Some of this is beyond me but the concept of nests, mounds, and hives too, emergent without overall design and supervision reminded me of remarks I heard in Istanbul fro architect Gengiz Bektas who theorized the, to us, beautiful Mediterranean hill-town, as the consequence on everyone building and living there agreeing on certain simple values: including one’s windows and doorways to not look into another’s abode; the waste run off of one domicile is directed away from a neighbor’s, that one’s access to sunlight is not impeded by another, etc. I think he named five simple communal ethics that constructed a regional way of living in a close environment. His point was that humans had this capacity to build immense and complex structure without overall design and supervision. I guess now the state intervenes to overrun such communal ways of organizing designs for living. Or maybe I’m projecting onto Bektas a sort of lament. I think he published his ideas along with a good deal of poetry.
I am 100% on Team Jane Jacobs as far as this goes--people together, without strong hierarchical coordination, make designs that work, designs that are often of staggering complexity and beauty, whether we're talking structures or everyday practices of life.
The world you describe as the dreamworld of our tech overlords reminds me of the post jackpot world run by “klepts” in William Gibson’s Jackpot series. After most of humanity has died off, public spaces are given the semblance of life by avatars without operators.
Some of this is beyond me but the concept of nests, mounds, and hives too, emergent without overall design and supervision reminded me of remarks I heard in Istanbul fro architect Gengiz Bektas who theorized the, to us, beautiful Mediterranean hill-town, as the consequence on everyone building and living there agreeing on certain simple values: including one’s windows and doorways to not look into another’s abode; the waste run off of one domicile is directed away from a neighbor’s, that one’s access to sunlight is not impeded by another, etc. I think he named five simple communal ethics that constructed a regional way of living in a close environment. His point was that humans had this capacity to build immense and complex structure without overall design and supervision. I guess now the state intervenes to overrun such communal ways of organizing designs for living. Or maybe I’m projecting onto Bektas a sort of lament. I think he published his ideas along with a good deal of poetry.
I am 100% on Team Jane Jacobs as far as this goes--people together, without strong hierarchical coordination, make designs that work, designs that are often of staggering complexity and beauty, whether we're talking structures or everyday practices of life.
The world you describe as the dreamworld of our tech overlords reminds me of the post jackpot world run by “klepts” in William Gibson’s Jackpot series. After most of humanity has died off, public spaces are given the semblance of life by avatars without operators.