- Imagine-a-City: The Informational City and the Concept of Cognitive Mapping   163 kb by    Gotsch, Peter & null, null & null, null | peter.gotsch@arch.uni-karlsruhe.de    Short Outline Imagine-a-City: The Infomational City and the Concept of Cognitive Mapping ''The latest mutation in space – postmodern hyperspace – has finally succeded in transcending the capacities of the human body to locate itself, to organize its immediate surroundings perceptually, and cognitively to map its position in a mappable external world.” (Jameson, 1984,p.44) Abstract, Objectives and Aims: Today Information Technologies are transforming the ‘traditional’ language of our environment at a pace that is far faster than our bodies can handle. The conscious remodeling of a large-scale physical environment has been possible only recently, and so the problem of imagining and understanding this environment is a new one. We feel increasingly unsheltered and alienated as technology sets the pace. Our means of perception and action are increasingly more developed than our means of representation and comprehension. As this loss of orientation not just individual practical (navigational) and emotional consequences but crucial and societal implications. My contribution seeks to identify the implications and potentials of ‘cognitive mapping’ for the reinterpretation of the contemporary city and will elaborate the relevance of a city which is individually and socially constructed, dreamed, perceived and imagined. Finally it will propose new social and aesthetic perspectives which may arise from this kind of understanding. Relevance and Merit: I believe the approach I take is of academic merit for it brings new interdisciplinary aspects for the planning practice. As it underlines the importance of studying the individual and collective dimensions of space, it becomes of primary importance and interest for anyone interested in urbanism. Methods and Techniques, Previous Research The concept of cognitive mapping makes possible an integration of thoughts from planning, design, sociology, anthropology and psychology. My presentation will draw on theories from interdisciplinary fields. The key reference for the understanding of the city as it will be addressed in my presentation will be the work of K.Lynch’ The Image of The City” (1960). In trying to propose new design solutions he investigates the disorientation of the individual in the modern city in an anthropological sense. He is the father of the ‘cognitive image’ as an operational tool and he outlines its relevance to city planning and design, as he shows how individual and collective realities are socially constructed by the individual creation of environmental images. F. Jameson (1984) draws on these findings in expanding the individual crisis of orientation to a crisis of societal and economic spheres and he is the first to apply the concept of cognitive mapping to describe postindustrial landscapes. Further references of my contribution will be the work of H. Lefebvre (1974) and M. DeCerteau (1984), who are widely recognized for their definition of space as a socially constructed category. The work of David Harvey, Saskia Sassen, and Manuel Castells, as well as the presentation of examples of artists’ perceptions of urban spaces will complement my work. Personal Background The theoretical context of my proposal is my masters thesis ''InFormation of Space: The Spatiality of Technology and Power”, which I presented at Columbia University N.Y. in 1995 and the research I am conducting in present for my PhD degree on Spatial Aspects of Information Technology. The practical context for my research can be found in my previous work, particulary in my occupation with space as a spatial planner and architect. Session proposed I Propose to present my contribution in Session 3: Cyberspace and the Loss of Concentration, as it theorizes the interrelation of cyberspace-real space and deals with new forms of perception. Core Readings: Bachelard G.;(1958); La poétique de l’espace; Paris Bollnow, Otto F.; (1963); Mensch und Raum; Stuttgart Castells, Manuel; (1989); The Informational City - Information Technology, Economic Restructuring and the Urban-Regional Process; Cambridge; MA Decerteau, Michel; (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life; trans. Steven Rendall; Los Angeles Habermaß