- Observation, Description and Tale in the Construction of the urban Plan    45 kb by    Dattomo, Nicla | nicla.dattomo@libero.it    Short Outline This paper describes the role and use of ‘images’ in the Antwerp Structural Spatial Plan, specifically as interpretative tools and project themes in the exploration and description of the Antwerp districts, during the preliminary phase of planning. Abstract observation, description and tale in the construction of the urban plan The present text refers to reflections and researches regarding, on one side, the tools and methods of the survey and, on the other side, the construction of an epistemology and the experimentation of a practice of the project that could assume an interpretative attitude ‘submitting to the description its own rules, the mechanics of its own construction’ (P.Viganò, 1994). The case-study I am referring to is the Antwerp Structural Spatial Plan, to which I had the opportunity to collaborate, working as urban designer assistant for Studio07. The aspects I am specifically interested in discussing are two: - the proposition to use a not-neutral observation: it deals with the degrees of operativeness of observation, when brought ‘inside’ to an hypothesis; - the descriptive dimension of the design, intending a specific approach that not only claims the use of design as a tool for the exploration of hypothesis/possibilities, but also affirms the role of the design as an eye-regulation device. The particular case of the Antwerp Structural Spatial Plan can be considered relevant because of one specific element that has been used in order to guide and structure as the study of the territory, as the formulation of issues for its transformation, as well as the construction of a ‘tale’ on which to base the first communication of the intents and suggestion of the plan. The ‘images’ used for Antwerp were interpretative schemes and general concepts coming from consolidate ideas in the ‘imaginary’ of the city, or arisen by contemporary needs and sensibilities: the text will point out their role and use, both - and contemporary - as interpretative tools and project themes, specifically in the exploration and description of the Antwerp districts, during the preliminary phase of the planning. Keywords preliminary structural spatial plan - surveys Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2007: Urban Trialogues   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper