Slow Down, Look Around

“You know public spaces are a source of free entertainment. And honestly, I love this aspect of public or outdoor places. But what is entertainment and why is it important? Entertainment generally means “an event, performance, or activity designed to provide amusement or enjoyment to others.” So basically, it’s an act that gives you joy and some good time.” Peacemakers Pakistani.

By Peacemakers Pakistani

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Photo: Helga Wigandt/Unsplash

Have you ever noticed yourself rushing from one destination to another? Being in movement not only physically but also mentally. Picturing your next destination and chores you have to do and people you have to see and meeting you have to attend, or presentation you have to give or lecture you have to attend… This kind of rush???

Like in real desperation to be where you want to be… To just reach there and the crowd fades away… The traffic, “Oh my God, why are there so many cars on the road” “I am in hurry, let my car pass through” “Get out of my sight you lazy drive”… Ahh! These slow drivers! “Where are you coming man, let me just go through” “Oh my, is it time to fight???” “Is it time to block the road?” “Oh man!” This signal! “Why are there signals?” “I am going to be late, definitely”. Like the real deal to just get out of your vehicle and get your chores done… That tick tock kind of thing on your mind…

Have you ever noticed? Well if you did, it’s okay. You are normal. We all do have same tick tock situation because we live in real busy urban world…

But what if, today, you just slow down… To observe! To not rush! To breathe! To just look around! The term slow is a movement or action at a relaxed or leisurely pace. Drop that fast pace of yours! And slow down to take in the essence of happenings around you… In the city you live… About the people you share common traditions with… About the environment we all breathe in…

At hawkers with colourful objects, or kids either going to Madrassas or playing out at streets, or a family on a bike, or an old man passing by, or at shop owners setting up, waiting for customer or laughing together at regular jokes…

Maybe you will reach your destination a moment late… But you might be less stressful or a less frustrated… Maybe you will find yourself smiling or maybe your forehead crease will be a little smoother… And trust me, you will feel good, certainly! I am saying it because I do… every time... When I slow down & observe & feel!

Look around! You may find different stories happening around you. And why you must do that? When you have so much work to do. Well…

You know public spaces are a source of free entertainment. And honestly, I love this aspect of public or outdoor places. But what is entertainment and why is it important? Entertainment generally means “an event, performance, or activity designed to provide amusement or enjoyment to others.” So basically, it’s an act that gives you joy and some good time. That’s why it is important because it’s a matter of your joy in daily life. There are various methods of entertainment & various types of entertainers. We all may have different interests and thus different memories.

One of my favourite childhood entertainment memory is a man with a monkey (Bandar aur Dugdugi). A monkey which does acts on his trainer’s command & makes people laugh & admire its intelligence. I can still remember that dugdugi’s tuktuk in my mind… An exciting & cheerful memory! I have happened to see a tamed bear in my street as well!

Oh... But how come you have not seen the funniest incident of monkey jumping onto people’s car on traffic signal while its trainer asks for some money. Oh my! All those screaming passengers!!!

Then, there are those musical entertainers we see in television & movies performing in squares & streets. Even though, in Pakistan, we don’t have this culture. But how can you forget the “Dhol wala group”??? The drum beaters checking their instruments or practising along green belts is such a delight. Just hearing the beat of familiar sound makes me smile… I often come across this type of entertainment at Ferozepur Road & Wahdat Road intersection and Allaho Chowk.

And if you can hear that sound & visually recall dhamal and bhangra moves, then credit goes to you. As you had paid attention to your surroundings, once & then it was stored in your memory…

Hey, do you recall the loud vendors passing through the streets? Then you must have realised that your street is a public space and it doesn’t belong to you alone but to all and thus you got to bear noise of people moving, kids playing or fighting, vendors calling out “gheeya, tinday, aalo, tamatar le lo….” “Machine theek kara lo…” “Loha raddi de do…” And some real time entertainers actually having punch lines to seek your attention to their stall or they might even sing a complete song to sell their items or maybe to enjoy while they sell what they have to… I recall this:

لسی ٹھنڈی ٹھار اے

لسی دی بهار اے

لسی مزے دار اے

I have another reason. Have you ever find yourself reading & loving the messages your city has to tell you? Well, of course by city I mean its people - who else will write or display those messages – it’s by people indeed. People who got enough of time to do something that can entertain or make others feel joy. Not all are here to entertain you or give in their time & thought for you. You know.

