In the cities by Jay Jones

Property and work of Judith Jones

JUDITH JONES BA (HONS) ARCHITECTURE SPACES + OBJECTS UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON: CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS DISSERTATION - APRIL 2014

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IN THE CITIES

CONTENTS Glossary/ Wordlist Introduction

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Chapter 1: Psychogeography

Dealing with the everyday

Wonderland – Dérive and the city

Revolution of The Everyday

Debord & The Spectacle

Chapter 2: Mapping Cities

A city is a tree

Mapping

Cities, Composition and appropriation

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Conculsion Notes Bibliography Appendices

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GLOSSARY PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY (Below are the root terms of the word} Psychopsych[e] human soul, spirit, or mind. psychology, the mental or psychological structure of a person, especially as a motive force. from Latin & Greek, prefix, combining form of psych!, breath, spirit, soul, mind a combing form representing psyche, psychological, psychoanalysis in compound words. Geography The topographical features of a region, usually of the earth’s surface. th

From Greek, 16 century Latin, ge"graphia “description of the earth’s surface,” From ge “earth” + -graphia “description”.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY (definition of the term) ‘Includes just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.’ ‘a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities.’ (Hart, 2004) ‘The laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, whether consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.’ ‘The charmingly vague adjective psychogeographical can be applied to the findings arrived at by this type of investigation, to their influence on human feelings, and more generally to any situation or conduct that seems to reflect the same spirit of discovery.’ (Debord, 1955) --------------Appropriate Late Latin – appropri#re : to make one’s own 1. To take to or for oneself; take possession of. Dérive [French Translated ‘Drift’] 1. To wander aimlessly through urban landscapes. 5

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The list on the opposite page contains a series of actions that have only recently become part of the history of art. They are a useful aesthetic tool with which to explore and transform hidden and public spaces in the city.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;1

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Labyrinths and networks connect, The cities; in which people inhabit, commute, exchange and occupy, Places and spaces, Of selling, buying and trading, Living, engaging, society dominating. The everyday norm rules, hence, Forgotten, ignored, The textures of side streets, the lights of alleys, the materiality of the off beaten path, The ambiance needs investigating The adventure awaiting Making the journey tangible, and mapping physical. Reconnecting the city.2

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Introduction ‘Is it not truly extraordinary to realise that ever since men have walked, no-one has ever asked why they walk, how they walk, whether they walk, whether they might walk better, what they achieve by walking, whether they might not have the means to regulate, change or analyse their walk: questions that bear on all the systems of philosophy, psychology and politics with which the world is preoccupied? - Honoré de Balzac, Théorie de la Démarche,

18331

This diagnostic questioning that Balzac highlights are topics that very few have asked or answered. I will argue that psychogeography and its origins are cause for appropriating the city. A small number of individuals like Debord and Vaneigem, have changed the way they have appropriated their landscape. This dissertation will discuss the effect this had and still has on individuals and society today. In order to understand psychogeography, the term needs to be defined. As such the background and evolving narrative that created the undertaking for the movement that we know of today as psychogeography will be outlined. Before embarking on this project my understanding of the term psychogeography was nebulous at best. My ‘wanderings’ in the city was limited to selected daily cycles and routines that I superficially and hastily performed. I presume that not every individual is aware of the ‘wonders and magic’2 that surrounds us and can be hidden or obscured everyday. ‘Sadly hidden stimuli of the city have eroded through such missed opportunities’3 of exploration and appropriation. ‘Walking [is] the most natural and everyday act of man as a means by which to investigate and unveil the unconscious zones of the city.’4

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It was this very act of walking ’a skill learned with great effort in the first months of life, only to become an unconscious, natural and automatic action’5 that we use in everyday life. The essence of psychogeography; is walking it is the tool we use to connect us to the landscape. ‘Walking becomes man’s first aesthetic act, penetrating the territories, constructing an order on which to develop the architecture of situated objects’.6 Walking is an art that gave ‘rise to architecture revealing the connections, the symbolic [as well as the physical] construction of the landscape.’ This dissertation aims to investigate the theme of psychogeography, not only how it is defined, but also how it has expanded and can be implemented into everyday life. In so doing the following questions will be explored how can one become a psychogeographer? How are we related to its ideologies within the city? How does that affect the urban landscape? How do we as explorers respond to the city? How does the architectural layout of cities affect the way we appropriate the landscape? How does understanding psychogeography in its terms, rationale and practices help us recapture, explore and appropriate the city? To understand the practice of psychogeography and the implementation of the practice in everyday life, I am going to investigate the topic of dispelling the monotony of the everyday life as know it, as a means to heighten spatial awareness of the city for prospective explorers. From my field notes and observations I will explain the importance steps that mental cognizance needs to undergo in order to properly explore, stroll or ‘drift’ through the urban landscape –we call the city. From the arguments, views and opinions of Raoul Vaneigem and Guy Debord, their theoretical statements and writings in The Revolution of Everyday Life and in The Society of The Spectacle 14

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respectively, highlights the effects of modern life on the city’s inhabitants. Through stereotypes society adopts as a way of containing ‘order’, and the advancement of modern technology and the disconnect of society. Introducing the classic and much loved children’s and adults book written by Lewis Carroll7, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland into my dissertation, I will be referring to the start of the book where Alice gets tired of sitting on the bank with her sister and in a short sequence of events, ends up down the rabbit’s hole which leads her to discover and wander through Wonderland. Applying the role of the Situationists to Alice, she takes on the role of the aimless wanderer. By using her within this essay as a metaphorical connection, I wish to prompt your innate sense of curiosity. But what would Alice’s adventures been like in a metropolis context today? Using case studies I will examine the topographical designs of the landscape. Through a working theory I will reshape a previous theoretical concept by investigating the difference between the ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ cities of today, through the templates of the tree and the checkerboard structured city. I will argue that the constitution of the city makes for exploration and appropriation of the landscape. From there we go back to the root of the relationship between path and architecture, the design and composition of the city and therefore the journey that they both create through our surroundings.

‘…Readers must wander and wonder. They may become lost upon the way: they may experience moments of uncertainty, and on occasions strange fantasies or theories may bewilder them. On certain streets various eccentric or vulnerable people will pause beside them, pleading for attention. There will be anomalies and [possible] contradictions – London [and cities alike are] so large and so wild that it contains no less than everything – just as there will be irresolutions and ambiguities. But there will also be moments of revelation, when the city will be seen to harbour the secrets of the human world...’ - Peter Ackroyd. London, The city as a body

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By the end of this research I aim to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;reveal walking as a visual tool capable of describing as well as modifying metropolitan spacesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;8 But to also understand that walking is an important means in exploring the city and to appropriate the urban landscape. Highlighting positive and (sometimes) negative stimulus wandering and exploring the city can create psychogeographical outcomes.

