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P L U G G

Z O N- a study on the implications of

an architectural dby Jia Jian,

U 3 0

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"The spectacle corresponds to the historical momcolonization of social life. It is not just that the rela

- commodities are now all that there is to see; the ... social space is continually blanketed by stratum

Guy Debord, 1994

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T a b l e o f C o n t e n t

P L U G G E D I N , Z O N E D O U T

Personal Motivep. 4

Introductionp. 6

The Fall ofPublic Space

p. 8

The Rise ofDigital Space

p. 9ThOutline

p. 5

1 2 3 4 Part I 5 6

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P e r s o n a l M o t i v e

Public space is a sacred arena; where inthe present day is becoming increasinglyhostile. Any political demonstrations wouldbe deemed illegal in my home countryof Malaysia, however with the Internetat the public's disposal, alternative formsof digital media (e.g., online blogs,independent news portals) has enabled

people of various backgrounds to shareinformation, discuss political views withoutthe constant scrutiny from authorities.This cultivation in cyberspace eventuallybecame a reality when it attracted 80,000people to hold a peace rally in KualaLumpur on the 28th April 2012.

The perceptions of public space havechanged drastically. Public space symbolicallyupholds its true values of democracy, yetits taboo when dissatisfaction or protestoccurs. I was also interested in how

these new forms of social networking andmedia have enabled such movements tooccur, eventually altering the nature ofpublic space. Digital space has becomeso pervasive that it eventually becomesour second nature.

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O u t l i n e ( 5 0 0 w o r d s )

Changes in public spaces have occurredrapidly in the twenty-first century followingthe economic and social restructuring ofthe working class, as cities move from a'supply-side to a demand-side (Smith,1996, p.113). With gentrification effortsclosely following the privatizations ofpublic spaces, private property owners are

turning our once democratic cities intosterile consumer based environments; asAnna Minton (2009, p.20) describes asthe death of the city where we experiencea reversal of the democratic achievementsof the Victorians when we start to handback the control of the streets to theestates.

The rise of the Internet is perceived asthe paradigm of an emergent, self-regulating, self-organizing structurethat can develop and thrive withoutgovernmental intervention (Gere, 2002,

p. 149). Digital space emerged as whatcould be considered a replacement tothe loss of public space, satisfying oursocial cravings in a more free anddynamic network system, as well as alooser framework for political indifferencesto be intellectually debated without theconstraints that modern public spaces

are accompanied with. Its accessibilityand pervasive nature has caused us anundeniable dependency in our modern daylives, changing the way public space isperceived and used. Such a phenomenonrequires the re-conceptualizing of theroles of public spaces in both politicaland social aspects, which are essential totraditional city spaces.

This dissertation will begin by exploring theextent of decay in public spaces underboth political and economical influences,followed by theorizing the shift of social

space fonline dpervasivpolitical to arrivimplicatipublic s

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Public spaces in cities represent aplatform where civic society utilizes as ameeting place and marketplace, providingopportunities for people to meet andgreet each other, a place to exchangeinformation about the city and society(Ghel, 2000).

The traditional idea of the publicsphere as a socially constructed space,

is unfortunately no longer relevant inmost modern cultures where the ideaof place is trivialized or ignored (Zukin,1991). This drift towards consumer basedcities have led to the privatization of thepublic sphere, where democratic spaceis replaced by a sterilized space lackingin life and excitement with profit at itsheart.

Part I will begin by studying theloss of democracy in existing public

I n t r o d u c t i o n ( 8 0 0 w o r d s )

space in the context of both politicaland economical reasons, in order to gaininsight on reasons of its demise dueto the deactivation of social activities.This will lead to the analysis behind therise of digital space in its effectivenessin materializing current social movementsagainst authorities.

Part II will focus on the implicationsof digital space on both the political andsocial aspects of public space.

Part III will question the possibilityof a replacement of physical space withdigital space through its ability to envisagea social agenda or political motive.

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P

Figure 7: The Tahrir Revolution, Egypt.

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Instituted by the declaration ofrights of man, public space's intent isto extend to all humans the freedomthat Hannah Arendt calls a right to haveright (Deutsche, 1998, p. 274). Howeverits importance of being a source oflimitless democratic platform has beenchallenged with its appropriation towards

a conservative site with regards to politicalactivities.

The privatization of public spaceshas brought the democracy of spaceunder risk; with tactics of exclusion andcontrol, individuals considered unprofitableare unwelcomed.

This chapter will argue that the fallof public space is not entirely the decayof quality of life in the city, but rather thereversal. The issue of gentrification, wherethe existing low income communities

C h a p t e r 1 : T h e F a l l o f P u b l i c S p a c e ( 1 3 0 0 w o r d s )

are evicted in exchange to upgrade itsconditions to allow for higher profit valueas described. As such, this perhaps hasgiven rise to what Guy Debord describes associal space being continuously blanketedby stratum after stratum of commodity(Debord, 1994).

The erosion of public space hasreduced the public realm to merelyshopping malls, undermining its role aspolitical and social platform, which bringsus to the next chapter of The Riseof Digital Space as a response to thisscenario.

