LIST OF APPENDICES
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
3.3 FICTION .1 Introduction
3.4.3 Optimism: Urban Life
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Generally a brown field site is a site that was previously used for a, productive, industrial process like: oil refinement, coal mining, zinc plating etc. which, as disused industrial sites, become catalytic centres for urban decay. It can therefore be viewed that these brown field sites are also at the centre for dystopia within the urban
environment; it should be noted that this is still all with a pessimistic perspective and will later be challenged slightly by more optimistic ideas about ‘dystopia’ within the city.
For detailed information pertaining to brown fields one can refer to Appendix B which is a collection of some of the most relevant data that the EPA [Environmental
Protection Agency of America] have made available.
The following section looks more at the optimistic views of the urban environment which begins to highlight a dualism similar to the critical dystopia; a bad place with hidden good.
- 41 - Figure 4.12 Photograph of a sunken ship
supporting life [Source:
www.wallpaper4me.com]
Doron takes issue with many of the loose definitions and legislation that is applied to derelict sites as they are in terms of the “general population”; which excludes the marginalised groups. Little concern is given towards the likes of the homeless or the prostitutes that use these sites as their homes and workplaces. Another point of contention that is quite valid has to do with how people identify these sites; Doron refers to a study done by CABE [Commission for Architecture and the Built
Environment] where most people identified these sites based on their aesthetics. One can contend this way of defining sites on the simple basis that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is unsightliness.” [Doron 2007: 15]
Moving away from the issue of definitions for now it is of more relevance to illustrate some of the positive views with regards to derelict industrial sites.
One basic good that comes with derelict sites existing within the urban environment is that they often allow for nature to creep back into the city. They act much like a sunken ship [Figure 4.12]; they become a shell or platform that houses nature and increases the overall biodiversity within the built environment. Other than housing nature these derelict sites also often accommodate various “special, architectural, and social qualities that cannot be found in, and are often actively excluded from, other urban
spaces”. [Doron 2007: 15] Here Doron is referring to the various phenomenons that transgress or go against the norms of society and space; things like informal living communities, secret brothels and bare knuckle boxing arenas.
- 42 - Figure 4.13 Photograph showing
plants invading ruins [Source: By author].
These sites house a multitude of functions which make them highly mixed use as a typology and yet they are very flexible in their operation; Doron mentions how they can even be considered as radically democratic sites, issues negotiated between
individuals as opposed to any governing bodies. MacLeod & Ward refer to Doron’s positive perspective towards the more dystopic parts of the built environment and the dystopians [people of dystopia] who “transform the street from traffic channels [human or vehicle] to a living-working space, to a space of performance and festivity, to a place to be in and not only move through, and 24 hours a day” [Doron in MacLeod &
Ward 2002: 164]
One can still contend the views of Doron, MacLeod & Ward on the basis that they are narrow at times. Yes perhaps the streets are more alive with the ‘others’ and in many ways it is their presence that brings activity to the built environment but the question needs to be asked: ‘is that enough?’
There is a possibility that more responsible architecture that offers various opportunities could enable the ‘others’ to lead less dangerous lives.
Towards the end of Doron’s article he defines the characteristics of an “industrial ruin”
[Doron 2007: 17]; it is within these characteristics that one begins to see how such dystopia can be seen as positive spaces of transgression which embody limitless possibility and otherness/difference.
Brown fields or industrial ruins [as Doron refers to them] offer unique environments for design; they are spaces that embody ‘otherness’ as they are no longer seen to be a part of the city, nor are they natural landscapes. One of the key features of the
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industrial ruin is the lack of boundaries; the boundary that would mark the edge of the site is not maintained and tends to blend into the surrounding environment, similarly the internal boundaries of the site have also decayed to allow spaces and functions to melt together and create an “aesthetic of disorder” [Doron 2007: 17].
The spaces become vessels of timelessness and possibility as they are void of programme; without any defined past, present or future. An architect will most
probably never get the opportunity to alter classical ruins like the Roman Coliseum or the Pantheon but within the contemporary urban environment there are ruins that hold as much, if not more, possibilities and excitement.
It must be noted that Doron does not stand alone with his positivity towards the derelict and the other within the urban environment, there is also the, somewhat controversial, opinions by Rem Koolhaas et al. on the African city of Lagos. Jennifer Robinson refers to the views taken by Koolhaas et al., in her article titled “Living in Dystopia”, they see the contemporary dystopia as an productive environment that stimulates new uses of urban spaces. Koolhaas et al. see the resistance of the dystopians with respect to their environment, the way abandoned highway flyovers become muti-markets or railway tunnels become brothels, as new ways for planners and architects to view/design the built environment.
Jennifer Robinson criticizes the eager perspective of Koolhaas et al., that the study of dystopias can help create new urban environments, in that there is no concern for the dystopia or those who live in the dystopian environments. Robinson is very critical of how architects and academics view dystopias; her main concern is the limiting nature of dystopian fantasies. She refers to Andy Merrifield in saying that by imagining
dystopic futures one can “enable creative urban interventions. However, dystopias can also profoundly misrepresent the city, drawing it toward a unitary representation, a singular narrative of the future, and thus limit opportunities for imaginative
interventions.” [Robinson 2010: 226]
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Dystopic visions of cities, according to Robinson, can be a positive force towards change but are far less complex than the cities they represent and it is this complexity which makes such visions unpredictable. This being said Robinson does tend to follow the work of Moylan with respect to the critical dystopian narrative; she refers to “hope”
much in the same way as Moylan the difference that she makes is that the hope is a part of the city itself. Robinson looks at the urban environment and writes that “new urban features lies at the very least in the city itself, as a site of assemblage,
multiplicity, and social interaction that offers the potential for something different to emerge.” [Robinson 2010: 229]
One cannot ignore the warnings of Robinson but it does not mean that dystopian narrative is tossed aside; all it does is place an emphasis on the open-endedness of the narrative. If the architecture is subtle enough to allow the users to define the narrative lesson it is possible to avoid the issues that Robinson points out.
In the contemporary architectural discourse there is a fixation or curiosity towards dystopia and what they have to offer as generators of forms and functions within the built environment; but that is not the only reason for the curiosity. Merrifield is, quoted by MacLeod & Ward, who writes that even though people create utopias they seldom wish to live in them as they lack all that is exciting in life; leaving only routine and the mundane. It is within the dystopia where fantasy, novelty, tension, adventure and mystery exist.