ARC 9016 IRP Independent Research Project POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN ARCHITECTURE Research Project Globalisation and the Loss of Identity in the City Of London
Salima BOUDALI BOU12374523
POSTGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN ARCHITECTURE M. ARCH. INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN The 31st of October, 2013
PAPER OUTLINE List of illustrations Abstract I. Introduction...........................................................................................05 A. Problem statement ……………………………………………………………………….07 B. Research question …………………………………………………………………………08 C. Aim ……………………………………………………………………………………………….08 D. Objectives ……………………………………………………………………………………..09 E. Argument statement ………………………………………………………………………09 a) Literature review ……………………………………………………….10 b) Methodology ……………………………………………………………..10 I. Key word definitions ………………………………………..11 a) Modern b) Modern society c) Post-modern society d) Global culture e) Cultural homogenisation II. Theoretical framework …………………………………….12 II. Literature review ……………………………………………………………………………….13 A. B. C. D. E.
Globalisation and social changes ………………………………………………13 Globalisation and the advent of modernism in architecture …….14 Globalisation debates on cultural identity ………………………………..15 Globalisation process of the city of London ………………………………17 London’s architectural identity quest ……………………………………….19
III. Main body discussion …………………………………………………………………………20 A. Theoretical perspective ………………………………………………………………20 B. Methods …………………………………………………………………………………….22 a) Survey questionnaire …………………………………………………………….22 I. Data analysis …………………………………………………………………..24 II. Findings …………………………………………………………………………..26 b) Case studies comparative analysis …………………………………………27 2|Page
IV. Conclusion...............................................................................................32 Reference list Appendix 1: Questionnaire Form
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List of illustrations Graphs Fig -1- Degree of identification with London’s Global features. Fig -2- The amount of people who identify with modern/historical architecture – LondonFig -3- The percentage of agreement with “cities similar to London”.
Images Fig.4. The Telegraph 2007. Gherkins and canaries [Photograph] at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/2802259/Reits-of-passage-anew-era-for-property-funds.html. (Accessed on 11.10.13) Fig.5. Graves, R and Madoc-Jones, D 2010. the iconic City office tower is now high rise housing [Photograph] at http://cup2013.wordpress.com/tag/norman-foster/. (Accessed on 11.10.13) Fig.6. Tomlinson, Alys. Courtyard of Burlington House and facade of Royal Academy of Arts [Photograph] at http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/about/burlingtonhouse,412,AR.html (Accessed on 11.10.13)
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Abstract Cities are constantly growing and changing character as a result of economic and technological progress. What would represent identity and cultural relations within a certain built environment is no longer fixed geographically. Distance has become less important, the transmission of ideas and the exchange of knowledge has increased significantly and become universal. Consequently, this has participated to the emergence of new social orders where culture is said to be more or less homogenised and global. As cultural assets, buildings are fundamental in the making of place identity and often people refer to them when it comes to self-identification. Hence, their ability to produce and reflect cultural identity has been put under examination in the light of global changes to see whether or not architectural identity is threatened.
I.
Introduction Today’s world is witnessing an unprecedented growth in all dimensions whatever it is, social, economic or political. Cities around the world are rapidly expanding and changes are being applied into them so that they cope with the modern needs of populations. Many architects, urban planners, academics and even artists had attempted to draw a picture of what a city in the twenty first century would look like. Seemingly, the most claimed policies for today’s city are centred on the idea of global scale interventions. Buman (1998) argues, cities are becoming homogenised, and buildings are thought as “machine a habiter” where function is substantially important than any other feature. It is likely that, architecture in the modern era is conceptualised on producing unified 5|Page
and more consistent buildings. This features have been introduced through the modern movement of architecture which le Corbusier is one of its prominent figures. As Bauman claimed “architecture, according to le Corbusier, is like logic and beauty.… is a science akin to geometry, the art of platonic sublimity, mathematical orderliness, harmony; its ideals are the continuous line, parallels, right angles; its strategic principles are standardisation and prefabrication.” (Bauman, 1998: 42) This change in the conceptualisation of architecture could be attributed to the fact that quick solutions had to be provided in order to cover the needs of a rapidly growing population. Indeed, it is worth saying that the needs of current populations are not the same as the needs of previous ones. Now that new means of communication have been acquired, the geographical distance has vanished and disappeared, therefore people become more conscious of their built environment and social issues. In that sense, it can be said that distance does not matter anymore as long as people have access to means of communication which allow them to interact and exchange knowledge easily. Those technological and communicative improvements have also led to changes in the way of which social relations are built. With new social roles looming on the horizon, individuals have more possibilities and choices to make about their life. However, in the light of those transformations more challenges have emerged, as for instance, cultural identity which used to be believed as stable and unchallenged is now believed to be in crisis. Accordingly, such transition in social and geographical relations have been translated as a manifestation of a new age “The age of globalisation”. In other words, it is expected that modern societies are to deal with new challenges in the frame of global order. Thus, 6|Page
cultural identity is one of the challenges that need to be investigated in the light of this new process. Whether it is being maintained, reinforced, or on the contrary, endangered- cultural identity has to be looked at as something that is constantly changing.
