Uncertainty urban space/ Play/ Transformation

Uncertainty urban space / Play / Transformation Yundi Wei

Contents

Introduction

3

Urban conditions and everyday life

5

Insurgent urban space

12

Space of uncertainty

30

Play as energy

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Design /play / urban space

44

Conclusions

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References

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Bibliography

57

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Introduction

The city must be a place of waste, for one wastes space and time; everything mustn’t be foreseen and functional‌ the most beautiful cities were those where festivals were not planned in advance, but there was a space where they could unfold.

(Lefebvre 1987)

Figure 0.1 Wetland besides Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

The first time I find it is fascinating about the leftover space is when I visited the the wetland near Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, China. The museum is located at Pudong district of shanghai. Compared to the historic city center of Puxi , it is a district home to the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The museum is surrounded by skyscrapers and high modern buildings. Thus the unintentional natural and horizontal wetland space is so fascinating in the center of the high density vertical modern urban area.

The wetland at the beginning was a farm. When the museum was planned, it is became the part of the parking lot. Woods was planted to isolate the place from the street and the two original agriculture lake was maintained inside. Without management since then about 10 years, the place gradually become a natural wetland and home for birds and even small mammals which are rarely see in urban area in shanghai.

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At the beginning, like a tourist , the mainly pleasure is a combination of discovering and feeling new experience. Once stepped into the wetland on the pebble and sand path created by footprint track, the traffic noise slowly diffuse and I could hear the birds gathering in nearby bushes. It is like a kind of Shiwaitaoyuan1 (A Haven of Peace and Happiness) where could escape from the normal life.

Once go deep into, then the social phenomena happens here makes me have another feeling about the same space. Every tree have been marked and simple botanical information as tree name been show in the tree label. Small pieces of human trash hidden in the bush makes me conjecturing the story behind the trash. It is like a kind of murder scene, the objects here like evidence shows human trace and the story behind.

Different activities pops up at the urban wild help understanding the space beyond observe the place. Several nature education communities organize child nature education trip here to observe the plants. Workers in science and technology museum found it’s ecology value and analyze the spices. Volunteers are gathered here twice a year to clean the lake and weeds in order to protect the wetland.

Companies around organize quality outdoor activities here. All the events happened here are spontaneous, and the phenomenon images laminated together to form the backstage stories of this urban wild.

These multi activities shows the different social relations and interactions. Unlike the everyday life in well-designed places in the city, people build another social relation in this uncertainty space. If we see the everyday life like a big performance of everyone in city, these place is the back stage2 of people’s everyday life. It contains big value and energy of everyday life.

1 Tao Yuanming, a famous writer of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 420), wrote the well-known essay Peach-Blossom Spring. In it he tells a story which goes like this: A fisherman happened to come upon a place called Peach-Blossom Spring. Squeezing through a cave, he found a village, the residents of which were descendants of refugees from the Qin Dynasty. It was a paradise isolated from the outside world, without exploitation or oppression, and everybody living and working in peace and contentment. The fisherman left the villagers and went home. But he could never find the place again.This idiom is derived from the above story, and is used to mean an isolated, ideal world.

2 Back stage is where performers are present but audience is not, and the performers can step out of character without fear of disrupting the performance. It is where facts suppressed in the front stage or various kinds of informal actions may appear. The back stage is completely separate from the front stage.No members of the audience can appear in the back. The actor takes many methods to ensure this.

When performers are in the back region, they are nonetheless in another performance: that of a loyal team member.

Back region is a relative term, it exists only in regards to a specific audience: where two or more people are present, there will almost never be a true 'back region’.

(Mathur, Dr. Vinita. "Retreat To The Backstage". humanenrich.com. Retrieved August 29, 2014.)

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Urban conditions and everyday life

A city is a large and permanent human settlement. (Kuper, A. and Kuper, J) and as typically seen as the engine of modern life. Cities are principally planned and designed to improve the work and other practicals, with even leisure space serving well-defined functions. We not only have business building to work and residential building to live, but also have restaurants where we could eat together with friends. But people not gather together only in cities to meet these basic physiological needs. And the motive behind people behavior in cities is more complex and multiple than the considerations in the design and plan.

Wirth famously defined the urban condition as ‚a relatively large, dense and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals’ (Wirth 1996) The expression misses the aspect of the time. Cities are not constant and fragmental as the planned past present and future, it is a inconstant dynamic process. And also the heart of the matter: the interactions among these individuals, which makes cities lively and attractive. These interactions becomes the part of cities’ history, stories and characters which creates the diversities of each city.

The multiple and complex reason that people are attracted to cities is shifted from the outcome of actions to the qualities to the experience itself. And the range of experience of everyday life is eager to newer, border ,multiple and personal.

Henri Lefebvre, Agnes heller, and the Situationist International are the guide of this theme. Their understanding of everyday life from both spacial and phenomenological aspect. They addressed upward critique of urbanism of contemporary society and downward understanding of everyday life of individuals.

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Urban conditions and everyday life

The city and everyday life Lefebvre and Heller focus upon the plane of individual actions and responses. The terrain of their investigation is that happen to ordinary people and what ordinary people do. The concept of everyday life defines a particular philosophical perspective on whatthe structure and content of urban life is. It provides a framework to understand various social activities and values relate to each other.

Heller addressed that everyday life is two kind of part. First is the changeable part along the history change, the variety and death couldn't influence human life. Another is the stable part. it is the indispensable foundation of human life. And the second part is the sense of this theme. Which she called ‚human condition‘.

Everyday life Lefebvre used include the full scope of social acts,in contrast to the ordered rationality of instrumentally productive work. It attempt embrace both concert experiences and conceptual abstractions. The city provides the opportunities for people to address their various needs by exploring new possibilities in life. These multiple needs not only the single functional complementary needs, but also contradictory.

Social needs… opposed and complementary … include the need for security and opening, the need for certainty and adventure, that of organization of work and of play, the need for predictable and unpredictable, of similarity and differences, of isolation and encounter, exchange and investments, of independence(even solitude) and communication, of immediate and long-term prospects.

The human being has the need… to see, to hear, to touch, to taste and the need to gather these perceptions in a ‚world‘. To these… can be added… the need for creativity activity… for information, symbolic, the imaginary and play. Through these specified needs lives and survives a fundamental desire of which play, sexuality, physical activities such as sport, creative activity, art and knowledge are particular expressions and moments, which can more or less overcome the fragmentary division of tasks.

(Lefebvre 1996) Lefebvre lists numerous oppositions. These contradictory shows needs served by urban life are not purely normative, and these needs are not target merely in a coordinated and efficient manner.

Uncertainty and disorganization are just as important as its opposites.

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Urban conditions and everyday life

He states ‚ambiguity‘ is a category of ‚everyday life‘ which refusing the idea that scope of different social needs could be catered or even categorized( Lefebvre 1991).

Urban conditions offers people a large range of everyday activities, possibilities of multiple practices could be occurs not only motive by economic needs, but also by other needs such as play. The diversity of lifestyle emerges also through the process of meeting the different needs.

Heller define everyday life as a ‚reproduce of individuals‘, which include the both produce part and non-produce part in urban sense.These Non-produce not only serve the production of social relations, but also a part to increase the possibilities of everyday life.These non-produce such as leisure, aesthetics and urbanism.

The individuals in everyday life ,person objectivize himself in many forms . She addressed how individual take part in to shape the milieu around him by social relations in everyday activities.

In everyday life the person objectivize himself in many forms. He shapes his world (his immediate environment) and in this way he shape himself… we have done no more than define everyday activities as the process of growing into a ,ready-made’ world, the internal process of accommodation to worlds’ requirements… The ‚everyday‘ not includes not only what I learned from my father, but what I teach my son as well. I myself am the representative of a world into which others are born. My own personal experience of life is bound to play a part in the way I ‚make to grow‘, that is, rear others by representing the ‚ready-made‚ world to them: when I relay my world to others, I am expressing my experience of it; when I ‚convey‘ my world. I am at the same time objectivize my self who once appropriated this world. And this happens not only in education but in all transmission of experience in all forms of counsel- in fact, every time one consciously sets an example. In my relationship, in my reactions to it, in the possible ‚breakdown‘ of everyday activity - in all of this we are dealing with objected processes.