So, the messages! Yes. Yes. Exactly... Those behind the trucks & rickshaws... Let's have a look at some awesome messages...

"ماواں ٹھنڈیاں چھاواں"

"Mother as a cool shade"

"یہ میرے ماں باپ کی دعائیں ہیں"

"These are my parent's prayers."

You see, the sense of gratitude towards parents. It's constant reminder that one needs all time... Haven't you ever felt gratitude towards your own parents when you come across such messages?

Some sort of self expressionism is also evident in these displays. Like:

سڑک سے دوستی سفر سے یاری دیکھ پیارے زندگی ہماری

I befriend the road, my companion is the journey. Look at my life, dear.

آغازِ جوانی ہے ہم جھوم کے چلتے ہیں لوگ سمجھتے ہیں ہم پی کے چلتے ہیں

I swagger because I am young; the world thinks I reel because I'm drunk.

They are also used as mobile or moving advertisements on public transport. It makes one journey on road - thoughtful, interesting & fun. And the reason why I like to see them is...

I highly appreciate the penmanship of people belonging to Pakistan. Like real time thing, real talent! Similarly the truck art is also an artist exhibiting his talent leaving it onto road. Not preserving his masterpiece but letting it get dirty or scratched or worse but fulfilling its duty of carrying loads to its place while amazing people with its colours along the way. Well, don't think I am distracted I am just highlighting an important part of Pakistan here.

Photo: Bruno Emanuelle/Unsplash

Not all sources of entertainment require money or debit card, some only requires your attention, sensory involvement and an appreciation to the entertainers. They need you to see, hear, feel, think and respond. So are you willing to be attentive in the present moment?

You see how Pakistani or Desi people just express even serious things in funny ways… Well, for me, I see them as a sign of optimism & happiness. It sparks joy in me & make me feel love for such messages. And I find kind of comfort in them. Like assurance by my own people and something I have been seeing my entire life and its never outdated. Doesn’t it move you that how people are sharing their creativity in amazing ways & also for free??? Aren’t they all entertainers??? Who doesn’t need such entertainment for free?

It makes me able to put my guards down. I am not alone on the road, there are other people as well, and they are communicating in different ways. It also makes me feel good because at least some people are confidently owning & sharing what they are, in real & they aren’t insecure to let the world know what they want to say out loud. What if we all just recognise our power of sharing the words of wisdom, joy or creativity, and communicating with others?… How interesting this world can be…(some personal sentiments included consciously)

But, hey! This is not the only form of how our people share messages with us…. Ever noticed, flowers & vines in the balconies & terraces & lawns and flowers on the greenbelts??? Like, people sharing their love for nature & its beauty with the world rather than material bricks, paints alone or rigid facades… Do they not add calming effect to your mind? I see it as a good deed – providing comfort to someone just passing by.

You like it what I just shared with you, right? So just slow down! Start enjoying life by being conscious of sensory plethora. Let public place activate your senses to full potential so it can store incidents in memory & make you smile even if it’s not physically there anymore. Or that memory shall invite you to visit the place again with its sound… And if you can recall any sound while reading this, you are truly amazing!

May this happen all in goodness… May you have a good day today & tomorrow. May your journey be a cheerful one. May you not risk your life while rushing today. Amen

Have wonderful time & memories while noticing the world around you! May you find interesting & soulful entertainers out there… Remember! You can find real joy around yourself… If you are ready to find it for free.

And ending with a quote... Sharing with you what’s popular lifestyle trend in the world nowadays: “Slow Living”

“It’s about knowing and passionately loving the things we value. And designing our lives to spend the most time possible enjoying them. It’s about having intention and consciousness in our activities. About escaping the mindless scrolling and unproductive multi-tasking and focusing on purposeful action.” –Kayte Ferris

Be the part of right trend because Now is the Time! Fall in love with your surroundings and yourself. Will you?

Photo: James Lee/Unsplash

Environmental Impacts Of Death

A person’s final resting place can be the foundation of flowerbeds or feed the roots of the tree, or it can pose major environmental hazards through the continuation of a person’s carbon footprint even after the death. Peacemakers Pakistani explore the final footprint.

By Peacemakers Pakistani

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Photo: Bruno Martins/Unsplash

Death is a part of life and it has its environmental effects as well. The ritual of different types of burying or cremating a dead body is so deeply ingrained in religious and cultural history that there is no question on it, but they are far from environment friendly practices.

The environmental impacts of death is largely determined by the type of funeral and burial opted by the person or community. Apart from the Islamic burials, the process of preserving and sealing corpses into caskets and then plunging them into the ground is extremely unfriendly environmentally. Toxic chemicals from the embalming (It is the process of preserving a body to delay the natural break down of cells, which begins with death), burial, and cremation process leach into the air and soil, and expose the livings to potential hazards.

"The best way is to allow your body to feed the earth or ocean in a way that is sustainable for future generations", says Susan Dobscha, a professor and editor of a book about the green-burial industry, called "Death and a Consumer Culture”.

1. Embalming is the process of pumping chemical mixture of formaldehyde, phenol, methanol, and glycerine into the body through an artery to delay the body's rate of decay. This could be used for display purposes during funerals, long-distance transportation, or for use for medical or scientific research. It is also said to give the body a life-like appearance for public viewing.

Formaldehyde is a potential human carcinogen and can be lethal if a person is exposed to high concentrations. Its fumes can also irritate the eyes, nose, and throat. Phenol, similarly, can irritate or burn the flesh, and is toxic if ingested. Methyl alcohol and glycerine can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, and throat. According to an article published in the Berkeley Planning Journal, more than 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde are put into the ground along with dead bodies every year in the US. That is enough to fill one and a quarter Olympic-sized swimming pools each year.

The next reason that why these burial practices are bad for environment is many materials go into the burials. According to the Berkeley Planning Journal, conventional burials only in the US, every year use 30 million board feet of hardwoods, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 104,272 tons of steel, and 1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete. The amount of casket wood alone is equivalent to about 4 million acres of forest.

2. Cremation: Burning the body into ashes to be kept in an urn or scattered into the water is called cremation which is practised by some religious cultures. Cremation is considered as less harmful than pumping a body full of formaldehyde and burying it on top of concrete, but there are still lots of environmental effects to consider. The process requires a lot of energy and creates air pollution by releasing hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere, including carbon monoxide, fine soot, sulphur dioxide, heavy metals, and mercury emissions. In contrast to a natural burial, in which a body is simply left to decompose in nature, cremated ashes are sterile and do not supply nutrients back into the earth.

Eco-friendly options for the burials do exist. For example:

3. Natural Burials: the process of interring a body in earth in a manner that allows it to decompose naturally. The process does not use vaults, traditional coffins, or toxic chemicals. Instead, bodies are wrapped in biodegradable shrouds and laid to rest where they can decompose more naturally. Bodies are buried six feet deep without a coffin, in an ordinary soil to aid the decomposition.

Without the embalming fluids, the body of an adult person normally takes eight to twelve years to decompose which is the minimum time for the body to decompose. However, if placed in a coffin the body can take many years longer, depending on type of wood used. For example, a solid oak coffin will highly slow down the process. There was a case where a body was exhumed in an oak coffin and it was found to still be in a state of decomposition some 50 years later. Along with that, a lot also depends on how deep the coffin is buried, the state of the soil and the local water.