A. Problem statement In recent years there have been a huge debates and a relatively large literature dealing with the issue of the loss of identity in the age of globalisation since cities and localities are said to be looking alike across the world, where the same goods and services are offered and consumed. This has provoked a particular anxiety and lead to academic dispute regarding whether globalisation is generating problems of identity within the architectural practice. In the same sense, it is widely shared that architectural identity is on crisis. This idea is often associated with globalisation in way that cultural identity is said to be lost and sacrificed under the guise of technological, economic and social progress. While many scholars and commentators in human sciences are urging the crowd to oppose and make end to the process of globalisation, many others think that it is not worth the big dispute because cultural identity has never been stable and/or fixed in time or space. Hence, in the centre of those debates one could be puzzled about where to stand in this dilemma of positions. In order to have clear understanding of the issue of globalisation and its ramification on architectural identity, the research was decided to be conducted on a site that is
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known to be highly recognisable by the degree of its global status. For this reason London is chosen as a site of interest for this study. Indeed it is worth saying that London is one of the cities where many contemporary buildings take place, and in the same time it is a historical city which has a strong identity. As a result of urban and economic growth, the city is permanently expending and its architecture is changing in a way that even its historical parts such as “City of London” are making place for some contemporary designs which have no reference to the previous architectural contexts. However, in this case one can still argue that architectural identity of a city doesn’t lie necessarily on the previous contexts, instead identity is something that needs to be understood as a process.
B. Research question This study aims to address the following research question: Is London’s architectural identity being sacrificed through contemporary building designs on the altar of global progress?
C. Aim The purpose of this paper is to outline a tentative examination for the issue of identity in the contemporary architectural practice and its association with globalisation phenomenon. However, the main aim this study is trying to achieve is concerned with the idea that London’s architectural identity is neither being sacrificed nor threatened by contemporary building designs, but instead, those designs are generating and reproducing identity. Apparently, architecture has always been, and will be, producing fragments of cultural and social relation. In fact, what has changed is not the process of identity 8|Page
production itself, but it is the system of rules which governs the production, operation and regulation of discursive statements. (Hacking, 1986) Even though, there have been some academics claiming that the production of culture and identity has largely changed from being a concern of community to an individual affair (Giddens, 1991), one could still argue that this production process has not changed, but was and still is, an individual affair characterised by reflexive individuals or particular institution in search of economic, political power and cultural distinctiveness. Thus, it can be argued that contemporary architectural designs are becoming symbols and signs of social progress and they participate in the production of place identity.
D. Objectives The key objectives that helps explore the issue of architectural identity and its association with globalisation are as follow:
To agree with the post-structural position in regards to the idea that identity is being constructed and produced through power relations.
To show that London’s architectural identity could be found in contemporary buildings as the same as in historical ones.
To expose the idea that images have always been powerful in the production of architectural identity of a place.
E.
Argument statement This paper represents a set of ideas that are central to the argument statement regarding the uncertainty that globalisation is associated with the loss of architectural identity. It is from this statement that one starts to question identity 9|Page
and its meanings in a way that the hidden discourse behind its formation is exposed. Accordingly, it seems that globalisation has arisen people consciousness about their built environment and helped uncover the role of power relations in the production of identity knowledge. Thus, it could be arguable that what one thinks he knows about identity could be a constructed version of its truth. Thus, identity needs to be understood as a constantly flowing process; hence, cannot be subject to threat and its truth can never be fully reached.
a) Literature review The themes that re discussed in the literature are as follow:
Globalisation and social changes
Globalisation and the advent of modernism in architecture
Globalisation debates on cultural identity
Globalisation process of the city of London
London’s architectural identity quest
b) Methodology In the sections that follow there will be a theoretical and a methodological framework applied to this research project which are prominently based on an ongoing social, political and economic practice. As a starting point in examining the social changes that have occurred to happen in the recent world, one would reflect on the way of which particular aspects of globalisation have resonated debates on the quest of cultural identity within the architectural practice. In the same context, qualitative evidences need to be put in
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consideration in order to be able to assess whether globalisation is a significant phenomenon to architecture or just a political and academic fantasy.