(Heller 1984:6 ) There are two values of everyday life . First is the use value, which people learn the skills and knowledge to apply to the material world.

And from the above explanation of Heller, The second layer value shapes the environment around by experience exchanging with KISD

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others. Which we could it change value. It is the exchange value of everyday life.

All these activities happened in their specific situation. We couldn't viewed the activities in isolation.

The play and free time As there are use value and exchange value in everyday life and city.

This leads the opposite definition of everyday life are what remains of social experience after specialized activities, in particular instrumental labor, have been disregarded(Ball 1987).

Considering the time dimension, the hours of life become fragmented, isolated into pledged time for labor, compulsive time which is filled by demands of social reproduction, and free time which is used for ‚leisure‘(Quentin Stevens 2007). Lefebvre focus on mainly upon the free time activities, cause these are something more than obligation and instrumentality, and hence it reveals something of border character, objectives and needs of life. Industrial production and consumption meet certain needs, but they also create more needs. The leisure activities in fragmented time of everyday like reveals more opportunities and diversities of lifestyle, it represents the heterogeneous of individuals and cities.

An occupation to which the workers can devote himself of his own free will, outside of professional, familial and social needs and obligations, in order to relax, to be entertained or to become more cultivated.

(Lefebvre 1991) The characters of play include a major needs of individuals in everyday life — escape. Escape from working, from basic life track. It contains potential energy of breaking the routine and across the border. Escape can be mental, which people mentally distract from the everyday life. Watching a movie , listening music could all be part of mental escape. Escape can be spatial, which means physically distance from everyday life space. Most times the two types of escape is complementary and simultaneously. If we based on time division, have a 10 mins tea time between business meeting, jogging for 45 mins in the morning at the park near home, traveling for 5 days in another city when having vacation could all be both mental and physical escape. Different place and the space around offers people different opportunities and new choices, motivation of escape also KISD

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influenced by it , then leads to the multi actions and reflect experiences.

The way to achieve escalation is distraction, which links back to Benjamin’s phenomenological observation that city is both experienced instate of distraction and also distracts people from teleological actions and prescribed meaning(Quentin Stevens). It isn’t a typical action type but contains emotion and actions.It is more like contents than category, thus analyzing the playfulness of everyday life activities can be more meaningful than categorize the action as play or not.

Different forms of leisure in response to different needs in everyday life. It is not direct and merely meet the needs and condition that designed and seed by Capitalism. The actions occurred activity also passively to meet multiple needs in urban condition. The form of leisure shapes the function of the already-defined urban space, but instrumental space at the same time shapes the form of the leisure activities. As the Situationist international argues, ‚once the functions are established, they are followed by play‘ (Constant 1997). leisure appears as non-everyday in everyday. We cannot step beyond everyday … There is no escape. And yet we wish to have the illusion of escape as near to hand as possible. An illusion not entirely illusory, but constituting a ‚world‘ both apparent and real … quite different from everyday world yet as opened and as closely dovetailed into everyday as possible… Thus is established a complex of activities and passivities, of forms of sociability and communication… they contain within themselves their own spontaneous critique of the everyday. They are that critique in so far as they are other than everyday life, and yet they are in everyday life, they are alienation…Thus leisure and work and ‚private life‘ make up a dialectical system, a global structure.

(Lefebvre 1991) Play replaces the separation of forced working time and negative free time, the Situationist International argues. The issues of play actually is the the issue of reorganization of free time. As called ‚Unitary Urbanism‘3, as understood as the liberation of play, the play in this sense contains democracy meaning. Leisure can be also seen as a expression of free will, contains the seeds of democracy . It is a

3 Unitary urbanism (UU) was the critique of status quo "urbanism", employed by the Lettrist International and then further developed by the Situationist International between 1953 and 1960. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Unitary_urbanism KISD

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willing to cross the borders of structure life track. Although it could be first be without unconscious, but once understand and analysis deeply into these actions, the essential reason will explored.

The spectacles and situations As space is a special form of governing, commodity is a real illusion, Lefebvre argues in The Production of Space, spectacles are the expression of it.(1991) The already-designed functions and the infrastructure in material instrument space are the specifications of urban space, as any forms of governing contains already-set specifications. Representations of space contains mass images of individuals in the urban space, and ‚the spectacle is not a collection of images;rather,it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.‘ (Guy-Ernest Debord, The society of the spectacle ) Debord argues, spectacle have a character than only few people take part in the ‚performance‘, most people watch. Some how as Internet develops till now, the background kind of change. To some extent information share and exchange more efficient and boarder, spectacles can be participated by more individuals, even shifting from passive acceptation to initiate join and even have the right and power to choose spectacles.

In order to dissipate the illusion that spectacles covers the essential part of life by mass commodity, Debord argues people should be critical about everyday life and understand the real situation. By understanding the situation, people can understand the regular pattern and essence of life, to build a real life style.

Experience through space It is typically understood in Maxian critique through political share in their characterization of urban life that the physical space and the actions happened in it are separate. Like a performance, the space is seen as the stage where the actions occurred, the individuals who are participates of the actions are actors on the stage. Public space and the events happened there are epiphenomena of society. Lefebvre argues that all forms of social experience are constituted in and through space. It is in urban spaces that the scope of what people ‚ experience’ as ‚everyday life‘ continually develops. (Lefebvre 1991) KISD

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Lefebvre’s famously ‚conceptual traid‘ identifies distinct aspects of the experience of urban space as a social milieu. This theory could be the main method guide to read the urban space.

Spacial practices includes all the material social interactions occurring in space to produce and reproduce a particular social formation.

These practices are the actually occurred actions. They have direct physical and social consequences. It is the first layer as looking at the actual practices of analyzing the space and phenomena occurs in the space. As an audience simply record the stage, actors, performances objectively.

Representation of Space are the social codes through which people discuss and understand material space and spacial practices. It is the second layer oas understanding the space and spacial practices by people. It is people’s perceptions of reality in everyday life and filtered by their understanding. These conventions include names and descriptions of places. Different individuals have personal image in their mind which could describe the same object space and phenomena. How they understand, believe and come to know the objects. It is have the character of Heterogeneity. Questionnaire and participate visualization could be use to observe this theme.

Representational spaces ‚overlays physical space, making symbolic use of its objects‘ (Lefebvre 1991) Mass imagery of representation of space put together and map the homogeneity create the symbolic space. These imagining contains real site, as well as mental inventions of new possibilities for spacial practice. It is the third layer as abstracting and associating.

Most critics of urban space examine merely the first layer of space practices, but Lefebvre extend beyond the material space and link to the social relations. As the critique of the Situationist International of urban practice. Practice always occurs in site and should be analyzed in the correspondent specific situation.

Experience in urban condition couldn't merely descriptor abstractly by simple words such as ‚public‘, ‚open space‘ . Such words both lacks the social power and relations behind. And what life in urban space really like is far more complex .

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Insurgent urban space

This chapter focus on the multiple activities remade urban spaces, and the situations where they happened. As more and more people shifts the interests from the outcome to the experience of the process of urban life, both professors and amateurs get involves different actions in urban space, not only take part in and analysis, but also create more practices. Along the practices, not only the materials space changed ,but the representation of the space also changed, there occurs more new represent urban spaces. That is re-make the urban space through practices and at the same time space offer new function or through the function changing process.

If we divide the urban space physically and simply as public space and private space, the public space holds most of these practices and shows the public value of urban space for citizens and strangers in cities. But there is a gap between public space in theories and reality.

Some defined public space couldn't meet the needs of people as a public space, and the space in reality where meets the needs of theoretical characters of public space which sometimes not the public space in cities. The reality is more complex. Not every group agree this mere „public-private“ axis. As Gloria Levitas, writing about an „ anthropology and sociology of the street,“ tells us, the street with boundaries that separate interior and exterior, private from public space does not exist in hunting and gathering societies. The compound of encampment or village itself, which seems to function as „ a field of interaction,“ is not defined as a series of destinations in linear system…The absence of the street in circular villages appears to reflect no strongly felt need for boundaries between public and private behavior.

(Levitas 1978: 228) Focusing on practices and actions, the urban space where real perform as public realm can’t be defined strictly depends on merely physical instruments and materials.

These practices create temporary actions which some are intently, while some are unconsciously. There is nothing really permanent Peter bishop KISD

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argues, the intention of making temporary could be a standard to distinguish the temporary permanent practices space.

These practices all over the world, some are happened before and re understood currently in the sense of insurgent public space, some are occur in contemporary cities. Different people studies them from different perspectives, some call them as pop-up actions and create a pop-up city, some see those actions as city rebel, some see as temporary city…Whatever how we define these spaces, we should know that these practices are remaking urban place and cities’ lifestyle, and furthermore those practices have the potentials showing the essential core of everyday life and reproduction of individuals.

Public Space: democracy and political expression Public space as a central assumption permeating the whole chapter is that ,Even not every groups subscribes this „reality“, it is meaningful to distinguish between different types of physical space and the „public - private“ axis constitutes one sort of meaningful distinction.

Generations of urban theorists: from Lewis Mumford to Jane Jacobs to Done en Massey have suggested that the place where cities get „ remade“ is in public rather than private sphere.

There are too many theories have various definitions about what is public space. But here comes a rough consensus, at least theoretically, about public space. Public space are generally understood more accessible ,whatever the ownership than private space (e.g., Benn and Gaus 1983; Franck and Paxson 1989). In this sense of accessible, is both physically and virtually compared to the private space.

A public place is „accessible or visible to all members of the community“, refers to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of

the English Language (Merriam 1971). A public space is „open to all persons… open to the view of all“ and stands in sharp contrast to private space, which is „not open or accessible to general public“, refers to the Random House Dictionary of English Language.

However the reality is not the same as the ideal theory of public space. The study of Bradley L Garret, shows the emerging reality of „ privatization of cities’ public space is escalating “ happens in UK. „ Just because it has benches and fountains doesn't mean it is public KISD

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space, as land in UK capital is transferred into private hands, can you tell which is which“ he argues. „Last year, when I tried to walk a section of the Thames Path with Jack Shenker and Anna Minton, we found many underutilized parts of the trail – including one that a building security guard asked for identification to access.

Hostile architecture intimidates people away from access, poor signage misdirects them. “ (Bradley L Garret ) In this case, the ownership have big impact of the openness of public space. When the place is controlled by some private poverty, the real regulation and characters behind the public space alters to more private which called privatization. The security in the story is the representation of the power, and create the barrier exclusive public or part of public actions. In this situation, when a place is controlled by big power, no matter we meet direct of the power of not, we human-beings tend to control our behaviors automatically.

When space is controlled, and especially when public unclear about the legal or acceptable boundaries of activity are, we tend to police ourselves, to monitor our behavior and to limit our interactions, especially after embarrassing confrontations with security.

(Bradley J Garret ) Even it have not altering ownership, the place so called public space sometimes are not for public but more an expression of political power. Under medieval monarchy in West, public space was where political power was staged, displayed, and legitimized(Henaff and Strong 2001). In temporary cities, the public space shift from the power control to the power of people themselves, which can be see a democracy in space field. But the reality is not quite shift although various theories have been published long time ago. Public space today is still in the process of function shifting.

The typical and extreme example is Tian’an Men Square in Beijing, which is the central plaza infant of Zi jin chen, the cultural power centre of China. Giant squared concrete surface, axial symmetric, around by powerful governmental buildings, even it is physically open from different orientations, the site, elements and scale of the space already express political power not to mention the everyday regular flag raising ceremony . Tian’ An Men square definitely a public space in Beijing theoretically , but the truth seems the contrary in temporary KISD

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cities. To what extent it is for public or what could public do in the square, in spite of taking tourist pictures ,looking and walking through it is the question that we think about. These public spaces that do not implement the function of public space have different names by different theories , such as Dead public space or Lost public space.

Figure 2.1 Tian’An Men Square in Beijing photo from website: http:// blog.nuamps.at.n orthwestern.edu/ 2009/06/ tiananmensquare-20thanniversary-2/

The reason of these constrains behind can be multiple and various.

Here is one reason that explain the barrier in official public space, cities from Micheal Foucault.

He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constrains of power; he makes them plays spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles, he becomes the principle of his subjection.

(Michel Foucault) The outer behaviors of constrains of people in this situation creates the virtual barrier space between people and public space. In the one hand behaviors create the final inside barrier ; on the other hand, the element of place create the characters of space, then influence the feeling of people towards it.

On the contrary, In the sense of public realm, the control of public space shows the political democracy meaning through space practices. There emerges practices that shows public power to protest the politic control (whatever intently or accidentally by their willings). Those practices can be small as friends having lunch together on the stairs in front the state library, can be join a KISD

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community garden plant vegetables together every week in the neighborhood park near home, even can be big as the movement of Wall Street that occupied the street to protest.

People who occupy Wall Street that bring tents to live here and dance, play music, eating food together, cook together…Gathering together because of the same goals, but multiple actions happens here spontaneously. Only from the space and everyday life perspective, I will see it as a liberty of everyday life, remaking space through temporary movements, in the on hand expressed the power of public.

Pop-up, temporary urbanism, city rebelling, guerrilla urbanism, pops…different names are created to describe and define those actions. They have their own footing and standard, but at least there are one element in common, that no matter the willing of the practices, they all enhance the possibilities and diversities of everyday life and power to remake the cities of everyday. In this chapter I cities the Pops as the word to describe those practices. …the freedom to make and remade our cities and ourselves is … one of the most precious yet most neglect of our human rights…

(David Harvey)

Figure 2.2 Occupy Wall Street, Lower Manhattan.

Photo by Kadambari Baxi https://placesjournal.org/ article/occupy-whatarchitecture-can-do/

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Although Pops not only occurs in public space, but the space serve the possibilities to practices actually meets the need of public, which Hakim Bey calls „temporary autonomous zones“. (The deployment of teat on Lexicon Tower is a good example. ) We might eating lunch on a private park bench, the consequences of multiplying and expanding Pops affects everything from our personal psyche to our ability to protest. Bradley L Garret In different cultures , the definition and description of public space have different meanings. In West, the typical public plaza, in front of the church and surrounded by buildings , several road link to the open air plaza, become a gathering space for people. Easy to access from the road around , easy to seen as there is a landmark—church, enough open air space for different actions, and buildings around offers infrastructures as shops and restaurants. All these space elements create a gathering public space for people doing various actions here. From open weekly air market to spontaneous entertainers, all those actions happened here at the same time define the plaza as public space.

Referring to the well-known urbanist Camillo Sitte. His most famous work City Planning according to Artistic Principles is still seen as relevant today as it was when published in 1889 while being written over 120 years ago. City Planning according to Artistic Principles maintains that the key element of successful city planning is the plaza or public square. There exists a context and history of use in these public spaces which make them vital to cities.

Figure 2.3 Study of Medieval Plazas KISD

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In recent western democracies, public space plays a important role.

It is a public stage to express various movement mostly by citizens themselves. While travelling to Dusseldorf recently, there have been a group of people gathering together on the grass in park along the river, gave speech and have vendors to provide food and booklets about their politic opinions. Aside the politic core of the movement, food and play of everyday life occurs naturally besides it.

In Asia, the illustration is quite different. In many Asian cities, public space have been synonymous with space that are representing and controlled by state. In contrast, the everyday and more vibrant urban

Figure 2.4 DaFang Alley, Lilong in Shanghai http://travel.sina.com.cn/ news/ 2014-01-22/1317245135 _2.shtml

life tends to occur in backstreets and alleyways, away from the official public domain. Shanghai’s lilong4 as an example, which is a the back alley of traditional residential zones. In order to meet the needs of everyday life of people in residential zones more convenient and cheap compare to the designed shops, commoners doing small business in Lilong, such as breakfast serving, hair-cut, shoeshine clean-ears. Various vendors of small businesses create public space of everyday life, which is not in the domain stage of cities but at the back of alleys. Commercial actions gathers people live around, and then despite the commercial actions, residential use the space as a communicate place leisures of everyday occurs naturally,such as playing Chinese chess and playing instrument like Erhu5. Overtimes

4

A longtang ( lòngtáng, Shanghainese: longdang) is a lane in Shanghai and, by extension, a community centered on a lanes or several interconnected lanes. It is sometimes called lilong ( ) Frommer's Shanghai Day By Day Page 162 Graham Bond - 2011 1912 "1917 China's first shopping mall, the Sincere Department Store, Lilong, or Longtang Li means “neighborhood,” and long means “alley.”"