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PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY Psychogeography is ‘a term which has re-surfaced over the past several years, largely down to figures such as Will Self and Iain Sinclair, but has a much longer history than the pairs urban wandering. In fact, its history has origins centuries before the term was even first coined.’ Its goes back to the flâneur. Psychogeography was define by Debord as the ‘laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, whether consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. The charmingly vague adjective psychogeographical can be applied to the findings arrived at by this type of investigation, to their influence on human feelings, and more generally to any situation or conduct that seems to reflect the same spirit of discovery.’ (Debord, 1955) Psychogeography, can be ‘understood here, as the active search for, and celebration of, chance and coincidence, concurrently with the prediction of patterns and repetitions thrown up by the of the chaos and structures of cities, personal histories and interpretation [of surroundings]. It is based on the technique of the "dérive", an informed and aware wandering, with continuous observation, through varied environments. It can be sought and can lead anywhere.’1 ‘There is a strong link between the practice,… of psychogeography and walking. Walking was, and remains, psychogeography’s main mode of operation. Because how else are we to really experience a landscape than on foot? How else will we capture the sights, sounds and smells without meeting them face to face?’2

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City Exploration: Psychogeographic Field notes & Observations. I.I Walking across the city I noted that in order to wander adjusting routine thinking is important in order to explore the city setting to cross boundaries or spaces. You have to adjust the way you walk (when starting) in order to ‘drift’2 the city. Due to ‘preprogrammed instructions’2 that we have been conditioned to follow [by society] or as an everyday routine. Logic tells you to follow the path or sidewalks most frequently used or to follow instructions and directions. But the need for exploration is the essential essence of the dérive. So you have to (sometimes when walking) make conscience decisions not to follow the beaten path or main roads but to find or follow unusual paths to dismiss your common logic or actions in order to experience, wander or explore the city.

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DEALING WITH THE EVERYDAY Psychogeography: ‘begins on ground level, with footpsteps’1

In the city we, commute, walk, cycle, and drive, through and within its topography. Occupied with the day to day, explorations of our surroundings are passively repressed. Most of us doing the same daily ‘preprogrammed instructions’2 as we peregrinate through the city: to and from ‘home, the office, day care, grocery store;’ with a few variations to the list. The journey and landscape becomes mundane, bleeding into the background of the everyday. Journeys become wonted; ‘through the same streets, the same sidewalks, day after day’3. In his book Everyday life and cultural theory Highmore defines this view by writing. As the notions of ‘everyday life’ circulates [in Western cultures] under its many guises …’everyday life’ signifies ambivalently. On the one hand it points (without judging) to those most repeated actions, those most travelled journeys, those most inhabited spaces that make up, literally, the day to day. This is the landscape closest to us, the world most immediately met. But this quantifiable meaning creeps to another, never far behind: the everyday…[were] the most travelled journey can become the dead weight of boredom, the most inhabited space a prison, the most repeated action an oppressive routine.’ (Highmore 2002, p1) This is where urban exploration is relevant to the urban landscape essential to our innate curiosity, the need to expel the routines of the ‘everyday’ and find the ‘value and qualities’4 within its boundaries. These ‘everyday’ journeys, spaces, actions, are the surfaces and objects we touch, the places that we occupy, the activities done, conversations spoken, interactions made. Highmore describes it as the ‘everydayness’. Where the ‘everydayness of everyday life might be experienced as a sanctuary…it may delight or depress, its special 23

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quality might be its lack of qualities, it might be, precisely, the unnoticed, the inconspicuous, the unobtrusive.’5 This ambivalence lists some of the qualities and ambiences of urban wandering, of the dérive, and possibly the flâneur, terms, theories and practices linked to psychogeography. Psychogeography as Coverley describes is ’the point in which psychological and the geographical intersect’. 6 If psychogeography is the traverse between these two studies, it is related to how we are ‘affected by being in certain places: the architecture, weather’7 nostalgic memories, from childhood or past experiences, ‘who you are with, it is just a general sense of excitement about a place’8. Careri writes that ‘the… city is an organism that produces and conceals territories to be explored, landcapes in which to get lost and to endlessly experience the sensation of everyday wonder.’9 To experience this ‘everyday wonder’ or ‘everydayness’ that we ignore or ‘daily inattend’10 The need to ‘explore the behavioral impact of urban place,’11 can argued as a way to breaking the banal monotony and uniformity of the day to day. Coverley connects this when he writes, ‘one of its further characteristics may be identified in the search for new ways of apprehending our urban environment.’12 Highmore also highlights this view by stating ‘the heterogeneous and ambivalent landscape of everyday modernity needs investigating.’13 This ‘investigation of the landscape’ starts with exploration, and in order to explore the ‘everyday’ there needs to be an explorer. Willing to break from the monotony of the everyday to start an adventure.

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Wonderland - Dérive and the city

For Alice this happened by her willingness to explore her surroundings, her curiosity and ability to walk, wander, stroll14 and her sense of wonder, she becomes a psychogeographer as she walks through wonderland. The character of Alice and her wanderings can be described to that of ‘the situationists dérive.’15 In The Philosopher’s Alice, Peter Heath writes ‘aims and ambitions play little part in the story, [of Alice’s adventure]. Therefore as a child and dreamer, adventures happen to Alice, but she encounters them passively…’16 These traits that Alice practices connect her to the dérive. In Psychogeography Coverley talks about this ‘aimless drift and detached observation’17 of the Situationist dérive was ‘initiated here in a series of walks whose free-floating exploration of the urban landscape’18 gave raise to the explorer. Outlined in ‘the theory of the dérive’, the dérive, translated as [literally:] ‘drifting’ can be described as ‘one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, (Alice leaving her sister on the bank) their work and leisure activities [reading although in Alice’s case browsing],19 and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attraction of the terrain and the encounters they find there.” 20 From a dérive point of view cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zone.’21 Careri explains that ‘Letterists developed the theory of the dérive on the practice of urban drifting.’ This practice was an act that not only aims at defining the unconscious zones of the city,… but attempts to investigate the emotional effects of the urban context on the individual.’22 Ivan Chtcheglov writes ‘all cities are geological…we move within the closed landscape…shifting angles, receding perspectives, allow us ! 25

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to glimpse original conceptions of space, but this vision remains fragmented.’ We are bored in the city’23 seeing the ‘hypnotising effects of the modern commercial world.’ Chtcheglov declared that ‘the city must be rebuilt upon new principles that replace our mundane and sterile experiences with a magical awareness of the wonders that surround us.24 Why are we bored? What are the conditions of the city today? What factors prevent us from experiencing the urban landscape?

