Terms You Should Know
Curitibology
Curitibology is a newly coined term - a neologism. Here the word is broken down: CURITIB- (or Curitiba) & -OLOGY. Curitib- / Curitiba meaning the city of Curitiba in Brazil and -ology meaning the study of something. Basically, Curitibology means the study of Curitiba. Further, it is more defined through the ecological practices that Curitiba has developed, as well as the various efforts to save their community and their environment. It is the study of such things that have so benefited their communities, we can only learn from them and find ways to effectively implement their best practices as part of our cities.
Urban Ecology
Urban ecology is the multidisciplinary study of the interrelated social, environmental, and economic systems comprised within the urban ecosystem. Urban ecology studies the dynamic relationship of people in cities, of nature in cities, and the relationships between the ecological systems. Our systems are both driven and affected by the patterns and processes they create. Like any organism, you cannot think of any part of a city's systems in isolation. It is nearly impossible to separate any issue in our urban environment that isn’t connected to urban ecology.
During the study of urban ecology, there was an evolution of consciousness, sensibility and responsibility towards our urban environments. Urban ecology's interdisciplinary roots include practitioners in fields of urban planning, ecology, biology, anthropology, sociology, geography, landscape architecture, engineering, economics, climatology, public health, and any urban observers. Renowned urban observer and author, Jane Jacobs, wrote about this evolution of consciousness in the Modern Library edition of Death and Life of Great American Cities. She realized that she was engaged in studying the ecology of cities, with the city ecosystem as one composed of physical-economic-ethical processes active at a given time within a city.
Learn more about Urban Ecology.
Urban Acupuncture
Urban Acupuncture has been defined online as:
"a socio-environmental theory that combines contemporary urban design with the traditional Chinese acupuncture; it uses small-scale interventions to transform the larger urban context. Sites are selected through analysis of aggregate social, economic and ecological factors, and are developed through a dialogue between designers and the community. Just as the practice of acupuncture is aimed at relieving stress in the human body, the goal of urban acupuncture is to relieve stress in the built environment. Urban acupuncture is intended to produce small-scale but socially catalytic interventions in the urban fabric." - sources: 1, 2, 3.
Renowned urban designer and architect Jaime Lerner describes urban acupuncture as “a spark that sets off a current that begins to spread.” It begins with fundamental ideas of what makes cities thrive: familiar sounds and smells, gathering places, people, key infrastructure, adequate land use, and mass transportation. It is when those things are missing or need resuscitation that urban acupuncture steps in to make small but fundamental changes that alter city life for the better. These pinpricks of change—urban kindness where people come together to share their lives; good recycling for revival of lost spaces; aquapuncture that treats rivers, canals, and streams as part of a city instead of the problem; or 24-hour shopkeepers that keep the city alive—are the lifeblood of cities and keep its heart beating.
To learn more about what Urban Acupuncture is all about, including Jaime Lerner's book Urban Acupuncture click here.