5 The erhu (Chinese: ; pinyin: èrhú) is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "southern fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle". (http://www.philmultic.com/home/instruments/erhu.html) KISD

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these small businesses and urban leisures occupy the space and become an important part of the vibrant everyday life.

Today, although multiculturalism is more widely acknowledged, the historic bias continues. Immigrants and refuges moves into another country and the public space for them as a entrance and chance to get into the local culture and everyday life. There are more diversity of people who live in the city together and public space is the one of the approach to meet the needs of democracy, although current public space is not meet all the needs of all segments of public.

Insurgent public space : everyday struggles and more possibilities

The idea of public space have never been guaranteed. It has only been won through concerted struggle.

Public space‌is the only way that right to public space can be maintained and only way that social justice can be advanced (Mitchell 2003) Public space is always in some sense, in a state of emergence, never complete and always contested.

(Watson 2006) In those ideas towards public space, in the sense of democracy, they define the space to be public or not based on the final results. No matter who own the place or what the characters and space elements of the material space, the only standard to exam the space to be public or not is to see whether it exerts the meaning and function and meets the need for the public. And the only way to exams the exertion is to see whether there are public actions of everyday by individuals and group in cities.

That is, those struggle practices delimit and define the public space through social relationships. Simultaneously, practices reshape and remake the materials space. To a everyday level, citizens initiates and informal activities have created other new uses and forms of public space, and by altering the functions of the space, they achieve to

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make a new public space. Those process can be seen an kind of expression of dĂŠtournement 6 in urban life.

Here I address an example in Insurgent Public Space (Jeffrey Hou). Every Sunday, Filipino workers transform the ground floor of HSBC building in Hong Kong into a community gathering place. From a formal and regulated space, the ground floor becomes as a gathering space for communicate of Filipino immigrants in Hong Kong. As a space designer, the open space of first floor is a traditional and common measure of architect design, which requires more openness and publicness of the first floor. But in reality, compared to the power of control, here HSBC express the power, individuals always behaviors more polite and limit their abilities. Only through this actions of Filipino, the actual possibilities of the space is expressed. Only through the practices the possibilities could be reveals. While searching for more information of this actions, there appears a lot blog articles and news that seems so surprised to this action, and call the tower as new community tower. People surprise became the behavior is not so common and normal in everyday life, the actions show how limit our temporary imagination of using a space which is belong to people in cities and show the virtual barrier between people and materials space.

Figure 2.6 HSBC Tower https:// runstadfellows.wordpress .com/2011/03/20/hsbctower-the-newcommunity-center/

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In general it can be defined as a variation on previous work, in which the newly created work has a meaning that is antagonistic or antithetical to the original. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DĂŠtournement#Definition) KISD

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Despite the occupied and meets the specific needs of one specific group, space could also be transformed by different individuals through there everyday life. In this situation, different individuals bring different functions into the same space and create diversity of public space through everyday life. Along the trail of Ubann in Cologne (Germany), there remains some disorder space formed by the surrounds and the train trail. The site at Vogelsanger Str 231 is one of those spaces. The vacant space is in the plan of construction in 5 years, and now it is empty and disordered. But it doesn’t mean it is a dead place, in the contrary it serves different public activities by different spontaneous groups and individuals. Street food festivals holds here regularly, one community garden based at here, indoor flea market holds here every Friday in vacant building on the site‌ Besides these transforms of groups, citizens live around take advantages of this space as well. In my observation, a handful of girls gather here doing golf together as a before wedding party for their bride friend a boy walks the dog on the peak of a slope heaped by construction sands and pebbles besides the trial, interesting thing is that the slope is bartered by loosen fences, but obviously, the teenager doesn't feel and take this physical barrier seriously.

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Figure 2.8 Community garden

Figure 2.9 A boy walked his dog on the sand dune

Figure 2.10 People going to the flea market

Figure 2.7 Golf-playing KISD

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Compared to the virtual barrier mentioned before in official public space, the real physical barrier in these lost space seems doesn't work. In contrary to the reason causes the barrier in official public space mentioned before, we can assume the reason of accessible of those space can be the lost of control hinted by the space environment and information surrounded.

In spite of the feature of ordered quality, the feature of chaos always shows the loosen officially upward control of the space. Unfinished infrastructures, broken chairs, anonymous graffiti on the remained walls and surface of building… All those elements reflects the loosen of control, and can be seen as the information quality of space environment, which not only contains physical material information but virtual overlapping information through time by individuals who influence the space in everyday life here.

This quality of space forms an representation space of disorder, lost, but also diverse.In those spaces people was evokes various emotions and different willing and motivation to have the possibilities and little obstructions, both physical and mental, to re-make the space.

Here I address two typical example. The Tower David is a wellknown and typical examples which expresses how fascinating the space can be re-made and re-organized by individuals themselves through chaotic process. How the space transformed to meets the real needs of people in cities through the practices of everyday life struggles.

Figure 2.11 The unfinished 45 Storey Tower of David is the world’s tallest slum http://news.buzzbuzzhome.com/ 2013/10/venezuela-tower-ofdavid.html

After an economic collapse a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, Venezuela went unfinished in 1994 and uninhabited, until 2007, when the city’s homeless began moving in. It is not about better or good using strategies of abundant space, it is merely derived by the basic needs of living of homeless Venezuelans. This starting is along with KISD

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negative news of violence,drugs, murder,rape and death. Criminals and dangerous gradually become one of the representation of the Tower David replaced the failed banking system symbol.

Somehow, the meaning and understanding of this space, for people who lives inside of the towers seems more complex and beyond the simple symbolic view. The tower now becomes now the home around 3000 people. And people continue to move in creating their own world, homes, businesses and economy, even their own laws or regulations.

Residents access the tower by an attached parking garage.

Motorcycle taxis residents up to the first 10 floors. Families inhabits the first 28 floors, and there are no elevators in the tower. When people moved in, it is totally a construction site and still need inventions for living conditions. People who moved in renovate the place by.

It is more like a account process of move to resident to a new place and forms a village rather than the process of contemporary cities, at least in theories (developed city). But it is the reality and we still in the process and need to face it.

Figure 2.12 The building now is homed around 3000 peoplehttp:// www.dequalized.com/post/ 30657944154/why-shouldthe-majority-of-the-poor-incountries

The reason why I address it, we can see the process and solutions is not really good, although those space provide more opportunities, but yes, opportunities sometimes means bad opportunities. It is like an extreme example of loosen control compared to to tight controlled space.  

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Like we all known, things can be extreme left or right, the best situation always in the middle and with the pin of both sides. And the challenge is how can we find the right stand and in the one hand having control by design and plan and in the other hand serves more opportunities.

Here I address another example Les bouquinistesi, which can be seen as an interesting achievement of transforming space into more function through everyday struggles of people in cities.

Figure 2.13 Les bouquinistes in Paris https:// viviennemackie.files.word press.com/2007/10/ bouquin2.jpg

If we go back to the history, Les bouquinistes in Paris can be one successful examples shows how people transforms the public space into other functions or not merely change the functions, but adding more positive usage through struggles of everyday life in cities. Even back to the start of sixteen century there was not such concept called guerrilla urbanism, contingent urbanism, bottom-up urbanism, pop-up city or so on‌ Backing to the starting at 1500s and look through the history, the process of Les boutiquinstes can express one positive progress of public space transform via spontaneous temporary activities and then multiple participates and efforts till now a well-known permanent UNESCO world heritage site.

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1500s

Traveling book sellers begin setting up informal ‚Popup‘ shops along Senie.

1649

Book sellers banned at Poent Neufe, later reinstated

1789

‚Bouquiniste‘ appears in French dictionary

1859

City permits Bouquiniste at fixed points along Seine, regulates amount of space allowed, charge registration fee.

Box dimensions are fixed, regulated by city.

1930s

1993

Jacque Chirac signs law standardizing new box size

2007

Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site

2015

300,000 books, 900boxes, 240Sellers, along 3km of prime Senie real estate.

(information and data is from Internet)

There are two major reason that make it as an important example of insurgent activity orientate transformation. Looking from that moment, one is printing price, books are be produced on mass and spread to more societies that can reads. On the other hand, we still don’t have library, in this sense means the library open to public that anybody access to, not like the university library where normal citizens hard to access. In this point, people have the needs to read and touch the book, and automatically they are doing it at street, which is the main stage of everyday life in cities.

Through the process, from 1649 the library was banned, and was defined illegal. almost 100 years later the name was first showed in dictionary. In those period time, they still pop up those book shops, which can be seen an continued struggles. Owed to their non stop fight, and society changing, it finally becomes an legal infrastructure in 1859. At that time, professors like urban planners and designers then take over and participate in regulate and making the space. All these small steps took almost 200 years effort from bottom to up, from grassroots to city.

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Struggles of Les bouquinistes do make the change from bottom up, but at the same time the time and other cost through is also slow and huge considering the society background at that time several hundreds years ago.

This can be an good references in history when we looks at the insurgent public space movement today. There are numerous practices all over the world, especially leading by Europe and United States. Compared to the phenomena create by people in cities, today the people who participate in those practices is more multiples, they are not only the the citizens who live in the neighborhood, the artists who critic about the phenomena, the businessman who want to make more profit….Designers ,urban planners, government… those solution and regulation making group turns their conventional roles and join in the process and even at the beginning of the struggles.

In this background, the cost can be highly reduced, the process can be more efficient and controlled and the results can be cautiously made. It even don’t merely willing to be permanent result, liking being an UNESCO heritage. The final result can be a mass inclusive set of temporary activities themselves. Park(ing) Day can be a smart and successful example.

Original PARK(ing) project in 2005 transformed a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in an area of San Francisco that the city had designated as lacking public open space. The great majority of San Francisco’s downtown outdoor space is dedicated to movement and storage of private vehicles, while only a fraction of that space is allocated to serve a broader range of public needs. … The PARK(ing) project was created to explore the the range of possible activities for this short-term lease, and to provoke a critical examination of the values that generate the form of urban public space.

Original PARK stood in place for two hours – the term of the lease offered on the face of the parking meter. When the meter expired, we rolled up the sod, packed away the bench and the tree, and gave the block a good sweep, and left. A few weeks later, as a single iconic photo of the intervention traveled across the web, Rebar began receiving requests to create the PARK(ing) project in other cities. Rather than replicate the same installation, we decided to promote the project as an “open-source” project, and created a how-to manual to empower people KISD

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to create their own parks without the active participation of Rebar. And thus “PARK(ing) Day” was born.

PARK(ing) Day …continues to expand to include interventions and experiments well beyond the basic “tree-bench-sod” park typology first modeled by Rebar. In recent years, participants have built free health clinics, planted temporary urban farms, produced ecology demonstrations, held political seminars, built art installations, opened free bike repair shops and even held a wedding ceremony! All this in the context of this most modest urban territory – the metered parking space.

And this is the true power of the open-source model: organizers identify specific community needs and values and use the event to draw attention to issues that are important to their local public…supporting the original vision of PARK(ing) Day: to challenge existing notions of public urban space and empower people to help redefine space to suit specific community needs. (http://parkingday.org/about-parking-day/)

Figure 2.14 Park(ing) Day http://parkingday.org/ about-parking-day/

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I see this an successful innovate practice of transforming public space into more possibilities through struggles and beyond struggles.

There are three main reasons that make it as a significant example.

The first one is the professional people start the temporary experiment social design project intentionally, The motive is beyond needs of everyday life, more important have the democracy meaning to critique the already-defined public space— parking lot . By this means, it can be see a purposeful and organized social design practices. The second, not only one temporary action, they create a basic model and to challenge and try more possible public function that everyone could participate and follow, especially targeting to parking lot. They promote a designed frame and model, lowering the threshold for normal citizens, creating the access to encourage people to create various contents by themselves. In addition, based on various online social media, they create a platform for the whole movement. You can go to the website not only to see the projects and join them, but also can create and make use of them such as have a community group meeting through this practices, and then share to more people. The original transform of parking lot then have an deeper meaning and mass those temporary space form an virtual permanent social public space.

Design itself can be a product and experiences through spacial practices like this. And there are more similar project through design more possibilities in the public space to meets multiple needs of everyday life and experience of city life. Some of them are academic project and then apply to public and some like parking day is practice orientation project. One is design for practice , another one can be see design through practice. The second one have more motivate and the process open to public can be more easy and efficient get feedback to the process it self. 

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Space of uncertainty

Space is the physical container of various practices of everyday life in cities. There are various ways while categories urban space.

Receipting urban space is merely divided into as two parts: Private space and Public space (explained in Chapter 2.1 Urban Insurgent Space). The reality is complex. As noticed before, space can't be merely defined by physical criteria as ownership, those numerous actions happened in space can also affect the reality of uses of space.

This part try to show the urban margin, not only exist in the very physical urban conditions ,but looking at the spaces out of traditional public space where emerges numerous phenomenons in actual social fabric. Those space is outside the hierarchical organization of space, time and energy in current cities. The losing of control of those spaces, Instead, make it the breeding-bed and catalysts of multiple activities of everyday life for leisure and play, temporary living , social encounters out of regular working and residing.

This part is an attempt to study of uncertain urban space to rethink the position from which to intervene in the spatial practices that make up urban everyday life today. Despite the vertical position of the architect to roam the network of urban situations, it aims to develop research strategies geared towards spatial practice.

Phenomenons happen in certain space, but reality is more beyond physical three dimension space. In this case, I cities the idea of Space

of Uncertainty (Kenny Cupers & Markus Miessen, 2002) in which they attempt to investigate those according to three dimensions: Space, Time, Energy. Based on those rough aspect, I attempt to breakdown in further those phenomenon in the view of current space condition.

Here investigation is divided into three layers space: in-between spaces, transforming space, temporary autonomous space.

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Space: In-between space Architecture is always a foreseen process for future. Namely, architects like to foresee future identity. Through architectural representation process, firstly natural grounds transformed into sites, then desires added into vertical construction to objects, places are made where we assumes to live forever and though it is the best solution for people since then.

Architectural vision shift the ambiguous natural space into imagines of organization places. But since city is a dynamic process, there are numerous neglected inbetween space and place.

Here I investigates four types of space: Space Left Between, Space

Left Below, Space Left Above, Space Left Around, that being left over by well-defined building and facility. These left over space is the inverted space of defined construction where functions and identities are ambiguous.

Space Left Between: The space that pincer formed by vertical plane in horizontal plane. In urban context, vertical building walls often enclose very narrow spaces. Those irregular or narrow gap is often vacant and hard to use.

Figure 3.1 Utilization Concepts for inbetween-space in Berlin http://www.archiprix.org/ 2015/index.php? project=2843

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The example is a research of in-between-space in the Spandauer Vorstadt, Berlin.

The Spandauer Vorstadt is located in the heart of Berlin and gathering around 40 voids between old buildings from the 1920s and social housing projects known as „Plattenbau“ from the mid 1980s. These In-BetweenSpaces are a product of the inflexibility caused by prefabricated Plattenbau and its additive system…Due to an artificial concrete façade, which faces the streets they are usually unnoticed.Their unique geometries and changing widths make every void different to the others, so they can be regarded as unique cases.

(Tobias Donat) Space Left Below : The underlying space formed by elevated horizontal plane. In urban context, the construction of elevated facilities creates leftover negative space below.

A large amount of those space caused by elevated transportation facilities such as the viaduct, light rail,bridges. Those un-defined left over space in the one hand can be chaotic and disordered, in the other hand, those space can also evoke different activities by people in cities through everyday life forms a bottom-up immediate identity of those space. Those actions not only includes spontaneous individual activities, but also various practices attempt to exam the possible function and utility and critique for public by groups like artists, designers and architects .

Here I address two examples to show what people did towards those space, one is the Feeding Homeless by Anne Graham in Sydney. Temporary shelling tents were set in this art projects to transform and emphasis the utility of viaducts for homeless people in Sydney.

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Figure 3.2 Woolloomooloo Viaduct, Sydney (left) Figure 3.3 Feeding Homeless, Anne Graham (right) http:// stalkingthemargins.com/ beyond-the-hedonisticplayground-new-rolesfor-public-art-in-brisbane/

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Some public temporary art projects have eschewed the tendency for playful spectacle. Instead, many have critiqued the impact of Late Capitalism, including the growing phenomenon of homeless people.