Decomposition begins several minutes after the burial, with a process called autolysis, or self-digestion. According to the laws of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another, and the amount of free energy always increases. In other words, things fall apart, converting their mass to energy while doing so. Decomposition is one final morbid reminder that all matter in the universe must follow these fundamental laws. It breaks us down, equilibrating our bodily matter with its surroundings, and recycling it so that other living things can put it to use.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

There are several benefits of natural burials which are:

1. Elements that are present in the human body are present in lesser or greater quantity in the soil. It is more scientific to bury a dead body, as it easily gets decomposed and mixed in the soil.

2. There is no pollution unlike cremating the body which produces hazardous chemicals in the atmosphere.

3. When dead bodies are buried, besides the trees being saved, the surrounding land becomes fertile, and it improves the environment as it enriches the soil nutrients.

4. Burying dead bodies is very cheap. It hardly costs any money as compare to cremating or casket burials.

5. The land used for burying a dead body can be re-utilised for burying another body after a few years since the human body gets decomposed and mixed in the soil.

"People [who] choose to be buried in the friendly burial area are the people who want wildflowers blooming on their grave and butterflies fluttering about", says Larkspur Executive Director John Christian Phifer.

There is also a newer trend in natural burials that aims for even bigger ecological benefits. For example:

4. Capsula Mundi, which is an egg-shaped pod through which a buried corpse or ashes can provide nutrients to a tree planted above it. It is an egg-shaped pod, an ancient and perfect form, made of biodegradable material, where our departed loved ones are placed for burial. The bodies will be laid down in a fetal position in larger pods and the Capsula will then be buried as a seed in the earth. A tree, chosen in life by the deceased, will be planted on top of it and serve as a memorial for the departed and as a legacy for posterity and the future of our planet. Family and friends will continue to care for the tree as it grows. Cemeteries will acquire a new look and instead of the cold grey landscape, they will grow into vibrant woodlands.

5. The Burial Suit is made of organic cotton and lined with specialist mushroom spores, so a person buried in it will soon be covered in growing mushrooms. Their remains will feed the mushrooms, which quickly break down organic material and remove toxins from the environment, in turn delivering nutrients to the soil and surrounding plants.

We know that in the throes of grief, the environment might often be the furthest thing in families’ minds. But during a person’s life, if he/she tries to live Eco-friendly life then why the process of death should be any different. Its not likely for a person to discuss their body disposal method but, now, we have to when it poses major environmental hazards! I hope we take things serious in a light manner.... I hope we do....

Photo: Bruno Martins/Unsplash

The Apple Tree

“They were quiet then. I was too as I reflected on what was said. This brief conversation had opened a new perspective and healed something within.”

Read this short story - or is it a fairytale? - or a biography? - by lawyer and podcaster Steven Moe. It may heal something within.

By Steven Moe

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Photo: Joshua Hoehne/Unsplash

Part I: Spring

I remember the small boy named John who used to visit me in the summer. He planted me here one day when he came with his Grandfather. They were exploring and ended up in this small valley so far out of the way. I overheard John’s Grandfather say that he had come to this same spot with his own Grandfather many years before. 

I was planted by them beside this slow-moving stream that drifts lazily by, tossing light back up into my branches like confetti. I’ve long ago given up trying to work out what there might be to celebrate. The stream itself babbles constantly but cannot hold much of a conversation, speaking instead over and over of rocks and sand, fish, and frogs, of eddies and flows.  However, I am grateful for the stream for my roots found it long ago and much of the surrounding land is parched in summer. If I had not been laid down so carefully to grow on its banks I might have withered long ago.

“Let’s see what happens”, said John’s Grandfather slowly, and through the soil that they placed on me I heard their footsteps retreating. 

