Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a conference held in the German city of Wiemar. At the conference, presentations and related discussions covered a diverse range of topics, including planning, advocacy, development, community participation, and art. Among those presenting were members of Amsterdam’s planning department, Hamburg’s municipal housing agency, evidence-based consulting practice Space Syntax and architects and planners for various private offices large and small. Hearing about such a wide variety of approaches to understanding cities was fascinating, but perhaps one of the most interesting presentations came not from planners or consultants, but from a cultural development organization, PLATOON.
From their headquarters in Berlin and in Seoul, Korea PLATOON engages in a range of actions, events and projects. The dedicated members of the organization (which functions as a series of quasi-independent collectives) collaborate with a global network of creative professionals, and focus on socially relevant communication. For instance, in the past year PLATOON has participated in the marketing campaign to promote a federal minimum wage in Germany. In addition to hosting art exhibitions and public events, PLATOON publishes the magazine About, featuring single issue editions covering topics ranging from “Beauty” to “Family.”
Of particular interest to me as someone involved in architecture and urban planning is the fact that PLATOON has a highly limited physical footprint: their offices and creative spaces are constructed primarily of shipping containers. For instance, their Berlin facility consists of three 40-foot long standard shipping containers stacked vertically. Another shipping container, with its top removed and provided with decking around its rim so as to form a lap pool, completes the compound. The Seoul headquarters is even more elaborate, using a couple dozen shipping containers to create a more substantial facility. Called the Kunsthalle, or “arts center” in German (despite being located in Korea), the structure includes meeting facilities; it hosts exhibitions as well as an artist-in-residence program.
Through their various initiatives, programs, events, and publications, PLATOON creates community in two very different urban settings. However, they are not alone. Worldwide, similar organizations are working to foster the non-physical infrastructure crucial for culturally sustainable cities—and Long Beach itself is fortunate to have one such organization. SmolarCorp, the brainchild of Ryan Smolar, is an evolving platform whose seemingly single purpose is to pose the question “why not?” Through its various endeavors, SmolarCorp works to identify needs and opportunities, connecting the dots to meet those needs and take advantage of those opportunities. Many of SmolarCorp’s projects rely heavily on the public participation—from the user-generated content of the local event website Limelight to the volunteer faculty that sustain University by the Sea and the hundred plus Long Beach residents that have contributed to Book by Authors. All these projects provide the public the opportunity to share activities, knowledge, and creativity with each other.
Taking advantage of the local surplus of prefabricated building modules (i.e. shipping containers) due to our port, SmolarCorp recently completed a temporary facility called the Goods Gallery, located on an otherwise vacant lot downtown. This facility acts as a center for people to share all kinds of artifacts and events related to the cultural life of Long Beach. The Goods Gallery has sponsored a number of arts-related exhibitions, but SmolarCorp has also made the facility available to other groups to use at no cost—with the goal of increasing the community activity in the heart of Long Beach.
With its youthful exuberance, organic approach to building community, and willingness to challenge tradition even while respecting Long Beach’s historic past, SmolarCorp has approached each of its projects with an open-mind, while still evincing an uncanny understanding of the forces in play. The staff of SmolarCorp have thus demonstrated an understanding of a key principle of urban dynamism: while the physical urban fabric is important, the vibrancy of any city truly originates in the urban citizens that occupy, animate, and transform it. From Wiemar to Long Beach, PLATOON and SmolarCorp stand as two outstanding examples of the immaterial yet irreplaceable cultural forces essential to the success of any urban environment.
