How do cities meet the demands of the present without losing the value of their past? John Herring joins Global Gossip with some bold answers in his ‘postcard’ from Bilbao.
In the 1980’s Bilbao was presented with an opportunity when the industry and shipping facilities blocking up the city centre moved out to the river mouth on the coast. Not many cities get the chance of a huge brownfield site bang in the centre.
The Guggenheim Museum: an affront to the past or the spirit of 21st century Bilbao?
And not many city fathers would have the vision to chose a futurist option. The Guggenheim Museum, all waving lines and shiny exterior, stands on the waters edge like an affront to the safe nineteenth century mansions of Bilbao’s past. However, this doodle of a building has been used as a catalyst to reshape the spirit of this city and, arguably, the shape of modern Basque identity.
A trip to Bilbao shows how a city can reinvent itself, given the will, the
money and, someone perhaps wielding dictatorial powers? The city still suffers the perennial problem of cars and parking but the building of a metro and the development of a tramway at least shows a willingness to take on this problem.
But this spirit of modernity isn’t being allowed to wipe away the evidence of the city’s past. A new office/residential development is being built inside the old walls of a historic building, showing how the new can grow out of the old.
The focus for Bilbao’s regeneration is the river running through and around it. This feature has been used to create a pedestrian walkway alongside the new tramway.
This trail for people was used prodigiously whilst we were there; people indulging in their regular ‘paseo’, whole families rollerblading, or those hardy, masochistic souls out jogging.
Certainly Bilbao is a city for today’s lifestyle, but perhaps this makes it unique, given that not many people, governors nor populace, would be prepared to see their little world torn down to start anew. The dilemma for the cities of the 21st century is how to drag themselves up to date with peoples current lifestyles without destroying the things that have made them what they are. Can global warming push the ‘cold’ cities of Northern Europe into a more open, outside society?
Yes, I take your point about Princes Street.
I know Edinburgh has a great heritage and the castle makes a fantastic symbol, I always get a kick seeing it at night, especially from North Bridge. But I wish we weren\’t so timid about modern architecture (no, I know the parliament isn\’t timid but…)
Prague, for example, seems to benefit from having the confidence to mix some great new stuff with the old – and the city is I think even more beautiful than Edinburgh. It is hard to see Edinburgh having the good humour to include a building like Frank Gehry\’s, Fred and Ginger, the \’Dancing House\’ squeezed into a space helpfully cleared by a bomb in 1945. Cheek by jowl with some 19th century terraced buildings, it gives the riverside a fantastic lift.
wouldn\’t it be great to have some of that nerve on Princes Street? So back to John\’s point about Bilbao\’s success in combining the new without destroying the character of the old, and the crucial point about that taking strong leadership and courage to take the bold decisions. Now that is something we definitely need in Edinburgh.
My question mark was really referring to the older iconic buildings, primarily the castle. Edinburgh thrives not due to modernism, but on its history. Unlike Bilbao, which trades off its modern museum, I think the ‘brand’ of Edinburgh might sink if a building such as the Parliament would replace the Castle as the definitive icon of the city…
That’s not to say that the Parliament is necessarily shite (I think it is better from the inside), or that the city doesn’t need trams and pedestrian space. I agree wholeheartedly with you there.
Thanks Robert. I know, Edinburgh does have an iconic building (perhaps) in the Scottish Parliament. In fact, I do not hate this building though on the whole feel it is better experienced from inside than viewed from without. Especially since I discovered that it is an uncanny replica of the Santa Caterina market in Barcelona designed by the very same Enric Miralles who designed the Holyrood building (the design does seem to work well as a market place).
I think the best modern building in Edinburgh is probably the Scottish Gas Headquarters in Granton by Norman Foster. Now, what else has he done? oh, yes, it\’s that dome for the Reichstag in Berlin. Well, at least one parliament has a definite winner.
I still think Edinburgh needs trams and more pedestrian space.
iconic buildings – Edinburgh could do with some of those!
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Thanks John, I am really delighted to get your ‘postcard’ from Bilbao, especially in the week I have just returned from a very vibrant and apparently optimistic Berlin where they also seem to be taking hold of the present without shirking the facts of their past.
Trams, pedestrian walkways, iconic buildings – Edinburgh could do with some of those!