peter I era. After the workshop at the site (tutored by Kalle Komissarov, Katrin Koov and Lilia del Rio) students were asked to make models for three themes – borders, voids, rhythms – of the site. After approval they had to make a final model/drawing with conclusions and give a landscaping idea for enhancing the site.

About results. The course was rich of original materials and self-expressions. Without going here into details we can find joyful, clever, elegant, fragile, thoughtful, systematic models. These models are speaking about students who were excitedly working.

Katrin Koov

work by Mari Hunt

work by Mari Hunt

MODELLING URBAN SPACE WORKSHOP

Estonian Academy of Arts
Tallinn, Estonia
january 8-18 2007

Week 1: Social Positioning / Tagging Tallinn

Tue January 9: Preparatory Day

18.00 - 20.30 Screenings of interesting, urban videos by Estonian architects and students

EKA hall 412

Wed January 10: Lecture day at EKA Auditorium

10.00 Opening of the Intensive Course, prof. Panu Lehtovuori, EKA Urban Studies

10.15 prof. Mauri Kaipainen, Tallinn University: Soft Ontologies

12.00 Lunch

13.30 prof. Rein Ahas, Human Geography, University of Tartu:
Mobile positioning data in urban studies. Social Positioning Method and Live Maps
15.00 Discussion

15.15 Coffee
15.45 Architect Ülar Mark, Urban Mark Architects: Mobile positioning in urban planning

---
17.30 – 18.30 Tagging Tallinn
workshop start-up, organising groups and tasks

Thu January 11: Tagging Tallinn workshop

TAGGIN' TALLINN links:

• Workshop instructions
• Mauri Kaipainen slide presentation
• Taggin Tallinn wiki discussion
  

Work in groups

15.00 – 17.00 common tutoring session, Lilia del Rio, Panu Lehtovuori, Kalle Komissarov

EKA hall 412

Fri January 12: Tagging Tallinn workshop

12.00 – 14.00 Interim critique.

Mauri Kaipainen, Ülar Mark, Kalle Komissarov, Lilia del Rio, Panu Lehtovuori

EKA hall 412

Sat January 13: Tagging Tallinn workshop

Work in groups

Week 2: Space Syntax and Sims

Mon January 15: Lecture day

12.00 - 13.30 Tagging Tallinn workshop wrap-up and discussion

14.15 - 15.30 prof. Anssi Joutsiniemi, Tampere University of Technology: Modelling urban space 1. Configurations and simulations. EKA Room 412

15.30 – 15.45 Coffee break

15.45 – 17.15 Anssi Joutsiniemi. Modelling urban space 2. Using movement sequences to model metropolitan scale configurations. EKA Room 119b

17.15 – 18.30 Space Syntax workshop start-up
Alain Chiaradia, Anssi Joutsiniemi, Mauri Kaipainen, Lilia del Rio, Kalle Komissarov, Panu Lehtovuori

SpaceSyntax website

Tue January 16: Space Syntax workshop

Work in groups

Tutoring by Alain Chiaradia and Anssi Joutsiniemi

Wed January 17: Lecture day at EKA Auditorium

In the morning work in groups (Room 412)

Tutoring by Alain Chiaradia and Anssi Joutsiniemi

14.00 prof. Alain Chiaradia, London: Theory of Space Syntax, links between social and spatial configurations (double lecture)

17.00 Discussion, led by prof. Anssi Joutsiniemi

18.00 Coffee

18.30 – 19.30 Space Syntax workshop interim critique
Alain Chiaradia, Anssi Joutsiniemi, Kalle Komissarov, Panu Lehtovuori

Thu January 18: Space Syntax workshop

Work in groups. Tutoring by Alain Chiaradia

Fri January 19: Space Syntax workshop and closure

10.00 – 12.00 Space Syntax wrap-up and discussion EKA hall 412
Alain Chiaradia, Anssi Joutsiniemi, Kalle Komissarov, Panu Lehtovuori, Lilia del Rio
14.00 + Cleaning the room, burning cds
16.00 - 18.00Taggin' Tallinn Design group meeting
18.00 + Winding down evening.