Part II: Summer

I cannot tell you much about the next few years as I emerged from seed to leaf to small tree.  John returned during the summer and pruned me as I grew larger. He would often just sit there beside me or lean against me as I grew. Only a few times did his Grandfather join him and I watched as he grew older more quickly than John and I grew up. They had long talks there, sitting beneath me, and I listened in to each one. They talked of the past, the present, the future. I recall the final time I saw John’s Grandfather as he struggled up, leaning on a walking stick, after sitting down a last time under my shade. When John came the next summer, he was even more reflective than he had been on earlier visits and sat there, just watching the water flow by. He was thinking, throwing small stones, and listening to their sound. Being still and silent. 

The last time John came he was no longer a boy. I was proud because I had started to produce some apples and I saw him grab one and eat it. Then I noticed that he had in his hands an axe and I shivered as he drew even closer and raised it. He used it to hack at me and after several deep cuts he took off the branch that was growing out and away from the stream.  He had shifted my angles, and this left me only to droop out over the water. I felt like he had cut off an arm and I resented it. The apples that had been on the branch lay scattered on the ground. Even then, I knew that this was going to determine my destiny in some way. 

John cut away at the branch lying there, unattached, and yet so intimately connected to me, until he had fashioned the straightest part into a walking stick. Was that all I was useful for?I felt a great sense of betrayal. Yet before he left, he stood up before me and the wind went quiet, the birds in my branches stopped singing and the sun shone brighter. All he said was, “I take a piece of you to guide me”. He addressed me so formally that despite my indignity, I bowed to him, as best I could. Then he was gone, to live his life, leaving me alone. 

Part III: Autumn

As time went by the seasons were my only companions. They stayed long enough to feel comfortable with each other, not like the small birds who flew in and out so quickly that I couldn’t even focus on them. In winter the snow that fell chilled me deeply but the serene silence that resulted was worth it. Spring saw me grow again and push out new blossoms, each one representing a possible future. In summer, my apples grew and grew larger in the sun.  I was proud of them and as the days grew shorter, they began to fall from me. 

Autumn is when I was most upset, for by taking part of me away, John had left only one place for the apples I produced to fall. The stream gratefully received each of them making a sound as they slipped into the water like divers. All I could do was watch them drift away downstream and around the curve. It made me sad to see them leave. 

At that time of year, I resented John greatly, for though he had given me life and looked after me he had also destroyed my chances for a friend since no tree could grow there with me. All those possible companions were swept downstream to nothingness. I kept asking myself why this had happened to me, the passing of the years did not help and I found myself thinking on it more and more. I felt like my life was futile for why I had been given such potential and yet it was left so wasted. My only comfort became those little birds that I envied for their ability to fly here and there without being rooted in one place. Their nests in my arms and long fingers were at least the source of much new life, unlike me.  

Part IV: Winter

The years rolled by and each year my resentment grew with my height. My bark had become knobbled and rough. I was old now. Yet still I produced fruit each season, hoping that one day they might land beside me and grow there. I towered high above the stream and yet my wish was not granted. The apples dropped each time into the water to float away. I could feel within myself a coldness and the dark began to take over as I questioned all I stood for and reflected often on how I had achieved nothing.

Then one day an old man came walking into the valley with a small girl. Something stirred in me as they drew near. A memory of long ago. It had been several decades since I had last seen a person in these parts. This man reminded me of John’s Grandfather for he walked slowly, yet purposefully. They sat under my branches with their backs against my trunk and watched the water. I listened to them talk of the past, the present, the future.

Then the little girl asked, “Is this really the source of them all, Grandfather?”

The Grandfather nodded.  “Yes”, he replied, “And the thing is that this old tree probably doesn’t even know”. He smiled wistfully.

“What do you mean?” asked the little girl.  I too leaned in closer, listening hard. 

“Well, look at the bend over there”, he said.  “You see, this tree has no way of looking beyond this valley, seeing past its own limited view. It has no way of knowing that for miles and miles down from here the stream is lined with apple trees and that they all have come from this one source. For years, the tree has been faithfully dropping its apples into the stream and the water has washed them up to places far beyond the realm of what this tree could have ever thought possible.”  