Feeding homeless by Anne Graham is one of them.

It is part of the work of the exhibition Working in Public, curated by John Barrett-Lennard in 1992, resulted in a number of art installations throughout Sydney. Barrett-Lennard’s exhibition stressed the importance of challenging the complacency of affluent urban dwellers in the time of consumption and materialism by Capital Realm were celebrated in public space. He considered ‘public’ to be a complex term through which we constitute concepts of social interaction and civil society. As a conceptually contested notion, the term needs the discursive territory of contemporary art to reveal the many competing interests (Barrett-Lennard,1992:12).

Besides the artists get involved in those public space that attempt to address the public and social awareness of different perspectives through critique practices. There are increasing design practices in those Space Blow, not only critique but attempt to place different practical functions for public.

By creating playful plaza, protect park and impose leisure infrastructure , those material results seems similar. But If look into their design and plan the process deep in details, the attempt can be quite different. One main part that creating functional places in the vacant space, is the traditional design proposal aiming at people participate into the design results they offered, although under the guise of renovation of leftover space. While some others attempt to provide not only the results but the process for public.

The Urban Plaza is one of three part by firm LA DALLMAN. The project contains three parts, The Marsupial Bridge, The Urban Plaza, and the Brady Street Bus Shelter. As three distinct projects, the have are solidly formed pieces of landscape architecture, and urban design - with the infrastructure of a bridge thrown in for good measure. „The Marsupial Bridge is a pedestrian walkway that uses the existing Holton Street Viaduct structure as its "host". The bridge weaves through the existing structure that was originally engineered to support trolley cars, a transportation system which was abandoned with increased automobile use in the early 1900s. Hanging opportunistically from the over-structured middle-third of the viaduct, KISD

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The Marsupial Bridge responds to the changing transportation needs of the city by increasing pedestrian and bicycle connections. The bridge is a "green highway" that activates the unused space beneath the viaduct, encourages alternative forms of transportation, and connects residential neighborhoods to natural amenities, Milwaukee’s downtown, and the Brady Street commercial district. The Marsupial Bridge’s undulate concrete deck offers a counterpoint to the existing steel members of the viaduct, inspired by the notion of weaving a new spine through the structure. Recalling the wood docks along the Milwaukee River, formerly an industrial corridor linking northern territories with the Great Lakes, the concrete deck is finished with wood deck and handrails, and stainless steel stanchions and diaphanous apron. Floor lighting is integrated behind the apron, and precision theatrical fixtures are mounted above to create a localized ribbon of illumination with minimal spill into the riparian landscape below.“ (http://ladallman.com/prj_urban_plaza.html)

Space Left Above: The space above the elevated horizontal plane.

In urban context, the It is the left over space between rooftops and sky, created by construction of elevated facilities creates such as buildings and transport railway bridge.

One of those space is the vacant rooftops between sky and building.

Numerous approaches and proposals are being applying to the this space, spontaneous informal accommodations in high density residential places in HongKong, organized green rooftop projects in USA and so on. Not the practical actions and projects and also some utopia and ideal projects tactic those space above.

Another part is those space above the abandoned facilities, seeking potential new function and identities of those space in cities. The famous example is the New York High Line project. Which started by citizens and promote through individuals and groups in society and achieved by design, now then enjoyed by different individuals in cities. Not only become the results of stage for various urban activities and create more opportunities of everyday life, but also the whole process can be seen as a struggle orientate re making space progress. Shifting the experience for the results to the experience it self of people in cities .

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Figure 3.7 Penthouse Slums: The Rooftop Shanty Towns of Hong Kong

Figure 3.7 New Yorkers can float over busy streets in an innovative park. http://ladallman.com/prj_urban_plaza.html

Space Left Around: The space of ambiguous functions and features around in formation of well-defined objects in horizontal plane. In urban context, while construction, there are some void negative space left over around the facilities and buildings which haven't being well defined. But Space Left Around not merely caused by the construction of the facilities besides, also physically located in its surrounding space. Vacant space along the trail across cities, negative space in residential zones caused by backing of property line and so on ‌ At the intersection of two streets, the site was formerly a wasteland in France. By transforming the site to open public space, it is answering the on-going urban changes in the neighborhood, the project simulates a first step of the process in which a building is designed and built. Three workshops were built to encourage neighbors share information and connect to each other in this open public space, after construction and events the place are maintained by the neighbors themselves and then the neighbors creates local identities together gathering in this space.

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Compared to reorganization of those space around in developed cities, people in developing city have their own strategies to tactic those negative space. Taking a look at Menbai, wedged between the Mahim, Sion, and Matunga local railway stations, Dharavi is a left space around those stations. Besides, Dharavi is easily accessible for anyone looking to purchase the pottery, leather, or recycled plastics that the community produces. Dharavi’s advantageous location and its status as a commercial powerhouse adds complexity. In additional, Dharavi’s residents are able to leave and enter the community with relative ease and for relatively affordable prices. The cost of a second-class train fare averages around ten rupees (INR), or fifteen cents (USD). This is a significant factor when considering resident’s ability to access jobs and goods in various parts of the city.

Figure 3.8 Place au changement: an interview with the Collectif ETC http://openbuildings.com/ buildings/place-auchangement-publicplaza-profile-42514

Figure 3.9 The train tracks at Mahim station mark the geographic boundary between Dharavi (left) and Mahim (right). https:// americanindiafoundation.exp osure.co/ashwin-advani/ photos/1442982

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Time: Process Space In the macro-view of whole lifecycle of cities, there are nothing static and permanent, everything is in the process of change and the collection of those changing form the dynamic city. In context of urban space, we attempt to input values into natural ground, changing it to a well-defined and identified place.

Seen the period of time of space that exhibit the given function properties as relatively unchanged reference points on the line of timeline, the space in the ambiguous time between two determine point is the space of uncertainty. Furthermore, deconstructed the details situation of uncertain space based on the time position in the whole dynamic process of space, I divides uncertain spaces into three types.

Function-loosing space : Space in the period time after the disappearance of the original function of the site. In urban context, like abundant factories, parks,buildings, trial ways, space these that but lose the function before and don’t have the new functions yet.

Transition space Space in the transit process of function. Space theoretically already been defined to another uses, but in reality, the space not act as the new definition, and losses the value and meaning of proposed new identity. The refugee inner garden (figure 3.11 figure 3.12) in Ehrenfield, Cologne is one example. By reusing the abundant primary school, government input refugee families into it and transforms the school as a residential community of refugees.

The place supposed to provide the living and playing space for people living in it, the garden should be the space for refugees children to play and families to communicate and use for daily. In reality, the garden act like a vacant place to garbage piles up and seldom people using it for drying quilts and children to play in.

Transformation space: Space have the well-defined function but people seeking to transform and add more possible functions in it.

The Park(ing) Day (page 24,figure2.14) transform the parking lot into temporary leisure parks for public through actions reform the space in 2 hours. These conscious critique and tactics to tap the potential value of space explores the potentials of design space for more possibility.

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Funct ion loosin g Space

Type 1

Old Funct iona Space l

Trans ition Space

Type 2

Old Funct iona Space l

Ambig uous Funct ional Space

New Funct iona Space l

Trans forma tion Space

Type 3

Old Funct iona Space l

Ambig uous Funct ional Space

TIME

Figure 3.10 Three types of Process Space

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Figure 3.11 Even there is trash bin , there are trashes around and especially concentrated under seats.,the place where people stays longer.

Figure 3.12 The PingPong table was the old facilities for kids in original the primary school, now losing the function and value for refugees.

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Energy: Space of everyday struggles Individuals and their activities of everyday life is Kinetic energy of cities. Public and private spaces are overlapping through individual activities, instead of categorize space via material and physical features, in addition these activities and behaviors creates a virtual space.

There I address two phenomenons through accidentally observation.

One day,when I walk home through Klettenberg park where is between Ubann station Klettenberg park and Efferen, there are a family of three people playing golf between on the road to Efferen .

On the on side is the trail way of Ubann 18, on the other side is the grass land belong to Klettenbergpark, they stand on the road and edge of the grassland swing a golf club towards the meadow. This movement of playing golf digest the defined boundary between klettenbergpark and concrete road, and somehow redefined a excellent virtual playful space by the behavior itself. The energy remake an automatically zones through the appearance of playing golf.

