Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition

The 10th International exhibition. 2006 theme was "Cities, Architecture and Society"

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Cities, architecture and society - curated by Richard Burdett

www.labiennale.org

“More than half of the world’s population lives in cities”, states the Director of the 10th International Architecture Exhibition, Richard Burdett. “A century ago, it was less than 10%. The 21st century will be the first truly urban era, in which more than 75% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, much of it in mega-cities with more than 20 million inhabitants concentrated in the countries undergoing rapid development in Asia, Africa and South America. In the meantime, many Western and European cities are shrinking, or have been forced to re-invent themselves in order to adapt to a post-industrial condition. The aim of the 10th International Architecture Exhibition both to inform and provoke a debate on the way we shape the future of urban society, just at the point that cities represent such a critical mass of the global agenda. It is an attempt to re-engage the physical structure of cities – their buildings, spaces and streets which is the domain of architects and urban designers – with the social, cultural and economic dimensions of urban existence. Despite, the informed perceptions of urban thinkers – from Jane Jacobs to Aldo Rossi, from Saskia Sassen to Rem Koolhaas – the architectural profession has perhaps been overly insulated from this interdisciplinary debate. By bringing the everyday life of cities from around the world to Venice, and by inviting research institutions to share their visions for urban intervention, and by widening the international panorama through the exhibitions on display in the national pavilions, the 10th International Architecture Exhibition Cities, architecture and society is designed to make a cultural contribution to one of the most pressing social questions facing mankind in the 21st century.

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items are from between 18 Oct 2006 & 02 Jan 2007.