SPATIAL STRATEGIES SOLUTIONS

BELGRADE WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT

Urbanism seems to be a very hot topic in Belgrade. This is very strange, given that the vast majority of Belgrade’s million-plus residents try to figure out where they belong in the new global order and to make ends meet from one day to another. Serbians are once again adjusting to an uneasy position on the fluid frontiers of Europe`s borderlands and ideologies. But there seem to be no fluid values and ideas when it comes to urbanism. Tensions are mounting, emotions are running high, mass rallies are held, articles are written and circulated around the world, fierce urban activists pledge to give no quarter to the “investor urbanism”, there are rumors of police crackdowns and political victimization...

In the meantime the project fueling all this uproar, the Belgrade Waterfront development entered its first phase of construction. The Dubai development firm, Eagle Hills plans to develop a 90 hectares complex of luxury condos complete with a Belgrade Tower skyscraper on low land along the eastern bank of river Sava, replacing the railway- and bus stations now occupying the plot.

What is...

And what is envisioned here:

It is not the only project in the city that can be qualified as “investor urbanism”, of course. Belgrade already bears the scars of internationally financed grandomania built in steel, glass and concrete, as well as the decaying remainders of development fiascos of different times. Still, this one seems to be different. The government is determined to see the project through at all costs, the activists are equally ardent to stop it`s realization. My friends, clients and students often ask me what do I think about the development, or rather “what would feng shui say about Belgrade Waterfront?”

Significance

Now I shall try to answer these questions, sine irae et studiorum, using feng shui as a value-neutral, apolitical interpretational frame of reference. For the purpose of carrying this analysis through, I`ll put aside my skeptical eastern-European self and my experience-hardened disbelief in meaningfulness and feasibility of large magnitude projects in this part of the world in the post-cold war era. So, I will assume that the plan is going to be realized in due time, within the planned budget and with minor changes, and see why is this particular project so important, what its influence might be.

As many other development projects around the world, Belgrade Waterfront is a spatial statement, the materialization and spatialization of a new global order of capital flow, consisting of high-rise buildings to be designed by international star-architects. Gleaming glass-and steal towers offering luxury condos, paved public spaces with carefully trimmed and framed greenery, high-end restaurants and cafés, and, of course, the inevitable sacral center of this order “the biggest shopping mall in...”. It is contemporary in global terms, designed as a celebration of might of technology and capital breaking free from the bondages of space and time. As such, it naturally disregards any local characteristic, has no linkage to the place and its complexity. But, once built, it will still be part of the place, it will be merged in a net of spatial relations, communications, social fabric. And it will influence and be influenced by the place, the neighborhood, the city in which is stands. This possible future influence is what I would like to share some thoughts about.

First of all, I believe the Belgrade Waterfront development has the ambition of equal magnitude as the SIV (Palace of Serbia) building I have written about in the previous post. Being advertized as a visionary project aiming to visually rebrand and modernize the city and being saturated with all the human energy invested in pros and contras, the Belgrade Waterfront project, realized or not, definitely pertains to claim the adjective “iconic”. As such, it definitely expresses, and will influence the social fabric of the city, regardless of being realized or not.

It is still unclear, though, what this icon should represent for Belgrade. For the activists, were they successful in stopping or altering the project, it should be the icon of people`s right to the city, participatory planning, observation of public interest. The government`s vision is that it will be an icon of modernization. The city architect enthuses that, should the project succeed, the Belgrade Waterfront will remake the city more profoundly than anything since World War II.

Sacred Geography

Speaking of icons, my analysis should begin with the most contested part of the plan, the Belgrade Tower (Kula Beograd), the 42 story or 168 m high skyscraper (height was reduced from the originally planned 225 or so meters), housing a five-stars hotel and branded apartments. This particular building is designed to become “an iconic landmark to the skyline, symbolizing the Serbian capital`s rising global stature”, as explained by the architecture firm SOM which designed the tower. Of course they say that. What else could be said about a skyscraper but that it will stand out against the skyline?

But will it indeed stand for the “rising global stature” of the city? Looking at the yet to be built skyscraper`s position on the map, somehow the Five Great Mountains (Wu Yu) of China`s sacred geography floats into my mind. The Five great mountains arranged according to the four cardinal directions plus center, representing the emanation of heavenly order on the physical plain, containing China as an altar or a mandala among them.

What “calls up the image” (He Xiang) of the Chinese mountains, are the spatial relation of the site of the prospective Belgrade Tower to the landmark high-rises designed to represent the Eastern and Western gates of Belgrade, built in an earlier age, marking the symbolic boundaries of the city along the motorway E-75 and greeting people arriving to the capital of (then) Yugoslavia. The Belgrade Tower will be located in the middle of the line connecting the two gates, on the shore of the river dividing the eastern and western parts of the city. It somehow resembles the east-west axis of China, with the Eastern Gate as Tai Shan on the east, Western Gate as Hua Shan on the west, and the Belgrade Tower as Song Shan in the middle, on the point of connection/division. The resemblance becomes even more convincing if a perpendicular axis is drawn to the described one, and the Kalemegdan fortress appears on this line as the Northern Heng Shan. From this angle, the Belgrade Tower could really be the point of integration of the two big and very different parts of the city; to unite old and new Belgrade in a pattern reflecting the order of the domain of ideas (Heaven).

Composite chart overlying the map of geology of the area on Google Maps Terrain

But “calling up the image” (He Xiang) is not a very reliable technique for analysis. The results depend on many variables. Where I see sacred mountains, someone else might see Nazca lines or, including other high-rise buildings, drawing an apple or something else on the map.

To get a better picture, we have to consider surrounding forms, location, orientation and the symbolic meanings within the spatio-social context. In other words, we have to evaluate what this site means within the city.

Location, orientation, meaning

At first glance, the project is quite poorly positioned. The high-rises will be built on low land along the eastern bank of river Sava. The terrain is flat, and every road to the various central parts of the old city leads more or less steeply uphill. The old name of the site is quite telling: it is known as Venetia Marsh (Bara Venecija). Building on such low, easily flooded, unstable terrain probably containing stall water should be considered “bad feng shui”. It should, but there are a few historical facts to consider:

The site was initially made part of the city exactly by “forces of globalization” about a century and a half ago, and the development from 150 years ago did exactly what the current one promises: transformed the otherwise conservative city, initiated its modernization and helped to include Belgrade in the contemporary global currents. By the provisions of Berlin Peace Treaty  from 1878, the Serbian government and the ruling Prince Milan Obrenović were obligated to merge Serbia into the railroad system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as quickly as possible. The Venetia Marsh was drained and filled in to provide space for the central railway station and the infrastructure needed. The economically and financially weak state had to ask for help of international investors, and after a number of political storms, corruption scandals and parliamentary hearings, the government entrusted the building concession to a French company, while the most representative building – the station – was designed by a famous architect from Wien.

So, 150 years ago, we had all the elements of the present situation at the site: the expensive development, the impoverished state, the government that has to see the development through, the opposition, corruption, political pressure, “investor urbanism”, disregard of the “couleur locale”. And the result at that time was? According to the 19th century expert for Southeast Europe, Felix Kanitz, quoted in the Encyclopedia of Architecture of Belgrade of 19th and 20th century, the railway brought the western values, ways of life and trends to the otherwise conservative city. It has transformed the old ways, discontinued traditions, but it has also brought huge material and financial improvement.

The railway station`s main building was positioned to face uphill, towards the town center, turning its back towards lower land and the river. The Waterfront complex will be oriented in the opposite direction, facing the river, as defined by the flagship position of the Belgrade Tower, which provides the complex with a relatively strong back, and the possibility of collecting energy rolling downhill from the plateau on which the old part of city is situated, through the streets sloping towards the site of the Waterfront.

