Luc Askew-Vajra Portfolio

Networks Data & The Urban Realm.

Luc Askew-Vajra 150062895 ARC8060 Design Submission

Introduction to the Document.

This project looks to investigate the link between networks, data and the urban realm, with a specific focus on the planning white paper released in August 2020. I am looking to understand the changes in legislation that are being proposed with regards to the automation of the planning system, and how this will be implemented using algorithms.

Through my investigations, I developed a focus on beauty, as it is a key consideration of the legislative changes, with the proposal for a fast-track for beauty, which would allow automatic approval for certain designs. However, for this process to work it requires ‘beautiful design’ to be algorithmically defined. This is contentious, as beauty must first be defined by a human, in this case it is Roger Scruton, before it can be coded, meaning that the definition of beauty will contain bias. This results in an urban environment that is then skewed towards the opinion of one person and therefore excludes others.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of this process of defining beauty, I looked to test the proposed system in a physical setting, trying to imagine the physical outcomes of an algorithmic design based on Scruton’s bias and how it would impact on the future urban environment along with its residents.

This document is structured in way which introduces the main argument and arc of the project in the first section. This is also the presentation for the examination. This is then followed by an extensive appendix, which contains material which expands and underpins the first section, with references in the first section defining the order of the appendix.

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Grounding Networks - LinkUKBT Kiosks mapped across the city centre of Newcastle.

Networks and the Physical.

I first started investigating how the networks influence our daily lives by looking at the topic through the eyes of a protagonist, an online shopper, who was using online networks and data to access services within Eldon Square shopping centre. This led me to consider how the networks influences the formation of elements in the physical realm and such as Amazon lockers and delivery depots.

I then realised that these were in fact the products of the network, and that there was also the physical manifestations of the networks themselves. These include telephone masts, satellite dishes and also the much more noticeable LinkUKBT Kiosk, which creates a localised Wi-Fi hotspot whilst also allowing for free phone calls, charging for smartphone, maps for tourists and a digital phonebook.

Whilst the idea of a free Wi-Fi network may seem innocent, when you connect to the network, your browsing data, MAC address and device identity are recorded and then used to further personalise your online targeted advertising. Essentially the service that is ‘free’ due to it being funded by advertising screens on either side of the kiosk is in fact coming at a cost – your data is being collected and used for the endless pursuit of selling more commodities in the technocapitalist society.

Express. (2016) BT to launch link ultrafast wi-fi kiosks as ‘next evolution’ of payphones. Available at: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/725000/BT-launch-link-ultrafast-wifikiosks-next-evolution-payphones Accessed: 11/12/20 Atkin, R. (2018) Stop replacing London’s phone boxes with corporate surveillance. Available at: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/linkuk-bt-google-free-wifi-and-calls-london Accessed: 11/12/20

A series of collages created at the conceptualisation stage of the project to show a protagonist interacting with Eldon Square Shopping Centre through the networked world of cyberspace and the experiences it creates along with the processes it disguises.

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For more background on this section, please see pages 54-63 in the appendix.

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Looking at the number of different actors involved in the traditional planning process.

Excerpt from my analysis of the White Paper looking at the proposed codifying in relation to land use.

Codifying Planning - Simplification of Process.

Codifying Planning - Land Use.

Looking at the changes the White Paper suggests, it is clear that the government is looking to streamline the existing system using algorithms. But in doing so, we will lose the input of all the actors typically involved with the planning process meaning the sole input will be from a potentially biased algorithm.

Looking at how the White Paper suggests changes to the way land is classified and simplifying this down into three categories: Growth, Renewal and Protected. This then creates a system than can easily be coded and fulfil the government’s aspirations of an automated planning system.

For more background on this section, please see pages 88-89 in the appendix.

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House Building Percentage & Location.

This algorithm was also released to calculate the target number of homes to build for each area in England, with the aim of building more housing in less affordable places to increase stock and reduce overall prices. The algorithm produced some logical but unfeasible results, which were spotted quickly by humans.

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= Standard Practice.

With the deployment of this sort of algorithm, the results that it puts out will then be checked by a human before planning permission is granted.

Full Automation.

What if the decision to proceed with the results of the house building algorithm was also automated? This would require the input of a specific type of algorithm called a blockchain that can autonomously make decisions. What kind of built environment would we end up with?

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Algorithms and Planning.

Looking at the algorithms that have already been deployed with regards to the new planning legislation and how they perform in reality.

= For more background on this section, please see pages 64-71 in the appendix.

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?

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Algorithms and the Built Environment.

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This collection of maquettes looks at the outcomes in the built environment if the housing algorithm had been applied by a blockchain algorithm and had not been checked by a human to make sure that the results were not purely logical, but also realistic.

These scenes also highlight the danger of leaving the planning of built environments to algorithms with no human oversight.

House Building in Kensington.

Land Constraints.

House Building in Cotswolds.

Because of the way the algorithm is set up, it shows that Kensington requires a 633% increase in house building. Obviously here the algorithm has been skewed by the artificially high house prices of the area but if it wasn’t a human reviewing the figures - could this be the reality?

The Government is adamant that they will protect areas of green belt in their new planning proposal, however the algorithm that they propose in order to generate target number of homes to build for each area in England does not take adjust for the land constraints, such as green belt.

Even though the Cotswolds is the home of many small villages and settlements with historical importance, the algorithm shows that the area needs a 148% increase in house building, is this what we could end up with?