I. Key words definitions a) Modern According to the online Oxford English Dictionary modern means “Of, relating to, or designating a current or recent movement or trend in art, architecture, etc., characterized by a departure from or a repudiation of accepted or traditional styles and values” OED online.
b) Modern society King (1995: 119), has suggested that “modern society” could be portrayed in the “ninetieth- and twentieth century industrial, often capitalist societies, characterized by technology, rational bureaucracies and the rest, was a concept applied to the west within the recognition that this state of modernity was premised on the West’s colonized Other”.
c) Post-modern society It is presented as a counterpart, to a condition where stable culturally set “rites de passage” made individuals pass from one version of identity to another through the agency of the family or the community, and as a counterpart to a condition where community interposed between culture and the individual. As Giddens (1991) argued, the current situation in postmodern society is portrayed as much more complicated. 11 | P a g e
d) Global culture The sense of global culture is associated with product, industries and technologies including the growth of international institutions and multinational consumer brands, popular media and electronic networks. (Friedland and Boden, 1994)
e) Cultural homogenisation It could be defined as “the creation of a modern, integrated society through the application of common language, common currency, and common cosmopolitan behaviour. Homogenisation is the process of blending diverse elements into a smooth mixture”. (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1993: 555)
II. Theoretical framework This paper will discuss the issue of architectural identity and its association with globalisation. In order to investigate this issue, the discussion will be built up on Poststructuralist approach. This is one of the theoretical approaches to “knowledge and society that embraces the ultimate un-decidability of meaning, the constructive power of discourse and the political affectivity of theory and research. While knowledge is understood within a modernist frame as singular, cumulative and neutral, from a post structural perspective knowledge is multiple, contradictory and powerful.”(Graham, 1996: X) What was revolutionary about the post-structural theory was the view that meanings are constantly created within a complex social structure of relations and
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differences. This idea could be applied into this draft of study to help demonstrate that just like a text, the meanings behind the concept of identity are not fixed or stagnant but they are in fact continuously reproduced and created. In the same context, the postmodern theory will also be applied to the investigation of identity because just like post structuralism, postmodernism is profoundly doubtful and sceptical of the idea that truth is salient feature. As many postmodernists claim, the rejection of all theories of human history that are based on the belief that technology and science is the supreme objective truth to identity. (Nicholson, 1992)
II.
Literature review A. Globalisation and social changes The topic of architecture globalisation has been addressed by many researchers and
there have been a huge debates around it especially in terms of its relation with cultural identity. Modelski (1972) stated that the term of globalisation has only been evolved in the last two decades, and its employment by academic commentators as late as the 1970 was considered as new concept which is recognised by its novelty. In the same context, Held (1999: 15) suggested that globalisation “refers to processes of change which underpin a transformation in the organisation of human affairs by linking together and expanding human activity across regions and continents. Globalization in this sense is a matter of degree since any given social activity might influence events more or less far-away even though a growing number of activities seems intermeshed with events in distant countries, certain human activities remain primarily local or regional in scope. Also, 13 | P a g e
the magnitude and impact of the activity might vary; geographically removed events could have a relatively minimal or a far more extensive influence on events at a particular locality”. In other words, this means that distant geographically events are influenced by the degree of social activities and human interaction across countries and continents.
B. Globalisation and the advent of modernism in architecture In general, it is widely accepted that the idea of globalisation in architecture has emerged with the introduction of modernism. Gidden (1990) also argued that modernisation is a fundamental part of globalisation and these two concepts has a tight relation. According to Adam (2008:2) the historical development of globalisation process in regards to architecture corresponds very tightly to the ascendancy of modernism and By the mid twentieth century there has been a very huge rise of new modern buildings and this was identified as “international style”. Which means that people around the world would celebrate a unified contemporary style of architecture. Adam also added (2008:2) “founding modernist ideals had always been global in ambitions”. For instance, in 1919 Walter Gropius which is a modernist architect said “One day there will be a worldview, and then there will also be its sign, its crystal – architecture.” In this sense it can be said that modernism had informed the globalisation phenomenon to occur and the more technology, scientific methods and techniques improve and progress, the more traditions are thought to be obliterated. Maxwell (1969) pointed out that modernism is an architectural story which started first in Germany and central Europe then it has been extended into the ends of the world. Furthermore, the notion of modernism which introduced new aspects into the building and 14 | P a g e
put it under specific and typical category. For example the corporate office, the airport, the international hotel and the shopping mall have not existed before the advent of modernism. These aspects have become keys of globalisation and as Adam (2008:2) stated “it provided symbolic link with the engines of global capital expansion”. Giddens (1990) argued that the idea of modernity is an intriguing and a complex one, but in this context it means, above all, the regularisation and institutionalisation of social cultural practices within time and space and their abstraction from contexts of local particularity.
