A survey embracing the global economic scenario: from the trend of oil prices to the difficulties encountered by the Eurozone, from the positive prospect for emerging countries to the key role played by the American economy.
Changing scenarios
With this issue, arcVision presents a well-drawn scenario of world economy that provides full analytical coverage of the 2004 perspectives and tendencies for the following years, as well. Venturing predictions on the scene of world economy, on the main economic areas, on crucial variables such as oil and fundamental factors such as currencies is surely not an easy feat. But it is very important to have reliable scenarios available for the future of economy, despite the evident risk that future reality might end up disproving these hypotheses. What is vital for the target is the reliability and professionalism of the analyzers and forecasters, and, from this point of view, arcVision proposes the best that can be found among the main “independent” institutes operating in the field of economic and econometric forecasting science.
In fact, the work presented here was drawn up for arcVision by Global Insight, the economic and financial forecasting company heir of great institutes such as WEFA, Chase and DRI. Divided into different sections so as to be easily interpreted, the presented global scenario was coordinated by Global Insight’s Chief Economist, Nariman Behravesh, who personally signed a great part of the work.
We ought to point out that Global Insight has elaborated the final results presented here independently and arcVision, in turn maintained and maintains an independent position as regards the analyses and forecasts offered to its readers.
arcVision looks ahead in the world of architecture, as well, seeking what, from a simple trend, could become a consolidated procedure in the composite scenario of the new languages that have emerged in recent years. With its extraordinary ability to turn information into emotion, the digital and virtual universe appears to be the best equipped to give life to new territories of research. In his introduction to the Projects section, Luigi Centola focuses on the “digital” languages that emerge from the most advanced experimentations. The latter have in common both the language produced by new computer technologies and a new view of nature and science. New architecture is the result of the convergence between the natural and the digital world, but also of a shift in attention; whereas, formerly, architects concentrated on shapes, now they consider the relations and processes of space configuration with high emotional participation. And emotion is present in most of the projects introduced in this number of arcVision by a selected group of international architects such as Kas Oosterhuis and Ole Bouman, William Alsop, HOV-David Raponi, Mikhail Kudryashov and Simon Rastorguev, R&Sie and the designers mentioned in the article devoted to the architecture show “Latente Utopien”.
