Interdisciplinary Studies on the Perspectives of Philosophy, Architecture, Visual Arts and Art Theory Considered in Constructing Ubiquitous City (U-City)
Purpose of Research
Based on digital technology, U-Cities have recently been experiencing rapi ...
Interdisciplinary Studies on the Perspectives of Philosophy, Architecture, Visual Arts and Art Theory Considered in Constructing Ubiquitous City (U-City)
Purpose of Research
Based on digital technology, U-Cities have recently been experiencing rapid development, especially within Korea. With analog technology disappearing, research about U-Cities usually revolved around the axis of life and technology integration; and the U-City construction model itself, with its basis on technological and engineering concepts, has naturally been receiving academic attention from domestic and international researchers. Sensing a problem from previous studies about U-Cities that have generally centered on engineering perspectives or technological aspects, a group of researchers composed of an architect, a philosopher, an installation artist, and an art theorist felt the need to intensively carry out an integrated and complex research on this subject. This research stemmed from the consensus that, in constructing future urban spaces that will become visible in, if short, ten years, there is a need for a new vision that views urban space inside and out from a diversified perspective, instead of one that only emphasizes technology, functionality, and effectiveness.
If the perspectives of the humanities, engineering, and the arts do not establish organic relationships with each other while prospective urban spaces and technology are embracing the “dailiness” concept and the nomadic way of life, technology will end up severing the interaction between humans and their contacts and senses. If U-Cities only stress technological and engineering aspects, there is high potential that U-Cities will be perceived or carried out as an expansion of modernist space founded on functionalism that was attempted by architects in the early half of the 20th century. This perception is due to the fact that the digital technology that U-Cities are based on greatly weakens the temporal and spatial restrictions of urban life. However, if breaking away from or restructuring these temporal and spatial restrictions is considered only from technological and engineering aspects, this research will ultimately strengthen the distorted characteristics of modernistic spaces, as pointed out by David Harvey in The Condition of Post-Modernity (2008). Thus, the essence of a capitalist city lies in the profit maximization of capital that follows the "compression of time and space;" and, if we consider U-City construction only from a functional standpoint, we are reinforcing the characteristics of a modernist city that is founded on straight roads, railroads, and functional buildings. In order to construct U-City urban spaces, there is a need for integrated and complex research that is multilateral.
The direction of approach in terms of the potential of digital technology that serves as the foundation for U-Cities can influence certain aspects of the U-City design or plans themselves. For instance, although already mentioned in the engineering point of view, emphasizing a new façad that utilizes digital media related to U-City is an example. This goes beyond the significance of simply creating a new façad by applying digital technology and is connected with a new spatial paradigm that contrasts with the "compression of time and space." In constructing a U-City, we must consider, from various perspectives, diverse mental aspects that include the ways and necessities of the lives of the contemporary residents of the space itself, new methods that people have about life, and etc. This, meanwhile, also signifies a switch to a nomadic way of thinking about space. Modern urban space that was dominant until only recently was based on a “top-down” method created by perfect prior planning. This means the more precise the calculation and prediction, the closer we get to a perfect design. However, urban spaces are created from daily lives that that have fluid and autogenic characteristics. As a result, the idea of predicting the parameter in advance and designing an urban space with firm functionality already shows signs of modernistic limitations.
Rather than opening the sluice that leads the daily lives of urban residents to diversified ways, this sort of "top-down" type of urban design can eventually lead to driving their lives toward a predetermined path or controlling their lives. In regard to urban space, instead of taking a functional or graphical approach to space, this is also the reason we emphasize Gilles Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology, which takes an approach based on daily life experiences, or focus on Gilles Deleuze's Nomadology, which considers space as fluid. Their greatest virtue is the fact that, going beyond its visual design or predetermined functional differentiation, urban spaces are deemed a practical expansion of daily lives. Although, at a glance, it seems that we can approach the digital technology that is the basis of U-Cities within a modernism framework of function expansion, it possesses infinite potential of overcoming the limitations of modernism. In this case, U-City space can become a new space that overcomes the limitations of modernist space through the potential of digital technology. This is the reason we need to conduct research that applies an architectural point of view as well as the perspectives of the arts, spatial theory and philosophy.
Expected Effects
The purpose of this research is to present an integrated proposal in which future urban space and technology embrace the concept of "dailiness" and the nomadic way of life and in which various angles including the perspectives of the humanities, engineering, and the arts can establish an organic relationship. By doing so, this research aims to bring about results in which technology creates interactions between humans and human contacts and senses.
To this end, with previous studies conducted in architectural and engineering fields as its base, this research looks at the relational situations of humans and cities from the viewpoint of theories of philosophy or space; next, the research conceptualizes an image of a future city within an actual space from a visual perspective that forms physical and tangible spaces.