The Railway station facing uphill

The Belgrade Waterfront facing towards the river

Feng shui operates with the universal essence, of which everything consists. In its dynamic form it is considered Qi, the movement and dynamics of energy, people, wind, water, traffic – in short, all dynamic phenomena of the world, both tangible and intangible. Qi rolls with the hills, moves towards the lowest points, is accelerated through narrow paths – generally behaves like water. In a non-moving, still state this essence manifests as matter. Qi is equated to change, movement, circulation, development, action while matter (or forms) are equated to stability, stillness, support and material results. Thus higher and enclosed ground is equated with stillness and protection, which is preferable to have at the part of space that we do not see, so we have no control of it – at our back. Lower ground is equated to movement, advancement and action, which we prefer to have control over, so we like to have it in front of us, to face it.

Qi can be directed and contained by material forms, and the amount of accumulation depends on the size of the form containing it. Therefore “weak” back means low accumulation capacity of a site. As the railway station was composed of low linear infrastructure and low buildings, while facing the strong influx of qi from the plateau, it had a low accumulation capacity, it was under constant pressure from flashflood-like energy coming downhill, and the face turned towards the hills made the up-hill and up-stream connection to the town difficult, causing Qi to rush through the site, breaking havoc. Indeed, the Encyclopedia of Architecture of Belgrade of 19th and 20th century quotes articles from as early as 1919, stating that the Railway station failed to establish a connection to the traditional commercial center of the city, and criticizing the traffic jam around the station. The traffic only got worse over time, and is still a big problem in this part of the city, despite the decline of railway traffic and the importance of railway.

The Waterfront complex will be facing the river, receiving support from the higher ground of the old town and the surrounding hills, while the high-rise buildings will be able to contain among them more of qi coming downhill, than the low buildings and linear infrastructure of the Railway station. This formation points to a better connection of the new development with the old part of town, but unfortunately, it also indicates that much of the commercial activity will be relocated (“washed down” ) from the old center to the Waterfront, devaluating the now high value of commercial spaces of the old center.

The planned high-rises made of concrete, steel and glass are visually and symbolically linking the eastern bank of the river Sava to the western bank, modernity to tradition; openness, movement and vision of the flat terrain to the stability, tradition and protection the hills provide to the old part of the city. The Belgrade Tower with the adjacent mall is in a lynchpin position between the two, and the planned pedestrian-cyclist bridge in front of the tower-mall complex provides a slower, more relaxed connection to the “other side”, improving and changing the quality of communication between two parts, between East and West, opening a path for values of East to be shown and materialized on the West.

Across the river from the Waterfront site lays the mega-development New Belgrade, the residential tower-garden district. New Belgrade is the largest one of the newest of the city’s 17 municipalities, a Radiant City planned by Tito’s government in the late 1940s on a flood plain. Built out in the 1950s and ’60s, New Belgrade houses more than 200,000 people in 72 superblocks, designed as a paean to the progressive living standards enshrined by the Athens Charter, a one-size-fits-all prescription for maximizing utility and the quality of life. More recently New Belgrade is also the site where big banks and corporations build their headquarters. These headquarters are, naturally in accordance with global trends, high-rise creations made of glass and steel, regardless whether they were designed by local or foreign architects.

Presently the two parts of the city are quite distant from each other at the section of the Waterfront. The industrial-infrastructural use on the eastern bank, and a bloc of spontaneous slum-ish housing on the western bank establish a wide no-go zone between old and new Belgrade. The communication is narrowed to the two bridges at the flanks of the Waterfront site. These bridges are overburdened by traffic, especially in rush hours. The communication between east and west is thus impeded; the East isolated from the West, which, on the level of symbolic meanings, can be interpreted as a chasm between plans and realizations, past and future, beginnings and ends. One can`t help but see the bridges as some kind of canyons, through which patterns and energy of movement are concentrated and constricted, a formation considered a source of Sha Qi (killing Qi) in feng shui. This certainly is a source of frustration for people who need to traverse those bridges many times a day, and possibly one of the causes of heightened level of aggression in the society. 

The situation on the site now

The Waterfront development and the award winning design for development of the Bloc 18 facing the Waterfront on the other bank of the river:

The Waterfront and the development planned to replace the bloc of spontaneous housing across the river cancels the no-go zone, brings the two parts of the city closer to each other in both symbolic and spatial terms, while the planned pedestrian-cyclist bridge provides a less aggressive flow across the river, linking east and west and all the meanings they represent. The bridge opens a path for the energy gathered on the eastern bank to pass towards west less aggressively, opening possibility for the eastern (old) part of the city to “cross the river” and present itself and its accomplishments in the modern world.

Good or bad

When asked if something is good or bad “in feng shui”, I always find it very difficult to give a simple answer. Probably because good and bad are judged from the angle of individual values, ideas, morality and expectations, while feng shui is a value-neutral analytical frame within which the patterns of events occurring at a place and linked to the geometrical patterns of both physical and abstract space can be discovered, interpreted and extrapolated. Patterns and geometry are neither good, nor bad. They just are.

In the conclusion, I can not say whether The Belgrade Waterfront development is “good” or “bad” for the city. I can say that the site is important within the city space. It is the point of “make or break”, of integration or dissolution. Whether it will show its “good” or “bad” side, depends very much upon the timeframe of completition. It is the point that can open or close the traditional part of the city to the contemporary world (or at least Europe) for better or for worse. Given that the site is located to the southwest from the Republic Square (Trg Republike), the center of the traditional city, and the southwest signifies the masses or multitude, the opening of the site towards the west might indeed add an impulse to the change of the traditional social fabric and to the transformation of root values of society. Enabling the Qi rolling downhill to collect and congeal at this site could be interpreted as a possibility to change the self-image of the city and the society. These are all long-term processes which, should the investment fail to be completed within a relatively short timeframe, might also backfire, changing the conditions in the city for worse, empowering isolationist and anti-modernization tendencies.

About the concrete design envisioned for the Belgrade Waterfront, it could be said that the specific design at that specific site supports the visual integration of the city territory, the creation of an image of modernity, the communication and establishing a better link between east and west, action and results, plans and realizations. It is probably also “good” for commerce. And if those things are important and desirable in your opinion, then yes, it is good.

What I can not say is, whether the Belgrade Waterfront is good or bad for the identity of the city of Belgrade, described in the Places Journal as “A postmodern city that predates the concept of the postmodern, Belgrade contains fragments of so many other urbanities that it can never quite be said to exist as itself.”. Notions of identity are exactly what the conflicts are about, and identity is, indeed an all-important issue. Nevertheless, all I can say is that the Belgrade Waterfront, if built, will affect Belgrade`s identity and its society, whether for good or bad I leave to everyone to judge by themselves.

“Human thoughts, feelings, aspirations, values and beliefs are also manifestations of the universal essence, the energy-matter, the Qi. They are intangible, immeasurable, immaterial, but they influence our material realities, the material forms of our environment. The essential qualities inherent to these intangible manifestations we can read in the material forms, distributions and spatial relations of physical environment. Therefore it should be possible to construe places in their entirety and to influence the workings of human society by altering material forms. It should be as well possible to project both the material-spatial, tangible outcomes and the intangible social outcomes of policies, plans, actions, political systems...based on the qi-qualities of the intangible construct .“

This is an idea I have tried to explain more times than I can recount, on various occasions ranging from scientific conferences to private consultations. I have tried to explain it to people of all kinds of backgrounds, education and social standing. Some of them would probably give it a thought if I was a quantum physicist. Or an architect, like Niemayer, the designer of Brasilia. Or, at least an urbanist-minded city magistrate as Haussmann, the man who defined Paris. But I am not. I am a doctor of geography, an agricultural engineer, and I do feng shui consultations. The last one trumps all other education as it seems. So, knowing that I am into feng shui, which is, of course a “spiritual” practice, people immediately start talking about “chakras”, and “auras”, and “mind power”, and “bioenergy” and “power of positive thoughts” and other new-age common places. That happens when they try to be kind and understanding, for us “spiritual” people tend to be overly excited and quite exhaustingly preachy when our otherworldly ideas are challenged or not met with sympathy. And when they are less kind, they explain in no uncertain terms that material world is one thing, the immaterial is quite another and that thoughts, plans and ideas are not just “manifesting” but have to be manifested and materialized by willpower and, often, force. Of course, I am free to tell those naive housewives where should they put their beds for love, but no serious man would ever consider to “BELIEVE” in feng shui.

