Venice, Italy
May 22, 2021
Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra) is honored to have been invited to the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia curated by Hashim Sarkis. Prof. Sarkis asked CohStra to respond to the question: How Will We Live Together?
Co-founded in the city of Rotterdam in 2008 by Lucia Babina, Emiliano Gandolfi, Gabriela Rendón and Miguel Robles-Durán; Cohabitation Strategies was formed as a non-profit cooperative for socio-spatial development with the specific focus of challenging the traditional disciplinary divisions and social inequities involved in the production of neoliberal urbanization.
After thirteen years of long-term experimental work on sixteen complex urban projects in Europe, North America and South America spanning numerous topics such as housing, cultural production, territorial development, economics, policy and community advocacy, Cohabitation Strategies responded to Prof. Sarkis’ question by presenting its manifesto for the future of urban practice, titled “How to Begin Again”.
Expanding on Situationist International terminology, How to Begin Again, was conceived as a 4-step spatial initiation towards Unitary Urbanism, a term that CohStra redefined as: An anti-capitalist and transdisciplinary practice that attempts to bridge popular and scientific knowledge to co-produce social and environmental justice in cities.
With this installation for La Biennale di Venezia’s Arsenale/Corderie, CohStra concludes operations as an independent cooperative. In order to continue expanding the practice of Unitary Urbanism, Cohabitation Strategies announces that beginning May 2021 it is joining URBAN FRONT, a transnational consultancy focused on helping progressive public and social sectors address the critical urban problems of the 21st century. URBAN FRONT was co-founded by 23 highly experienced unitary urbanists across Asia, Europe, North and South America, including CohStra’s Emiliano Gandolfi, Gabriela Rendoó and Miguel Robles-Durán. All future CohStra projects will now be developed with URBAN FRONT.
For more information, please visit www.urban-front.com