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Revolution of The Everyday

‘Consider a thirty-five old man. Each morning he starts his car, drives to the office, pushes papers, has lunch…pushes more papers, leaves work, has a couple of drinks, goes home, greets his wife, kisses his children, eats steak in front of the TV, goes to bed…falls asleep. Who reduces a man’s life to this pathetic sequence of clichés? A journalist? A cop? A market researcher? A populist author.’ (Vaneigem, p.116) Raoul Vaneigem carves a rhetorical depiction of a man (not as an abstract image but as a current and possible continuation of reality) that is conditioned by stereotypes of society. He continues by answering the question he asked by writing, ‘not at all. He does it himself, breaking his day down into a series of pose chosen more or less unconsciously from the range of prevalent stereotypes.’25 ‘Despite all that links it to modernity, and to the world of technology, the [roles and models of the stereotype today] have proven to be a poor conductor of everydayness.’26 Michael subtly links elements of psychogeography ideologies when he writes ‘the concept of experience…associated with memory and tradition, with synthesis rather than analysis…has fallen victim to the rise of technology.’27 Experience is the process of actions that have occurred, therefore walking is experiencing. ‘That part of the landscape walked, perceived and experienced is the here and now. It is from this vantage point that the territory can be interpreted, memorized and mapped.’28 But all this has be changed by modern technology that has now merged with everyday stereotypes, as we phone, email, text, tweet and social network our way through the day to day. As member of the Situationists International that advocated for a ‘new society free from the regimented results of capitalist development.’ Vaneigem highlights in his book ‘The Revolution of Everyday Life’, that ‘Stereotypes are the dominant images of the era, the images of the dominant spectacle.’ By applying this concept of the ‘stereotype’! 27

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to everyday life Vaneigem links the repetitive actions or habitual routines of the everyday into simplified models. He goes on to argue that ‘the stereotype is the model of the role; the role is a model form of behavior. The repetition of an attitude creates a role: the repetition of a role creates a stereotype.’29 these stereotypes create models. These models then categorize the actions that take place into roles. These behaviors and roles that occur from the ‘dominant spectacle’ of today’s society can be identified as constraints that change our views on exploring the urban environment. One of these constraints is that of technology. The rise of modern data, ‘global networks, online databases’, the internet, GPS, apps and other ‘mobile mapping devices’27 change the way we navigate through urban landscapes. This greatly alters the way we perceive the city; wandering, exploring, or getting lost is a past time. The argument that urban wandering or exploring the land is at risk. Michael writes ‘The liberating power of technology is uppermost, and the era of the train, radio, and fridges – not to mention inoculations is celebrated. At other times technology is perceived to be the enemy of authentic existence and the prime agent of alienation. A key strand in European modernism celebrated the new kinds of perception generated by crowds, speed, electricity, flight, and rapid communications, seeing these as harbingers of new forms of everyday life.’ (Michael, p.27) ‘Harbingers of crowds, speed, and rapid communications’ are some of the issues that Debord predicted in his book Society of the Spectacle. But Michael makes note of an event set up by Lefebvre where Debord wanted people to be ‘aware of how everyday lived experiences are often manipulated by technology’.30 Debord was an insurgent advocate against the spectacle, in its various forms and states; he envisaged the future of the ‘modern human condition’30 and our dependence for technology. 28

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‘Stereotypes have a life and death of their own.’31 Images of the role can change, for society is not stagnant in its evolution of politics, education, ideals or of the spectacle as stereotypes often get labeled. ‘What is the spectacle, how does it influence us, how does spectacle effect everyday life and how does the effects relate to the inhabitants of the city?

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Argument for Psychogeography today Debord: Situationists, the spectacle, City exploration: Psychogeographic Field notes & Observations. I.VIII No matter where I walk in the city I always feel that I am within 30-50 yards of a car or motored vehicle. Some how I always seem to see one or more within my peripheral vision, that there is no path within the city that hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t responded (in someway) to the needs of the car or vehicle. Whether it is a one-way street, a cycle only lane, a blocked street that once kept traffic, or a dead end. The needs of the pedestrian are redundant; foot traffic is now an afterthought and the motor vehicleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s importance unavoidable.

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Debord & the spectacle

‘Walking was once the only way to get around but now we just walk to the bus stop, station or car.’1

Networks of transportation and trading for the city have, in this century been subtly imposed into everyday life making walking, and wandering an archaic pass time. In 50’s Guy Debord and the emerging Situationist International ‘proclaimed the need for a new society, free from the homogenizing effects of capitalist development.’2 In 1967 Debord in his theoretical statements from his book The Society of the Spectacle expostulates that; ’the diffuse form of the spectacle is associated with the abundance of the commodities with the undisturbed development of modern capitalism. Here each commodity considered in isolation is justified by an appeal to the grandeur of the commodity production in general – a production for which the spectacle is an apologetic catalog. The claims jostling for position on the stage of the affluent economy’s integrated spectacle are not always compatible, however. Similarly, different star commodities simultaneously promote conflicting approaches to the organization of society; thus the spectacular logic of the automobile argues for a perfect traffic flow entailing the destruction of the old city centers, whereas the spectacle of the city itself calls these same ancient sections to be turned into museums. So the already questionable satisfaction allegedly derived from the consumption of the whole is adulterated from the outset because the real consumer can only get his hands on a succession of fragments of this commodity heaven – fragments each of which naturally lacks any of the quality ascribed to the whole.’ (Debord 1994, p42) 31

