Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Resume

As a first resume of the debate at the Forth centre, it verified what Andre Loeckx said already in 1994, namely that it is a difficult debate.

When the group departed for Kamilari, no one was certain at that time about the outcome. However, everyone felt in having gained some valuable insights. After all one does stand to learn once one becomes able to reformulate the initial question: what future do our cities face?

In that sense, it was important to have through FORTH this contact to a High-Tech development scheme. Further development will depend upon resources which, as Prof. Papadaki explained, are not at all that easy to obtain. As this relates mostly to applied research in the field of Information and Communication Technologies, it requires a skilled management to map a sensible path into the future both inside the university's special fields of research and learning as well as outside in terms of social interests and innovative capacities of the economy. Along this path, there have to be ensured as well publications, research projects and ways to promote innovative ideas.

Phil Cooke, planner and Prof. at Cardiff University was keen to promote his understanding of what can make regions in Europe become competitive. He assumes this has to be done on the basis of what he coined as 'culture of excellence'.

By contrast the poetess Katerina Anghelaki Rooke described very convincingly her own puzzlement about the dual life she leads. She lives as much in Athens as outside of that sprawling city, namely on the island of Aegina.

Sophia Yannatou described likewise that a familiar place of childhood can suddenly become a 'strange place' due to all changes having transformed the original place beyond all recognition. People do have to learn to cope and to adapt to these ongoing changes.

Brendan Kennelly summed up the changes of places by noting where the Forth institute was constructed, namely in what was once a rural area. He said more cities are neither urban nor rural, but something in-between. For lack of a better word, he would call it the rururb land. The strangeness of a place can be best understood as being in-between everything and nothing really new on its own term.

Looking back at the discussion, it is clear that the theme 'technology and culture' was not exhaustively treated, but it was a good beginning and gave both the poets and the planners a first opportunity what to expect in the week ahead in Crete when discussing under the general theme 'myth of the city' living conditions in modern cities.

The implications for the urbanization process and the cultural adaptations needed to cope with the changes can only be grasped within new forms of communication. 'Myth of the City' might be such a start as it takes both the poets and planners out of their respective fields of specialization while reflecting that what has always been so present in Crete, namely the myth of figures like King Minos and the construction of his labyrinth.

HF

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