Urban competition in Tartu

The city of Tartu is organizing a competition for a district
in the city centre,
Küütri Street - Kaubahoov park.

The deadline is March 13.

For a more detailed description see tartu.ee (in Estonian)

A Finnish-Estonian planning seminar

January 30, 2007 in Ülemiste Hotel:

SOOME – EESTI ÜHISSEMINAR

”Planeering kui vahend keskkonna kujundajana”

Esialgne programm:

10.45 Registreerimine

11.15 Avamine, Eesti Siseministeeriumi ja Soome Keskkonnaministeeriumi esindajad

11.45 Muutused planeerimiskultuuris viimasel 10-15 aastal ning trendid, Matti Vatilo, Soome Keskkonnaministeerium, Jaak Maandi, Eesti Siseministeerium

13.15 Lõuna

14.30 Maastik planeerimises, Marja Mikkola, MA-arkkitehtit

15. 15 Teemaplaneeringu ”Asustust ja maakasutust suunavad keskkonnatingimused” elluviimine ja mõju, kajastamine üldplaneeringutes, Tiia Kallas, Viljandi Maavalitsus

16.00 Suundumused linnakeskkonna planeerimisel, Ilkka Holm, Järvenpää linn

16.45 Eesti-Soome planeerimisalase koostöö algusaastate kogemus, Jukka Noponen, SITRA

17.15 Seminari kokkuvõte, Eesti ja Soome ministeeriumide esindajad

17.30 Seminari lõpp

Registreerimine kuni 15. jaanuarini e-posti teel Silja Ilvese juures Siseministeeriumi planeeringute osakonnas

OMA at Latvia

The Latvian Ministry of Culture announced plans to move forward with its first museum of contemporary art, designed by Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). The 16,000 m2 museum, to be built in the port city of Riga, will be Latvia's first new museum of art in over 100 years. Imagined as a multi-functional centre for contemporary culture, the museum will host seminars, concerts and theatrical performances, in addition to housing international exhibitions and a permanent collection of contemporary Baltic art.

Read more: http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=18633

Paldiski: Landscape + urbanism

Part of the course of landscape architecture, every year a workshop is being held. The habit is to go directly to the site and have a direct contact in the creation of landscape(s). This year the place was Paldiski, which was a former closed military city. Different from previous years was that together with students of architecture, the course was open to urban studies people. The rooms were provided by local municipality. In Paldiski we had bicycle excursions in the city and around the peninsular.

The purpose of the workshop was to find different ways to approach urban landscape and the method was named ‘prototypical’. Which meant, that students formed groups which each looked at one landscape topic such as: 1- geology, plants, climate; 2- new clear plant, pollution; 3- ports, infrastructure; 4- fauna; 5- industry, services; 6- build environment. Then they had to extract the strongest element of their topic and tune it to maximum. Landscape prototype should be seen in this context like any other prototype. Like for example in car industry, where prototypes are made to test certain characteristics and look at different performative aspects. Students were asked to concentrate only to their topic and make “no compromises”. In this way a bottom-up approach was tested, where particular landscape characteristics were enhanced.


6 Groups were mix of 2nd and 5th year students of architecture, to provide more internal discussion in the department. Chair of Urban Studies was represented successfully by two students. The course of landscape architecture is managed by Katrin Koov and the workshop was tutored by her and Kalle Komissarov. Guest critic was Lilia del Rio.

