PUBLIC WORKS / PUBLIC SPACE

Blog on the architectural views on cultural context of the private and public life of people in the city.

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In the city of monsters .

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…architecture has been warped and separated from anything important and no longer serves the public good, but only the good of private interests.”

Rem Koolhaas (via conradjacob)

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Public Works, Public Space

Public life is different for everyone; it is the physical or technological gathering of a social group. Throughout the lectures and from writing this blog my understanding of public life has evolved. Public life isn’t just about public spaces and how we move through it, but how we as humans are social by nature and how everything we do outside of our domestic life is public. The spaces around us play a big part in our life, and shape the way we think as a community, through the ecological models we see how as people the relationships between our environment and ourselves are interlinked, and how that influences the built environment around us. (See blog)…. There is sometimes a blur between public and private life or spaces, at some point they cross with each other working with or against each other, a prime example of a clear blur is the twitter and face book age a public domain where we share our private thoughts and lives etc.

Public spaces come in different forms; it is not just limited to the built environment.  Parks and the seaside are not buildings but are used for a specific purpose usually during leisure. However, built public spaces are usually designed for a specific purpose, e.g. schools, hospitals or churches, these are directly targeted at a specific group of people. The role of a public space can change, for example a church transformed into a club or a slave port that is now used as a place of remembrance, this changes the social group it attracts completely.

We live in an idealistic world where we want everything to be perfect in our communities, but as humans this is not possible. We are a selfish race so there has to be a hierarchy. As years have gone by and cities are growing bigger and therefore changing, the way we as a society deal with public spaces in modern cities are also changing, it is both the death and life of the city…. “The result of an end to modernism, a vast wasteland of public and private   space composed of the architectures from a multitude of time”. (Koolhaas. R 2008)

From my blog there is a consistent pattern of how over the years architects have tried to think up or develop different ways in which we can inhabit a city, a utopia where everyone is happy with the social, political and environmental aspects of the city. However most of these designs have failed and a utopian society will never work, our human greed and need for power would not allow for a utopian society to work. We are not equals and it seems that in the world we never will be, and to create a utopian society all aspects of our individualism would have to be let go.  “The best society can merely allow every individual to flourish in the pursuit…”(Nettle. D2005). We might think we are living in an ideal society but there would always be someone who controls how the city would work. As the inhabitants we would somewhat become unimportant, as we would not be looked at as individuals, but as communities put together by the architect who would have designed the utopian society.  These architects rather than try to improve on societies that already exist dream up new societies that will leave the society to be based on class and hierarchy- example being le Corbusier city for 3 million whose idea was to destroy Paris and rebuild it as a class based system. (See blog)

There is need for more public spaces; as many cities are becoming multi cultural because we now live in a multi cultural society, cities have to cater to the needs of everyone. Because of social changes in the city, we start to see the spatial changes in infrastructure; we start to see how consumerism and new technologies fuel the city.  We live in a capitalist society where consumerism is in everything we do in our modern lives, as it seems consumerism is needed to continuously fuel the city. Large shopping centers for example show the wealth of a city, the desire to shop gives a specific demographic of people a wide array of public spaces to choose from. Places like shopping centres and high streets further enrich the neighborhood. In poorer parts of the city however we see how consumerism works but not to better the surrounding environment, we tend to see the difference of character by the types of businesses in such areas i.e. bookies, pawnbrokers are, privately owned but for public use and doesn’t help build the community. Whereas in gentry areas we see more specialist shops- in a way feels as if it is a negative development in the poor areas. The relationship between the public and the private work against each other in this case it is creating a negative connotation in the surrounding environment.  “What ever happened to urbanism?” (Koolhaas. R 1995)

                             With urbanization and migration of people into the city, there is a clear hierarchy in the cities that we live in; we start to see the inequalities that we already have. Uneven development is a clear representation of the different classes and social groups that exist in societies today. These are common traits in every city; we see developed buildings next to places that are underdeveloped (See blog). We see how social groups such as the rich and poor have an impact on the spaces around them, e.g. the rich tend to be in more developed areas and have more access to public and private spaces, where as the poor are left to live in their own micro communities with limited access to public spaces. The rich have more influence on how the areas they live in are developed, whereas the poor people living in undeveloped communities almost have no say in how their communities are developed, and how the future of their public and private spaces are being utilized. From this point you can see within the same city how public and private spaces differ within social groups. However there is fluidity between these spaces, as gentrification of poorer areas in the city is slowly taking place. Businesses move in, the gentry follow inhabiting the area to be closer to work causing an upwardly mobile community where, the transition from poor to wealthy neighborhood. Notting hill and the east of London are clear examples of this.

