Sharp City

Alberti, Sandro; 18 April, 2003 [text32]

Between narrative and data, that is how I had framed ‘it’ recently for a group of design students. Is it the warm poetics or the cold, hard facts? Which do you prefer? Which of these extremes might best be employed in representation? Beyond these, it seems that, evermore so, method, or framework, has been privileged over either scientific or personalized content. The ‘diagram’, of course. Very important in the escape from iconic. And yet now a brief respite is desired. Almost as if the very diagrams of our liberation had begun to extinguish the breath out of life itself. It should not be one or the other, of course. Balance, in life. And so it is that the trends are beginning to reveal ‘content’ (something hinted at in the ‘click-click-click’ of Effervescent motion sensors and embodied in the sojourns of ‘LA Now’ texts + exhibits).

On its own, narrative lacks depth. Charming, tales of a city’s natural habitat, people, and money, but really only worthwhile if coupled with facts. More interesting still if all this rises out of a sea of data that readers might be allowed to cross-reference and interpret. Personalization is being derived from very personal narratives (the ‘hook’; something to relate to), and from ‘personalizable’ data (the ‘content’; something to make something from). And so it is that the city begins to be reinterpreted by Aldo Cibic (Memphis founder; super-designer) and Erin Sharp (designer, architect, muse), with a title that tells all, in a sense: ‘Citizen/ City’; a study of the city as derived of citizen experiences; the gnomonic/ rhizomatic consideration of the human parts that make the urban whole. Not the circulation flows, not the facades, nor massing or regulations. The citizen. Man/ woman. Living. An analysis of urbanism through its effects (how it is being lived), as well as, simultaneously, its essential components (who is living it). Worth taking a look at, this personalized urban project, that is currently showing at the Salone del Mobile and has a spot reserved at future biennales and triennales: www.cibicworkshop.com

· Improving the interaction between human beings and their context (“cities have no meaning outside of their relationship with the people that inhabit them; architecture itself is not the protagonist.”).

· Counteracting urban voids (“Voids are not empty of matter or construction; they represent a lack of interaction between human beings and their context… These are the places one merely visits”).

Ten investigations, informed by 20 place-ments (home, work, meeting places, shopping, special places, surprise places, entertainment places, escapes, relaxing places, places you love, places you hate, places you enjoy, uncomfortable places, pathways, city, close-by places, far-away places, relationships, lacks/ voids):

1. 1-Star Hotel

2. Urban Community

3. Far but Near

4. Market City

5. New Professions

6. Dinner at my House

7. Laical Chapels

8. Family Business

9. Digital Domesticity

10. Empty and Full

And the 100 questions, that make this project a little bit yours, a little bit mine, a little bit of every international citizen: What is a city? What is a citizen? How are your places? How do you live? What is close? What is far? What relationships do you desire? What are you missing? What is possible? What seems impossible? What permits or prevents? [politics, economy, etc.] What do you want? What do you need? What is wealth? What is poverty? What is beautiful? What is ugly? What frustrates you? What delights you? Where are our children? Where are our elders? Who is your family? Who are you? Who are we? What IF your grandmother lived close by? What IF I could see your kids at lunchtime? What IF you didn’t have a family? What IF you didn’t have a car? What IF you couldn’t move? What IF you didn’t have a job? What IF you didn’t have a home? What IF you had more time in the day? What IF you could be in 2 places at once? What IF you could live what you dream? What IF you were a superhero? What IF being a superhero didn’t matter? What IF this were all a game? Where do you come from? Where do you live? What is your city like? Do you see your place within your city? Does your city have what you need? Who are your people? Who are your neighbors? What is your neighborhood? Do your friends live nearby? How often do you see your friends? Where does your family live? How much time do you spend with your family? What responsibilities do you have in your city? Who is in charge of your city? Do you have other cities? What are your favorite places in the world? What places do you avoid? Do you care about the history of your city? What IF you had no history? What IF you could delete aspects of your history? What IF you could add to your history? What IF every decision you made affected everyone? What IF every decision you made affected history? What if there was no past? What if there were no future? Where do you work? How far is your work from home? How much time do you spend in a vehicle per week? Where are your parents? How often do you see your parents? How old are your parents? Who takes care of your parents? Who will take care of your parents? How do your parents live? Do you have children? How do your children get to school? How far is your children’s school from home? Do you volunteer? Who do you help? Who do you want to help? What do you worry about? What do you do for fun? How much time do you spend outdoors? Where do you shop? Where do you wash your clothes? What do you read/ study? What would you like to learn? What would you like to have? What would you give up? What does the city remember? What does the city forget? What stays constant? What changes constantly? What does the city value? What does the city hate? What cities are valued? What cities are forgotten? What cities do we want to go to? What cities showcase their people? What cities showcase their facades? What cities show their souls?

Data to be personalized.

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