Researchers with diverse experiences and expertise have gathered and expect to broaden the range of academic and practical experiences. In addition, by creating a U-City spatial construction prototype using the suggestion of U-Eco City life zone spatial model, researchers expect to see new changes of "urban communities" that can cope with environmental, societal, and cultural changes triggered by IT and ubiquitous technology. During the phenomenon of losing local identity due to standardization of networked information service, the researchers expect to be able to present a new building plan regarding the image of a city based on regionality. Also, by embracing the perspectives of the humanities, liberal arts, architecture, and engineering, the researchers hope to present a new spatial concept and building plan that do not sacrifice human emotions and identity. This is a vision that is especially necessary in Korea where a technology-based city construction is being realized; and this research will provide a social contribution.
Moreover, as a method of training manpower for the next generation, this research suggests training urban environmental experts that possess technological outlook and artistic knowledge and, also, cultivating an environment that can handle changes of daily life styles that follow informatization. By attempting spatial art education that can deal with alterations in the future urban environment, which acts as the stage for spatial artworks and the creation of cultural and artistic contents in accordance with subsequent ubiquitous generations, researchers can also expect an application plan in related to education.
Research Summary
1) U-City Urban Construction from a Philosophical Perspective
In order for U-Cities to become new urban spaces that can overcome the limitations, not the expansion, of the functions of modern cities, we must create abstract "places," not abstract "spaces." A "place" signifies a specific space where the lives of the people living inside it have been accumulated. A "place" is a concept that transcends the concept of "space" at an engineering level and includes the concept of space at sociological and philosophical levels. This concept is also the heuristic space proposed in M. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology. This distinction between space and place can also be seen in the Renaissance urban space design and the Baroque urban space design. In the case of Baroque architects like Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, urban space is not a subject of contemplation but a space inside which we walk and move around. In this case, a space can become fluid through the inhabitants’ practical spatial management and residence. As a result, functions are fluid and overlap practical lives as they are developed. In short, U-City construction should not be the building of a completed space but be the building of an environment in which the residents of a city can build their own place.
2) U-City from an Architectural Perspective
Within current research on Ubiquitous city (U-City) design, of the types of urban constructions discussed within the contemporary society, Ubiquitous Eco City (U-Eco City) that includes sustainability is discussed as the future urban construction. The consideration of the development and sustainability of this technology alters the city's function and the urban residents' daily lifestyle, as well as the form of the urban life zone that sets the stage for life. Therefore, in responding to the course of these changes, this research presents the suitability of the technology and urban space structure. This research, also, sets the guidelines for functioning as a cultural and artistic city that improves the quality of the urban residents' lives.
Specifically, in regard to a life zone that constitutes the U-Eco City that is possible in the near future, this research aims to: (1) provide convenience, safety, and comfort for residents’ daily lives; (2) integrate environment friendly technology into suitable spatial structure to establish sustainability; (3) propose a spatial model of an U-Eco City life zone that can improve the quality of life of residents by harmonizing cutting edge technology with culture and art.
3) U-City from an Art Theory Perspective
Discussions about U-Cities have usually been focused on the unfolding of technology that uses information systems that center on wireless networking; this is most likely because of a tendency in Korea to take a simple approach to U-City in terms of technology engineering and information technology. With such contexts in mind, this research examines how artists previously proposed futuristic and perceptive space or design concepts. Especially, while regulating the future city and analyzing mobility and expendability, instant space, and nomadic way of life as shown by Archigrams, this research examines whether the vision suggested by the members of this group will be realized in constructing U-Cities. This research searches for a theoretical foundation from the discussions of Michel de Certeau and Marc Augé in regard to international situationalism of the same period and the practice of daily life that came up after the 1990s'. The practice of daily life that is carried out in U-Cities greatly requires our subjectivity that experiences physical or non-physical daily life outside of the standardized framework partitioned off by urban planners, people who created technology, Panopticon absolute beings, or people with authority. This is a new quality of life about "dailiness" and "mobility" that is illuminated not by a technology engineering perspective but by sociological, anthropological, and artistic perspectives; and precisely, the revolution and mysterious experiences of daily life are considered to be inherent in these practices.
4) Experiential Space of U-City from an Artistic Perspective
While walking thoughtlessly, humans involuntarily feel and absorb visual images, smells, sounds, and etc. of familiar streets and respond even more sensitively to ordinary environments outside of the functionally designed urban structure. Such visual information or characteristics are combined and transferred to us. We are conducting a theoretical, philosophical, and architectural research about U-Cities from the perspective of "a city that shares humans and space" or, in other words, a convergent research from the perspective of "spatialization of a city by including humans." In order to do so, primarily, we have set the direction in which we look at U-City as a space that we experience through the artistic work of Francis Alÿs. Next, from the integrated aspect of art and ordinary life that wakes the dormant senses of humans, this research analyzes any factors from Ernesto Neto's works that deserve referencing in terms of building U-Cities.