In conclusion I have found that the use of public spaces have vastly changed, we all have different connotations and ideologies of what public life now is. To define public life in the 21st century is very complex as there are many interpretations for it. Through culture, class, and social groups our individual views of what public life is differs, we live in a technological world where we are all inter connected and can easily share the most intimate details of our lives. My opinion of public and private spaces is that as the world is changing and with all the technology that we now hold, the term private is almost becoming non-existent outside of our domestic domain.

  Reference:

Koolhaas, Rem (2008). Junkspace. Available: http://www.johnstuartarchitecture.com/Spring_2009_Video_Readings_files/Koolhaas%20Junkspace.pdf. Last accessed 6th May 2012.

Koolhaas, Rem (1995) ”“Whatever Happened to Urbanism?”, in S, M, L, XL” New York: Monacelli Press, pg. 19/20.

Nettle, David (2005). Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile, New York: oxford university press inc. p5.

Image credit

 Image 1-

http://morrischia.com/david/portfolio/boozy/research/radiant_20city.html

Image 2-

http://partialobjects.com/2011/06/staggering-thought-of-the-day/ 

Image 3-

http://www.insightguides.com/destinations/europe/england/london/city-areas/oxford-street-mayfair-and-marylebone 

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Here Come the Yuppies

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Movement is a big part of our everyday lives and the architecture around us can depict the direction and flow of our individual movements. 

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In a media culture which values the notion “if it bleeds it leads,” Williamson says that the real story often gets missed. “The mainstream media for the most part don’t look for depth and don’t get deeply involved in a city like Rio. As a result, they go with the visible stories like violence or the canned press releases by the city. As a result, the story that’s been told is one predominantly of these communities as violent and the city and state as innovative. In other words, the favelas are the problem. “Yet what we find is the exact opposite. The favelas are the solution. They were the solution to the lack of affordable housing for over 100 years. Residents built solid homes, solid neighborhoods, solid communities with networks of solidarity and mutual support. They have provided their own public services, from daycare to sewerage, asphalt to health care. It is the public sector (including utilities, urbanization, education, security and other services) that has been missing and that is largely responsible for the problems associated with these communities.” Williamson says favelas have been erroneously been referred to as slums or shantytowns, but such terms are unfair and belie the true nature of life in these neighborhoods. Working-class neighborhoods, she says, are a much better description. “In a city with absolutely no history of affordable housing, the working class had to form their own neighborhoods. The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 recognizes this historic issue, which is why adverse possession [i.e., rights acquired by irregular residents], according to the Brazilian Constitution, kicks in after 5 years in Brazilian cities.” On the ground, Williamson says, a mass round of evictions of residents of favelas is in progress. Dozens of new sports facilities and housing complexes are being built, and the residents of these favelas become easy targets for evictions to make room for these facilities because of the negative portrayal of favelas.

Why the Olympic Games are Always Wars on the Poor

(via culturalmarxist)

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Invisible Cities

Invisible Cities is a fictional depiction of Marco Polo's travels though the cities of Kubai Khan's empire. It explores the imagination of the reader and the emperor to which the stories are being told. Polo's descriptions of the city do not have a specific period in history, as there are no descriptions of urban living and how people interact with the city, except when passing through. However we can withdraw certain aspects of urban life , to my understanding, even though some of Polo's descriptions of the cities visited are vastly imaginary, they all seem to have things in common that somehow merge. "Travelling, you realise the differences are lost; Each city takes to resembling all cities, places exchange there form, order, distances, a shapeless dust cloud invades the continents".(Calvino, I 1997)There is a social generalization that happens in every city, as we all act as one or a community going bout our individual acts of habitation and work it seems to become uniform and all individualism is lost. Calvino describes the city as a wider system of public life, and the people that inhabit it are not seen as individuals, this can be seen in modern cities today. He’s theories in the time of Marco Polo and the Emperor Khan show how the city grows and develops, we as the cities inhabitants become a part of a super organism- this in turn causing us to loosing our individual identities in the process of  growth without being aware “…Accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it” Pg 148

reference:

Italio Calvino (1997)"invisible cities" vinatge classics, new edition, p 125

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In the modern world both public and private spaces are being blurred by the new technologies that we are experiencing, it seems the private is now public are sometime one and the same. An example is the Facebook and Twitter generation, we use these mediums to post our everyday life although private it is seen my the public. millions of people use Facebook and there are growing members, in a way it starts to show how small the world is and starts to inter connect our communities. we start to see how again consumerism is everywhere even in a technological society, companies use social medias to promote and advertise there products.

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Chris Burden’s Metropolis 2

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The immersive nature of the modern city, the relationships between physical spaces, augmented digital and media domains.

No matter where we turn in the city there is technology; we cannot escape the media and technology in the 21st century. It feels as if we are engulfed in a virtual reality, with tall buildings covered in 30 metres of advertising and surrounded by the commercial, we start to lose the sense of what is natural. New York's Times Square is an example of an immersive city - it is a hub for the commercial and the media, fuelling consumerism. You are immersed in the bright colours, the amazing digital technologies and the different sounds of the city. The physical space however can be quite intimidating as you are merely a small entity in quite a large and overwhelming environment, which plays with all the senses.  These spaces are never sparse, there are always tourists visiting the city, as it has a pull on people. We are attracted to the bright lights and pretty colours, so we submerge ourselves in it. The use of these media forms in the city is good for attracting consumers in leisure time, we see these same characteristics of play in many modern cities i.e. Dubai, Tokyo, London.

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Do the spaces we work in affect our productivity and morale?

The spaces we work in have an impact on the way we feel about work - an example is Zaha Hadid’s BMW factory. The BMW factory is significant in our time, as it has changed the way we look at factory design. It breaks many conventions of factory space and design; it also breaks conventions with the hierarchy between production and the hierarchy between people. Hadid and designer Patrick Schumacher wanted to create a relationship between people and machine, and between people, machines and the building itself through movement and flow. Through the design and spatial hierarchy, it is obvious that Hadid did not only think about the structure’s design and spacing, but also the 5500 employees that would have to work in the building. How the space would have an impact on them and their work life. Hadid has been able to do this through her architecture, by forcing all departments, from the production team to the administrators, engineers managers etc to work together openly and not be separated by walls. This is against the norm of segregating white-collar workers in one space and the production team in another. The benefits of putting all employees on the same level together is that it changes hierarchy perceptions, giving the feeling to each worker that they are all equal. This actively shows them how their work is inter-related and makes a difference to how they regard each other. This can change the atmosphere and work ethic of each individual, If there is a good work ethic, where they are in a feel-good environment, they are more likely to work better. This in turn strengthens the workforce with higher productivity and higher efficiency rates, thus producing more and minimising costs and increasing profit margins.

Call centres use a slightly different tactic to increase productivity. Partitions are used so the employees don’t get distracted, but pay attention to making as many phone calls as they can.

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Work

Is it necessary for us to work, and is this what life’s about?

Work and labour seem to somewhat be one and the same. My original understanding of both was that there is payment for each, but labour is just the more physical aspect of work.

It is necessary for us to work, to get ahead in life and to survive or there would be no progression.  Life however is not just about work; we have to have leisure time to enjoy the rewards of our work. If there were no leisure time there would be no appreciation for life and no motivation to carry on working.

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Play

There are dominant themes of play that we see in modern cities; it is somewhat of a theatrical environment.  With all the tall buildings, colourful bright lights and towering billboards, it gives a 'light camera action' environment.

People love to be entertained, and the city especially at night is a vast playground of entertainment. Times Square, New York is a prime example of how the city incorporates play into urban living, there seems to never be a dull moment, the lively atmosphere can rub off on the people who are experiencing it.  These spaces are great for consumerism in leisure time.