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Firstly what needs to be asked is what the spectacle is? The spectacle has many definitions, Debord consciously, densely but also very accurately in his definitions of the spectacle claims that it is not one entity but the accumulation of many elements, factors and influences. The spectacle is not easily defined, as it is not static in its representation, so elements or factors linked to the spectacle cannot be sourced to one form, but is heterogeneous in nature. But the spectacle can be perceived as the ‘image-saturated comprehensively mediated way of life.’3 Debord’s reasons and argument against the spectacle was that he came to ‘recognize the essentially personal nature of the relationship between the individual and the city.’4 Debord with his regimented and ‘rigorous examination of the spectacular society, [felt it was] a society whose seductive surface belied the repressive realities of capitalist consumption.’5 This consumption emanated the rise of the car and ‘the dictatorship of the automobile and its need to dominate the [roads and streets] which dislocates old urban centers and requires an even-larger dispersion’.6 Careri writes ‘The dérive made it possible to steer one’s way through the [city] and to direct the point of view in a non-random way, towards those zones that more than others appeared to embody an elsewhere capable of challenging [both] the society [and] the spectacle.’7 Debord wanted citizens of the city to see that everyday if you ‘understood’ it you wouldn’t become ‘exploited and [passively] repressed by politics’ 8 Debord understood that this lack of understanding brought a disconnect that ‘at the ‘general’ level of the everyday there is ignorance, emptiness and passivity.’9

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Debord and the dérive

Debord and ‘the Situationists sought out,…the places forgotten by the dominant culture, off the map of the tourist itineraries: working-class neighborhoods, off the beaten track, place in which great multitudes lived, often far from the gaze of society.’10 Using the practices of the dérive allowed Debord to break away from the norm, Debord never felt the conformists need to fit into everyday. It is not known if Debord undertook practices of the dérive often, but the ‘duration is defined as one day, but can be extended to weeks…Debord continues, listing other urban operations he took…by slipping into house undergoing demolition at night, hitchhiking non-stop and without destination through Paris during a transportation strike…,wandering in the subterranean catacombs forbidden to the public.’11 The character of Alice can be compare to that of the dérive and to some of the antics to that of Debord not wanting to conform or be confined to the norm and abandoning rationale, like Debord entering the catacombs not open to the public, Alice does a similar action by entering the rabbit’s hole into Wonderland. Carroll writes that ‘burning with curiosity,…Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a deep well.’ 12

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MAPPING CITIES In previous chapters we have talked about dispelling the everyday, the spectacle’s affect on how we use and appropriate the urban landscape through the use of technology and the automobile. This chapter will focus on the composition of the city, through its spatial qualities as the motivation and stimulus for urban wandering and exploration for psychogeographical means. Through the look of case studies of ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ cities compare spatial qualities and narratives these concepts and how they relate to psychogeography. How do we identify these spatial qualities? What are these conditions that allow for appropriating the city? A city is a tree

‘Walking is a mode of reading the spatial environment; reading is a mode of journeying...involving narrativization that links spaces together.‘1 Michel De Certeau argues in this book The Practices of Everyday Life that ‘walkers are ‘practitioners of the city,’ for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities…architecture limits where one can walk, but the walker invents other ways to go.’2 The inventions of these methods are what the practices of psychogeography are. Psychogeography is defined as ‘the study of the specific effects of the geographical environment…on the behavior of individuals.’3 It is the geography of environment that creates an emotional impact. Psychogeography works best in urban settings, whose settings are located with the city’s constitution. It is the make up of the city origins that makes for exploring and wandering of the landscape. 35

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Natural & Artificial cities

There are two types of cities, ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’, Christopher Alexander explain this concept by writing ‘cities that have arisen more or less spontaneously over [centuries] are “natural cities”. [And the other] are cities deliberately created by architects, designers, and planners are “artificial cites”.’4 De Certeau writes ‘the [natural] city provides a way of conceiving and constructing space on the basis of a finite number of stable, isolatable and interconnected properties. Through these ‘operation concepts’ the natural city works.’5 London and Paris are examples of natural cities that have been growing and expanding both historically and spatially. Over many years inhabitants, ‘practitioners’ and users of the city have been creating connections and building milieu. The topography of the city is rich in its context, embedded within its structure are textures and materiality personal networks and dense history. Examples of artificial cities are Brasilia and Levittown that have been designed by architects and planners. Built for different purposes, both still show dramatic difference between the organic, and the gradually cultivated spaces of natural cities, to the regimented and organized design of artificial cities.

An aeriel view of central London

An aeriel view of Paris

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An aerial view of Basilia, Capital of Brazil. (Designed by architects and city planner Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer)

Levittown, New York, Long Island.

(Designed by Levitt brothers William and Architect Alfred)

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The city is not a tree are systems of structural sets, this concept by Alexander is ‘about how a large collection of many small systems goes to make up a large and complex system…[and] as designers, we are concerned with the physical living city and its physical backbone… [These sets are] collections of material elements such as people, cars…waterpipes, the water molecules in them etc.’6 When these elements work together they then form systems; one is called the tree and the other complex structural set is called the semi-lattice. Where a series of elements connect and cause a series of known or predicted networks. Mapping

In order for us to understand the behavioral impact of spaces and places within the city, we first must recognize the geographical constitution of the urban landscape. Using Alexander’s theory of the tree in its physical structure rather than the networks and connections it creates. I have reshaped the previous system into a new template in order to read and understand the design structures and elements of the city; the tree and the checkerboard.

Image of the structure of tree in elevation and plan

Image of the structure of checkerboard in elevation and plan 39

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London as the natural city. The tree structure

Brasilia as the artificial city. The checkerboard structure

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The city is like a tree, trees consists of layers so do cities. (see fig on next page) It is through these systems and ‘operational concepts’ that the city works. – Just as a tree grows, in size and in age, so does the natural city. Artificial cities don’t easily accommodate this type of growth. The ‘natural’ city is like the tree; it consists of layers that joined or are linked to one another, whether through narrow passages or footpath or an open public space. Kevin Lynch understood this process when ‘formulating his theory of The Image of The City, he suggested five elements that constitute the mental map of the city and makes the city legible or “imageable”. The five city elements include paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks in terms of geometric or visual appearance. If represented in a cartographic map, the five elements can put into three categories: points (nodes and landmarks), lines (paths and edges), and polygons (districts)’.7 In Wim Wenders film Alice in the cities in a dialog between Philip and Angela. She says ‘In this city, when you come to an intersection it’s like coming to a clearing in the woods’ this clearing can be known as nodes in which walker [wanderer] leaves the one street or territory and transitions into another. But it is the path that is the common dominator that links to all elements.

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Elements of the city Districts

Wood ray Annual ring

Pith

Edges

Cambium Phloem Sapwood

Heartwood

Nodes Bark

Layers of a tree.

Paths

Networks of the natural city

Differences of urban life are visible on every street.