They were quiet then. I was too as I reflected on what was said. This brief conversation had opened a new perspective and healed something within.

They had brought a lunch with them and when they were done the small girl dug two holes along the bank, one upstream from me and one a little way down. I saw her place something in them and cover them up. Then she came back to sit beside her Grandfather, who said slowly, “Let’s see what happens”.

As they got up to leave, I saw the old man struggle to stand, and the girl reached out to help.  She handed him something and I recognised the walking stick then. I made my leaves move in the wind and bent closer as the years of resentment fell away. I smiled down at John and he also looked up at me and tipped his hat, then he took his granddaughter’s hand in his and I watched them walk away.

Photo: Mitchell Luo/Unsplash

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You can hear Steven Moe’s own reading of this beautiful story here:

That Which Is Not Hell

“The hell of the living is not something that will be,” Italian author Italo Calvino wrote in his novel The Invisible Cities (1972).

By The Empty Square

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“The hell of the living is not something that will be,” Italian author Italo Calvino wrote in his novel The Invisible Cities (1972).

“If there is one, it is what is already here, the hell we live in every day, that we make by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the hell, and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of hell, are not hell, then make them endure, give them space.”

Calvino wrote of Venice, but in essence he told us of the world and challenged our ability to imagine change. Not only in the way that we coexist as cities, countries, and societies but also in our micro-actions and gestures towards each other. Has Calvino’s challenge lost its edge? If not, how can we, in the midst of Hell, imagine change? How can we set out to create places that nourish the mind, build new bonds, and heal broken souls?

Photo: Leonardo Yip/Unsplash

Between Richness And Decay: An Interview with Søren Ryge Petersen

How do we experience decay in the city? Usually, we try to avoid it, demolish it, and replace it with something new and shiny. But in some cities, we can be lucky to experience places floating between richness and decay.

By The Empty Square

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Søren Ryge Petersen. Photo: The Empty Square

How do we experience decay in the city? Usually, we try to avoid it, demolish it, and replace it with something new and shiny. But in some cities, we can be lucky to experience places floating between richness and decay. It’s never the result of planning strategies; on the contrary, it only grows without our interference.

Beautiful decay provides cities with an extra layer of meaning, reminding us of the natural cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. It reminds us of our roots and the fact that everything is part of a process of transformation. The only constant is change.

This conversation is not about cities. It’s a story of a garden and a yard told by one of Danish television’s grand old men, Søren Ryge Petersen. But the essence is of great relevance to towns and cities: It’s about organic growth and acceptance, even awe, towards the relentless decay accompanying time.

The Land Of The Living Dead

“Sat inside the underground chamber. Third day in. Four days. Five days. Six days. Pitch black. Dreaming and dreaming and dreaming, preparing for a ceremony that had been spoken to me. ‘We’re going to take you to the Land of the Living Dead. You must prepare yourself.’”

By The Empty Square

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Photo: Cherry Laithang/Unsplash

“Sat inside the underground chamber. Third day in. Four days. Five days. Six days. Pitch black. Dreaming and dreaming and dreaming, preparing for a ceremony that had been spoken to me. ‘We’re going to take you to the Land of the Living Dead. You must prepare yourself.’”

This is the beginning of a talk entitled We need the Dreamers, Poets, and Doers by British Tim Macartney. In his younger days, he lived for long periods with a group of native Americans, wanting to learn from them.

Part of the learning process was the ceremony of the Living Dead:

“You go into the underground chamber in full and total darkness and for seven days you dream. Finally, on the seventh day, the trap door opens, light floods in and together with my two other friends we emerge into the light. We’re loaded into a truck and the truck takes us on this journey to this place that we only know of as the Land of the Living Dead.

And we are filled with fear, we really are, after seven days of dreaming in the darkness in the earth.

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And they took us. To a shopping mall.”

