Art-ticulating Cityscapes

Overview

UniBasel

I think this whole exercise is a very great test to push you all to confront how you see. And how seeing can also be honed to further help you understand patterns within very familiar spaces. It can redefine thoughts of what “mundane” means on several occasions.

In the City As Archive the author is saying that cities aren’t just built environments—they’re full of stories, relationships, and historical events that are constantly shaping how people live there. The city as an archive is more than buildings and roads; it’s the experiences and memories of the people who live there. This way of thinking helps us understand cities beyond their physical aspects, focusing instead on the flow of information, culture, and social dynamics.

Instead of looking at cities as fixed places with old traditions (like they used to look at villages), she believes we need to understand cities as spaces that are always being redefined and reshaped by the people in them. This perspective can lead to more innovative ways of planning and designing cities for the future.

I’ll use three examples of projects I’ve been involved in to expand on:
Invisible Networks of Relationships
Understanding Social Dynamics
Designing For The Future

Invisible Networks of Relationships

Art-ticulating Cityscapes

UniBasel

This idea of invisible networks is something we don’t often talk about, but it’s very much at the core of how cities operate. My project We Have Decided is a great illustration of this. Through constant interaction and with the Sakumono wetland daily documentation for a period of a year, I was able todiscover quite invisible trends . Invisible because the land always kept changing because of several reasons like weather and human interation with the space.

We Have Decided

Art-ticulating Cityscapes

UniBasel

Understanding Social Dynamics

Art-ticulating Cityscapes

UniBasel

With social dynamics, Trash-ID is a project I worked on that turned something mundane—trash—into an opportunity for dialogue and connection. I used waste as a starting point for conversation, and it taught me a lot about how different communities engage with their environment. It showed how seemingly mundane objects can carry stories about people’s habits, values, and relationships to space.

It’s like what we’re doing today—documenting overlooked, ordinary things as you walk through Basel. By paying attention to the small, ephemeral elements, we can understand social dynamics more deeply. Even the things we throw away tell stories about who we are and how we interact with our environment.

Trash ID

Art-ticulating Cityscapes

UniBasel

Designing For The Future

Art-ticulating Cityscapes

UniBasel

With the idea of designing for the future, it’s worth highlighting the process I went through for coming up with new motifs during my Kenteverse project. I basically explored similarites between Tema and Basel to see if the landscape could give me cues or clearly show some form of design language.

Kenteverse Motif Explorations

Art-ticulating Cityscapes

UniBasel

Kwaku Reez Opoku

Don’t worry about your future.