Of course, serious men BELIEVE (hic!) only in objective facts. Which is a contradiction in terms, but what do I know...

Anyway, the other day I have come upon some photos, which could be seen as objective visual evidence of human systems of values manifesting in the spatial-material dimensions, without any meditation, channeling, chanting, spell-casting or voodoo... Hope those are convincing enough, despite my “fengshuiconsultantness”.

The intangible becomes tangible: state borders

Border in itself is a term from the intangible domain. It is an imaginary line that separates two intangible entities – usually two states – on a map. The line of the border is designed to encircle a number of intangible common denominators for a population, like: values, social and political system, ethnicity, language, cultural relations, historical constructs, etc. Since society exists in space, these borderlines are mapped onto physical space. Now we have a tangible physical space assigned to an intangible entity – a country or state – which has a different “character” – an intangible quality – than its also intangible neighbors. Whether a border is permeable or not (hard border), depends on the level of similarity between the “characters” of entities separated by borders. If these “characters” are similar, the border is likely to be purely formal, hardly noticeable, while in case of difference of characters the borders are marked by hard, material forms.

The material forms marking borders even tend to grow and solidify through time as the difference between the entities grows. Which seems to be consistent with the rule “qi travels with wind and coming to stop at the edge of water it solidifies” , if we understand the intangible “character” as human qi, and the border between entities as limits of movement of this human qi. The process can be illustrated by the building of the infamous Berlin Wall, which was growing ever higher, more solid, more divisive as the cold war gained momentum.

First the Berlin Wall was just a barbed wire fence:

Later on a solid wall was built:

Even later barbed wire and other defensive, separating forms were added:

And finally the contained and built up movement of human qi brought down the wall, but only after the end of the cold war, when the two confronted blocs (entities) made efforts to reduce their differences:

The same process seems to be replicated these days on the southern borders of Hungary, where barbed wire was put to stop the influx of human qi (migrants):

Later on more solid elements were added, and the process is still ongoing:

But the whole thing is not just about politics. It is about the different characters, which lead to different actions, organizational patterns and different attitudes towards the physical space or towards environment if you like. Different qualities of human qi render different spatial forms.

By the picture from the border, it seems that the human qi is quite different in USA than in Mexico, and the difference is materialized – once again – in the form of a wall and the different spatial forms on each side of the wall:

The USA and Canada are not so different that a solid wall is needed, but the line still has to be drawn in the physical space:

The difference in relationship to environment between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is clearly manifested in different surface coverage:

A different, but not so radically opposed relationship to environment is shown by the picture of the border between Brasil and Bolivia:

The difference in land use defines the border between Poland and Ukraine, despite the land art intervention aimed at enhancing communication:

Some difference can even be spotted on borders that are the internal border within the EU, in this case between Germany and the Czech Republic:

We act and build our beliefs

Naturally, for each and every picture in this post one can find so called “rational” explanations of differences in politics, economics, history, culture...but the trick is that these rational explanations are rational within a relational frame of believing in reality of intangible collective entities and their differences. And that is exactly, what I had started with.

Underlying values and belief systems can be red from spatial forms. After all, tell me that “segregation” is not the first word coming into mind looking at the following picture:

For this is a picture of a project “Unequal Scenes”, in which Cape Town-based photographer Johnny Miller used a drone to show the inequality that exists in the Republic of South Africa. Miller explains that some of the communities were “designed with separation in mind,” while others grew “more or less organically.” This is the result of the Apartheid policies when racial segregation was enforced by law. While these policies were eliminated 22 years ago, in reality, “many of these barriers, and the inequalities they have engendered, still exist.”

This is the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade (Serbia), known also as the Palace of the Federation or SIV, the building built for the federal administration of Yugoslavia, where the Federal executive council (the Government of Yugoslavia) held its meetings. This is the building wherefrom the once worldwide admired “Yugoslav experiment” of “producers democracy” or “worker`s self-management” was initiated and managed, where President Tito received statesmen from around the world, where the the Non-Aligned States movement held its first congress in 1961. This is a building that was intentionally designed to represent a state, a social order, a building to make history.

This is the building where the consecutive governments and administrations of disintegrating SFR Yugoslavia (later FR Yugoslavia, even later State union of Serbia and Montenegro and presently Serbia) were holding their meetings, where various presidents, prime ministers, ministries and agencies were located during and after the falling apart of the state the building was built to represent. One cannot help but wonder how could it be the scene for both success and failure, fame and defamation, recognition and oblivion? Have both scenarios been built-in?

Recently I have attended a meeting in this building, and was sitting in its most representative salon, the salon Yugoslavia, under the crystal chandelier that allegedly is one of the largest such things in the world. I was in the same salon that had seen so many presidents, prime ministers, and other dignitaries from around the world, along with many other celebrities. I was in a building that was a statement expressing the vision of society that Yugoslavia was hoping to build: a society of dignity, equality, fraternity, freedom, just distribution, ruled by redemptive power of reason and art, where the state works for the benefit of many, not the few.

Despite being admittedly a bit nostalgic, I do not intend to claim that Yugoslavia indeed had built such a society, but nevertheless, the building itself demonstrates such qualities in both exterior forms and in interior settings. The intention to build a better future, a more just social order, to defend the human right to dignity, to a dignified life for every human being is almost palpable inside this monumental space.

But history chose other path. Yugoslavia, as is well known, disintegrated in a series of bloody wars starting in 1991, and none of the successor countries cares much for the qualities expressed in this building. The once powerful state the building represented literary started to crumble after the fall of the Berlin Wall. While territories parted from Yugoslavia and the state changed its name multiple times, every new name referring to a territorially smaller and smaller entity, the successive governments and administrations of these entities have used this building. Currently the building is used by the government of Serbia and houses several cabinet level ministries and agencies.

FORM, POSITION, ORIENTATION

The impact of such a highly symbolic building should be evaluated through a highly symbolic system of qualitative analysis, so I decided to look into it through Feng Shui, and set out to evaluate the semiotics of location and external form as the most basic level of analysis dealing with most powerful formative forces. Doing that, the first thing I had to establish was whether the building was located in a safe place. Strategically speaking I had to see whether the back was secured, the flanks defendable and the front unobstructed to enable free movement. In Feng Shui terms, I had to see to which extent the terrain around the building complied to the ideal model of a “dragon lair”.

Compared to the ideal model, the Palace of Federation is in a position of having extremely “weak back”, given that the main official entrance is located on the southwestern facade, facing towards New Belgrade, while the terrain slopes away from the back of the building towards the confluence point of rivers Danube and Sava. Water represents movement, travel and ways of transportation, which is the opposite of stability and protection associated with the “mountain” or the back. The back of the building also turns towards the outward edge of the river bend, which is usually the side eroded by the flowing water. This formation is also undermining, destabilizing, weakening the quality of stability needed at the back of the building.

The structure of the building itself also indicates a weak back due to the H-shaped base, while the landscaping solution resembling three mountains at the base of the H is not large enough, has no enough symbolic power to compensate the effect of topography and of built structure. The middle wing of the building provides some protection to the lower, most representative frontal part, but the middle wing itself has no support.

