From one point of view, the history of civilization is the story of an endless, controversial dialogue between humankind and nature. Early civilizations emerged when humans learned to coexist with nature on the basis of agriculture. The first caves and shelters were safe places, protecting humans from natural hazards, including wild animals. City and architecture alike originated by harnessing nature and protecting us from its difficulties. Skipping over a long period of civilization history to focus on our time, we could say that cities have been abstractly defined as the aggregation of spaces for living, working, recreation and transportation. Though this definition is perhaps not so valid from today’s point of view and renders a naive scheme of the highly complex phenomenon that is the city, it does offer a clear, succinct image, interpreting the main foundation or core layers of our cities today. After the COVID-19 pandemic, all four of the above aspects of cities have unexpectedly and radically been challenged over the past few months. This time, nature (in the form of a viral pandemic) came onto the scene to influence humankind, its lifestyles, activities and contemporary modern civilization seriously in the form of a more or less full-scale recession. None of us who faced the crisis will easily forget the abrupt stoppage or temporary breakdown of our civil activities at the beginning of the 21st century. Once again, nature has given us an opportunity to learn from it.
Transfer Global Architecture Platform, is a new digital editorial project based on the production and transmission of architectural knowledge with the aim of connecting contemporary ideas and practices to build a global architectural culture.