Tree structure

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The ‘artificial’ city is like the checkerboard; it is made up of compartments or blocks of related services or usage. The structural arrangements of these cities are not related to the needs of exploration or urban wandering or for making the city one’s own. It is not related to the human relationship of spaces and places. Coverley understood this view when he wrote ‘the act of walking is an urban affair and in cities that are increasingly hostile to the pedestrian, it inevitably becomes an act of subversion’.8 Bailly agrees by highlighting ‘social and imaginative functions of cities is under threat form the tranny of bad architecture, soulless planning and indifference to the basic unit of urban language, the street, and the stream of words, the endless stories, which animate it.’9 Cities like Brasilia and Levittown are built for new technology and the use of the car or public transport as certain parts of the city are only accessible through these means. ‘Walking is seen as contrary to the spirit of the modern city.’10

residential housing Structure of the artificial city.

Units are contained and in each unit a specific function

Checkerboard structure

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Natural’ cities facilitate the walker and urban explorer and makes for detailed walking; through engagement and awareness of surroundings. ‘Artificial’ cities lack the qualities of the ‘natural city’. The sterile built environment of the artificial cannot provide opulent historical qualities or spatial subtlety of the ‘natural’ city. Engagement and perception are qualities that become dulled or missed placed in these setting. The surroundings and buildings are uniformed. The streets, sidewalks and roads, are the collective ‘city elements’ that natural and artificial cities both have that connect them together. Investigating these elements explain how we move through the city and the landscape and how it allows us to explore them. Cities, Composition & Appropriation of The City For The Walker

Beginning a journey, the need to know what the path, street or road generates or represent is necessary to in order to understand why we walk (in relation to spatial formation of the city landscape) or who inhabits or uses these spaces. Yi-fu Tuan explains that ‘“space” and “place” are familiar words denoting experiences. We live in space…Place is security, space is freedom: we are attached to the one and long for the other’.11 The figure of the street is a place or passage, of interconnections, of circulation and communication, it is the spatial counterpart of the journey.’12 The street, path, sidewalk, lane, track it has many names. ‘Yet what makes the street a figure of the everyday is the importance of participation, interaction and appropriation.’13 Lynch was aware of this when he writes ‘there is more than the eye can see, more than the ear can hear, a setting or a view waiting 46

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to be explored. Nothing is experienced by itself, but always in relation to its surroundings. The sequences of events leading up to it, the memory of past experiences.’ He continues to highlight his point by observing that ‘moving elements in a city, and in particular the people and their activities, are as important as the stationary physical parts.’14 He continues with his concept of the path ‘that they are channels along which the observer customarily…moves. These may be streets, walkways’15 or sidewalks. Its these paths are what that link the city. ‘The term “path” simultaneously indicates the act of crossing’16 its is by these paths crossing and crossing these paths that one explores the urban landscape. There are elements of the city that are over looked that we take for granted like Edges and nodes, Lynch writes that ‘edges are linear elements not considered as paths; they are usually but not always, the boundaries between two kinds of areas.’ ‘Edges seem to play a secondary role: they may set limits to a district, and may reinforce its identity, but they apparently have less to do with constituting it.’17 Edges, paths, nodes all link up the city these are the elements that make the city what it is. ‘Fundamental to Lynch’s theory of the image of the city, is the novel concept of legibility – a particular visual quality or apparent clarity… makes the city layout or structure recognizable, identifiable, and imageable in the human mind.’18 But the path today is more than transitions elements in which one moves through the city. It represents and connects many topics; it ‘is a point of convergence for new currents in ethnography, history and geography, conceptual art and many other strands’19 of study and practice. The path is the platform in which one appropriates in the city.

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Edges

Elements that make up the city can be seen everywhere on paths and intersects that connect the city.

Districts

Nodes

Path

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‘In great cities, spaces as well as places are designed and built: walking, witnessing, being in public, are as much part of the design and purpose as is being inside to eat or sleep…the word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship – around participation in public life.’ (Solnit, 2002 p.176)

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Conclusion Throughout this dissertation I have been questioning the relevance of walking to do within the urban landscape, what are the needs as well as spatial attributes that stop us appropriating the city are there possible ways in which they can be done. What do we make of walking or urban wandering today; is it still relevant? Psychogeography in its many forms is more important today than a century ago with the condition modern culture currently exists, the use of such practices bring to life the disconnect that we have with the urban landscapes in which we live. Psychogeography is not all about walking, but however you appropriate your landscape. Examples can be drawn from Paris movement in the late 60’s he was associated with began The intention of this dissertation was to reveal walking as a visual tool capable of describing as well as modifying metropolitan spaces’1 but to also understand that walking is an important means in exploring the city today. The city is a labyrinth of connected spaces that through psychogeographic tools and theories one can explore or appropriate the urban landscapes the city allows for drifting to happen. The composition of the city allows for wandering. Dispelling the everyday stereotypical roles that society has established is possible, the need to do this is not an everyday occurrence, but to invoke in individuals the ability to break from the everyday when necessary from the mass consumption of society and the commodities of the spectacle. Careri highlights that it is important ‘to protect the use of this ‘non-productive’ time (wanderings of dérive) from the powers that be. Otherwise it would be sucked into system of capitalist consumption through the creation of induced needs.’ 2 54

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To wander or explore (terms related) to psychogeography is not only about exploring your urban landscape it is about playing with ‘the rules and inventing your own, to free creative activity from socio-cultural restrictions, to design aesthetic and revolutionary actions. The character of Alice in this text has been applied as a metaphor to connect to into our child like curiosity that we have in someway out grown. But it is also an adventure novel written by Lewis Carroll that dispels the everyday. Although this story is fictional, adults and children alike read and re-read this book, or see the films, may it provoke a sense of adventure in you. Psychogeography Today

Through research for this essay have learnt new methods of urban explorations some traditional and simple like Georges Perec in species of spaces and other pieces presents methods like taking a camera and placing yourself on streets that you have never been to before taking a snapshot to create scrapbooks of journeys taken in your city. Then there are others like Karen O’rourke who investigates the modern landscape by embracing modern technology through different mediums and practices, by using phones and GPS creating strategies for exploration. In the city today the need to explore the city is not always accessible to everyone but it is a pass time that one can use to experience the urban landscape to understand the layout and the way it functions. My walks through the city I found that there were many things that I didn’t know about the city, history uncovered and walks that connect people, spaces, places and the environment in which we inhabit.