J.; (1962); Strukturwandel und Öffentlichkeit: Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der Bürgerlichen Gesellschaft; Neuwied Ito, Toyo; (1993); The Visual Image of the Microelecronic Age, JA (Japan Architect); JA L. 2 Jameson, Frederic; (1884); Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism; Durham Lefebvre, Henri; (1974) The Production of Space; trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith Cambridge, MA, Lynch, Kevin; (1960); The Image of The City; Cambridge, MA Lynch, Kevin; (1981); A Theory of Good City Form; Cambridge Minsky M.; (1990); Mentopolis; Stuttgart Pawley, Martin; (1991); Theory and Design in the Second Machine Age; Oxford Tyler, S.A.; (1969); Cognitive Anthropology; New York Sassen, Saskia; (1996); Losing Control? Souvereignity in an Age of Globalization; Coluimbia University Memorial Schoff Lectures; New York Sitte, Camillo; Sakamura, Ke n; (1994); Computer City; Tokyo Virillio, P.; (1994); The Vision Machine; London Other Related Readings: Adorno, T.W.; (1950); Democratic Leadership and Mass Manipulation; in: Studies of Leadership, ed. Gouldner, New York Bott H., Hubig Ch., Pesch, Schröder (Ed.); (2000); Stadt und Kommunikation im Digitalen Zeitalter; Frankfurt M Bell Daniel ; (1973); The Coming of Postindustrial Society; NYC Berelson a. Janowitz; (1950); Public Opinion and Communication, Glenc Braudel, Fernand; (1986); Die Dynamik des Kapitalismus, Stuttgart Crary, Jonathan; (1994); Eclipse of the Spectacle Davis, M; (1992) City of Quarz; Los Angeles Dürckheim, Graf K. von; (1932); Untersuchungen zum gelebten Raum: Neue Psychologische Studien 6 Bd; München Fecht T. mit Kamper D. (1988); Umzug ins Freie: Vier Versuche über den Raum; Hamburg Foucault, Michael in C. Gordon Ed.; (1980); Questions of Geography; Power/Knowledge (1972-77) Gottdiener M. (1996); The Social Production of Urban Space; Austin; TX Harvey, David; (1989); The Condition of Postmodernity; Cambridge Heidegger, M.; (1978); Bauen, Denken Wohnen: in Vorträge ind Aufsätze Kelly, Kevin; (1993); Out of Control,- the rise of neo biological civilization; MA Kluge A.; (1984); Die Macht der Gefühle; Frankfurt M. King, Anthony (ed.); (1996); Re-Presenting the City: Ethnicity, Capital and Culture in the Twenty-First Century Metropolis; Houndmills Lefebvre, Henri; (1970); La revolution urbaine; Paris Mumford L.; (1934); Technics and Cililization; New York Mitchell, William; (1995); City of Bits; Cambridge McLuhan, Marshall, (1964), Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, London Negroponte,N.; (1995) ''Being Digital'', New York City Nietsche; ''The Will to Power'', frg. 549, Walter Kaufmann, 1967, N.Y., p. 293 Sassen, Saskia; (1994); Cities in a World Economy; CA Sennett, Richard; (1994); Flesh and stone: a History of Body in Western Civilization; NYC Sieverts, Thomas; (1997); Zwischenstadt: zwichen Ort und Welt, Raum und Zeit, Sadt und Land; Braunschweig Soja, Edward; (1980); Taking Los Angeles apart: some fragments of a critical human geography. Society and Space, 4(3): 255-72 Weber, Max; (1930); The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism; trans. Anthony Giddens; New York, 1992 Abstract Today Information Technologies are transforming the ‘traditional’ language of our environment at a pace that is far faster than our bodies can handle. The conscious remodeling of a large-scale physical environment has been possible only recently, and so the problem of imagining and understanding this environment is a new one. We feel increasingly unsheltered and alienated as technology sets the pace. Our means of perception and action are increasingly more developed than our means of representation and comprehension. As this loss of orientation not just individual practical (navigational) and emotional consequences but crucial and societal implications. My contribution seeks to identify the implications and potentials of ‘cognitive mapping’ for the reinterpretation of the contemporary city and will elaborate the relevance of a city which is individually and socially constructed, dreamed, perceived and imagined. Finally it will propose new social and aesthetic perspectives which may arise from this kind of understanding. Keywords Imagination, Space, Informational City Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2001: Honey, I Shrunk the Space   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper