The City Lived II: Commons Underground

Seminar (052-0827-20)
Organizer: Chair of Prof. Avermaete
Lecturers: Nicole de Lalouvière, Dr. Irina Davidovici, Dr. Janina Gosseye
Time: Fall 2020, Thursdays, 3.45 - 5.30 pm
Location: Online and in the NSL Foyer (HIL H40.9) on the: 17.09 / 29.10 / 26.11 / 03.12 in HIL E71.1 on the 24.9 and 1/8/15.10 and 5/12/19.11

Course description

Introduction
In this seminar we examine the underground through the lens of the commons – as a space within which public, private, and collective rights are negotiated and ultimately materialised. To examine this hypothesis, the seminar focuses on underground infrastructures, services and resources as a specific category of built commons, located under the surface and thus subject to different spatial and statutory conditions. Their negotiation entails practices of cooperation, conflict resolution, and sometimes domination. The underground brings forth related issues in the commons: access, ownership, the drawing of (spatial) boundaries, maintenance, etc. All of these questions have relevance to the practice of building in the underground. They also pertain to material qualities of the subterranean, including height, pressure, depth and shape. Beyond the surveyed space of the underground, described through ever-more sophisticated tools that measure, scan, and probe, the underground is a constructed, lived, and experienced space. It is at the same time a subject of myth, place of daily work, locus of technological expertise, and medium of knowledge transfer.

Course structure and study materials
The seminar aims to conceptualise the underground commons through a number of weekly themes: transport, ecology, archaeology, knowledge (full list once we have it). Their understanding necessitates the active consideration of legal-institutional frameworks, as well as accurate three-dimensional mapping of underground spaces, inaccessible and invisible to most. For each thematic seminar, the students will be asked to read in advance one or two short texts, at least two texts in relation to one another: one text related to the commons and the other related to the underground (available for download from the course website). The topics of the readings are wide-ranging in geographical and historical scope, in order to place the notion of the underground commons within a comparative framework.

Three analytical tracks will be used for the analysis of the selected commons:

• Resource: what it consists of, its material and formal articulations, the
  
• Commoners: the community of users, the historical context of its creation, collective ownership and self-determination
  
• Institutions: practices of commoning and the laws of governance

Course objectives
Upon completion of the course, the students will have:

• developed a firm grasp of the concept of the commons, and the skill to apply it in the discussion of a variety of case studies in defined locations;
  
• developed the ability to identify, analyse and interpret built artefacts, resources and services located underground through the lens of the commons;
  
• exercised working collaboratively on a collective project that will grow over time, creating a vital, open-access knowledge resource.

Course structure
Weekly sessions of two-hour thematic seminars as per schedule below. Before each seminar, the students will submit a brief summary of 100 words and 1 question for each of the two weekly readings on the DARCH Remote folder
https://nextcloud.ethz.ch/s/QR2tjzKwjfP95w5.

Each seminar will comprise:

• a 30-minute presentation on the weekly theme by the seminar lecturer
  
• a 30-minute plenary discussion of the thematic seminar texts, based on student statements
  
• a 30-minute breakaway working groups exercises / tutorials

Exceptions to this format are as follows:

• Week 1: course introduction, methodological discussion, create working groups
  
• Week 6: mid-term reviews
  
• Week 10 and 11: final reviews

Output
Students will develop a ca. 1500-word essay (see below), as well as an entry to a newly constructed website – the Commons Register – which will be first shown in the mid-term reviews, and updated/concluded in the final reviews. Each Commons Register entry will be tagged with 5 key-terms: e.g. underground, mining, Stradbroke Island, land rights, etc. The tags will help sort the material on the website in particular ways. One could, for instance, search for ‘mining’, which would bring up all entries on mining and the commons. This website will be used for several seminars, and will grow over time.

Assessment

Active participation in the course: 10%

Mid-term presentation: 20%
Students will have identified a case-study of an underground commons that they will analyse further for the final assignment. For the mid-term presentation, they will be asked to submit: a) 1 A4 PDF with the following information: a 50-word description of the chosen case-study; 5 keywords that typify their case-study; 3 relevant reference texts (formatted in MLA reference style) and (b) one PDF hi-resolution image of the chosen commons. These will be uploaded as a 2-page PDF on the DARCH Remote Submissions Folder by end of day 28.10.2020.

Final presentation: 20%
The final presentation (5-minute presentation and 5-minute feedback) will take place over the last two seminars (26.11 and 03.12) and will consist of the Commons Register entry (same information as at mid-term review; formatted and updated as agreed with supervisors) uploaded on the DARCH Remote Submissions Folder by end of day 25.11.2020.

Final essay: 50%
Students will submit a ca. 1500-word, illustrated and fully referenced essay on a selected case study of underground commons. The topic and case study will be agreed in advance with the course lecturers, and supervised by one of them. The essay, with notes, illustrations and bibliography, will be submitted in printed and electronic format (at the Chair office and by email) by 8 January 2021, 17:00 CET.

The attendance to all seminars is obligatory. The teaching and discussions will take place in English, the written coursework will be accepted in English (preferred) or German.

Contact

irina.davidovici@gta.arch.ethz.ch
lalouviere@arch.ethz.ch
janina.gosseye@gta.arch.ethz.ch

Schedule

17.09. Seminar 1: Introduction to the commons underground
Lecturers: NL, ID, JG
Room: NSL Foyer HIL H40.9
Readings:

• Graham, Stephen.‘Introduction: Going Vertical’. Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers, Verso, 2016, pp. 1–24. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ethz/detail.action?docID=5177396 
  
• Kip, Markus, et al. ‘Seizing the (Every)Day: Welcome to the Urban Commons’. Preface Seizing the (Every)Day: Welcome to the Urban Commons!, Birkhäuser, 2015, pp. 9–19. www.degruyter.com, doi:10.1515/9783038214953-001. 

24.09. Seminar 2: Transport in common
Lecturer: ID
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Augé, Marc. ‘Correspondances’, in: Un Ethnologue dans le Métro. Paris: Hachette, 1986 (French original) or ‘Correspondences.’ In In the Metro, transl. Tom Conley, Minneapolis: UMP 2002, 52–66. 
  
• Augé, Marc. ‘Solitudes’, in: Un Ethnologue dans le Métro. Paris: Hachette, 1986 (French original) or ‘Solitudes.’ In In the Metro, transl. Tom Conley, Minneapolis: UMP 2002, 27-50. 
  
• Clayton, Antony. ‘Railways beneath the City’. In Subterranean City: Beneath the Streets of London, Rev. and Extended ed., 158–209. London: Historical Publications, 2010. 

01.10. Seminar 3: Filtering Sanitation
Lecturer: JG
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Feuerstein, Günther. “Life in the Sewers = Leben Im Kanal.” Daidalos 48, no. Under ground (June 1993): 124–25. 
  
• Graham, Stephen. “Sewer: Sociology and Shit.” In Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers, 207–17. London, UK: Verso, 2016. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ethz/detail.action?docID=5177396. 

08.10. Seminar 4: Probing geology
Lecturer: NL
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Baskerville, Charles A. “The Foundation Geology of New York City.” In Reviews in Engineering Geology, 5:95–117. Geological Society of America, 1982.  https://doi.org/10.1130/REG5-p95.
  
• Reeds, Chester Albert. The Geology of New York City and Vicinity. New York, 1922.  http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015006834900.

15.10. Seminar 5: Retaining Soils
Lecturer: NL
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Jim, Chi Yung. “Soil Volume Restrictions and Urban Soil Design for Trees in Confined Planting Sites.” Journal of Landscape Architecture 14, no. 1 (January 2, 2019): 84–91.  https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2019.1623552.
  
• Way, Thaïsa. “Landscapes of Industrial Excess: A Thick Sections Approach to Gas Works Park.” Journal of Landscape Architecture 8, no. 1 (May 1, 2013): 28–39.  https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2013.798920.

29.10. Seminar 6: Mid-term review
Lecturers: NL, ID, JG
Room: NSL Foyer HIL H40.9

5.11. Seminar 7: Excavating Mining
Lecturer: JG
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Graham, Stephen. “Mine: Extractive Imperialism on the Deep Frontier.” In Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers, 233–45. London, UK: Verso, 2016.  http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ethz/detail.action?docID=5177396
  
• Libby, Ronald T., “Introduction.” In Hawke’s Law: The Politics of Mining and Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia, xix-xxvii. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1989. 

12.11. Seminar 8: Consolidating Defense
Lecturer: ID
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Virilio, Paul. “Monolith.” In Bunker archeology, 37–47. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994 
  
• Ziauddin, S. B. “(De)Territorializing the Home. The Nuclear Bomb Shelter as a Malleable Site of Passage.” Environment And Planning D-Society & Space 35, no. 4 (2017): 674–693.   https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775816677551.

19.11. Seminar 9: Commemorating: Heritage
Lecturer: ID
Room: HIL E71.1
Readings:

• Rodney Harrison, ‘Some definitions: Heritage, modernity, materiality.’ Heritage : Critical approaches, 2013, 13–41. 
  
• Ubierna, José Antonio Juncà. “Tunnel Heritage in Spain: Roots of the Underground.” Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 13, no. 2 (April 1, 1998): 131–41.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0886-7798(98)00040-6.

26.11. Seminar 10: Final reviews
Lecturers: NL, ID, JG
Room: NSL Foyer HIL H40.9


3.12. Seminar 11: Final reviews and launch of Commons Register website
Lecturers: NL, ID, JG
Room: NSL Foyer HIL H40.9

Further Reading

Reference books (possible sources for case studies)

• Dobraszczyk, Paul, Galviz López-Galviz, Bradley L Garrett, and Geoff Manaugh, eds. Global Undergrounds: Exploring Cities Within. London UK: Reaktion Books, 2016.
  
• Peila, Daniele, Giulia Viggiani, Tarcisio Celestino, Giulia Viggiani, and Tarcisio Celestino. Tunnels and Underground Cities. Engineering and Innovation Meet Archaeology, Architecture and Art : Proceedings of the WTC 2019 ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress (WTC 2019), May 3-9, 2019, Naples, Italy. CRC Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429424441.
  
• Pike, David L. Subterranean Cities: The World beneath Paris and London, 1800-1945. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2005.
  
• Reynolds, Elizabeth. Underground Urbanism. New York, London: Routledge, 2020.

Websites (possible sources for case studies)

• Subterranea Britannica: https://www.subbrit.org.uk/
  
• Center for Land Use Interpretation: http://www.clui.org/ludb
  
• BLDGBLOG: http://www.bldgblog.com/?s=underground

17.09. Seminar 1: Introduction to the commons underground
Further reading:

• Clemens, Oliver, Sabine Horlitz, Anita Kaspar, and Andreas Müller, eds. “On the Commons.” AN Architektur: Produktion Und Gebrauch Gebauter Umwelt, no. 23 (2010): 1–26. 
  
• De Cauter, Lieven. “Common Places: Preliminary Notes on the (Spatial) Commons.” Community DeWereldMorgen.Be (blog), October 14, 2013. https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/community/common-places-preliminary-notes-on-the-spatial-commons/.
  
• ———. “Common Places. Theses on the Commons.” Depression Era, April 3, 2014. https://depressionera.gr/lieven-de-cauter-i.
  
• Harvey, David. “3. The Creation of the Urban Commons”. In Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. Verso, 2012,, 67–88.  http://sfx.ethz.ch/sfx_locater?sid=ALEPH:EBI01&genre=book&isbn=9781781684054
  
• Squire, Rachael, and Klaus Dodds. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Subterranean Geopolitics.”Geopolitics 25, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 4–16.   https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2019.1609453.
  
• Stavros Stavrides, “Conclusion: Reinventing the city through commoning”, in Common Space: The City as Commons, 2016, 259–273. 
  
• Zurita, Maria de Lourdes Melo. “Challenging Sub Terra Nullius: A Critical Underground Urbanism Project.” Australian Geographer 0, no. 0 (February 10, 2020): 1–14.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2020.1723829.

24.09. Seminar 2: Transport in common
Further reading:

• Reynolds, Elizabeth and Paul Reynolds. “Planning For Underground Spaces: “Nylon Underground”. in Think Deep: Planning, Development and Use of Underground Space in Cities, edited by Han Admiraal and Shipra Narang Suri, International Society of City and Regional Planners and International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, 6–33. Pijnacker: Drukkerij Aktief, 2015. 

01.10. Seminar 3: Sanitation
Further reading:

• to be announced

08.10. Seminar 4: Probing geology
Further reading:

• Barr, Jason, Troy Tassier, and Rossen Trendafilov. “Depth to Bedrock and the Formation of the Manhattan Skyline, 1890–1915.” The Journal of Economic History 71, no. 4 (December 2011): 1060–77.  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050711002245.
  