So both form and posiition indicate a “weak back”. In a previous post I have written about what having a place with “weak back” can do in individual life, how it drains the energy making it impossible to build up results of one`s efforts, eventually leading to physical illness even. It seems that the effects are very similar on collective entities, at least when buildings of such high symbolic significance as this one are concerned.

ORIENTATION AND SPATIAL RELATIONS

Doing research for this article, I have come upon an interesting fact that sheds more light – naturally, at the level of patterns and symbols - on the reasons for disintegration of the country: the orientation of the building was changed during the construction. Originally it was envisioned to face the river, but the author of the plan died during the construction, and the new lead architect had turned the face of the building towards the newly built capital city instead. Did the new architect condemn his country to disintegration by this decision? It would be a largely exaggerated claim to say he did. But, besides weakening the back of the building, the decision has changed the spatial relations of the spatial symbols in the area.

The important symbols in this regard are the buildings that could represent some conflicting, non-yugoslav entities. Given that Before WW I the rivers separated were the borderline between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Yugoslavia was created after WW I unifying some territories previously belonging to the the Empire and Serbia (also Montenegro and Macedonia), I have checked the spatial relations of buildings representing those two entities and the Palace of Federation representing Yugoslavia.

To represent Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Gardoš Tower in Zemun seemed appropriate. It is a symbolic building by intention, built by the Hungarian authorities in 1896 to mark the 1000 year anniversary of Hungarian state and the belonging of this territory to Hungary. For Serbia I found the landmark-fortress Kalemegdan the core and the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade, the Capital city of Serbia before WW I.

Related to the Palace of Federation as it is oriented now, both these buildings are located “behind” the building,in positions outside the angle of view from the “face”. Thus both Gardoš and Kalemegdan might be interpreted as symbolizing hidden, unresolved things for Yugoslavia. If the Palace of Federation was to face the river, the two fortresses would be in the field of vision, which could mean under control, visible. Making unresolved things visible might have opened the possibility of bringing the conflict to light and resolving it.

The conflicting relation between the two symbolic buildings – Gardoš and the Kalemegdan – is confirmed in feng shui terms by their directional situation in relation to the Palace of the Federation. Gardoš is located to the northwest, which carries the energy of phase/element metal, while Kalemegdan is located to the east, having the energy of phase/element wood. Wood is destroyed by metal, indicating that Kalemegdan (Serbia) could have felt its identity threatened by Gardoš (Hungary, or the legacy of Austro-Hungarian Empire). Water of the river Danube could be the connection between these points, taking energy from metal and nourishing wood, thus turning conflict into cooperation if the Palace of Federation was to face the river. But, Danube actually flows at the back of the Palace of Federation symbolizing danger, or, more precisely, in the context of unprotected back it can be interpreted as an underground stream of tensions and conflict that builds up unnoticed with time passing.

The analysis could be carried on to check on more details, to take into consideration more historical, geographical, social and cultural facts, but in my experience, the patterns detected on such a basic level of analysis would probably reappear on other levels of analysis too. Naturally, this interpretation cannot be proven. There is no way to tell for sure whether the conflict and disintegration could have been avoided by a different orientation of this iconic building, and there is no way to revert history. But I happen to believe that geography, urbanism and architecture is the scenography that enables directs and alters the flow of history.

I believe in scientific approaches. I believe systems, however complex, can be mapped and understood and that knowledge can be harnessed to manage the system, or, at least this understanding and analysis enables us to fit in and work along with the system to bring forth the most beneficial results for us. Still, scientific approaches and analyses can not provide an insight so complete and so to-the-point, like a flash complete intuitive understanding of the workings of the complex system when we have an "enlightment" or an "epiphany". I believe also, that combining physics and metaphysics in an analitic process, like we do by applying feng shui can lead to such intuitive flashes of insight, and that the results of these epiphanies are far-reaching and long-lasting. Seems that the story of Huoshi Ryokan, an inn that has been in business for the last 1300 years confirms the beneficial effects of epiphanies in spatial planning and designing spatial strategies.

Houshi Ryokan in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan is the oldest hotel, and the oldest spa-hotel in the world. Founded in 778., it is still in business and operated by the 46th generation of the founding family.

The legend has it that divine revelation is involved in its founding. Divine origins, I would say, counts as pretty good feng shui, proven by the durability of operation, and the prices starting at 91 USD/person/night.

The legend, as told at the page of  goes like this:

Taicho Daishi (great teacher of Buddhism) Guided by logger Gengoro Sasakiri, in 717 noted priest Taicho hiked high up Mt. Hakusan, a sacred and isolated mountain. While Taicho was asleep one night after beginning his rigorous training exercises, the deity of Hakusan appeared in his dream, saying:

"Lying 20-24 kilometers from the base of the mountain is a village called Awazu. There, you'll find an underground hot spring with wondrous restorative powers that Yakushi Nyorai (the Physician of Souls) has bestowed upon it. The people of the village, however, do not known of this good fortune. Descend the mountain and head to Awazu. With the people of the village unearth the hot spring-it will serve them forever."

As he had been commanded, Taicho made his way down to the village and sought the help of its people in uncovering the treasure that lay beneath the earth's surface. He had the sick immerse themselves in its waters-and their health was immediately restored. Taicho then ordered Garyo Houshi, his disciple, to build and run a spa at the site.

After fulfilling the commands of the deity, Taicho continued with his intensive training and experienced satori (a state of intuitive illumination). Rumors of his occult powers even found their way to the Imperial Court in Nara, helping make Taicho the respected Etsu no Daitoku. (Great Man of Virtue from Etsu).

As this story reveals, the origins of Houshi-now the oldest inn in the world-are truly divine, and that the epiphany leading to it`s founding was, indeed a good spatial strategy, bringing "luck ant happyness to many generations". 

After long and exhausting negotiations the Greek government could not come to terms with their creditors, and decided to call a referendum to ask they fellow countrymen, the people who elected them, whether they would like to accept the terms offered, or not. Nothing terrible or unusual if wiewed from an angle of "democratic standards". I`d rather say it is a fair move.

Still, the mention of the word referendum is stirring an unprecedented outrage among the appointed defenders of democracy, the leaders of EU. Now they are sending messages to people of Greece, likening the referendum to suicide or as a way of "playing one democracy against 18 others". Strange formulations. How did it come to pass that referendums were a valid democratic tool used in EU accession processes, but become an outrage when people are asked about the burdens they are willing to take on?

Many people think i is about the money. But it is not. I`m no expert on finances, but many economists seem to think it is more about the trust, and I agree. It is about the EU leadership loosing it`s back, the support for their lofty illusions about their role in history. And the hypothetical support of the masses, the back, or the mountain as I have explained in an earlyer post is the most important thing to have for "democratic" leaders of today.

And if the referendum shall vote "Ohi" (No), as they fear, that renders their backs unprotected, their doings and intentions of earlyer questionable, and they will "lose their face". For OHI at the referendum would mean "the King is Naked"

Sipping my morning coffee and lazily browsing through Facebook I could not avoid to see the main news of the region: Hungary is building a fence along its borderline to Serbia in order to stop refugees from Middle East - now called illegal immigrants in order to generate massive animosity towards them - entering Hungary. Sincerely, I would not give it a second thought if I did not came upon this map: 

It did remind me of an article I had written during my PhD studies, in 2009. It was an article about https://www.academia.edu/9799885/SPATIAL_PATTERNS_OF_THE_CRYSIS" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Spatial patterns of crisis, trying to utilize the concepts of Qi and Form and their interactions in understanding and prognosticating our social and spatial realities and outlined some probable scenarios for post-crisis development of situation. Let me quote and put parts of this article into present context.

