Public Works Practice

1. ARCH 415 – Landscape Research Lecturer: M.Sc. ValbonaKoci Fall Term, 2012 EPOKA University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Department of Architecture Public Works Practice Public Works Practice - Chris Reed Chris Reed Fitim Miftari, 02020911

2. Introduction • Contemporary landscape practices are witnessing a revival of sorts, a recovery of broader social, cultural and ecological agendas. • Public works historians Stanley K. Schultz and Clay McShane state that: "Twentieth century economic and political administration emphasized several characteristics, including a centralized permanent bureaucracy staffed by skilled experts, and a commitment to long- range, comprehensive planning." • The projects sponsored by such administrations were • highly technical, • specialized by discipline, • economically driven and • discreetly bounded. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

3. Introduction • Public works evolved from: • publicly initiated social reforms • multidimensional mega-projects • dispersed, networked initiatives • Gradually landscape architects relinquished their social relevance, gaining unparalleled social status. Thus, public works eventually congealed into one of two molds: • as decorative arts • as science based planning methodology. • Four case studies are used to illustrate the development of public works management structure. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

4. CASE STUDY 1NINETEENTH CENTURY CITIZEN-INITIATED REFORM AND CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP • Early public works were not centrally organized, they grew due to: • Public pressure exerted upon a central government • Private institutions geared toward the delivery of a new public service • Boston : In 1796, Aqueduct Corporation petitioned Massachusetts General Court for a charter to supply drinking water to Boston from Jamaica Pond. • Boston : A citizen petitioned the same court to clean waste from streets and gutters to prevent disease. • New York : Doctors, lawyers, businessman established Citizens’ Association to conduct an investigation in the physical fabric of the city in order to initiate governmentsponsored sanitary improvements. • Philadelphia : Political and business leaders, prompted by citizens and private publications, commissioned the country's first Waterworks to prevent epidemics. • Social reformers, health workers, business leaders, landscape architects, engineers and civic groups invented the public works project Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

5. CASE STUDY 2METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COMMISSION (MDC) • Open spaces was the first priority of MDC (1919), for most the twentieth century it was responsible for: • Provision of safe drinking water • Treatment of wastewater • Care and upkeep of open-space resources • Establishment and management of regions parkways • It has now been dismantled into at least three separate and specialized state agencies. Metropolitan Sewage District (1889) Boston Metropolitan Parks Commission (1893) Metropolitan District Commission or MDC. (1919) = + Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

6. CASE STUDY 3HOOVER DAM Hoover Dam during construction Public Works Practice - Chris Reed Hoover Dam today

7. CASE STUDY 3HOOVER DAM • 1942 – largest construction undertaking in the history of US • Unprecedented scope and technical difficulties • It took a coalition of six companies to secure the winning bid – Six Companies • Many new inventions • New construction techniques emerged • An entire new city – Boulder City – was built in Nevada desert to house, feed and educate 5000 workers and their families • The project became a public employment initiative • The project was used as a model for future government sponsored work programs Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

8. CASE STUDY 4ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network) • The predecessor to the current internet - ARPANET • Not a public work project directed by a centralized authority. • A new, networked model for project development • Coalition of multiple entities: • Governmental • Advanced Research Project Agency • National Physics Laboratory • Academic/Institutional • MIT • Stanford • Private/Corporate • Honeywell • IBM Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

9. Early characteristic of public works projects was the rise of professional engineer in social status and municipal ranks. • The professional engineer carried with it the pretense of the de-politicization of public works projects since the most qualified of scientists and engineers were argued to be beyond the realm of politics. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

10. By 1940’s, public works assumed a military imperative. • “much of the works done by the Works Projects Administration in peacetime years was later recognized as military value to the nation” • Airports • Military establishments • Roads and highways • The scale and complexity of military-related products reached a point where government could not handle the task itself- relied on private industry. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

11. During the 1930s and 1940s the works projects administration programs and initiatives employed thousands of citizens during a time of economic depression and recovery. • The federal government now acted as employer and contractor on its expanding roster of projects and services provided to the public. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

12. Stan Allen argues that architecture and urbanism, and by extension landscape should be "less concerned with what things look like and more concerned with what they do"; • He outlines an " infrastructural urbanism" that • Is strategic, • Operates at large scales, • Is made physical/material when it encounters a local. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

13. DEPARTURE POINTS – FOUR TRENDS1. Blurring of distinctions between traditional fields of practice • No traditional separations between disciplines hold • New public works are marked by the integration of: • functional, • social-cultural, • ecological, • economic, • political agendas. • Limited resources demand that interventions satisfy multiple goals. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

14. DEPARTURE POINTS – FOUR TRENDS2. Appropriation of infrastructural strategies and ecological tactics for new civic programs • Infrastructure: • Conceived as rational, absolute and utilitarian • Can be transformed toward social, cultural, ecological and artistic ends • Landscape/architectural/urbanistic project can be conceived as: • Functional infrastructures • Ecological machines that process and perform • Public spaces that literary “work” • Value for performance rather than sculptural characteristics. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

15. DEPARTURE POINTS – FOUR TRENDS3. Activation of multiple, overlapping networks and dynamic coalitions of constituencies • Many have recognized the decentralized or splintered characteristics of service-provision and decision-making • Local municipalities: • Limited resources to fulfill expanding public needs • Are subject to political and administrative changes • However, funding and organizational resources are not only available for centralized municipalities. • Community groups, art organizations, research centers have access to funds, thus have power for implementing public work projects. Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

16. DEPARTURE POINTS – FOUR TRENDS4. Catalytic and responsive operations • Long term implementation may depend on short term initiatives • Change public perceptions • Generate political will • Implementation scenarios must be responsive • Accommodate potential changes • Diverge from a step-by-step implementation formula • Allow open-ended futures • Project with duration of ten or twenty years: • Must acknowledge the potential impact of changing markets and political agendas • Are simply beyond the control of consultants and clients at the time of project initiation Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

17. Conclusion • Landscape urbanism lays new ground for design and urbanistic practices: • Performance-based • Research-oriented • Logistics-focused • Networked Public Works Practice - Chris Reed

18. References • Reed, Chris. 2006. Public Works Practice in The Landscape Urbanism Reader, ed. Charles Waldheim, NewYork: Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 265-285 Public Works Practice - Chris Reed