Time of the workshop: 22-24.09.2006
Nr of participants: 25

Text by Kalle Komissarov, photos by Tarmo Stöör

80th Anniversary of the Bauhaus Building in Dessau

From December 2nd 2006 is running an exhibition for celebrating the 80th anniversary of the building designed by Walter Gropius that hosted the Bauhaus school in Dessau. The exhibition will be open till March 11th 2007 and it explores the topic on three levels:
-the restoration of the Bauhaus Building
-the building’s impact on the media
-its interior architecture as a prototype of modern spatial organisation

Official web site:
http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/
Short article on the building’s restoration:
http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/images/body/sanierung_7_2006_en.pdf

GREATER HELSINKI VISION 2

_international ideas competition_

Greater Helsinki municipalities and State of Finland (Ministry of Environment) organize an open ideas competition for the future land use and spatial vision of Greater Helsinki. The organisers are expecting refreshing entries to participate the competition and vision the future Greater Helsinki 2050.
The aim of the competition is to find innovative ideas for the future land use planning and develop sustainable strategies and concrete solutions for strengthening the status and competitiveness of Greater Helsinki as an attractive region to live and conduct business in. The competitors are expected to present their general vision for the Greater Helsinki in 2050 together with the detail study supporting it.
Total of EUR 500 000 will be awarded as prizes and purchases.
The sunmission of entries is 31 May 2007.

All the information here: http://www.greaterhelsinkivision.fi/

1st ARCHITECTURE, ART AND LANDSCAPE BIENNIAL OF THE CANARIES

To creatively involve the people of the Canary Islands, its residents and visitors in a reflection on the conservation of its unique natural surroundings whose beauty and variety never fail to surprise us, with a view to promoting the interest of different social groups and collectives in the configuration of a large space for shared co-existence, preserving the natural environment, valuing the urban landscape, promoting dialogue between the different islands for a better understanding of the needs of the people of the Canaries and of its visitors, instigating actions and debates with renowned architects, urban planners, landscape architects, artists and sociologists, while also attracting young generations of creators and experts. The seven islands making up the Canaries could be seen as a metaphor of the diversity of man or microcosm, conceived as a complete summary of the universe or macrocosm. Starting off from the term microcosm we will then pose questions affecting man’s encounter with his surrounding environment and his optimum use of it. To encourage the setting in place of the necessary synchronicity between “celestial bodies” represented by the conjunction of man and the environment in which he develops and inhabits. Questions pertaining to the preservation of the natural environment and the urban environs, the infrastructures and equipment most suitable to the characteristics of each island, will make up the central axis of the actions, even when the importance of certain equipment already in place in various countries makes an exhibition event essential, required, and even exemplary. We want to offer residents and visitors examples of actions by leading urban planners, architects, landscape architects and artists which stand out for their suitability, respect for the user, the environment and the surroundings in which they are emplaced, and for their innovative character and the proportion and beauty of their lines.

Rosina Gómez-Baeza, Director

Official web site:
http://www.bienaldecanarias.org/

city as it is

‘Now let me call back those who introduced me to the city’

Walter Benjamin

This part of the blog is for sharing each others city experiences. The modest aim is to introduce the city theme from a persons point of view. This person can be you or somebody else, but it has to be someone.

If we do not notice the city, it ceases to exist. So help us to keep it real and thought-provoking.

Smacked by the city is meant for your own individual translations and findings about the city. This is your direct way of seeing things in the way they coincide with your life.

City as image is about representations, the way people see cities through certain mediums. Here you will get acquainted with the filtered and somehow distorted city.

SMACKED BY THE CITY

Sometimes the city just hits you, showing its twisted and unexpected sides.

The urban space as a reservoir for expressions is waiting to be translated and revealed. What is happening on the streets, behind the corners or inside the buildings, how do people feel themselves and how do they show it. Whenever you find a message, some unlike logic or a statement, please share it with us by describing and explaining it.

Open your eyes and your mind, the deepest content is often hidden and disguised. Look for the meanings of a city!

CITY AS IMAGE

"It's time we were on our way. I'm hungry, and the city awaits."

-Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

When you first enter a new city, it`s more than likely, that this is not the first date between you... You probably already have some kind of image in your head about the city and the first impression of your new lover can be enchanting or dissapointing pending on the expectations you had before.