"The course of events leading to fragmentation of global mechanisms, state unions and national states on one side, and creation of rigid controlling systems and raising number of extremist, racist or xenophobic organizations within the established segments becomes even more likely having in mind that the movement is precipitating forms at its stop." The crisis of EU is too well known, as is the constant shifting to the political right in many countries of the union. The fence-building Hungary with its right-wing government is arguably one of the countries presently most inclined to embrace hard-lined right-wing politics. Before the idea of the ffence surfaced, the Hungarian government declared a hatemongering poster-war on immigration, and the official statements like "we don`t need the EU" are nothhing new to this administration. And that is the administration that was elected by 2/3 of total votes.

"The slower parts, left with increased amount of forms and decreased amount of movement will probably try to disintegrate forms in order to increase their own momentum (which came forth as Arab spring and the conflict in Syria), which tendency could cause series of social unrests, revolutions, more or less localized armed conflicts. In this process movement would be devaluated and re-interpreted as danger (conflicts generate refugees), while the value of the forms, expressed in terms of safety would rise. The resulting picture of the world is that of another hard-bordered polarization between the “messy and dangerous” and the “well-ordained and safe” parts." Clearly EU as a whole, and especially Northern and Atlantic Europe, sees itself and is seen by others as a safe and well-ordered part, that should be safeguarded against the turmoil and disorder outside the borders. And since the neighbors of Hungary to the south and southeast, Romania and Croatia are members of the EU, naturally the fence is built only along the border of the non-member Serbia. The building of this fence besides being a materialization of a set of values and prejudices linked to the collective identity of Europe, shows utter disregard for physical-spatial and social realities.

At first glance the dimensional disparity becomes obvious, which allows some doubts to rise regarding the success of the project in terms of decreasing influx of refugees. Hungary has a 2246 km long borderline according to https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyarorsz%C3%A1g" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia. The same source has it, that the border to the instable regions to the south and southeast that generate the flux of refugees is some 972 km long (border to Romania 453 km, to Croatia 355 km and to Serbia 164 km). The fence along the border with Serbia shall be some 175 km long, which leaves 797 kilometers of the border (some 82%) vulnerable to illegal border crossing.

The other oversight that I can only attribute to infatuation with "our great and heroic past" so typical for the right-winger mindframe. Of the two routes marked on the map above, the one leading through Hungary carries the associations of the late medieval times and the resistence to the expansion of Ottoman Empire while it was advancing towards Vienna. The other route was activated in the XX century, this direction being the main traffic artery of Yugoslavia while it existed. The fence is aimed to cut the medieval route, not recogniying how convenient the other route can be for illegal immigrants, being close to the Croatian-Hungarian border and offering a wide stretch of easily walkable terrain to enter Hungary if they wish. Some of the immigrants could acquire maps or look at the map apps of their cellphones and see the possibilities.

The fence rises yet another concern, namely that even if it succeds in holding up illegal immigration, it might increase legal one. A few years back Hungary opened up its citizenship to the citizens of surrounding countries, enabling them to hold citizenship of Hungary along with the citizenship of their own country provided that they can prove that at least one of their ancestors was born at the territory belongiing to Hungary before WW I. I do not know how many citizens of Serbia hold Hungarian citizenship too, but the number probably has 6 digits. Many of them will probably start to think about leaving the region where the desperate, homeless refugees - through no fault of their own - are massing up on the Serbian side of the border, which does not exactly increase the overall air of safety. Certainly there is a point when one starts to weigh upon the greener grass on the other side of fence. And having paralell citizenship, they are free to do as they deem appropriate.

And finally, Hungary should contemplate the role of "last line of defence" of Europe, which is assumed by building thiis particular fence. They had some historical experiences in playing that role, and should know better by now.

Recently I had a most interesting and direct insight into deep spatial character of human affairs, and the ways space (and time also, through space) influences us, for better or for worse. After fifteen years of research and of designing, arranging and rearranging spaces in order to heal lives, families and companies with feng shui, I am confident to say that space can heal us every bit as much as it can make us sick. By space here I refer to the spatial frame of human existence through time. I refer to the fact that whatever we do, we do it in space and time, creating spatial relations, distributions and structures in both tangible and intangible realms, spatial and temporal realms. Some of these thougts I have tried to explain in earlier posts Spatial Patterns in Time - Spatial Anchoring and Spatial Anchoring Explained

The idea came not through one of my projects, but through a workshop mostly considered psychological and/or spiritual. I have participated in a Family Constellation workshop, and that is where I realized that it is neither the beauty and harmony of visual compositions, nor the individual psychological perception, not even some mystical energy of space through which the healing takes effect. The real healing power of space is in spatial relations, the arrangement of the elements comprising a system, and in understanding and harmonizing structure and dynamics of the system as defined by these relations.

I have had a tough year. My daughter was graduating high school and was intent to go to university in a foreign country, in which she succeeded. In the same period my mother was battling cancer, and lost the battle. Meanwhile I had also projects coming in from various countries, each requiring at least some research into topography, climate, shape and history of built environment, and, of course, an input of my analytical, synthetic and creative abilities. I did invest a lot of time and energy, which brought my clients satisfaction, got my daughter to university of her choosing and provided the best available care and minimized suffering for my mom. And also left me worn out, with a bad ache to my back, while the material results were...well, let`s say I have no debts at the moment.

Translating my state into language of spatiality I immediately diagnosed myself as having “weak back”, which in my terminology originating from feng shui means having no support and no accumulation capacity in spatial structures nor in human relations. “Weak back” means no buildup of material or social capital in one`s life. Position and structure of my place certainly shows signs of weak back. The building in which my apartment is, has a lower terrain at its back and at the rear part of my apartment is practically a communication corridor, which means movement, opposite to stability and accumulation – practically a constant energetic draft. There is no stable “energy buildup” at my back, very little to lean on and nothing to draw energy from. Of course, I am acutely aware of that spatial fact for quite some time, and I did all that can be done to compensate for this deficiency in internal arrangements, orientations and at a symbolic level.

But this time the applied “spatial remedies” could not match the scale of the problem, the only effective solutions would be structural alterations or moving to another place. Both solutions required too much time and energy to take up such challenges in my state. That was the moment when my physician, who is also a homeopath, suggested I should try Family Constellation therapy. She gave me a book describing the method, in order to aid my informed decision-making.

At first I thought that some psychological digging into the past simply can not counterbalance the effects of my spatial reality. I mean, of what consequence could it be for the terrain sloping away from “my” back if I find out that Granny didn`t love Grandpa? Still, my physician prove herself to be a no-nonsense reasonable person and a true healer on many previous occasions, so I started to read the book. To my utter astonishment I have met a method that is much more spatial healing technique, then some psychological –spiritual role playing.

The method operates in the abstract space of human relations, events and emotions, expressing relations, events and emotions through geometrical-topographical relations of position, orientation and distance. These spatial relations are composing and re-composing until the system is “healed” – until a stable structure with proper, balanced spatial order and distribution is constructed. In many ways it was very much alike feng shui, where spatial formations and relations on different scales are interpreted and evaluated as representation of a social system. Even the notion of the state of a person as the “place” of meeting of ancestral lines both maternal and paternal reminded me of the definition of Xue, the Dragon Spot, the place of perfect marriage of yin and yang, of male and female. The Xue is also backed by mountains the roles of which are described by family relations of succession, like Ancestral mountain, Parent mountain and similar.

