Tijdschrift Voor Architectuur/Architectural Journal - Ton Avermaete - Bog

The development of the countryside has generally been conceived of from an urban perspective: the country as producer of food for the urban population, as development area, or as recreational area. Even the development and protection of nature in the countryside are undertaken in service of city dwellers, so that they can experience scenic beauty as a compensation for the pernicious urban life. Oase No. 63 questions existing approaches which view the countryside as the empty or "negative" part of the contemporary urban condition, and consequently reduce the countryside to what remains after the positive urban shape has been thought or carved out. Here the perspective is reversed: neither the city nor urbanization but rather the countryside and the agrarian industry constitute the starting point of this study. Thus Oase No. 63 asks: Is it be possible to consider an alternative future for the countryside based on its intrinsic qualities? To what degree is the countryside capable of absorbing contemporary practices and processes? Does the countryside count at all as a bearer of political economy?