We all tend to have a personal kaleidoscopes about every important city in our head, before we have really visited the place. The image is composed of the books we have read, films we have seen, poems we have learned by heart, comics and photographs we have explored.

This blog is a place to share these images, which have had strong influence on you and designed your vision of the citys. You are very welcome to
write personally about films, books, pictures, photographs, comic strips or poems where you have find interesting representations of a city. Visual material to illustrate the topic would be also very welcome.

Bon apetit!

WEBSITE FINALLY LAUNCHED!!!!

I am most happy to announce the launch of the final website urbanistika.ee

There is a list of 12 blogs which deal with different issues, related with urban planning, architecture, society, transformation of cities, everyday life, studies, readings, activism, etc.

you are all welcome to start posting on it sooner than soon! (i will send you the invitation)
If you would like to be invited, please write us- urbanistika@urbanistika.ee

A toast for the website!

Innovative planning

Historically, urban planning has been understood as big scale blueprints for future urban extensions, or as managing the elements of urban system, to take two examples. Currently, it is near paradigmatic to view planning as communication and the fabrication of consensus between conflicting interests. The planner is now in the city, among its citizens.

While innovative approaches to collect users’ experiential knowledge and facilitate multi-actor processes are developed and tested, the older practices and institutional structures often sideline new ideas. Simultaneously, planning is increasingly seen as economic development, as project-driven or facilitating activity. Entrepreneurialism may be a contradictory development vis-à-vis public participatory planning. However, private processes do represent a different set of stakeholders.

The practices and the judicial frame of urban planning are changing across Europe. Estonia makes no exception. This blog aims at collecting actual experiences of new planning approaches both in micro and macro scale. We are interested in new coalitions, urban agenda setting and liminal bodies, but also in the practices of real-estate companies and scenarios of IT investors.

We hope to shed light to meta questions, such as legitimation after participatory democracy or the societal utility of planning, without forgetting concrete issues, such as efficient methods of brainstorming or technological solutions of web-based opinion tagging. In the end, we assume that the future planning system and the relevant professionalisms are quite different from the current ones. Who can plan? For who?

Text by Panu Lehtovuori

gentrification and tallinners blog

"No more yuppies, please! Thank you" says one piece of New York anti-gentrification graffiti.

Gentrification is a process, in which an area’s existing low-income residents are replaced by a more affluent section of society. This is a process that also involves investment into an existing residential area that is initially marked by low cost properties. The first people who begin this process and move into these areas are initially drawn by low prices. However, these areas often have a sense of authenticity and bohemian character about them, which before long, becomes attractive to the existing middle class or the new middle class, the young urban professional or ‘yuppie’, who are – in a certain sense - buying into history… ‘’Oh, I fancy Kalamaja, it would be cool to live there!’’ Thanks to process of gentrification, former blue-collar worker areas, turn to white-collar residences.

Like all things, there are two sides to this issue: firstly, the renovation of dilapidated houses and buildings of historical significance, alongside the opening and development of new social gathering places etc, can only be considered a positive change. Conversely, as an area moves ‘up market’, the original inhabitants are eventually ‘priced out’ of their homes, as value increases due to demand, and succeeding generations of original inhabitants are forced to look for property in other areas.

In Tallinn the process of gentrification is apparent in the ‘wooden-house’ areas such as
Kalamaja, Kassisaba, in Kadriorg. Here a huge amount of buildings have been renovated. However, some buildings stand empty - sometimes due to uncertain ownership, or sometimes simply because the new owners don’t care about them. Perhaps their aim is to damage the buildings in the hope of receiving planning permission, when they would simply tear down the existing building and build new one – bigger of course?