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Psychogeography is a term becoming frequently used by poets, artists, writers, journalists and philosopher. Artists use its practices as a source of production for work and ideas to invoke human interaction. Such work can be seen in land artists like Richard Long and Hamish Fulton and others have investigated the landscape and have tested the physical response of the human form against the settings, with the motto take ‘only photos an leave only footprints.’ Journalists use term like Will self whose accounts and books on psychogeography somehow don’t capture the essence of the term, but who films and urban walks in different parts of the world challenge society and the spectacle. But what about the influence of the architect and their relationship to that of psychogeography? Cities such as Brasilia designed by architects haven’t necessarily worked in theory as it looked or worked on paper. But as interactions between the explorer and the city develop. How do we as designers encourage the explorer or the curious traveller to appropriate and investigate the landscape? Architecture is becoming more advanced and methods and processes more innovative. It is not just about the process of designing great buildings as places for great cities. But how individuals with inhabit and use these spaces in years to come.

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NOTES ¹. Careri., F. ‘Walksacpes’ p.19 ². Author’s own, entitled ‘In the cities’

Introduction 1. Honoré de Balzac, Théorie de la Démarche quoted in, On foot by Joseph Amato, p.1, Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit in her foot quotations p.3-5. In The art of wandering by Merlin Coverley p.9 (Theory of walking: 1833) Translated by Tim Ingold in being alive: Essays on movement, knowledge and description, London: Routledge, 2011, p.33. 2. Coverley., M. ‘Psychogeography’, quotes Ivan Chtcheglov p.84 3. Borden., I ‘The dissertation’, Alexander Franklin’s work on the architecture of omniscience. p197 4. Careri., F. Walkscapes p.88 5. Ibid p.19 6. Ibid p.36 7. Carroll., L. ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ (penguin classics ed)”Lewis Carroll” was pseudonym/ pen name Charles Dodgson’ took in order to conceal his identity 8. Careri., F. Walkscapes p.26 Field notes 1. Careri., F. ‘Walkscapes’ 2 . Hart.,J ‘A new way of walking’. Utue Vol.? Interview with Christina Ray were she talk about daily activities become the programmed as the everyday. pp.41 Psychogeography 1. Superimposed city tours, Psychogeography (a working definition) pp.3 2. Romy., R. ‘An introduction to psychogeography.’ pp.9 Chapter 1 1. De Certeau., M. ‘Practices of everyday life’ chapter walking in the city, were he comments on appropriation, and pedestrian ‘movements form…”real systems whose existence in fact makes up the city”.’ p.97 2 . Hart.,J ‘A new way of walking’. Utue Vol.? Interview with Christina Ray were she talk about daily activities become the programmed as the everyday. pp.41 3. Ibid, pp.41. Hart writes that ‘slowly we start wearing a canyon through the same streets and sidewalks’ daily. 4. Highmore., B. ‘Everyday life and culture theory: An Introduction’ describing the everyday. p.1 5. Ibid. p.1 6. Coverley., M. ‘Psychogeography’. defining the term of psychogeography p.10 7. Hart., J. ‘A New way of walking’. Utne. interviewing Christina Ray asking her to define the term psychogeography 8. ibid, 9. Careri., F. ‘Walkscapes’ p.88 57

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10.

Highmore, writes that the everyday receives our ‘daily inattention’ (Georges Bataille quotes in Hollier 1993 p14) and invites us to look elsewhere. He also writes that it is to the everyday that we consign that which no longer holds our attention. Things become ‘everyday’ by becoming invisible.’ This view is also expressed by Michael., S. in his book ‘Everyday theories and practices’ the everyday is beneath our attention. It is what we overlook.’ p.22 11. Coverley., M. ‘Psychogeography’. expressing the expanse of psychogeography p.10 12. Ibid p.13 13. Highmore B. ‘Everyday life and culture theory: An Introduction’ describing the everyday. p.2 14. Nicholson., G. ‘The Lost Art of Walking,’ Geoff list the names of types of walkers 15. Coverley., M. Psychogeography. p.12. 16. Heath., P. ’The Philosopher’s Alice’ p.13? 17. Coverley., M. Psychogeography. p.42. & p.73 18. Coverley., M. Psychogeography. p.74 19. Carroll, L. ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ Carroll writes that Alice ‘once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading,’ p.1 20. Knabb., K.‘Theory of the Dérive’ Situationist International Anthology, 2006 21. Careri., F. ‘Walkscapes’ p.98 22. Ibid. p90 23. Coverley., M. Psychogeography. p.84. 24. Ibid, quotes Ivan Chtcheglov 25. Vaneigem., R. ‘The Revolution of Everyday Life’. p.116 26. Michael., S. ‘Everyday life theories and practices’. p.44 27. Harris., J. ‘Guy Debord predicted our distracted society’ writes about Debord’s prediction of the spectacle on modern cultues. Guardian newspaper online article. 28. O’rourke., K. ‘Walking and mapping,’ lists a few of the ways modern technology is available today. book cover inside flap. 29. Michael., S. ‘Everyday life theories and practices’ An event set up by Lefebvre at CNRS for sociological studies in France…plays a tape recorder of Debord’s voice used a device to draw aware to and of modern technology. p.170 30. Ibid. p.44. 31. Ibid, p.43 Debord – Society of the spectacle. 1. Nicholson., G. ‘The Lost art of walking,’ the epigraph book cover inside flap 2. Coverley, in ‘psychogeography’ explaining the movements and manifesto that lead up to the Situationists and Guy Debord. p.82 3. Harris., J. ‘Guy Debord predicted our distracted society’ writes about Debord’s prediction of the spectacle on modern cultues. Guardian newspaper online article. 58

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Coverley, ‘Psychogeography’ writes about Debord reasoning and the spectacle p.103 5, Ibid. p.102 6. Coverley, quoting Roger Luckhurst. ‘The angle between two walls’ and the relationship between JG Ballard and Debord. 7. Careri., F. ‘Walkscapes’ p.187 8. Michael., S. ‘Everyday life theories and practices’ highlights debord’s views on the everyday and the individual. p.171 9. Ibid 10. Careri., F. ‘Walkscapes’ p.187 11. Ibid p.100 12. Carroll, L. ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ p.3 Chapter 2 - Mapping 1. Michael., S. ‘Everyday life theories and practices’ p.222 2. Solnit., R. ‘Wanderlust’. Quoting Michel De Certeau p.213 3. Coverly., M. ‘Psychogeography’. defining the term of psychogeography p.10 4. Alexander., C. ‘A city is not a tree’, (online article) 5. De Certeau., M. ‘The Practice of Everyday Life’. Talks about the operational concept of the city. p.94 6. Alexander., C. ‘A city is not a tree, part one, pp.4-5 7. Jiang., B. ‘Computing the image of the city.’ pp.2 8. Coverly., M. ‘Psychogeography’. defining the term of psychogeography p.12 9. Solnit., R. ‘Wanderlust’. p.213 10. Coverly., M. ‘Psychogeography’. defining the term of psychogeography p.12 11. Yi-fu Tuan, Space and Place. p.3 12. Michael., S. Everyday theories and practices surrealism to the present’ writes about the importance of the street. p.375 13. Ibid. p.376 14. Lynch., K. ‘The image of the city’ p.1 15. ibid p.47 16. Careri., F. ‘Walkscapes’ p.25 17 . Lynch., K. ‘The image of the city’ p.62&70 18. Jiang., B. ‘Computing the image of the city.’ pp.4 19. Michael., S. Everyday theories and practices surrealism to the present p.376 Conclusion 1. Careri., F. Walkscapes p.26 2. Ibid 3. Coverly., M. ‘Psychogeography’ pg 122. 59