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"

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The computer presented itself asa counter-cultural and even revolutionarydevice. It enabled the rise of the Internetwhere it is seen as the paradigm of theemergent, self-regulating, self-organizingstructure that can develop and thrivewithout governmental intervention (Gere,2002).

Unlike social networks formed intraditional physical spaces which arelimited to existing social networks amongindividuals with the same/similar jobs, orbelief/religion, or similar interests (Lim,2012), new forms of social media spacessuch as Facebook and Twitter, allowsusers to fill the social gap which theyhave been deprived of.

This chapter aims to study its abilityto transcend localities and boundaries,allowing ideas, information and knowledge

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e R i s e o f D i g i t a l S p a c e ( 1 2 0 0 w o r d s )

to penetrate spatial barriers with speedand effectiveness.

This mix of digital media with socialgroups has enabled the transformationof powerful social movements to happenwithin modern society which will be furtherelaborated in the next chapter.

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Chapter 3 will elaborate the digitalcounter-culture as described by CharlieGere, taking on computing subcultureslike hacking as well as the so-calledcypherPunks to gauge how the use of theWeb has transitioned from mass media andcommunications towards a kind of virtualdisputed territory, over which government

forces of repression and the supportersof liberty fight for control (Gere, 2002,p.142)

The Occupy Movements and Egypt'srevolution, have both shown digitalspace's ability to organize and nurturesocial movements without the watch ofits oppressors, which then transpires inphysical space, exercising their rights inthe public realm.

The extensive use of digital space inmaterializing the struggle for democratic

C h a p t e r 3 : T h e R e t r e a t ( 1 2 0 0 w o r d s )

means is effective to a certain level,but it still suggests that without publicdemonstrations, social movements on theWeb is obsolete as it's not effective inportraying the majority's dissent, which willbe further questioned in Chapter 6.

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Figure 11: Web Trend Map 2007 in Tokyo Metro Grid

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The ability of digital space to reachout to a more extensive network hasundermined the role of the public realm asa political site which supposedly promisesopenness and accessibility. This is madeworse especially since it is increasinglysubject to private interests governing itsconditions. Chapter 4 will study the OccupyMovement in London to understand howthe making and materialization of politicalmovements are influenced by digitalmedia. This chapter will then analyze howincreasing restrictions on individuals arecarried on from public space into digitalspace.

With the privatization of publicspaces as mentioned in Chapter I,foreign capital and expertise are pouredinto the development of communicationsinfrastructure. However, the irony behindthis development is that they are facing

C h a p t e r 4 : P o l i t i c s i n S p a c e ( 1 3 0 0 )

a growing community from individuals tonongovernmental organizations who utilizethese infrastructures to engage in a veryenergetic use of cyberspace.

As a result, government authoritiesincreasingly enforce control over theInternet through technical standard settingfor both hardware and software, as wellas the registrations of domain namesand firewalled intranet systems. Thisincreasingly unequal geography of accessin digital space would only increase thedistance between the technological havesand have nots (Sassen, 2007).

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Thepervasivenatureofelectronicmedia has changed the way weperceive space. Globalization, ubiquitouscommunications, and digital processing ingeneral, has potentially rendered an alienatedview of place by solely associating themwith merely cherished views often withoutits immediate contextual understanding.

Host of The Secret Life ofBuildings, Tom Dyckhoff investigateshow Stonehenge drew the community toexperience its role as a public space.Today, people flock there closely attachedto their digital guides, following designatedpathways around it, essentially notexperiencing what it was built for.

JanGehl(2006)claimsthatcyberspace may not have replaced publicspace as prophesied, but it has enticeddigital users by imagery and information,

C h a p t e r 5 : T h e T u n i n g o f S o c i a l S p a c e ( 1 2 0 0 w o r d s )

encouraging them to step out of theirhomes and participate in public spaceevents.

"Dtoo

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P A R T I I I -

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Chapter 6 will question the possibilityof digital space rendering public space nolonger relevant. The chapter will begin bydrawing on fictional stories portrayed infilms (e.g., The Matrix, Bladerunner) todiscuss modern society's dystopian visioncaused by technology.

Digital space has brought back theunpredictable element into public spacewhich Jan Gehl (1996) describes asessential, through its ability to organizethe masses "invisibly in an increasinglycontrolled environment. With increasedappropriation of public spaces with 'wifi'cafes and even buildings which incorporatetechnology to break social barriers (Fig.14), perhaps this overlapping of spaceshas brought upon new forms of excitementwithin existing public spaces.

This chapter will then study theimportance of the concrete settings of

C h a p t e r 6 : E n h a n c e m e n t o r D e s t r u c t i o n o f P u b l i c S p

physical space in the making of civic life,and how digital networking would thereforebare little significance if excluded fromthe nondigital world

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It is important to note that thedigital and the social work on eachother, but they do not become hybrids inthis process. Each maintains its distinctirreducible character (Sassen, 1998).The conclusion will argue that with theincorporation of alternative expertise or"spatial agencies, new designs in publicspaces will be enhanced; generating newforms of social networking, which wouldallow the widespread of informationregarding these places, thus attractinga wider crowd.