The Estonian ownership reform has been very influential in this process of gentrification. This reform granted the return of properties, which had been nationalised during the Soviet regime in the 40s, back to their former owners - and in the event that the previous owners were no longer living, then to the closest relatives. However pleasant this may sound for the receiving parties, the returning of old property now meant extra subtenants and extra problems for the new owners. While the issues related to new ownership such as unwanted subtenants, and real-estate markets are very complex and difficult, they undoubtedly have had an influence on the developmental process. Because city support to these areas is very poor - only protected buildings and some certain details (for example, historical doors) have received financial support from the City’s Cultural Heritage Department – the responsibility for this culture depends upon the inhabitants and the owners.

As an art historian, I welcome the processes that give shape to a neighbourhood’s physical appearance, especially when it comes to renovation and redevelopment. In Kadriorg, several buildings have been restored, and the overall appearance of the streets has changed tremendously. Of course we must be aware that there can be bad examples as just easily as good examples.

With all this in mind, my question is this…. Is it necessary to bring in the yuppies to save our cultural heritage?

Contest

ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY IS LOOKING FOR A NEW LOGO

Architecture for Humanity, the american organization that promotes architectural and design solutions to globla, social and humanitarian crises, has open a competition for a new logo.

The top 10 proposals will get the book ‘Design Like You give A Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises’ and the winner will receive 1000$. You can work individually or in a team, but send your design before December 15th.

You will have more information in their web site, it is worth to visit anyhow. Good luck!! http://architectureforhumanity.org/logo/index.html

QUOTES

I post here some quotes i've found from famous movies or tv shows, that can fit for the subtitle for the website (right under urbanistika.ee, which is the main title) Please comment on which one you prefer and suggest others that you may like!


Example:
U R B A N I S T I K A . E E
City is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get (from Forrest Gump)



• The Truman Show
Christof: We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.

• Murphy's Law
The first myth of city is that it exists.

• "Angels in America" (2003) (mini)
Roy Cohn: A city! Good! I was worried... it'd be a garden. I hate that shit.

• "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (2005) {The Serpent's Pass (#2.12)}
Katara: Let's talk about this on our way into the city.

• "Batman" (1992) {Christmas with the Joker (#1.38)}
Dick Grayson: How one man holds up an entire city. Sounds familiar?

• "Batman" (1992) {I Am the Night (#1.34)}
Robin: This city would fall apart without you.

• "Biff Baker, U.S.A." (1952) {Grey Market (#1.2)}
Tom Davenport: I'll give you each a Marseilles. This cocktail is a special creation of mine. I call it that because, like the city, it has everything: warmth, intrigue, wickedness, coldness and, as you can see, beauty.

• "Cheers" (1982)
Carla: There's an entire city that agrees with you.

• "Friends" (1994) {The One Where the Monkey Gets Away (#1.19)}
Joey Tribbiani: You're a monkey lost in the city. Where would you go?

• "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969) {How Not to Be Seen (#2.11)}
Second City Gent: Well, I've been in the city for twenty years, and I must admit...I'm lost.

• "Naked City" (1958)
Narrator: [regular sign off] There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.

• "Pokémon" (1998)
Flint: Pewter City is grey, the color of stone. My name is Flint, and you're sitting on my merchandise, young man.

• "Pokémon" (1998)
Flint: Pewter City souveneirs, you want to buy some?

• "Power Rangers Mystic Force" (2006) {Broken Spell: Part 1 (#1.1)}
Vida Rocca: I'll go with you. Not everyone in the city's a coward.

• "Powerpuff Girls, The" (1998)
Princess: I know you think I'm too little to own my own city, but don't worry. I won't let you down. I'll be the best little capitalist piglet Princess you ever had.

• "Seinfeld" (1990)
Jerry: Oh, come on, there's a lot of people walking around the city that look like me.

• "SpongeBob SquarePants" (1999) {The Sponge Who Could Fly (The Lost Episode) (#3.16)}
Old Man Jenkins: I knew no good would come from city folk and their flying machines.

• "Stargate: Atlantis" (2004)
Col. Steven Caldwell: Can we submerge the city again?