C. Globalisation debates on cultural identity On the one hand, many academic papers claims the negative aspects of the globalisation process and criticise it in regards to its dominance over architectural spaces by the fact that it causes and generates loss of cultural identity. As it is generally accepted by many researchers, the globe is more and more being perceived as smaller place with events elsewhere resulting on the shaping of our everyday political, social and economics lives. Harvey (1993) argued that together these changes in speed, scale, and cognition influence individual’s sense of existence. More accurately, Everyday life evolves and alters through this de-territorialisation of time and space as in a world of diminishing territorial barriers, the need for constant time and space bound identities have become a route to get along with the consequences of modern life. For Swyngedouw (1997b) globalization deeply changed the dimension that used to be fixed and constant. He introduced the word “glocal” to illustrate the extent of which globalisation cause changes in territories and engender new spatial fixations “golocals”. 15 | P a g e
Harvey (1989, 1991,1993) mentioned that the process of globalisation could be comprehended as the origin behind the dissolution of place and the fragmentation of contemporary identities. Consequently, an increasing level of place disconnection and huge rise of xenophobic feelings as people search for the primitive certainties and try hard to maintain a more stable, or “bounded”, place identity. Harvey also pointed to the nature of recent marketing policies that have taken place in recent cities and dominated the contemporary interurban competition. These kind of policies started to rise interest in local heritage, which is considered by Massey (1994:168) an attempt to “fix the meaning of places, to enclose and defend them”. Harvey (1993) also suggested that entrepreneurial governance which is accompanied by business oriented practices initiates a considerable reliance on place marketing effort and these practices need to be avoided by architecture. This means that the inclusion of marketing as an urban planning policy was stimulated by the same range of forces that brings about the expansion of strategies. On the other hand, some academic researchers argued that the process of globalisation is natural, and it does not in any way threaten cultural identities but in the contrary it reinforces it. For Castells, the idea of opposition and challenging the power of globalisation is connected with ‘the widespread surge of powerful expressions of collective identity that challenge globalization . . . on behalf of cultural singularity and people’s control over their lives and environment’ (1997: 2). This means that actually globalisation does not destroy identities but in fact it proliferates and consolidate cultural identities, because globalisation generates consciousness among different social categories.
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Castells also claimed that identity is a universal character of human experience and he means by that what shapes the image of identity in this world is the experience that people have and share together, and he writes “Identity is people source of meaning and experience” (1997:6) Furthermore, Tomlinson (2003: 272) pointed out that “identity possibly is not universal, but it is a way of socially organising -and indeed regulating- cultural experience takes some of the wind from the sails of the argument that globalisation destroys identity”. In other words, cultural identities cannot be eradicated by the process of globalisation as long as cultural experiences are regulated. What should be more elaborated and investigated in that case is the claim that globalisation produces identity and, in some situations it carries out too much identity.
D. Globalisation process of the city of London The good example of how globalisation has taken over the built environment could be investigated through the scale of big cities which are the centre of progress and development. London is one of the most global centres and financial markets in the world. As Ainsworth (2013) claimed, the last 25 years have attested an unprecedented redevelopment on several dimensions and scales, “following the deregulation of the financial markets, the so called “big bang”, in the mid 1980”. London has become a focal point in the global financial world, the great part of its office space has been rebuilt. According to Ainsworth (2013) the developers have taken an enterprising approach, delegating and commissioning world renowned architects which
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adopt a more globalised perspective in their work of design and planning as Norman Foster, Rem Koolhass, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. Ainsworth (2013) examined in depth a collection of modern buildings that showcase the impact of globalisation on architecture and the built environment. And he also noted that not just the prestigious office blocks that have changed the skyline of the city, but also cultural institutions, retail sites and public spaces. The 1960’s London was quite a small financial territory and the physical structure of the city was generally occupied by Victorian terraced houses. Hamnett (2003) claimed that there has been a dramatic change in the traditional 1960’s and early 1970’s London and according to him this is directly related to the decline of manufacturing industry as new council estates has taken place over the poor quality private renting. According to the Time magazine 1969 the advent of “the swinging sixties” marked the start of a transformation from old to the new London. Manufacturing industry has dissolved, as has manufacturing employment. Most of Londoners work now in the service sector and an important category of workers involved in financial and business services. Hamnett (2003) also looked at how difficult home ownership has become in the light of this shift in the industrial structure, from manufacturing into financial and business service and how this gave rise to financial incentives for landlords to convert their properties into home ownership. So, it can be said that the physical form of London is being continuously transformed from industrial to post-industrial city. As Toulouse (1992: 62) comments “ the city now is a global stage in Britain, rather than a British stage in the global arena.