Guy Debord's (1994) descriptionof The Society of the Spectacle couldprovide a reflection on digital space'scompetence in replacing traditional formsof social spaces, where he describesthat the spectacle (mass media) uniteswhat is separate, but it unites it onlyin its separateness. Digital media has

C o n c l u s i o n ( 8 0 0 w o r d s )

enhanced communications, far surpassingtraditional forms of public spacesability in terms of speed and range ofparticipants, but has caused the lossof trust with our immediate neighboursand sense of place often traditionallyassociated with public spaces.

Despite its shortcomings in meetingsocial needs, the conclusion will highlightdigital space's ability to cultivate politicalreforms relatively unseen, enabling itto successfully take place even in ourincreasingly privatized cities. This willthen question the true threat to publicspace which is still the privatization andits exclusionary practices as mentionedin Chapter 1, which would only redirectthe use of the internet as a resortto conduct political reform. However,one must realize that the practices ofexclusion and control are increasingly

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moving recogniz

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Books

Zukin, S. (1991). Landscapes of Power: From Detroit toDisney World. Los Angeles: University of California Press.This analyzes the struggle of urban communities under economic andpolitical power, giving insight to how these factors influence the constructof its urban landscape.

Smith, N. (1996). The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification andthe revanchist city. London: Routledge.This provides a different perspective towards issues regarding gentrificationand discusses various political and economical reasons which allow it tohappen.

Gere, C. (2002). Digital Culture. London: Reaktion Books.Debord, G. (1994). The Society of the Spectacle. New York:Zone Books.Charlie Gere's chronological depiction of the rise of digital culture providesan understanding of how its formation is influenced by the social needsof its time.

A n n o t a t e d B i b l i o g r a p h y

Minton, A. (2009). Ground Conttwenty-first-century city. LondoThe portrayal of the extent at which companies are revealed, which also sbuilt environment.

Coyne, R. (2010). The Tuning Pervasive Digital Media. CambrThis book discusses the incremental athe introduction of electronic gadgets

Debord, G. (1994). The SocietyZone Books.Debords theoretical approach towacommodity is highly appropriate in deunder the influence of mass media.

Sassen, S. (1998). Globalizat

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Books

Sassen, S. (2007). A Sociology of Globalization. New York:W. W. Norton & Company.

Gehl,J.,Gemze,L.,Kirkns,S.,Sndergaard,B.S.(2006).New City Life. Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press.

Hill,J.(1998).OccupyingArchitecture:BetweentheArchitectand the User. London: Routledge.

Awan,N.,Schneider,T.,Till, J.(2011).SpatialAgency:Other Ways of Doing Architecture. London: Routledge.

Lantham, R., Sassen, S. (2005). Digital Formations: ITandNewArchitecturesintheGlobalRealm.NewJersey:Princeton University Press

Deutsche, R. (1998). Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics. NewYork: The MIT Press.

Gehl,J.(2001).LifeBetweenBuildings:UsingPublicSpace.Copenhagen: The Danish Architectural Press.

E x t e n d e d B i b l i o g r a p h y

Gehl,J.(1996).PublicSpacesThe Danish Architectural Press.

Gehl,J.,Gemze,L.(2000).NeThe Danish Architectural Press.

Online

Lim, M. (2012). Reality BytRevolutions. The Architectural R29 August 2012 from http://wwview/broader-view/reality-byturban-revolutions/8629140.art

Film

Triumph of the Will, 1934. Film.Produktion.

The Secret Life of Buildings, 2012 Aug 15.

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I m a g e R e f e r e n c e s

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Fig 1- 'Front cover to The Society of the Spectacle. Debord,G. (1994). Front Cover.

Fig 2- Bersih Rally. Available at http://andrewlza.wordpress.com/ (Accessed on 12/10/12)

Fig 3- Abandoned city space.Gehl,J.(2006).pg.128

Fig 4- The image of the Internet. Available at http://chrisl1818.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/week-2-what-is-the-internet/ (Accessed on 16/10/12)

Fig 5- Google tag icon. Available at http://www.actioncoaching.com/tag/local-search/ (Accessed on 23/9/12)

Fig 6- Bersih Rally, Kuala Lumpur. Available at http://borneoherald.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/for-society-civil-and-decent-interview.html (Accessed on 19/10/12)

Fig 7- Tahrir Square Revolution. Available at http://www.architectural-review.com/view/broader-view/reality-bytes-the-digitally-mediated-urban-revolutions/8629140.article(Accessed on 1/10/12)

Fig 8- Abandoned city spac

Fig 9- Occupy Movement aat http://thinkjamesphoto.cost-pauls-cathedral/ (Accesse

Fig 10- Still from Triumph (1934). Still image.

Fig 11- Web Trend Map. net/lifestyle/event/web-trend(Accessed on 3/10/12)

Fig 12- Occupy Movementthinkjamesphoto.com/2011/1cathedral/ (Accessed on 18/

Figure 13: Guys using iPadnaistemaailm.ee/elustiil/uskumon 1/10/12)

Fig 14- Interactive Media Fa

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