URBAN SPARK, Bologna

an international platform for strategic thinking making and living better cities
design + culture + education + research + action
co+re.platform has emerged from a convergence and fruitful, determined intertwining of two architectural and urban design sensibilities and ways of thinking, making and living diverse urban realities of the East and the West, as embodied in the work of co-founders Professors Davisi Boontharm and Darko Radović, since 2OO1.

Tanizaki's handwritten tanka poem of 1963. "This heart of mine is only one, it cannot be known by anybody but myself."
co+re activities
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forthcoming
In 2023, the tradition of co+re symposia and workshops continue under the title “UNESCO heritage paths”, as part of our larger international research + design-research initiative “on thinking and making the World Heritage of the future”. While advancing broad emphasis on the quality of everyday life, these events will explore critical roles which urban and architectural heritage and its excellence plays, and which they should be empowered to advance in order to enrich an overall totality of urban lived experiences. UNESCO heritage paths 2023+ enters that complex field critically, decisively positioned in values of eco-urbanity, philosophy, theories of environmental and cultural sustainability and engagement – the practices of radical realism. The specific focus will be on three well-known UNESCO World Heritage sites in Split (Historic Centre, with the Palace of Diocletian; listed in 1986), Mostar (Old Bridge Area of the Old City; 2005), and Ljubljana (Plečnik’s Human Centred Urban Design; 2021). As living urban cores, those areas are infused with rejuvenating social energies. The three cities get continuously conceived, perceived and lived, re-producing their authentic, social realities and energies orientated towards the future. That includes threats to the very quality which made them special in the first place. In all situations these threats are similar, and equally banal. Tactical, short-term business gains are at collision path with strategic efforts towards long-term excellence of everyday urban life and – they win. But, when the World Heritage site gets delisted (e.g. Liverpool, Dresden, Kutaisi), capital readily drifts away, leaving an irreparable damage only. The very prospect of such scenario needs to be confronted, and our 2023 Symposia and Workshops start precisely there. A compact, online concluding Symposium will be scheduled to bring together co+re.partners and associates to summarise the 2023 events, table and discuss the post-production plans, and discuss co+re activities proposed for 2024 and beyond.
co+re activities curent + recent
our work categories

co+re lectures
co+re disseminates knowledge by participating and organising talks, lectures, seminars, discussions etc.

theory and practice of urbanity
Darko’s pet course/workshop, which was reformatted and contextualised to provoke radical thinking about the urban.

sketch&script
argue for the recognition of visual essay of a thinking hand as equally important as textual treatise of a feeling mind.

co+re workshops
with our international partner institutions, co+re co-organises workshops focusing on current urban issues.

co+re gallery
located in the heart of Bangkok's superblock, co+re gallery features the works of co+re and our partners

impromptu exhibition
Davisi’s interactive, explorative medium of presentation, communication and research of her sketch & script stories.

our newsletter/magazine
carry-on the tradition of co+labo, co+re continues to publish urbophilia, a research news letter/magazine featured our current activities and projects.