my two cents...

Fashioning the emergent city
Liwen Zhang

Glancing over the list of words that we have accumulated throughout the course of the semester, I realize what a difficult task it is to have to limit our list of twelve carefully chosen words down to two. Perhaps limit is not the right word to use in this case, as it may be more a task of prioritizing.

Upon further clarifying the task at hand, I decided to allot my two choices to the following: emergence as my first choice, embedded in what I hope is more rational reasoning and fabric as my second choice, where I gave myself more liberties as the logic behind this decision leans toward more personal interests.

Emergence arose as my first choice because I felt that one of the most interesting discussions we have had this semester sprung from Gould and Lewontin’s work in a critique of the adaptationist programme, where our conventional beliefs in the evolution theory are challenged. There are many ways of positioning Gould’s work in relation to the city. An obvious one would be to view it as a fundamental critique of modernist progress substantiated in scientific proof shown in the form of convincing tables and graphs. As designers, Gould’s work reminds us that despite the intricate planning and programming that happens during the design process, the end use of the finished product is not within our control. The one thing that I took from the class that day is realizing that the best public spaces in our cities are ones that are inherently emergent, where spontaneous events and inhabitations occur unannounced in areas where the intended use was perhaps not so.

Looking back on my reading responses throughout the semester, there are multiple occasions upon which I have referenced Gould’s work in relation to the other words. Thus it now appears as a word which serves to bind many of the others words together, forming a unified set of words that can be used in describing the city to come, an emergent one which we as designers may have very little control in.

Where does this leave us then as future designers? This is where the word fabric becomes relevant. Prior to our discussion in class, I have only ever used the term fabric in describing a certain characteristic that pertained to the city. However, through fabric we discuss the agency and power in fashion, one that is often neglected, either consciously by the industry itself or subconsciously by consumers. I know that I have always been interested in fashion, however I never viewed what appeared to me as a superficial interests more critically. It is only after the discussion in class that I begun to put the pieces together per say.

In Hong Kong, and perhaps all mega metropolitan areas as such, the ‘sell-by’ dates in fashion is an uncompromisingly rapid one where the word 'Next’ (the theme of one of the past Biennales) can be appropriated in describing the situation. The various power dynamics and political agency that is attributed to fashion is something that I have yet to grapple with. Upon realizing that the city of the future is inevitably an emergent one, as designers, dare I say it, perhaps one of the ways we can position ourselves (or more pessimistically keep our profession afloat) can be done through the agency in fashion that could then potentially allow for more dynamic forms of social mobility and an architecture that enables it to do so.