BIG LEAGUES
This month, Georgia landed in the spotlight with an energizing debut at the UEFA European Football Championship. The Guardian traces the infrastructural and cultural changes that brought the team to Germany, while The New Yorker lays out why Georgia’s play on European pitches matters today.
So it is our honor to return the volley back “ევროპისკენ” (“towards Europe”) with significant honors in our field: Ruderal’s Tbilisi Urban Forest is a finalist for the European Prize for Urban Public Space. The Prize is a biennial competition “organized to recognize and make known all kinds of works to create, recover, and improve public spaces in European cities.” Tbilisi Urban Forest was also shortlisted for the 2024 EUMies Award, which recognizes the best built works in Europe completed between 2021 and 2023.
RUDERAL OUT AND ABOUT
“Building Biodiverse Urban Forests in the Post-Soviet City” by Ruderal’s Benjamin Hackenberger and Sarah Cowles will be published in the upcoming SPOOL: Urban Forestscapes issue.
“Principles in Motion: Ruderal's Sarah Cowles on Cities, Landscapes, Inventiveness, and Rigor”: Julia Gamolina interviewed Sarah about her path from art school to establishing Ruderal in Madame Architect.
The Fertile Section: Sarah shared Ruderal’s horticultural side in the Planting Forward series, hosted by American author and plantsman Kelly D. Norris.
Tbilisi Unfolding: A vibrant collaboration between Ruderal, the Ubani Center, Ieri Store, and photographer Barrie Hullegie captured the colors and textures of early spring in Tbilisi. The work culminated with an exhibition at the new Kinos Saxli complex in Tbilisi and a presentation and panel discussion on “Unsealing the City” with Peter Culley of Spatial Affairs Bureau (London).
INTERNS ADVANCE
Ruderal welcomed interns Philipa Gercke (TU Berlin), Arielle Steere (UC Berkeley), Sandro Kviriashvili (Georgian Technical University), Marion Frotzbacher (TU Vienna), and Erasmus program participants Ejvind Spence and Andreas Jensen (University of Copenhagen.)
Fulbright for a Floodplain: Ruderal summer research associate Maggie Brand completed her MLA at Auburn University and will return to Georgia in fall 2024 with a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship, working with Napirze, a community-led effort to restore the Mtkvari River floodplain. (For recent updates on the Napirze project and team, see Anna Edgar’s article in OC Media.)
Do you know a student or recent graduate interested in exploring independent research in the region? Get in touch!
NEW POSTS ON THE SUBSTACK:
» A new material horizon for the Dighomi Meadows of the Mtkvari River. Ruderal intern Ejvind Spence summarizes his design thesis, which focused on the degraded Mtkvari River floodplain:
Rehabilitation strategies for the site … are constrained by both the frameworks of large multinational donors and the size of the site … I was interested in approaches to the site that were more playful and exploratory; seeing where engaging with it as a site of both destruction and regeneration could lead…
» Women Reclaiming Narratives, Reclaiming Spaces: Philipa Gercke interviewed Kristine Gabisonia (Stop Didi Lilo Landfill) and Ana Trapaidze (Dighomi Meadows Neighborhood Initiative) on becoming environmental justice leaders and building media momentum against environmental degradation.
My community is a very young community … we didn't have a sense of community during the pandemic … we became unified because it was unbearable to see so many trucks coming to the site; our neighbors were really angry about the dirt and noise and dust of the trucks that arrived daily at high speed. - Ana Trapaidze
» Thick Talk: In “Origins of Material Curiosity”, Sarah interviews Matt Dallos, founder of Thicket Workshop. He discusses his practice in upstate New York, focusing on native thicket planting. In “An Immersion of Wildness” he shares PhD research on early directions in wild gardening in America.
» A tour of Georgia’s geothermal landscapes and a proposal to renew the Gurkeli Sulphur Baths near Akhaltsikhe, by Frederik Aunsberg, Frederick Wolf, and Johannes Harder.
Thinking about visiting Georgia? Come for the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial 2024: September 28 – October 19, 2024. Ruderal’s Giorgi Nishnianidze joined this year’s open-call jury.
With the theme of “Correct Mistakes,” the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial 2024 will explore the interdependent relationship between the environment and humanity, focusing on their mutual influences. It will also explore the interplay between Georgia's natural resources and societal challenges resulting from historical exploitation, environmental policies, and climate change.
Leveling Up: This summer, we’re building gardens around Tbilisi’s hills in the villages of Tabakhmela, Tsqneti, Kaklebi, and Nushis Baghi. Construction and planting continue at Lopota Lake Resort, the Hotel in Sighnaghi, and the Open Corridors Peace Camp. Stay tuned to our Instagram and Facebook pages for more updates!
