EDAW photographers are making their way through some of the world’s most vibrant urban contexts in a whirlwind trip capturing imagery for the EDAW book Beyond Growth. An initiative of Asia and its ‘EDAW-in’ group, Beyond Growth is a vivid exploration of the most urbanized corner of the world – an arc of geography that spans from Shanghai to Mumbai to Dubai. This is one of several photo journeys by EDAW’s photographers. Dixi Carrillo captured construction in Beijing in late 2007, and David – the flavor of Mongkok (the world’s most densely populated square kilometer). Both will return to Asia this year for further photography alongside similar lines.
This emerging world is experiencing history’s most dramatic physical transformation with intriguing ramifications for the larger world’s natural and social environments. It is a part of the world defined by massive urbanization, vast migrations of people, the world’s tallest buildings, Olympian construction, magical reclamations, and barebones poverty alongside ever-more ostentatious wealth. It is redefining the way designers/planners practice in new and interesting ways, stretching our notions of scale, long-term environmental vision and social stability. This is a place with more than 170 cities that have more than 1 million residents. It is a place with hundreds of Louis Vuitton stores, almost all of them new, but with a floating population of millions of migrant construction workers from Lahore to Lanzhou, all of whom are far from home. It is a place with about 3.7 billion people, more than 12 times the population of the United States.
EDAW has been practicing in this place for many years now, and our links are deepening here and our geographic scope is widening to take on new Asian societies. Beyond Growth is both a celebration and documentation of the built transformation we are witnessing here as practitioners.
-Daniel Elsea, EDAW
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The Beyond Growth Photo Blog
Re-Entry
We finished up this leg of the journey in Dubai. Dino continues his self exploration throughout India, while after a 21 hour flight I'm back in San Francisco with the task of processing the thousands of images we took. It was challenging and exhausting at times but visually rewarding and culturally insightful. Over the next few months I'll continue to post images from our recent trip and other related travels. Thanks for checking in - David
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Mumbai Opens Up
As our explorations near Mumbai, our minds overflow with the dreadful reputation of India.
We arrive at night, and through the windows of our taxi Mumbai seems menacingly anxious to deliver.
However, the dawn brought us some serious productivity and after our first morning we are feeling welcomed by the people and even by the geography of Mumbai. This cannot last long?!
And a sidenote - The Air is as much it's own entity as the city itself. Throwing thick scents from an endless source. And playing tricks on our eyes with an ever shifting visibility.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Bangkok -Treasures Left Undiscovered
Manila seemed as familiar as home in just a few short days. However, Bangkok proved to be infinitely more challenging.
Bangkok's emergence is years ahead of Manila. Bangkok International Airport seemed to even dwarf Makati City.
We left Bangkok with our heads hanging out of our taxi windows still shooting, feeling like we only scratched the surface of the scale and complexity of this sprawling city.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Off to Bangkok
We finished photographing Manila and arrived in Bangkok yesterday. We'll be posting additional photos to our flickr gallery so check back... Another long day of shooting in Bangkok. I hope we can keep this pace up through Dubai.
Faces of Manila
No matter what their circumstances the people of the Phillipines seem to always be smiling.