Weeks 5-6: Design as urban intervention March 10, 2009
Posted by rda1 in : 5_LegibleIntangibles, 6_DesignAsUrbanIntervention , trackbackOver the last few weeks, we’ve focused on services at the urban scale, seeing the city as a medium, a place that situates our experience of complex information flow.
In weeks 5-6, comparing Simmel’s 1903 essay, The Metropolis and Mental Life, with William Mitchell’s opening chapter from his 1998 City of Bits was our way in: We were struck that Mitchell, in striving to predict the impact of digital information on our encounters in architectural space, came off as more dated than Simmel’s observations from a hundred years ago. But we still like his binary framework.
And as you read Simmel’s characterization of the urban creature, you glimpse where all your preconceptions about city dwellers – that we’re jaded, blasé, over-fastidious (Yelp, foodie blogs, anyone?) and unfriendly to tourists – come from.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?