Architecture for WHOManity
For whom does architecture serve? Humanity? ...Who is humanity?
There are many unknowns in architecture and within the specific topic of ‘Everyday Urbanism’ that are making me excited yet incredibly anxious. Like seriously I’m on edge.
I want answers in order to implement design solutions. Real solutions and not just superficial implementations of buzz words like ‘flex-space’ and ‘collaborative’ and ‘open-concept.’ Margaret Crawford’s ‘Everyday Urbanism’ does not give readers answers, and I think that this is intentional on her part. Whether or not she fully knows who humanity is does not matter. I believe she understands a fundamental principle that we must keep in mind:
This topic, as most, are always evolving. Humanity is always evolving. And so these are my thoughts:
Where does everyday life start and stop? With devices we are constantly plugged into a network that is delivering professional and personal information. Sure there is a mental difference between surfing facebook and checking your emails...but I often go between the two as if there is no difference, don’t you? If strategies belong to space, but tactics belong to time, how can strategies of life, i.e. belonging to a company or larger organization, reach us so easily after hours? When do we actually have time to engage in tactics? We might put one toe into the yardsale, but we are still checking our phone when an email notification demands our attention.
Is current day humanity seeking community through tactics? It would seem as this is the case. Void of belong to space, the digital world sucks us in, capturing our attention and hosting our minds for hours of entertainment. Is this the community that was once the everyday? If tactics don’t belong to space, are digital actions tactics?
If the digital world is composed of tactics, and if tactics are the new community, are we moving fluidly from strategies, which are characteristically associated with isolation, into the digital world. If so, is humanity losing the appreciation for physical, tangible everyday space?
I find it concerning that people walk through hallways on their devices without saying hello to each other. Am I the only one? Maybe this is whomanity is becoming.
You're not the only one. I intentionally try not to walk the hallways with my phone and say hi to people. I like people and talking to them haha. I don't like my phone that much, which I know its weird, but I like seeing and feeling not through a screen but through my eyes and touch. I like being there. Not to say that people aren't engaged when they look at their phones but to me there's more than that. Brian once told me that he found it interesting that I treasured life experiences through memories and not objects. I had never thought about it like that but it's true. The urban environment is a tangible built thing that is experienced differently though all of us yet we can all shape it as we please for a moment or a defined period of time (tactics). In most cases it was still designed by someone else (strategic) but we are constantly changing it to who we are now. I am not sure where I am going with this but I agree with you that it is confusing and blurry to understand how to do architecture for "whomanity" when we don't fully understand who is "whom". I think that the meaning of everyday life has changed over the years and it is hard to nail down what it is like you just pointed out especially when to me it could be something completely different than for you. At least for me, I take everyday to be different, I never felt like I've had "the same day" but I've been told that that is also weird haha. Fantastic post Andrew! I love when you are this passionate about stuff! lol
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