Thus finding out that the method made sense to me, I decided to give it a try. It was quite interesting and enlightening to see how people I have never met before take on roles I ascribed to them by putting them into a spatial order reflecting my understanding of relations in my family. No one of them knew whom each of them was impersonating, neither were they given any instructions about how they should act or what should they do. As I was watching the situation from outside, the “elements” of my system started to move around and reorganize driven by some kind of urges and feelings emerging – some of them could not stand and laid down, some did not want to touch the person standing by them, some turned away from the whole situation. They were manifesting the actual state of affairs in spatial terms of position, orientation and distance, even if not knowing anything about their role and the whole system. But I did understand their movements and changes and had to admit they were more right then I was. They have built a system of my family relations more accurate then I could do, even if I did submit myself to the deepest and most painful analysis possible.

The therapist introduced some more “actors” to check the ancestral lines, or, as I would put it, to check the state of my “back”. And the model has shown strong ancestral lines that were discontinued just before reaching me – the representatives for my parents could not stand in their lines, had no contact with previous generations and could not touch and carry the energy through to the next generation. The participants could not know that my parents were from different places, that they have met in a distant town, settled down far from their families and that they did chose a lifestyle quite different than their parents had. Still, the modeling process came to a final picture depicting just that. That model was conclusive with my loss of energy, my back pain, the state of my family affairs and the spatial reality of my apartment.

The solution was also spatial – my parents were reintroduced and accepted into the ancestral line, and the line was connected to me, to strengthen my back and carry through the support I receive. My back pain is now gone, and people are reappearing in my life.

But, I still live in the same apartment. The question remains, whether this Family Constellations type of spatial healing can have lasting effects without changing the material-spatial setting that manifested and perpetuated the problem? My experience tells me that people, even when relocating, choose places that embody their basic problems, their personal relational system, be it harmonious or not. Therefore I feel comfortable to assume that the effects of abstract-space healing can diminish in time, if not supported by rearranging the actual spatial frame to fit the newly harmonized relations.

Probably I will have to find the landscape and structure of my redefined relations if I am going to preserve regained health in other domains. Changing lives demand spatial changes. For places have been here long before us and will be here after we have gone, finding people to tell their stories by their lives. The best way to tell our story is by finding the landscape that shares the narrative.

When I came upon this picture, it was not the simple message that caught my attention, but the use of spatiality to influence reality through perception.

The first thing that came to my mind was a quote often used in feng shui that says “water governs wealth, mountain governs people”. While by water we are talking in somewhat symbolic manner about the open space in front of a site fit for movement and concentrated action, by mountain we usually refer to physical-geographical features that are able to protect a site on the back, from the side opposite to the front. The back is the point that one physically and visually does not control, the side open to unguarded attacks, therefore the side that needs protection. No mystery in that, we all feel much safer and are able to relax or concentrate better if our back is protected. This picture has shown that the “mountain” can be also interpreted in a much more symbolic-abstract manner, and to me, suggested a corollary to the rule, which I would formulate like “to govern people, one has to have a mountain, or to create it either in actual or in abstract space”. Creating a “mountain” in physical space or in the space of perception can therefore be considered a spatial strategy. In this specific case, a strategy of creating images of leaders perceived as primus inter pares, the first among equals.

Showing a backbone, standing upright, boldly facing challenges, having a clear view of the situations and vision of solutions and the end goal in the times of adversity – these are qualities by which leaders are discerned among other less determined, less self-assured, less focused, less far-reaching people. That is how mankind likes its leaders since the beginning of time, from the first steps of civilization as we know it.

Therefore our leaders – aspiring or realized – were always going to great lengths to present themselves as the ones having that quality. Knowing that words dissolve in the air and are easily forgotten, and that the influence of the written word was limited to the few that were able to read for the most part of history, visual representations were deemed the most efficient to convey the message to the people, to the masses. Throughout history leaders were depicted in postures that emanate the desired qualities: standing upright, usually higher than the surrounding figures, in central positions, head lifted high, eyes fixed somewhere forward.

Representations of Rulers: Ghengis Khan, a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Xerxes of Persia and Caesar Augustus.

The leaders of today are presented in such postures as often as the ancient ones, or rather much more often given the contemporary communication technology. In the newspapers, on television and in all kinds of visual material they stand upright, heads up, boldly facing challenges, displaying confidence in their visions and themselves both in times of plenty and times of need.

Some random pics of contemporary leader representations sine ira et studio: Marine Le Pen, Obama, Sarkozy and Putin

Besides the posture the placing was always an important aspect of leader quality representations. Such impressive figures naturally could not stand at level with the crowd. A true leader, the top dog had to look down to the crowd, assuming the position of authority, of “being closer to higher things”, providing for an unobstructed view for the eyes piercing the horizons of the future.

And that is where democracy makes a difference. Contemporary leaders are depicted as solitary figures elevated above the crowd only if they are deemed “dictators”, in which case we see them often standing alone at some platform or podium, their suite a bit further back, not interfering with the personal space of greatness of the leader.

Random pick of representations of dictators. Still without anger and fondness: Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Saddam, Mussolini and Hitler 

The most striking difference between the autocratic and democratic leaders is probably not the values and goals they stand for (the words they use are the same more often than we are inclined to admit: future, people, nation, freedom, development, etc.), but the visual representations based on which the public opinion is shaped.

These representations show us democratic leaders most often in groups, where each person has a very limited, if any personal space. It is also very important that we see them apparently standing, moving and communicating at (our own) ground level at least as often as we see them standing on platforms.

This should suggest that the leader is one of us, part of the crowd, that they are just ordinary people leading a life very similar to our own, sharing the same values, goals and problems. But if they are indeed just one of us, what happens to the qualities we choose our leaders by? Are they not more self-assured and strong than any of us? Do they not see further, do they not see answers to questions that we haven`t yet come to rise? The representations suggest otherwise, and do so by deploying the spatial strategy of creating image of a strong back, (or strong mountain in terms of Feng Shui) since “mountain governs people”.

In order to assume the primus inter pares position of a democratic leader, the leader has to have a crowd to lead. Therefore our democratic leaders like to be seen leading marches or rallies, or to be present in the first rows of events linked to issues of intense public interest, preferably events with high emotional charge. Being in the first row provides for a position of a strong, protected back, a “mountain” of human energy by the mass behind them. This position also suggests orientation, by which energy of the masses in the back is focused and directed towards the front row, and through it and the actions of the leader(s) into the space of realization that opens ahead of the front row. The leader becomes the one that we expect will make the thing that so many of us want so much to happen.

The image of democracy and the strength of a democratic leader is thus visually better expressed by having a big crowd behind one`s back, than by the crowd one is facing from an elevated podium. And if the mass is not present, the image creates mass by using the appropriate angle. The “mountain” of democracy is not a physical-geographical feature. It is made of people to govern people through representations.

“Some people search for beautiful places, others make a place beautiful” says Hazrat Inayat Khan, teacher of Universal Sufism and Indian classical musician

SEARCHING

Finding and creating beauty is a primal human need, one of the ways to search for the meaning of existence. Still, beauty itself, as well as the mechanism of experiencing beauty, escapes definition. Social research institute Ipsos MORI has made an attempt to map the human experience of beauty and the meaning and value beauty has for society in the study “People and places: Public attitudes to beauty” The research has shown that people deem the beauty of natural environment important on a personal level, while the beauty of built environment is perceived as being of importance at the level of public/society. The interviewees described nature as a place of relaxation and of comfort, where beauty can be seen, perceived and imbibed. By this they were describing an essentially individual internal experience, an experience that inspires art and spirituality.