Another interesting phenomenon happens besides the ubann station shelter on the platform of Efferent every sunny day in summer. On the direction to Cologne, the shelter towards to Southeastern, The sun creates the shadow Northwestern behind the shelter, the shadow create an area across the boundary of concrete surface of platform and grass surface behind shelter, then everybody in summer willing to stand on this shadow area waiting for the train. In this sense, the energy of avoiding sunshine , re-make a waiting zone through the individuals’ behaviors.

In this sense, well designed and defined boundaries of the space seems lost their original effects, instead the energy by individuals of everyday life re-define and re-make space through actions. 

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Play as energy

Play is spontaneous and creative, a counterpoint to tedium and exploitation inherent in instrumental labor. It is the domain of freedom from compulsion (Gilloch 1996,84) …escape is impossible, illusory, but this illusion in itself constitutes a perceptual and social reality. The concept of play embraces a variety of ways in which people test and transgress the limits of their social existence. In terms of play within the urban public realm……play means encounters with difference, encounters which contest the fragmentation and alienation of contemporary social experience.

(Lefebvre 1991) Different from the work and living activities in urban realm, play in spite of a stereotype of one activity meets single needs, but the collections of various activities of various motivation and meets various needs. In this sense, in spite of defining exhaustive, seeking to categorize them base on different actions and behaviors7, and classify it as paradox8 , seeking other ways to understand play as energy in urban realm is the first step of my investigation.

How to understanding play itself as social mental energy. Although the working field of Spariosu is literatures, but the ludic-irenic perspective he addressed can also be helpful to understand this.

Exceeding both a voluntaristic and rationalist mode of though, Mihai Spariosu developed a ludic-irenic view convincingly opposing the allpervading mentality of power in a world marked by difference, scapegoating and strip between various social, ethnic, racial and sexual factions. The ludic-irenic stance basically derived from the

7

Hutt argues that the activities and behaviors associated with play are too heterogeneous to be included in a single category. ‚Exploration and Play in Children‘.

8

Gregory Bateson applied to play Bertrand Rusell’s concept of logic paradox as a ‚class of classes which are not members of themselves‘ ‚A Theory Play and Fantasy‘ published in ‚Steps to an Ecology Mind‘.

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playfulness of literature, produces alternative mentalities and alternative worlds, which promote a responsive understanding of what there is, thus bringing to bear a healing influence within human community, in which power and difference will cease to be ultimates.What Spariosu puts forward and demonstrates by means of a stupendous erudition is no lest than a total reorientation of cultural criticism that is bound to have its impact on the course cultural studies will takes(The Wreath of Wild Olive, Mihai Spariosu).

In contemporary theories,play is both phenomenon and subjectivity,that is both behavior and intentionality. The play and nonplay behaviors can be the same of human and animals, the „in to know " is the key to distinguish play from the non-play actions. Play seems to be both intentional and unintentional, both rational and intuitional, real and illusory …The double nature of play seems create the contraction.

Spariosu argues that ,in Dionysus Reborn: Play and the Aesthetic

Dimension in Modern Philosophica l, the contemporary view philosophical views of play as ambivalent and paradoxical may simply be the consequence of our established notions of reality and being, derived from the split nature of all Western values. One’s should therefore consider play not in universal light—this would soon lead to paradox and aporia9 but concrete historical context of our world.

Susanna Miller suggest that perhaps play is best used as adverb; not as a name of a class of activities, nor as as distinguished by accompanying mood, but to describe how and under what conditions and action is performed.

In this sense, to understand play in contemporary urban context, investigate what is the urban spatial container, which in this research is specially in the space of uncertainty of play activities is a meaningful cutting point.

According to Quentin Stevens(2007), there are four interrelated ways that in which playful behavior can be experienced as an escape from other aspects of everyday life in contemporary city: -play involves actions which are non-instrumental; -there are boundary conditions and rules which separate play from the everyday; -play involves specific types of activities through which people test and expand limits(competition, chance, simulation and vertigo); 9

The Oxford English Dictionary includes two forms of the word, here address the noun form “aporia,” which it defines as the “state of the aporetic” and “a perplexity or difficulty.” The dictionary entry also includes two early textual uses, which both refer to the term’s rhetorical (rather than philosophical) usage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aporia KISD

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-play in the city very often involves encounters with strangers.

This first one ‚non-instrumental‘ addressed the characteristic of play involved actions, the second one try to define play by means of limiting the boundary between play and other everyday activities. The last two both explain the play as energy to unlimited and border the experience of everyday life in contemporary cities.

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Design /play / urban space

Not only children but also adults increasingly want to use the city as their playground. That’s why playful concepts of urban regeneration get more and more attention.

(Joop de Boer, http://popupcity.net/play-trash-binbasketball/)

Agnes Heller in Everyday life suggests that everyday life have one of properties as Repetition. On the contrary , the beginning of unique in everyday life can be seen as innovation. In the space of uncertainty context, for example, the first one playing golf in park can be seen as kind of innovation, and the following similar actions just the repetition of these everyday life. Designers and artists always be seen the people to promote innovate actions and thoughts via reading the reality and having knowledge from everyday life but also upon everyday life by various ways.

Play can be the both the motivation and expression of innovation, and those space of uncertainty seems to be the stage for those various and diverse activities. Compared to the conventional process of spacial design, I tend to rough investigate how designers, artists, and other creative groups, in contemporary cities, intended to transform those space of uncertainty, also can be seen the virtual margin of cities, to be more fun and possibility for individuals in cities to explore more and extend their limits via playful actions and interactions.

Here I tend to focus on the solutions of designers, artists, other creative groups that intentionally transform uncertain spaces. And the solutions I attempt to abstract the playfulness as function and the spacial interaction that makes people have the possibility to extend limits of experiences. In order to reading those space via play interaction of everyday life.

This chapter is merely address several play in space cases .

After this, the next step for research is attempt to addressing the three space theory of Lefebvre, the material space can be the first layers, adding the interactions for play, the feedback of people can be   KISD

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the representation of a space, and the overlap the numerous of representation of space, the representation space will show up automatically. Then by the research of reading, via deep understanding of the space, might come out the new process to design for possibilities and fun.

Replacing Scenes: By investigate the methods that how to achieve this remaking space comes the first cluster of cases, on way to expand and evoke playfulness is by the ways of replacing the original scenes into other scenes which are dramatic different from each other. Which is place objects and create spectacles in an ‚wrong‘ context, or at least not expectable context. In urban everyday life context, is replacement in normal everyday life.

Figure 5.1 DOUBLE HAPPINESS. 2009.

DIDIER FIUZA FAUSTINO

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Case 1: DOUBLE HAPPINESS. 2009.

6,4 x 3,7 x 6,6 m Billboard and swings mix, steel ladder, steel lattice platform, protective nets on steel structure.

Temporary urban reanimation device.

Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennial of Urbanism and Architecture DIDIER FIUZA FAUSTINO10

Double Happiness are a spatial visions created by FrenchPortuguese architect DIDIER FIUZA FAUSTINO. Considering the human body as the elementary measure unit when exploring architecture, He argues that architecture in this sense is the “tool for exacerbating our senses and sharpening our awareness of reality“ .

The temporary nomadic urban furniture expand individuals’ limits and create a new perception of space and recovers an awareness of physical world via play ‚risky'. Double Happiness responds to the society of materialism where individual desires seem to be prevailing over all. It allows the reactivation of different public spaces and enables inhabitants to re appropriate fragments of their city. Through a game of equilibrium and disequilibrium, they will both escape and dominate public space.

Founded in 2001, His collaborative studio Mésarchitectures, the name plays between meaning “bad architecture” and “my architecture”, is notorious for installations, mix performance, electropunk, Sci-Fi and architecture, that illustrate the innate relationship between architecture and the human body.11 This installation seems to target adults who have the ability to guarantee themselves rather than children. In this sense, the experiment installation provide the double context mixing the reality and illusory via provide playful swing always representation symbol happened in play yard context over an normal billboard of real everyday life.

The blurry of the boundaries that create the new experience of escape and adventure. In this sense, play as an energy do extend the experience of everyday life.