Macartney’s talk is about the disconnection of modern society from life, from our earth, our roots, each other, and ourselves. Without remembering our stories and our roots and mending what was broken, we are the living dead.

Photo: Benjamin Balázs/Unsplash

Macartney, who used to run a big consultancy, has for the past 20 years been the head of Embercombe, a place for learning, reconnecting, dreaming, and doing.

He encourages us to remember the voices of our indigenous people and to find inspiration from the trees, “these extraordinary beings of trust and innocence, teaching us with their beauty and grace and elegance and vulnerability about community, connectedness, and belonging”.

And he alerts us to the danger of keeping the us-versus-them mentality, the good versus the bad. “No word is more scary than the word ‘righteous’”. Business is not the enemy, he says. The banks are not the enemy. The oil companies are not the enemy.

We must remember that we are all connected, and if we want to change things, we have to meet each other with courage and open hearts.

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You can hear Macartney’s talk here.

Postcard From The Lively Square Of The Dead

If you arrive to Marrakesh with the night train from Tangier you’ll be able to experience Djemaa el’Fna, the huge, central square, in the morning while it is still empty and silent.

By The Empty Square

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Photo: Juan Ignacio Tapia/Unsplash

If you come to Marrakech with the night train from Tangier, you’ll be able to experience Djemaa el’Fna, the huge, central square, in the morning while it is still empty and silent.

First, the orange stalls roll in, one after the other, at least 30. They place themselves in a curved row that marks the edge of the marketplace and they loudly offer fresh juice for sale, setting the stage, physically and acoustically.

During the day, the square fills up with artists, traders, craftsmen, and customers. Snake charmers, storytellers with crowds of listeners, dentists, fortune tellers, bike-menders, dancers, monkeys on a leash ...

As the day is waning, the traders leave the square and the many restaurants on wheels make their entry in the twilight. New sounds and smells take over. Fish, vegetables, and skewers are beautifully mounted around the mobile kitchens, meat and small sausages are being cooked over slow fires, snails in gigantic pots, lamb brains going down in boiling soups.

In the dark, small lights are lit everywhere and spotlights going upwards enlightens the smoke from the big barbecues making the square appear on fire from a distance.

The last operators entering the scene are small stalls, composing an outer flank of the square, serving burning hot tea, so spicy it feels alcoholic, from enormous cobber kettles.

Photo: Dorel Gnatiuc/Unsplash

Around midnight, the flames are turned down, lights switched off, everybody returning home. The Djemaa el’Fna, literally The Square of the Dead, is once again empty, silent, slightly malodorous. The big mosque at the one end dominates the sight at night.

This was how we experienced the Djemaa when we visited in 2003. It has stayed like that in our memory, reminding us of the potential of an empty square without any requisites. No beautiful pavement, no trees, no flowers, no benches, no fountains. Just a rough frame and people, interactions, meetings, exchanges.

The Djemaa el Fna is where they used to execute people, exhibiting the heads on poles.

Today, it is life that dominates, with all the variations, diversity, challenges, struggles, sensuous richness, and constant changes that come along.

Djemaa el’Fna is on UNESCO’s list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity which was actually established because the life of the Djemaa was threatened by private developers.

The Square At Night (1)

Heard on the square at night.

By The Empty Square

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Photo: Henry Be/Unsplash

- Listen – can you hear the music?

- Yeah… But it’s the middle of the night, the square is empty!

- I know…hey… you want to dance with me at the empty square?

- Right now?

- Why not?

- Let’s go!

Moment By Moment

Imagine an empty square, in early morning light, still wet with rain, deserted, a no-man’s land. Now, a dog passes by, its owner busy with her phone.

By The Empty Square

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Imagine an empty square, in early morning light, still wet with rain, deserted, a no-man’s land.

Now, a dog passes by, its owner busy with her phone. The first pigeons, the garbage truck, a church bell, the misty wind from the river. Food vendors arrive, soon transforming part of the square into a hustling, bustling place.