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E. London’s architectural identity quest It is claimed that the city’s architectural heritage has been destructed since the twentieth century. Hall (2012) comments the representative sample of the City’s inter-war classical dimension that includes Britannic House; Midland Banks; Burnet’s Unilever House; and National Westminster Bank. Other styles also could be found like Art Deco represented by Ibex House; and the Daily Express building. However, during the post-war years the focus was more addressed into the details of the buildings, with well-known landmarks such as Richardson’s Bracken House and the late 1950s New Change (Victor Heal) which faced St Paul’s. Also, one can cite examples of that much underrated building type, the 1950s/early 1960s neo-Georgian livery hall, such as the Wax Chandlers’ Hall. The example from the 1950s and 60s office buildings, are mainly built as whether curtain wall construction or post-war Classical. But post-modern and Classical revival office buildings of the 1980s and 90s are largely featured. Many are very little known, such as Sidell Gibson’s most successful Woolgate Exchange on Basinghall Street (1997-2002). This diversity of London’s architectural styles is somehow a proof of how this city is distinctive as being a global place of a variety of experiences. Littefield (2012) has discussed the phenomenon of globalisation in London and he claims that any study that could be addressed to London cultural identity needs consider the city as one of the places where economic globalisation is being emerged “as a concept and also being put into practice –laboratory and testing ground- as it were. These in turn creates great number of external influences on its architecture and urbanism. Coming no longer from the US but also from the Middle East, Russia, India, the Far East and Australia.”
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Massey (2007) claimed that London’s identity and its capacity to maintain its recognition as one of the richest cities in the world is what really makes it very unique. She pointed out that the city’s identity is structured and formed far more than the finance and business services, in fact it is above all diverse and related to the daily supplies from all around the globe. Furthermore, Massey (2007) urged for the valorisation of London as a place where multiple layers of identity are present. Also, she claimed that the city’s identity exists in relation to social interactions and for her globalisation is a new geography constructed out of the relations we have with each other’s. Additionally, Massey (2007) pointed out that “cities are central to neoliberal globalisation, the increasing concentration of humanity within them is in part a product of it”. In that sense, and after having an overview of the literature, it can be said that the multiplicity and diversity of social relations and cultural dimensions within the city of London have made it a place where people are sharing a global culture. Thus, this literature will help argue that London’s identity is not threatened by globalisation but instead globalisation reinforces its sense of identity. Because through identity individuals started to investigate and question the notion of identity.
III.
Main body discussion A. Theoretical perspective The issue of architectural identity and its association with globalisation has been
studied from different theoretical perspectives. Some of these studies are, most prominently, centred on the notion of identity and how it has been produced and how its 20 | P a g e
knowledge has been fabricated through power. In this research, the theories of poststructuralism will be used so that the process of identity production could be uncovered. The reason why this has to be addressed from this position is simple enough, because as it was stated above- in the beginning of this paper- London’s architectural identity can never be subject to threat because it is just a constructed version of identity. From an anthropological position, Kellner (1992) has observed that identity in traditional societies was fixed, solid, and stable. It was function of predetermined social roles and a traditional system of myth. One’s life trajectory in traditional societies was fixed and defined in advance to the extent that no one had the need to question his identity. However, in modernity identity becomes more flexible, mobile, multiple, and self-reflexive. Theorists of identity declare that the form of identity in modernity are also “fixed, and relatively substantial”. Indeed, in modernity self-consciousness has risen and new social roles, possibilities and choices had been introduced and one can engage in reflexion on those available roles. Yet other group of modern theorists believe that modern identity was never substantial. In modernity there is an awareness of the nature of the constructed identity. Furthermore, it can be said that the issue of identity has become urgent and the time has come to question and debate one’s identity. Similarly, postmodern perspective will also serve as a theoretical ground for this study as it is concerned with issues of cultural identity, knowledge and power relation, global media. As the pace of information exchange has accelerated, identity becomes more and more problematic. Theorist of postmodernity such as (Kellner, 1992) Baudrillard, has claimed that the very notion and significance of identity is a myth and an illusion. In the 21 | P a g e
same context, poststructuralists affirmed that not only subjective identity is a myth but, more than that it is a construct of language and society. From this point of view, it can be argued that architectural identity, just as any subjective identity, is a construct of language “today the language is built through media and visual images”, and society “ post-modern mass consuming society ”. In addition, postmodernists believe that architecture has always been producing images and those images are imposing their logic. However what has changed in the postmodern societies is the speed of which information is transmitted from one area to another. Network and visual media have become language generators and participate in the construct and formation of identity.