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BIBLIOGRAPGHY

ACKROYD, Peter., 2012. London: The Concise Biography. London: Vintage, Random House. ALEXANDER, Christopher.,n.d. ‘A city is not a tree,’ [Online] Available at:! http://www.chrisgagern.de/Media/A_City_is_not_a_tree.pdf [Accessed 14 April 2014] ALEXANDER, Christopher., n.d. ‘A City Is Not A Tree, part one’, [Online] Available at: http://www.rudi.net/pages/8755 [Accessed 14 April 2014] AMATO, Joseph., 2004. On Foot: A History of Walking. New York: New York University Press. ANDREOTTI, Libero., Et al, 1996. Theory of The Dérive & Other Situationist writings on the city. Barcelona: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, ACTAR. BORDEN, Iain., 2006. The Dissertation. 2nd Ed. London. Oxford: Architectural Press. CARERI, Francesco., 2002. Walkscapes: Walking as an aesthetic practice. Barcelona: Lanográfica Sabadell. CARROLL, Lewis., 1920. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. London: Macmillan & co. Ltd. CARROLL, Lewis., 1864. Alice’s Adventures Underground. Oxford: (Written by hand) Available through: British Library virtual books www.bl.uk/online/gallery/ttp/alice.accessible/introduction.html [Accessed 11 Jan 2014] COVERLEY, Merlin., 2010. Psychogeography. Hertfordshire: Pocket Essentials. COVERLEY, Merlin., 2012. The Art Of Wandering: The writer as walker. Hertfordshire: Oldcastle books. DEBORD, Guy., 1994. The Society of The Spectacle. Translated from French by Donald Nicholson-Smith. 3rd Ed. New York. Zone Books. DE CERTEAU, Michel., 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. 60

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HARRIS, John., 2012. Guy Debord predicted our distracted society. The Guardian, [online], [podcast] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/guydebord-society-spectacle [Accessed 10th April 2014] HART, Joseph., 2004. A New Way of Walking. Utne Reader, 124, Jul/Aug, pp.40-43. HEATH, Peter., 1974. The Philosopher’s Alice. London: Academy Editions. HIGHMORE, Ben., 2002. Everyday Life & Cultural Theory. London: Routledge. HIGHMORE, Ben., 2002. The Everyday Life Reader. London: Routledge. JIANG, Bin., 2012. Computing the Image of the City. [Online] Available at: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1212.0940.pdf [Accessed 18th April 2014] KNABB, Ken., 2006. Bureau Of Public Secrets. [Online] Available at: http://www.bopsecrets.org/index.shtml [Accessed Dec 2013 March 2014] MACFARLANE, Robert., 2012. The Old Ways. (Location & Publishing house) MACHEN, Arthur., 1924. The London Adventure. Plymouth: The Mayflower Press. MITCHELL, Edwin., 1979. The Pleasures of Walking. Buckinghamshire: Spurbooks. MURRAY, Geoffrey., 1939. The Gentle art of Walking. Glasgow: Blackie & Son Ltd. NICHOLSON, Geoff., 2011. The Lost Art of Walking. Chelmsford: Harbour Book (East) Ltd. O’ROURKE, Karen., 2013. Walking & Mapping: Artists As Cartographers. Cambridge, MA. The MIT Press. PEREC, Georges., 1997. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. London: Penguin Books. PINDER, David., 2005. Visions of the city. Edingburgh: Edingburgh University Press Ltd. 61

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RAWLINGS, Romy., 2013, Introduction to psychogeography. Woodhouse. Available at http://www.woodhouse.co.uk/knowledge/an-introduction-topsychogeography/ [Accesssed March 2014] SELF, Will., 2007. Psychogeography. London: Bloomsbury Publishing SHERINGHAM, Michael., Everyday Life: Theories and practices from Surrealism to the present. New York,: Oxford Publishing SNYDER, Gary., 1990. The Practice of The Wild. San Francisco: North Point Press. Available at: http://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/The-Practice-of-the-Wild-by-GarySnyder.pdf. [Accessed 12 Jan 2014] SOLNIT, Rebecca., 2002. Wanderlust: A History of walking. London: Verso TUAN, Yi-fu., 2003. Space and place: The perspective of experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. URBAN DICTIONARY, 2007. Psychogeography. [online] (March 2007) Available at: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=psychogeograph y [Accessed 26 March 2014] VANEIGEM, Raoul., 2012. The Revolution of Everyday Life. Translated from French by Donald Nicholson-Smith. 2nd Ed. (1994) Oakland: PM Press. INTERNET SOURCES

Bureau Of Public Secrets. 2006. [Online] Available at: http://www.bopsecrets.org/index.shtml [Accessed Dec 2013 March 2014] Situationist International online. N.d.. [online] Available at: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/index.html [Accessed Feb - 9 April 2014]

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Superimposed city tours. N.d [Online] Available at: http://www.monoculartimes.co.uk/citytours/psychogeography/workingdefinition.shtml [Accessed 14 April 2014] Definations for glossary found using Dictionary.com. [Online] Available at:!http://dictionary.reference.com [Accessed Dec 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; April 2014]

FILM Alice in the Cities, 1974. Directed by Wim Wenders. Germany: Westdeutscher Rundfunk The Society of the Spectacle, 1973. Directed by Guy Debord. France. VIDEO John Rogers, 2011. Iain Sinclair- Interview For London Perambulator (Hackney, Psychogeography, Walking) [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHiuEXMVCCA&list=PLVR9ie33z 75437Le14ObGv509emBTDrpY [Accessed 20 Feb 2014] MenOfLetters, 2011. Obsessed With Walking. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGWF-VzIqPI [Accessed 23 Feb 2014]

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IMAGES

(All maps as images or embeded in graphics are from Google maps unless otherwise stated. but are listed below.)

page. 8 1. List from Careri’s ‘Walkscapes’ page 18 p.36-37 Images 1,2,3 & 4 Google maps of London, Paris, Brasilia, & Levittown, NY (edited by author) p.39 Images 1&2 Google maps (edited by author) p.41 Image of the (layers) tree [online] available at http://visual.merriam-webster.com/plants-gardening/plants/tree/cross-section-trunk.php [Accessed 20 April 2014] (edited by author) Image of the elements of the city, author’s own p.42 Images Google maps & author’s own p.44 Images Google maps p.47-48 Images Google maps p.48. Main image Bing maps bird’s view, (Top right) Google street view, Images author’s own.