• Gerundo, Carlo, Valerio Di Pinto, and Vincenzo De Stefano. “Naples and Its Parallel City.” In Think Deep: Planning, Development and Use of Underground Space in Cities, edited by Han Admiraal and Shipra Narang Suri, International Society of City and Regional Planners and International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association., 35–52. Pijnacker: Drukkerij Aktief, 2015. 
  
• Graham, Stephen. “Ground: Making Geology.” In Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers, 181–200. London, UK: Verso, 2016. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ethz/detail.action?docID=5177396. 

15.10. Seminar 5: Retaining Soils
Further reading:

• Bernatzky, A. “Arbeitsleistung Und Wert Des Baumes = Travail Productiv [i.e. Productif] et Valeur de l’arbre = The Performance and Value of Trees.” Anthos : Zeitschrift Für Landschaftsarchitektur = Une Revue Pour Le Paysage, 519488-x, 0003-5424, 8, 1969, 1, 25, 1969. 
  
• Donadieu, Pierre. “The Soil as Territorial Commons: The Point of View of a Landscaper.” In Soils as a Key Component of the Critical Zone 2, edited by Guillaume Dhérissard, 127–47. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2018.  https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119438137.ch7.
  
• Jim, C. Y. “Managing Urban Trees and Their Soil Envelopes in a Contiguously Developed City Environment.”  Environmental Management 28, no. 6 (December 1, 2001): 819–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002670010264.
  
• Kluvankova, Tatiana, Stanislava Brnkalakova, Veronika Gezik, and Michal Maco. “Ecosystem Services as Commons?” In Routledge Handbook of the Study of the Commons, edited by Blake Hudson, Jonathan Rosenbloom, and Dan Cole, 208–19. Routledge, 2019.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315162782.

5.11. Seminar 7: Excavating Mining
Further reading:

• Niederberger, Thomas, Madlen Kobi, and Tobias Haller. “The Open Cut: Mining, Transnational Corporations and the Commons.” In The Commons in a Glocal World: Global Connections and Local Responses, edited by Tobias Haller, Thomas Breu, Tine de Moor, Christian Rohr, and Heinzpeter Znoj, 336–51. Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management. London, New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019. 
  
• Ubierna, JoséAntonio Juncà. “Tunnel Heritage in Spain: Roots of the Underground.” Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology13, no. 2 (April 1, 1998): 131–41.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0886-7798(98)00040-6.

12.11. Seminar 8: Consolidating Defense
Further reading:

• Clayton, Antony. “Secret Places: bunkers, citadels, shelters and tunnels.” In Subterranean City: Beneath the Streets of London, Rev. and Extended ed., 120–157. London: Historical Publications, 2010. 
  
• Graham, Stephen. “Bunker/Tunnel: Subsurface Sanctuaries.” In Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers, 218–32. London, UK: Verso, 2016.  http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ethz/detail.action?docID=517739.
  
• Klinke, Ian. “Nuclear Living Space.” In Cryptic Concrete, 67–90. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2018.  https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119261155.ch4.
  
• Virilio, Paul. "Bunker archéologie. Morceaux choisis." Paris: Les Editions du Demi-Cercle, 1991. 

19.11. Seminar 9: Commemorating: Heritage
Further reading:

• Tolia-Kelly, D., Waterton, E., Watson, S. “Introduction”, in Tolia-Kelly, D. (Ed.), Waterton, E. (Ed.), Watson, S. (Ed.). Heritage, Affect and Emotion. London: Routledge (2017): 1–11.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315586656
  
• Marilena Papageorgiou, ‘Networking underground archaeological and cultural sites: The case of the Athens Metro’, in Admiraal, Han, and Shipra Narang Suri, eds. Think Deep: Planning, Development and Use of Underground Space in Cities, 2015, 54–71. 
  
• Laurajane Smith, ‘The Discourse of Heritage’, in Uses of Heritage, 2006, 11–43. 

cover image: "Nous descendions une sorte de vis tournante" Gravure d’Édouard Riou illustrant le chapitre xxiv du Voyage au centre de la Terre de Jules Verne, éditions Hetzel, 1907, p.116.