In contrast, the beauty of built environments respondents saw as a way of gaining respect - because the more beautiful parts of the city are usually perceived as "better", and residents of those parts are enjoying a better, higher reputation in the local community. The interviewees also saw the beauty of the built environment as means to boost the respect for the place in the global community and thus attract more people (tourists) and increase revenues that will allow for the maintenance of the beauty of the place. This – financial – way of thinking is encouraged and even forcibly spread for several decades now, and since the “development of tourist industry” is the magical formula by which many places and regions hope to become sustainable or to break out of the circle of poverty, the hope of financial gains seem to make people blind to the obvious fact that consumption (of places, spaces, landscapes, sensations... which the “tourist industry” actually is) does not render actual experience, but a surrogate, a pale imitation of the experience itself, which, nevertheless has the power to vacate, drain of meaning and pollute the beauty of the place, for tourists and locals alike, through the process of consumption, that depletes real resources to create surrogate feelings.

The ever shorter vacations at “destinations” make us forget that the beauty of the place can be experienced only by achieving a sense of involvement, by making ties. The beauty of a place can be savored by immersion in place, in its energy. And it takes time.

The feeling that we really are somewhere and are enriched by the experience, can only be induced through real communication with all the factors the place is composed of: space, buildings, history, people, nature, light, colors and rhythms. Only if we can feel safe, comfortable and a bit domestic at a place. Only when we find that cornerstone, that gate, that window, or tree, or passage, or a secret garden that seemingly nobody knows. That detail, that part that belongs exclusively to us, to our experience. Only if we can find our personal connection to the place as a metaphor of childhood, as we were always there.

Therefore at every place where I'm lucky enough to travel I try to find and remember some meaningful detail, too possess some small a piece that is "mine", although I obtain no legal proof of ownership. And so it came that regardless of whether I stayed there 5, 7, 10, 14 or 30 days, I got the gate of a villa and a stone stairway in Dubrovnik, an interesting rock on the beach in Makarska, a small Franciscan monastery and church in the city of Rhodes, where I also have a delightful small cafe under a huge tree in Mandraki harbor. I have one great neighbor on the island of Korcula, an old building covered with flowers somewhere in Split, one basement window on Zlata Strana in Prague. In Prague I have Charles Bridge too. Athens gave me Acropolis, and on the wonderful island of Corfu, the Jewish quarter Evreiko and a wonderful tree on the shore of the island belong to me. In Rome, I have my step in the Spanish steps, in Budapest several courtyards, some small, hidden squares, and part of a neo-Gothic facade. And in Vienna, I discovered that they had named a street near the Stefansdom long before my birth, just to enable me to have something there too (Anna Gasse).

In contrast, in Beijing and Hong Kong for instance, despite the "rich tourist offer" of these cities, I have nothing. Maybe just one step of the stairs at the foot of the Great Wall of China, where I withdrew from the tourist group for a short while too sit down, and was joined by some kind Chinese people who shared some cookies with me. Those places were too far, too foreign, too different from things I know, so I could not connect in the same way I do with the places that seem more familiar in many aspects. Of course, I remember many interesting details of these distant cities too, but nothing become mine there. I was there for too short a period to bridge so big a difference, therefore I could not connect, could not have a real interaction.

The desire to connect with the place, to experience its beauty as “ours” is on one side induced by our primal yearning for beauty, and on the other by the beauty of the place that lures us to experience it, to immerse ourselves in it.

Whereby does a place reach out and call us? What makes a place beautiful?

MAKING

Contrary to the globally imposed mantra which states that in order to make a place beautiful, one needs lots of money, investments and large-scale developments, I am confident to state that beauty is not made, but born. It is born out of interaction of energies of people and place. The breath-taking beauty that seems eternal stems from the symbiotic development, when buildings are built in accordance with the character of the space and when the character of the society corresponds to the character of the place. One could say, beauty is born at places where people know where they live, understand the ways of life in accordance with the place, and they love to live exactly in the way they do and they love to live exactly there. Often – but not exclusively – this breathtaking beauty is found at places that by themselves do not make life very easy, in harsh natural conditions that forced people to learn how to make the most of what little they were given, to create as much goodness and beauty in their lives as possible with scarce resources available. Some such places:

 Cinqueterre, Italy

Amalfi coast, Italy

Symi island, Dodecanese, Greece

Small town in Provence, France

Sighing and heaving over the dramatic beauty of towns of Cinqueterre, the sights of picturesque Amalfi Coast, the hidden beauty of Symi island and the romantic flair of a small Provencal town, can we really conceive and imagine how the real life in these places looked like when that beauty was created? How did people live there at the time when these places become so unbelievably beautiful? Can you imagine yourself carrying water for miles uphill or downhill, extracting stones from the ground to gain a little arable land, collecting herbs at steep mountainsides to feed the family, diving to depths of the sea for sponges, sailing out in rickety boats hoping for a good catch of fish or the spoils of an occasional ship that ran aground? And would you have any strength and willpower left to satisfy your need for some nice colors, ornamental plants and other things of beauty? Let's try to imagine it, because the beauty that draws sighs was created in such circumstances, driven by the yearning for the redeeming power of beauty, perhaps even made stronger by harsh conditions. It becomes clearer how much human energy, desire and longing is built into those places of beauty when we realize how little positive energy, how little kindness and affection the space itself offers.

In one of many old books about feng shui, the Rudiyan Tushuo (The Illustrated Earth Penetrating Eyes) it is written that “From 1 to 60-70 miles or 1 to 20-30 miles, if there is an affectionate feeling in the landscape and the Qi is held back, then it should sustain a large to medium size city. If it is only 10 or so miles then it should sustain a large town, if it is 5 to 6 miles then it should sustain a small town and if it is only 1 to 2 miles then it is good for a village.” (translated by Howard Choi in The 15 Core Principles of Feng Shui). Much later the social geography in the west has come to similar conclusions. Those places, the beauty of which we admire, though undeniably are of urban character, often have no more room for the accumulation of qi than what feng shui deems appropriate for a village. The difference in the needed energy, the accumulated Qi comes from the people, from the invested strength, will, time, attention and affection.

Why should people invest so much energy in those spots, why not just move to a more pleasant, accessible, richer place? I would say it is because they are bound by an additional, magical quality these places have: the feeling of timelessness and spacelessness (when there is no notion of space as different from place – place and space are one) which makes them the whole world by themselves, a complete universe. This is the magical quality the tourist industry is trying to exploit, and the quality that is destroyed exactly by trying to exploit it.

The above Rudiyan Tushuo quote continues with “The wealth of a place is determined by the distance (of an open space) and the amount of water (that is available).” Therefore, of course, the presence of a large body of water – the sea – is not to be neglected, since it enhances the capacity for energy accumulation, changes the microclimate and the quality of light and air. The sea opens horizons of the otherwise tight, secluded places difficult to find and reach, and bestows them with the dimension of infinity in relation to which the place itself can be perceived as a whole world.

UNMAKING

It is these qualities that make the nice places, what is neglected in spatial and urban planning, in tourism development projects and similar projects of development and investment. What is ignored in these is the character of the area, the need for investment of human energy, the need for the existence and maintenance of communities whose energy, feeling of integrity, diligence and desire for beauty can create a place that will attract people, that will induce the desire to become part of the place. Cruisers, golf courses, isolated tourist resorts will not achieve this, because the guests in them have neither the time nor the ability to find their point of connection, while the locals are excluded from the “tourist” spaces, therefore they cannot make them their own, they cannot make them beautiful. Tourists come to one “destination” as they would go to any other, to dwell in impersonal rooms, eat “international” foods, and to consume the “local culture” tempered to expectations beyond recognition. They come either while the destination is new and exclusive, or when it's squeezed, worn out and on sale.

Tourism sustainable in the long run, I am convinced, cannot be developed by investments in tourist industry, but by investments in the maintenance and development of the local community, the local spirit, lifestyles, ways people relate to their environments. Tourism can be developed by developing a place where locals love to live and therefore they would generate visual, spatial and energetic expression of long-term mutual affection between people and space. It is the same with decorating the house - when you manage to make your house beautiful to you, when you feel good in it, everyone will be happy to come. But if you decorate your house led by pictures in magazines or by other people's tastes and needs, not even you will be very happy to stay in such place.