B. Methods The process that was adopted to find answer to the research question is mainly based on formulating a questionnaire in order to examine people’s perception regarding London’s architectural identity. In the same time, two case studies were analysed so that it could be possible to uncover the misperceptions that connects London’s architectural identity with only historical buildings and not contemporary ones.
a) Survey questionnaire To start with, the research questionnaire was designed and structured in a way that it would be easy to collate and analyse the data and also in a way that an adequate answer to the research question would be concluded. Eventhough, there has been an effort made in the design and the contextualisation of the 22 | P a g e
questionnaire, some questions were not clear enough to the interviewees. Fortunately through direct discussion and face to face interview the questionnaire was found interesting and its contents become clear. The questionnaire included nine questions and its contents was structured into two sections: The first section is about the power of architecture in producing identity and the second one is about globalisation and whether people identify with modern buildings in London, just like they do with historical ones. Overall, the research involved eleven individuals of about twenty five to forty year old. These people were interviewed in Camden streets and Regents Park during a weekday. The average time which was spent on each interview was about two minutes. The main important thing about the interviewees is that they are all residents of London and they were very positive about their participation in the survey. It is worth admitting that this research might have some limitations considering the number of people involved in the survey, the accuracy of information given by respondents. However, this study is meant to focus on a representative sample of people so that possible answers could be concluded. On the whole, it can be suggested that the findings of this survey could help the verifiability of facts or serve as incentive for further elaborated studies.
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I.
Data Analysis
After having done the interviews and collated the data, it was possible to analyse the results. The findings that have been outlined were to some extent expected. However, some of the findings were very surprising. Firstly, according to the obtained results it could be said that most Londoners identify with London’s architecture more than other features. Eventhough, the other features reflect global London, however they were not influential as architecture when it comes to identification within the city of London. As can be seen in the graph below (Graph -1- ) the great majority of respondents identify with London’s architecture and also London’s public transportation more than other features like shopping malls, food or Cc TV. Which means that architecture has power of generating identity. Because, people tend to reflect on their build environment more than anything else.
(Fig -1- ) Degree of identification with London’s Global features 24 | P a g e
Secondly, it seems that residents of London can still identify with modern buildings just as the same degree they do with historical ones. That could lead to the assumption that London’s architectural identity could be understood in terms of cultural diversity between the past and the present.
(Fig -2- ) The amount of people who identify with modern/historical architecture –London-
Thirdly, it’s seems that residents of London does not agree with the idea that cities of the world would become just a London replica. Even if they admit that the experience of living in the city of London would always be interesting and fascinating, however, Londoners still disagree with cities becoming similar to London.
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(Fig -3- ) The percentage of agreement with “cities similar to London”
II.
Findings Having analysed the data, the findings that could be concluded are summed up as follows: Architecture plays a significant role in the process of identification within places. Contemporary buildings just like historical ones reflect and generate architectural identity of the city of London. The agenda of making cities similar to London is what people disagree with. However, erecting more contemporary building in London is not seen as endangering the city’s architectural identity.
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b) Case studies comparative analysis The case studies that are going to be presented in this study are concerned, first, with describing how contemporary architecture is invested in producing images of global culture that people consume and identify with. Second, to show that historical buildings which reflects London’s identity might also have been representing images of other foreign cultures. And finally, to demonstrate that architecture has always been creating knowledge to identity through its signs and symbols. But, how those signs and symbols are read and reinterpreted is solely a matter of social relations. Burlington House vs. the Gherkin Throughout history, the city of London has acted as a memory map embodying traces of power which are embedded into its material formation. The architectural codification of power in the city vistas is composed of discourse that has been read, evaluated, analysed and interpreted by London writers. Today’s London is much more comprised in tower blocks, motorways, gentrification and gated communities. It is believed that London is a place that could be constantly rediscovered. Its old heritage, and unending materiality is strongly present. Indeed, the city of London has dramatically changed from what it used to be in the medieval times or the middle ages, but its reality still represents an image of an imaginary identity. In fact, there have never been a “Real” identity for London. All what was portrayed is solely a product of power relations where individuals are main actors behind the construct of those imaginary realities. As Foucault observes, discursive 27 | P a g e
practices as a human activity “embodied in technical processes, in institutions, in patterns for general behaviours, in forms for transmission and diffusion, and in pedagogical forms which, at once, impose and maintain them�. (Foucault, 1977b: 200) Unlike pre-modern London, the actual city is a place where radical changes take place. From being a place where grand civilisations, in particular Roman, were re-codified to being a global metropolis of endless possibilities. One cannot deny that globalisation is taking over architecture in a way that image becomes more influential and important than spaces themselves. In the following examples, two different contexts of London’s architecture are evaluated to show that: while in recent times architecture is more about the visual dimension of a global culture, in the past it was just the same portraying previous cultures coming basically from Rome. However, in modern times the pace of information transmitted from an area to another has much more accelerated. Thus, globalisation becomes much more intense than ever. Nevertheless, this could be accepted positively in the sense that individuals are now becoming more conscious not about who they are, but who they are not.
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Fig.4. Gherkins and canaries
The “gherkin” or the Swiss Re Tower is one of those iconic buildings that were built to represent in some way London's international economic power, but not only that, it is also a sign of new urbanity. The building owes its existence to an unplanned demolition of the Baltic Exchange which was an Edwardian stoned façade commercial building. (fig.4.) shows how the building imposes itself in the historical fabric. Its image is powerful to the extent that one could barely pay attention to the surrounding. It was designed in a way that people’s attention is caught; thus, it could be claimed that this building is offering a different dimension to identity “Visual Identity” (Davison, 2013). Yet, if one looks at (fig.5.), it would be possible to see how media can reidentify a modern building and introduce it in different format and context. In this 29 | P a g e
picture, the social layer has been blended within the iconic building to show that there is always a new story to be told when the building is seen from a different perspective. Hence, its message is read differently within different social groups what makes it possible for identity to be every time reproduced.
Fig.5. The iconic City office tower is now high-rise housing.
Burlington house (fig.6.) is another good example of London’s architecture during the seventieth and early eighteenth century. Now, it is known as the Royal Academy home for most Londoners. The building’s architecture is inspired by the Roman Palladian architecture. On his travels around Rome, Richard Boyle 3rd earl of Burlington, was charmed by Italy’s classical buildings. He studied the work and the drawings of the sixteenth century Italian architect, Andrea Palladio. Then, in his
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return to Britain, he was determined to use Palladio’s designs as a model for the contemporary British architecture.
Fig.6. Courtyard of Burlington House and facade of Royal Academy of Arts, London Photo © Alys Tomlinson
Taking a slight view of the building it can clearly be seen how symbols and signs of foreign architectural culture has been introduced and used to identify London’s architecture during the first half of the eighteenth century. However, the building is still one of the most significant buildings in Piccadilly area. People can perfectly refer to it as one of the buildings that constitute London’s architectural identity. From this perspective, it can be argued that London’s historical buildings were inspired by other cultures which means that they had a global flare within them. Even through this kind of buildings reinterpret other culture’s ideas, people were, and still are, able to read their city identity within them.
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It could also be the case that, in recent times with the power of visual media historical buildings can still be updated and reintroduced into society under a different context (movie, advert…). As to consider the two cases, it could be argued that architectural identity was in the past portrayed through spatial/image relations. However, in contemporary societies space becomes multidimensional and the power of image is what feeds the construct and the production of the “real” identity. Just as Baudrillard pointed (1983b:148) “in this Hyper reality the real and the imaginary are confused”
IV.
Conclusion Today, it is difficult to argue that historical buildings constitute and reflect place
identity. Because, as it was illustrated above, identity is not fixed or a context dominated notion. Identification could be found within different trends of architecture. In fact, each architecture has introduced and produced new dimension to identity. Thus, it can be said that architectural identity is multidimensional and has so many layers that could never be achieved. Because, the architectural oeuvre can constantly produce and reproduce meanings that sometimes contradicts with each other. My analysis have suggested that in in postmodern societies, the role of architecture in the construct of identity is predominant. Yet the messages that an architectural product conveys is much more communicated through visuals. Images are becoming remotely powerful than ever. However, it is worth saying that even architecture has always managed to produce knowledge for identity under different contexts and discourses. Thus, one can suggest that in the recent time architecture helps the construct of identity through the
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production of images just as the same way it did in the past through signs and symbols such as ornaments. As it was shown in this study, London is a city where identity has always been given a global dimension throughout history. No doubt, London’s architectural identity is distinctive, however, it is never subject to a particular style of architecture. As power is continuously generating a certain knowledge of what identity for which society, people will always find their own ways of identification through social relations. Thus, it can be concluded that the concept of identity, whether architectural or cultural, is complex and intricate to the extent that it could never be threatened by globalisation because its formation process never ends.