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Appendix 1. In order for me to experience the dérive, I read accounts from Debord and this companions to understand how to put into practice the psychogeographical act of traversing through the urban space. Here is one of the few reports of their wandering activities. Dérive Account: Psychogeographic walk of Debord & Wolman in Paris. Images on the next few pages show the maps and possible routes taken on their walk. The blue circles on the map mark the places observed in their notes, highlighting certain parts of the text in grey that correspond or give direction to their walk or streets in Paris. The maps are in the style of the Guy’s tourist maps that he collaged and used so show ways of breaking up the city.

Gathering of Urban Ambiances by Means of the Dérive On Tuesday, 6 March 1956 at 10 a.m., G.-E. Debord and Gil J. Wolman meet in the rue des Jardins-Paul and head north in order to explore the possibilities of traversing Paris at that latitude. Despite their intentions they quickly find themselves drifting toward the east and traverse the upper section of the 11th arrondissement, an area whose poor commercial standardization is a good example of repulsive petit-bourgeois landscape. The only pleasing encounter is the store at 160, rue Oberkampf: "Delicatessen-provisions A. Breton." Upon reaching the 20th arrondissement, Debord and Wolman enter a series of narrow alleys that ultimately lead to the intersection of rue de Ménilmontant and rue des Couronnes, by way of deserted lots and very abandoned-looking low buildings. On the north side of rue des Couronnes a staircase gives them access to a network of 65

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alleys similar to the previous ones, but marred by an annoyingly picturesque character. Their itinerary is subsequently inflected in a northwesterly direction. Between the avenue Simon Bolivar and the avenue Mathurin Moreau they cross a prominence where a number of empty streets become entangled, a dismaying monotony of facades (the rue Rémy du Gourmont, rue Edgar Poe, etc.). Shortly thereafter, they suddenly come upon the far end of the canal [Saint-]Martin and unexpectedly find themselves facing the impressive rotunda by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, a virtual ruin left in an incredible state of abandonment, whose charm is singularly enhanced by the curve of the elevated subway line that passes by at close distance. One thinks here of Maréchal Toukhachevsky's fortuitous projection, previously cited in La révolution surréaliste, of how much more beautiful Versailles would be if a factory were to be constructed between the palace and the water basin. Upon studying the terrain the Lettrists feel able to discern the existence of an important psychogeographic hub [plaque tournante] — its centre occupied by the Ledoux rotunda — that could be defined as a Jaurés-Stalingrad unity, opening out onto at least four significant psychogeographical bearings — the canal [Saint-]Martin, boulevard de la Chapelle, rue d'Aubervilliers, and the canal de l'Ourcq — and probably more. In conjunction with the concept of the hub, Wolman recalls the intersection in Cannes that he designated "the center of the world" in 1952. One should no doubt liken this to the clearly psychogeographic appeal of the illustrations found in books for very young schoolchildren; here, for didactic reasons, one finds collected in a single image a harbor, a mountain, an isthmus, a forest, a river, a dike, a cape, a bridge, a ship, and an archipelago. Claude Lorrain's images of harbors are not unrelated to this procedure. Source: Situationist International online. N.d. Two accounts of the derive. [online] Available at: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/presitu/twoaccounts.html [Accessed 30 March 2014]

Possible walk of Guy Debord & Gil Wolman Property and work of Judith Jones

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Appendix: ii Field notes: From Psychogeographic walk in the city London 1.1

On my Psychogeographic walk across the city I noted that in order to dispel the everyday you have to adjust the way you walk (when starting) in order to ‘drift’1 the city. Due to ‘preprogrammed instructions’2 that we have been conditioned to follow [by society] or as an everyday routine. Logic tells you to follow the path or sidewalk or to follow instructions and directions. But the need for exploration is the essential quintessence of the dérive. So you have to (sometimes when walking) make conscience decisions not to follow the beaten path or main roads but to find or follow unusual paths to dismiss your common actions in order to experience, wander or explore the city. 1.2

Getting lost means not having a true sense of (directional) location. On my walk a woman stopped me for directions. Fortunately not knowing where I was, I was unable to help her. But being completely lost in the city creates a euphoric sensation. That you can be totally embedded in the urban tissue that being lost is the journey to discovery.

1.3

Following where the curve of the pavement leads can lead or point to unexpected finds.

1.4

The city does always facilitate for the walker if you can’t go through go around some fences are there for protection, others to keep you off private property some just to stop you entering unused areas, others just for the aesthetics. But like the proverb ‘ Nothing ventured nothing gained.’ crossing the boundaries can make for great discoveries 69

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1.5

Narrow streets and wide open spaces or pavements facilitate the ‘drift’.

1.6

Using main roads as passage to another side streets makes for exploring the city. Following them doesn’t, doing so is feels like routine.

1.7

No matter where I walk in the city I always feel that I am within 3050 yards of a car or motored vehicle. Some how I always seem to see one or more within my peripheral vision, that there is no path within the city that hasn’t responded (in someway) to the needs of the car or vehicle. Whether it is a one-way street, a cycle only lane, a blocked street that once kept traffic, or a dead end. The needs of the pedestrian are redundant; foot traffic is now an afterthought and the motor vehicle’s importance unavoidable. 1.8

Some roads encourage walking others don’t.

1.9

Labyrinth and networks connect, The city; in which people inhabit, commute, exchange and occupy, Places and spaces, of selling, buying and trading, Living, engaging, society dominating. The everyday norm rules, hence, Forgotten, ignored, the textures of side streets, the lights of alleys, the materiality of the off beaten path, The ambiance needs investigating The adventure awaiting Making the journey tangible, and mapping physical. Reconnecting the city. Notes: 1 .To ‘drift’ (in this context) comes from the French term explore the city. 2. Hart’s Interview with Ray, in which she explains psychogeography dérive, which means to wander, 70 and its effects.

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