Morning traffic increases. People appear from lanes and alleys, briefcases in hand, the sharp clacking of heels. Shutters go up, a sudden smell of coffee, storeowners arranging tables, chairs, umbrellas. Children hurry on their way to school. Someone drops a ball; someone catches it and tosses it back. A chance meeting occurs, and a man cries out in joy.

Photo: Wolfgang Hasselmann/Unsplash

Moment by moment the empty square is filling up with sounds, smells, words, actions; the weather setting the scene for today’s spectacle; the atmosphere changing with the hours of the day, until, at midnight, it will again be empty, deserted, a no-man’s land.

Places that are truly alive are sprouting, blossoming, and fading through the hours of the day. They are never a given. They emerge and reemerge day after day, moment after moment, in a network of relations and variations. The quality of being alive is not a stable and fixed entity, but appears through meetings, conversations, light, sounds, smells, touch, repetitions, variations, sudden impulses, and emotions.

Every new day constitutes a new frame. The living community is built anew every day. You know what will happen, and you don’t; that’s the magic of a place that is truly alive. 

Copenhagen Versus Cairo - Liveability Versus Life (And Death)

“After spending 2-3 hours in my apartment in Copenhagen, I feel like going crazy and wasting my time. In my apartment in Cairo I can stay for 2-3 days, feeling inspired, feeling that I am truly alive.”

By The Empty Square

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Cairo. Photo: Simon Berger/Unsplash

“After spending 2-3 hours in my apartment in Copenhagen, I feel like going crazy and wasting my time. In my apartment in Cairo I can stay for 2-3 days, feeling inspired, feeling that I am truly alive. Just by leaving the windows open – yeah, I don’t even need that, I can just listen to the sounds of the street. Just going out to buy cigarettes is an adventure in itself. All the smells, all the people, there is so much to experience…*”

– said the Danish-Palestinian film director, Omar Shargawi, about his fascination of Cairo. The highly polluted, pour, and chaotic city of Cairo apparently nourishes his soul and imagination way more than Copenhagen, a city that for years has been scoring high on liveability parameters.

What makes a city feel alive?

What does it take to create truly enchanting places – places that seduce and surprise your body as well as your mind? Is it possible at all to plan such places or can they only grow by themselves?

Copenhagen. Photo: Brian Kyed/Unsplash

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*Interview on Danish Radio (P1), produced by Trine Jul Bastrup in the programme Vita, 04.03.2010. Our translation.

Inhabiting Time: An Interview With Anupama Kundoo

Architecture is usually perceived as a spatial discipline. What happens if time becomes the primary dimension?

By The Empty Square

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Architecture is usually perceived as a spatial discipline. What happens if time becomes the primary dimension?

With time as the starting point, Indian architect Anupama Kundoo examines the question of individual responsibility and potential in the shaping of our surroundings.

Building on Indian traditions, Kundoo offers a vision for future architecture founded on tactility and the human scale. She challenges the Western motto, “time is money”, and reflects on the costs of “saving time” in the building process.

At what cost have we saved time? And who is responsible for the consequences?

Learnings From A Garden: An Interview With Beata Engels Andersson

This story of a famous garden in Sweden is not about horticulture. It’s about life and death, human needs and capacities, and the power of opposites.

By The Empty Square

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Beata Engels Andersson. Photo: The Empty Square

This story of a famous garden in Sweden is not about horticulture. It’s about life and death, human needs and capacities, and the power of opposites.

It’s told by Beata Engels Andersson, the daughter of the world-famous Swedish landscape architect, Sven-Ingvar Andersson (1927-2007). We met her at Marnas, the family house and garden since 1967.

Beata Engels Andersson. Photo: The Empty Square

It made us reflect on the role of death and decay. The balance between structure and chaos. The importance of generosity, openness, and meeting places.

Not only in our towns and cities but also in our everyday lives.

This masterclass (duration: 17 min.) offers a personal story as well as universal reflections. We hope you will enjoy it.