10 http://www.we-find-wildness.com/2011/02/didier-fiuza-faustino/ On the border between architecture and art, DIDIER FIUZA FAUSTINO is the French-Portuguese architect.

11

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Case 2: Series of Intervention in Public Space.

Harmen de Hoop SANDBOX: Paving stones removed with sand and toys added to create a child's play area.

ENTRANCE FEE: Words on paper attached to fence in the middle of nowhere.Charging every adult 7,50 euro and every child 5,00 euro for ‘pure silence’.

BASKETBALL COURT7: A full size (but incomplete) basketball court was painted on a parking lot.12

Figure 5.2 Sandbox, Amsterdam, 1996 (Left) Figure 5.3 Entrance Fee, Buxtehude, 2004 (Right) Figure 5.4 Basketball Court #7 , SØnderborg, 1992 (Down) http:// harmendehoop.com/ index.php? category=interventions&s ubject=basketball-court-1

12

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Harmen de Hoop as a street artist by ways of replacement into public space creates series of interventions. These imagines although don’t have the real functions and unproductively, but somehow address the playfulness of everyday life.

Anonymity is an essential aspect of his work, since it has consequences for the way in which it is experienced. He retreats from his creation, thereby denying the spectator the frame of reference of the 'art' concept.

Here is an interesting influence after he intervened the public space. ‚One of the consequences of anonymity is the reaction to De Hoop's BASKETBALL COURT (Amsterdam). He painted the lines of a basketball court in a yard though these were abruptly halted halfway by a footpath. After a few weeks the local council set up the 'missing' basket. Later, when it proved not to be what it seemed, the lines were removed but the basket stayed where it was.‘13

Figure 5.5 Basketball Court, 1996, Amsterdam(Left) Figure 5.6 City council (?) placed basket(Right) http://harmendehoop.com/ index.php? category=interventions&sub ject=basketball-court-1

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Case 3: URBAN CURSOR SEBASTIAN CAMPION Figueres, Catalunya, 2009 Urban Cursor is a GPS enabled object designed to facilitate social interaction and play in public space.

Replace the online posture into real urban place, Urban Cursor create temporary playful social interaction. The object, which is shaped as an oversized 3-dimensional computer cursor (pointer), was placed on a square in Figueres, Catalunya during FESTIVAL INGRĂ€VID,September 2009.

As a urban furniture, people could touch it, move it around and sit on it as an alternative to the benches. But the cursor was still remains the connection with the digital world.

Through an embedded GPS device, the cursor transmitted its geographic coordinates to a website. At the website, the coordinates were mapped in Google Maps thereby documenting the cursor's movements in the physical world and making it possible for participants to see how they collectively helped move the object around.

Participants could also upload photos of the cursor at the website during the festival. The photos were automatically placed on the map by matching the photos' digital time stamp with the GPS coordinates.

Figure 5.7 Urban cursor, Catalunya, 2009 http:// www.urbancursor.com

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Playful solution : In addition of transform public space via replacing scenes , there are also a trend for people attempt to solve the social problem via playful solution. Play as an energy that replaces the inner-motivation to achieve the right behavior.

Case 1 SPIELPLATZ, 2011 COLLECTIF DC a street art project which turns the streets into a playground Collectif DC is such a group. As part of their project Spielplatz they try to encourage passers by to behave differently by painting recognizable orange lines on the sidewalks.

Spielplatz focus on different sports , intervening sporting actions into public space spectacles . Via painting this simple ways to visualize new sports scenes over the original street scenes with the help of artists, they create temporary methods to transform the behavior of public.

This is the basketball version of the series. Creative Democracy is a collective conducting artistic studies and actions in public space. With a participatory approach they experiment with the city and its possibilities.

Figure 5.9 Trash Bin Maze(left) http://popupcity.net/playtrash-bin-basketball/

Figure 5.8 Trash Bin Basketball(right) http://popupcity.net/playtrash-bin-basketball/

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Case 2 VOTE WITH YOUR BUTT! HUBBUB

Figure 5.10 Vote with your butt https:// www.hubbub.org.uk/ voting-ashtray

London, UK 2015 Case 3 WECUP Studio Squash, Giacomo Boffo, Alessandro Carosso and Oana Clitan and generously supported by Kunstblock and Gemeente Rotterdam.

Wereld van het Witte de With Kwartier Festival in Rotterdam, Netherland 2014

Figure5.10 Bring Back Michael /Bring Back Elvis September 3Rd, 2014, Podium 2 https://twitter.com/hubbubUK/ status/ 636866473995169792/photo/ 1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

These two projects both apply the action of voting as the solution of collect different kind of trash (butt and cup) in their context. Replacing voting into the actions of throwing trash. The hidden competition character encourages people in public to vote more which desire and

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needs created by voting transits into the motivation and energy to throw into the designated place.

All those projects above are urban interventions in public space via playful methods. Artists and designers are creating new playful spectacles based on the site that encourage people to ‚play‘ inside.

Those little actions are all temporary and small scale in spite the permanent and overall view of conventional design process. 

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Conclusions

City is a process of everyday life rather than merely the collection of material objects. Through design process human have redefined the natural ground into site , then transit site into place, where provides different various functions for citizens to meets their different needs.

Thus, we have various defined space, office for working, mall for shopping, restaurant for eating out…Even in side a house, we define different space meets separate needs, kitchen for cooking, bedroom for sleeping, living room for meeting guests at home….Accumulation of those design process express as the control of space by architects,urban planners and designers.The control gradually becomes the invisible governing of individuals at place.

If seen everyday life as a non-stop circled travel jump form one welldefined and designed space to another. Then public space is the open travel road link from specific space to another. Public space,at lest literarily, should be open and accessible for everyone. However,in reality it has been been break down, subdivided,redefined, controlled intentionally or unintentionally. This emerging issue of lost public space shows the limits of everyday life. It has been consider for decades and be in a mixture result from top-down governing , design, materialism and consumerism of Capitalism…

However, aware of this danger, people have seek/are seeking to different approaches to re-taken-control and re-make urban space by individuals in cities. There is a growing body of work that articulates and analyses the increasing interest in small-scale, unsanctioned, community-led urban interventionist activities (Edensor et al. 2010).

Iveson(2013: 941) has grappled recently with the variance in lexicon and argues that, We are not sure how to describe what is happening.Those seeking to come to grips with practices have begun to group them together for consideration under banners such as ‚insurgent’, ‘do-it-yourself ’(DIY), ‘guerrilla’ , ‘everyday’, ‘participatory’ and/or ‚grassroots’ urbanism.

All those lexicon aims to explain the phenomenons of remaking space via bottom-up individuals (covers meaning of groups and communities). The action of transform or transit always have two KISD

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simple elements, original space as the stage and the movement as the outside expression of inner energy.

Back to the essential and original phase—grassroots individuals, within the criteria of loosen-function, which can express the loosencontrol of space, Space of Uncertainty is selected as the most loosencontrol urban space, as opposite of well-designed and defined urban space. In this sense ,those virtual margin urban space can be seen the breeding bed of numerous spontaneous activities. By investigating it, could better understand the natural re-making space via everyday spontaneous activities of people in cities.

Play as an ambiguous contradiction energy that plays an essential part and meets the inner desire of individuals in cities. Escaping, adventuring, unproductive ‌all those characteristics expands the limits of both human body and everyday life have the potential meets other needs of individuals in cities.

As fact of the spontaneous activities always express the loosen control, instead traditional design of space express s the control, current movement such as Tactical Urbanism is the groups of designers who are seeking the new intervention towards old urban realm. In this trend, play is not only interesting phenomenons as results but also a powerful tool of urban interaction between individuals and the city itself that meets the ambiguous inner needs of people in cities of everyday life.

The following structure (figure 6.1) is the feedback conclusion after rough research, the current documents above.

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Activity-based function-loosen remade space

Behavior-based

conventional reasons based function-loosen

Space:Spaces of uncertainty space In-between space (space) between below above around

Figure 6.1

Process space (time) abandoned transition transformation

Urban conditions and everyday life space and phenomenons not binary opposition but intertwined

Preset research research topic

Play

Energy

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seems unrelated part currently completely missing part need to narrow and improve part

spontaneous play as a tool of transforming space and actions by designers and artists in public space

by citizens,local communities by designers, artists,architects,urban planners

Phenomenon: Insurgent urban

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