INSPIRATION

The inspiration for these thoughts has come through visiting a magical oasis in a completely unbelievable place – the Čonoplja lake. There, in the midst of endless, open, dusty plains

I realized what was it that distinguishes magical places from the ordinary ones: spacelessness, human concern through time and a certain holistic quality, the quality of being perceived as the whole world.

This lake, which is actually a small reservoir on an unnamed watercourse, the configuration of the terrain is excellently utilized to create the impression of a magical garden, known only to some consecrated individuals, to achieve the sense of spacelessness. The accumulation, the water itself embraces a slightly elevated part of the terrain, which thus becomes a kind of peninsula, a hill. This “hill” is high enough to close the horizon towards the rest of the world for the one standing at the shore of the water, creating the impression that behind the hill there is nothing, the hill is standing at the edge of the world. Water surface on the other side also is perceived as a boundary, as the other end of the world, but horizon is not closed in this direction, an immense vista opens to the vast plain resembling the sea.

It is not the dramatic beauty of coastal towns on steep hillsides what touches one at this place, but the calm, nourishing and embracing beauty of the fertile plains. Human care and attention given to the creation of beauty is evident in every detail. On the coast, a belt of neatly maintained and protected fruit trees is planted, offering refreshment by a variety of fruits and providing shade. The also well-maintained benches, tables and fireplaces for picnickers are stationed at a sufficient distance from each other to create a sense of privacy, as if the people at any table were the only ones in this secret garden.

The sacs in the many trash cans are obviously frequently changed, which results in all of the garbage landing inside the cans. There is no strewn packaging, spatter of food debris and other items that are normally thrown around so easily. The order in space creates order in behavior and relations, in simple words, the space is the image, the manual of “how to live here”. The visitors, whether from nearby or coming from bigger distances, somehow naturally adhere to this order, because it is obvious that it is the proper way to live and behave here, since the people that live here love this place and love their ways, and the place is arranged to show and maintain this specific mutual affection off place and people, and not to boost tourism and “tourist industry”.

And that, as the research of Ipsos MORI institute has found, induces respect. From my own experience I would say it inspires art and spirituality as well. 

SHOULD DRAGONS BE TAMED, OR SHOULD HYPATIA RECEIVE AN APOLOGY?

After the imagery, symbols and spatial aspects of buildings and religions of old times, I should show how that spatial strategy of devaluating the feminine principle by demoting it to a lower level, from Heaven to Earth influence our realities today, following all the revolutions, emancipation and talk about gender equality of XX century. Of what importance are medieval religious values, meek and humble Madonnas and Theotokos with no personality in a secularized world? After all, now women have full access to education, jobs, political life, they can be CEOs, Prime Ministers, college professors, scientists... they have all the same rights as men, don’t they?

The Study on violence against women in Europe conducted by The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) still finds that one in three women in Europe is a victim of violence. At the time I was writing this article, the European Parliament has rejected a Report on gender equality that recommended a wide range of measures to tackle inequality between men and women in the EU. The very open –minded Pope Francis sometimes accused to be a radical leftist for his liberal standings, has a serious problem to find a place for women within the church that has no other feminine role model than that of inequality, submissiveness and self-renouncement. In his words “demands that the legitimate rights of women be respected, based on the firm conviction that men and women are equal in dignity, present the Church with profound and challenging questions which cannot be lightly evaded.” Orthodoxia, discussing the role of women still thinks about feminine roles in terms of “Holy Mothers”. And here I have to say that the Protestant worldview does not include even that restricted image of feminine in any capacity.

Many things could be, and are already said and written on the issue of gender equality, both pro and contra, but I did not start this article to advocate equal pay or equal political rights, or any of gender issues discussed these days. I was trying to show the simple and efficient strategy in which these gender issues are rooted: the underlying pattern of devaluation of feminine principle by demotion from Heaven to Earth that Christianity has done.

This demotion is not so obvious these days. Women have all the same rights as men. They have the right to dress like men, think like men, act like men, to become practically men. And if they do so, they can now indeed rise to positions of power unattainable to women throughout history.

Some of them can. But does it mean that the feminine principle was raised to a higher position? Are there respected feminine roles one aspires to take? Do we have images of feminine power equal to Athena, Hera, Demeter, Artemis? Are there any ritualized acts equal to Eleusinian mysteries devoted to Demeter, in which men and women celebrated the feminine, and of which Cicero writes:

“For among the many excellent and indeed divine institutions which your Athens has brought forth and contributed to human life, none, in my opinion, is better than those mysteries. For by their means we have been brought out of our barbarous and savage mode of life and educated and refined to state of civilization; and as the rites are called “initiations”, so in very truth we have learned from them the beginnings of life, and have gained power not only to live happily, but also to die with a better hope.” Cicero, Laws II, xiv, 36

As far as the popular, most widespread imagery – as seen in commercials, the Biblia Pauperum of today, conveying values, lifestyles, aspirations – is concerned, the Theotokos is still the only role women really aspire to. Only the styling (should I say iconography?) has changed.

The well dressed and groomed, probably well educated, active-looking yang woman in this commercial is one of the most apparent examples: baby in one hand, holding a bag filled with necessities related to the maintenance of material aspects of life in the other. She is obviously completely satisfied and fulfilled by the task of caring for flash and matter of her husband and child, impersonating the principle of Eros. Wrestling with abstractions, ideas and creativity in his course of work in domain of Logos, her husband is consumed in the immaterial to the level of losing contact with his own body and material environment, for which, of course, his wife is responsible, so she is taking care of refreshing Him. Since the matter is related to Earth, the most yin trigram and immaterial is related to Heaven, the most yang trigram, it is hexagram 12. Pi (Stagnation) again that comes to one’s mind, just as it does when looking at the icons in the first part of this article or in the spatial characteristics in the third part.

I admit, this particular commercial came to my mind because I see it about fifteen times every evening, and it is particularly annoying right now. But it could be any other commercial designed to target women, all of them based on image of ideal woman as the home-oriented meek person, with no interests and sources of happiness but to serve and to mitigate the faults of which she has so many. This funny resume of the commercials targeting gender roles pins it quite well.

In spatial domain in which I have compared Acropolis and Meteora monasteries, I should say there is Meteora reproduced again and again in cityscapes competing to come closer to Heaven, further from Earth, creating artificial, controlled environments free from whims and caprices of nature (feminine), celebrating Logos, and excluding Eros. So far I could not find anything contemporary to match the iconic value of skyscrapers that even remotely resembles the Acropolis in its symbolic power of elevating Eros.

Lower Manhattan

Dubai in morning fog

Shanghai CBD

Meteora in morning fog

The Ancient Greek goddesses cannot be revived. Maybe they should not be. But the world needs the balance, as it is now in grip of constant fear of destruction, dreading the Logos that can show itself as Thanatos in any moment in constantly increasing number of ways. A NASA-founded study predicts the soon end of our industrial civilization based on the way we treat our “resources”. The study unknowingly speaks about the same thing: the relation of Logos, yang creative principle and Eros, the yin principle of life and nature. But does it only in terms of Logos – rational, analytical, budgeting – while the beliefs, underlying values and causes of these behavioral patterns of society are not questioned.

To avoid destruction, which is the inevitable result of overly exaggerated yang and to establish balance, the power of Eros in heavenly domain should be restored. And to be efficient and long-lasting, the restoration of Eros should be done on a deep, mythological/religious level, on the level where it was demoted. Maybe the Christian churches should consider to deify Hypatia. Maybe it is time for finding new-old scriptures about female saints taming dragons, which would be the opposite but not less heroic act as slaying them (which is what male saints do).