• "Stargate: Atlantis" (2004)
Dr. Rodney McKay: [sighs] It's a city, not a yo-yo.

• "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1987) {Leatherhead Meets the Rat King (#3.36)}
Leatherhead: This city is no place for this gator. I'm going back to my swamp!

• "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (2003)
Nobody: Who am I? I might just be a glimmer of hope for a lost city. I'm the guy the cops would thank if they knew I existed. But they don't. Who am I? I'm Nobody.

• "Transformers" (1984)
Megatron: Is there anyone brave - or stupid enough - to oppose us? This city is under martial law... and I am the marshal!

• "Viva la Bam" (2003)
Bam's Uncle: [In Pisa, Italy] The whole goddamn city is named after pizza

• 'Round Midnight (1986)
Ace: It would be the best city in the world if I could just find some okra.

• 1776 (1972)
Roger Sherman: Might be the city tavern.
(this one I chose because maybe our blog is like a city tavern..)

• Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (2002)
Mars: My dad used to say, "Mars, don't ever live in a big city, nobody knows you." But isn't that the best part of it - no one to judge you, no one to tell you how to live your life?

• Alithini zoi (2004)
Joy: In this city, you always have to turn somewhere

• Annie Hall (1977)
Alvy Singer: I don't want to move to a city where the only cultural advantage is being able to make a right turn on a red light.

• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Stationmaster: I never will understand you city folk. Always rushing, rushing, rushing, always in a hurry. That's why you have stomach trouble.

• Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Ferdinand: Face it, you're just a little pig in the big city.


• Band Wagon, The (1953)
Tony Hunter: The city was asleep. The joints were closed. The rats and hoods and killers were in their holes.

• Dark Avengers, The (2005)
Bryan Yuen Sage: The city never sleeps. Ha, I love that phrase... and it's true. But only because I woke it up...

• Easy Rider (1969)
Stranger on the highway: I'm from the city... Doesn't matter what city; all cities are alike.

• Fando y Lis (1968)
Young Lis: The tree disguised itself as a leaf, the house as a door and the city as a house. The same scene over and over.

• Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Sloane: The city looks so peaceful from up here.

• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Capt. Gray Edwards: The city may be lost, but we're not.

• Ghostbusters II (1989)
Ray: [of the insulting birhtday party kids] Ungrateful little yuppie larva. After everything we did for this city.

• GoBots: War of the Rock Lords (1986)
Crasher: [to Solitaire upon seeing Cordax for the first time] What a primitive place. Ha ha! You can't tell the inhabitants from their surroundings. You call that a city? Huh?

• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Power Worker: Hey, you. This is city property. No trespassing. What are you, deaf? Don't try that Halloween shit with me.

• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Kevin McCallister: Excuse me, but this is an emergency. What city is it out there?


• Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
Claudia: It's time we were on our way. I'm hungry, and the city awaits.

• L.A. Vice (1989)
Detective Jon Chance: Don't you miss the city?

• Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
Gothmog: [sniffs] Fear. The city is rank with it.

Prepared for war at 9 am

Some signs in EKA say "Bush is a UFO"

When they told me I couldnt walk this way, I ask but why?, really why? What does the life of this person has to do with my life?

This morning, the city centre of Tallinn was turned into a graveyard, a murder scene. Streets were empty of cars, pedestrians, life and everything except those flashy yellow vests in every corner. Most of these flashy yellow vests were just looking at the shop windows, talking and spending the time. When I came out of home at 6.30 they were already there. There were not even souls in the street, but they were "guarding" bodies.

Physical bodies which can never experience a city as it usually is. They are cursed to live in empty streets full of yellow ghosts, for all their lives. I feel sad for them. Life under constant protection must be horrible. And it is in moments like today, that ideotic movements and closings in the space it interacts with us. This is the way Bush interacts with Estonia. It is all a game, what are they playing behind those fences? The magic circle is closed to those who carry no metal parts nor are normal. You must be abnormal to play such a game.