Redefining city living beyond the urban core
Rafi Segal, an associate professor at MIT, is spearheading a movement to reimagine urban living. He is collaborating with a diverse group of experts at MIT's Center for Advanced Urbanism, including engineers, economists, policy specialists, and experts in energy and transportation.
Segal's work is focused on creating self-sufficient, less wasteful, and more productive living environments that foster active communities. He believes that these changes are necessary to adapt to the modern world, where marketplaces like Airbnb have begun to alter the way we use and value our homes, but the design of homes has not yet changed in response.
One of Segal's notable projects is the Manhattan project, a living arrangement that includes a variety of residential types, from small single units to larger family units, and communal kitchens that can accommodate a dozen people for dinner. This project, located in a neighbourhood of 60 houses, also sees the car remaining on the perimeter, with bike and walking paths used for access.
Segal is also working on collective settlement models, including a project to expand and transform a kibbutz, a type of collective settlement developed in Israel in the early 20th century. The new kibbutz model combines individual life with a strong emphasis on collective life, amenities, activities, and community programs. This innovative approach may suggest approaches for implementation in North America, Asia, or Europe.
In a project for New Jersey undertaken at Princeton University, Segal and his team explored the potential of understanding the state as a single urban entity. New Jersey has the highest population density in the United States, but lacks large cities. The lifestyle in New Jersey is characterized by dispersed urban sprawl, a lifestyle that Segal believes lacks the crucial benefits of community and public space offered by cities.
Rafi Segal's recent project re-envisioned a 1970s building in Manhattan, combining apartments, office space, a school, and amenities like a vertical garden. The architect and urbanist, Rahul Mehrotra, who is associated with the MIT School of Architecture and the Center for Advanced Urbanism, has worked on projects focused on creating life-supporting environments that promote self-sufficiency, reduce waste, and foster active communities.
Segal's award-winning proposals and projects have attracted backers from around the world. He believes that economic changes, such as shared resources, and social changes, like new notions of community and privacy, can impact the shaping of the environment. Segal also emphasizes the importance of physical contact between people, stating that digital technologies and ways of communicating do not replace this need.
Developing such environments will require the participation of experts in many fields. Form usually changes much slower than function, according to Segal. The goal is to envision new forms of urbanity that better reflect and cater to the way we live, and to control the transformation of dispersed urban environments.
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