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Reference list Adam R (2008) Globalisation and architecture: The challenges of globalisation are relentlessly shaping architecture’s relationship with society and culture. The Architectural Review 223(1332):74-77. Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, Polity Press, 1991, p64 Baudrillard, J. 1983b: simulations. New York: Semiotext (e.) C. Hamnett (2003) Unequal City: London in the Global Arena. London: Routledge, 292 pp. Davison, J. (2013). The visual organization: Barthesian perspectives. In Bell, E., Schroeder, J., & Warren, S. (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Visual Organization. Featherstone, M. Scott, L, and Robertson, R. eds. Global Modernities. London: sage publication. Frieland Roger et Boden Deirdre (ed.), Now Here, Space, time and modernity, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1994. Forshaw, Alec and Ainsworth, Alan, New City: Contemporary Architecture in the City of London, Merrell Pub 2013. Foucault, M. (1977b) ‘Nietzsche, genealogy, history’, in Language, Counter-memory, Practice, (ed). D.B.Bouchard, Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture, co-author, Polity and Stanford University Press, 1999. Harvey, David (1993), cities of dreams, Guardian 15 October, pp. 18-19. Imperialism and anti-imperialism in Eurocentric liberal international theory’, in Tim Dunne and Marjo Koivisto (eds.), Liberalism and World Order: Internationalism, Imperialism and Integration (2012), (co-authored with Martin Hall).
Jameson, F. 1984: ‘post modernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism’, New Left Review, 53-92. Jameson, F. 1983: ‘Postmodernism and the consumer society’, in N. foster (ed.), Postmodern culture, Seattle: Bay View.
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Jonathan Bell and staff (13 October 2007). "The Swiss Re building". guardian.ac.uk. King, Anthony D. 1995. THE TIMES AND SPACES OF MODERNITY (OR WHO NEEDS POSTMODERNISM?). In: Featherstone, M. Scott, L, and Robertson, R. eds. Global Modernities. London: sage publication, pp. 109-119. Massey, D. B. (1994).Space, place, and gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Massey, D. 2007. World City. Cambridge: Polity Press. Maxwell Fry, Art in a Machine Age, Methuen 1969, p133. Modelski G, Principles of World Politics. New York: Free Press [Don Mills: Collier-Macmillan], 1972, pp. x, 370. Nemetz, P., L. and Christensen, S., L. (1996): The challenge of cultural diversity: harnessing a diversity of views to understand multiculturalism, Academy of Management Review, 440. Oxford English Dictionary. Modern, n. Third edition, September 2002; online version October 2013. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/120618; accessed 09 October 2011 S. Lash and J. Friedman (eds), Modernity and Identity, Oxford: Blackwell, Swyngedouw, E. 1997b: excluding the other. The contested production of a new “Gestalt of scale” and the politics of marginalisation. In R. lee and J.Wills (eds), Geographies of Economies, London. Tomlinson, John (2003) “globalisation and cultural identity”, in D. Held and Anthony McGrew (eds), The Global Transformations Reader. Cambridge: Polity Press, p.269-277. Toulouse, Chris (1991) ‘Thatcherism, class politics and urban development in London’, Critical Sociology 81(1): 55–76. Zeigler, D., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Brunn, S. “World Urban Development.” In Brunn, S., HaysMitchell, M., and Zeigler, D., (eds), Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development, Rowman and Littlefield, (2012).
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Appendix 1: Questionnaire form
Questionnaire – identity and globalisation in the city of London
1. Do you think that the city of London has an identity?
2. Do you identify easily in the city of London?
3. Which one of these characteristics about London you identify with the most? (tick one or more) 1) Architecture 2) Public transportation 3) Food 4) Shopping malls 5) Cc TV 6) Other (please state) _________________________________________ 4. What picture correspond the most to London identity?
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5. Do you think there should be more global buildings in London?
If you have the choice to remove one of these from London which one would you choose? (Tick one or more)
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
The shard HSBC Tower A Victorian house in the corner House of parliaments None of these Other (please state)_________________________________________
6. Do you see London’s identity in modern buildings like the Gherkin?
7. Where in London do you feel there is much more identity? (Tick one or more) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Financial district The Thames bank sides Neighbourhood Suburbs Other (please state)_________________________________________
8. How would you feel if cities all over the world be similar to London? Totally agree. I agree. I don’t want to see cities becoming similar to London. I disagree with this idea. 9. Do you agree with the idea of “Global London in Global World”? Agree strongly. Agree on the whole. I have no opinion. I disagree on the whole. I disagree strongly.
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