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Digital Habitus - the data that summarises us as beings is kept on servers as binary code.

Networks, Data and Habitus.

I then started to investigate how the vast amounts of data that these networks collect can be interpreted. We investigated this as a group project looking at different protagonists moving through Eldon Square and how tracking their routes could be a visual representation of their habitus.

Habitus is something that is imbued into a person’s subconscious and is the physical embodiment of another of Bourdieu’s concepts, cultural capital. This concept takes the ideas of Marx in that social order is defined by capital and expands this definition from purely economic to include cultural acquisitions that occur from one’s inclusion in a social class. This might be things such as degrees, taste, accent, skills, mannerisms or even posture. Habitus is then a reflection of this acquired cultural capital in our everyday lives and habits. It can be seen in how one might eat, choose artwork or even the shops one shops in.

With the sheer amount of data about our likes and dislikes that is now collected when we connect to these networks with our smartphones and other devices, it is plausible to suggest that the data servers now contain a digital version of our habitus. So if the servers contain a coded version of our opinions, could this data be used to create an algorithm that would understand human preference?

Routledge. (2016) Habitus. Available at: http://routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/habitus#:~:text=Habitus%20is%20one%20of%20Bourdieu%27s,due%20to%20 our%20life%20experiences. Accessed: 18/11/2020

Digital Habitus - the data that summarises us as beings is kept on servers as binary code.

Visualising Habitus - Protagonist Route Mapping.

For more background on this section, please see pages 72-87 in the appendix.

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Can

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our idea of beautiful coded into an algorithm?

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“Allowing the preapproval of popular and replicable designs through permitted development.”

Classic Style ‘Modern’ Housing.

A ‘sustainable, beautiful, safe and useful’ development.

Looking at the proposed aesthetic changes which would be applicable to the facade in majority.

Looking at the proposed changes to permitted development enabling a copy-and-paste urban realm.

“We intend to introduce a fast-track for beauty through changes to national policy and legislation, to incentivise and accelerate high quality development which reflects local character and preferences.”

Looking at the proposed creation of a fast-track for beauty discrimnating against certain style of buildings.

Proposed Codifying - Appearance and Beauty.

The planning white paper also addresses construction of future developments and the way they look. It draws off the Living with Beauty Report and suggests that there should be a fast-track for beauty and then further expands on this by suggesting changes to permitted development would allow popular and replicable designs in areas earmarked for Renewal. The suggestion is that beauty and the appearance of these ‘acceptable’ developments will be outlined in a Design Code which will be based on the National Model Design Code document. This Design Code will then be coded into the automated planning system so that an algorithm can decide whether a project will comply or not.

Excerpts from my analysis of the White Paper looking at the proposed codifying in relation to a fast-track for beauty and also the changes to permitted development.

For more background on this section, please see pages 88-91 in the appendix.

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Urban Neighbourhood A

A

A

Avg. Block

L

W

80m

42m

Max Height:

10m

Urban Neighbourhood B

Avg. Block

L

W

55m

37m

Max Height:

Individual Gardens to Rear

National Model Design Code

13m

Block Of Flats Residential Entrances to Rear Also

Continuous Building Line

Terraces

B B Greenery Buffer

Front Garden with Railing

On-Street Parking

Architectural Features/Materials

Communal Entrance

Architectural Features/Materials

No On-Street Parking

Exemplar Design Code Area Analysis Sheet.

High Street A

High Street B

Town/City Centre

Creating a Design Code.

Avg. Block

L

W

99m

48m

Max Height:

Avg. Block

18m

L

W

73

54m

Max Height: Back Streets

Differing Scales of Building

Differing Styles of Building

Large Pedestrian High Street Continuous Building Line

18m

Avg. Block

L

W

134m

89m

Enclosed Back Courtyard

Differing Heights but Similar Façades

Ground Floor Retail Single Lane Road Cycle Lane Pavement

Corner Marker Building

Architectural Features/Materials

Architectural Features/Materials

On Street Drop-off Areas

Corner Marker Building Continuous Building Line

Max Height:

17m

Matching Heights Save Roof Extensions

Taking the guidance outlined in the in the National Model Design Code and the Guidance Notes for Design Codes, I started to develop a design code for the area of Newcastle city centre around Eldon Square. As I started to develop this code, I realised that the code was containing my bias - the features I was picking out, the ones I was deeming to be of importance to local character, to beauty. All these choices were based on me and my opinions.

Continuous Building Line

Architectural Features/Materials

Creating a design code using the methodology proposed by the government documents.

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White Paper August 2020

National Design Guide Planning practice guidance for beautiful, enduring and successful places

Living with

Beauty Promoting health, well-being and sustainable growth

National Model Design Code

The report of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission

JANUARY 2020

Guidance Notes for Design Codes

Looking For Bias - Habitus Of Sir Roger Scruton.

I therefore realised that in any code or algorithm, there will be bias from the author, even if it is unintentional. This led me to investigate the planning documents that suggest that we create a design code in order to fast-track beauty and what biases they may contain. They all reference the Living with Beauty report which was led by Sir Roger Scruton.

It would be safe to say that Scruton had some relatively strong views about what should be considered beautiful when looking to create beautiful places. But his ideas of what is beautiful may stem from the places he lived in his younger years, places he has an emotional connection too. If we look at images of Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and the area around Jesus College in Cambridge, two places that Scruton spent a large amount of time in his early life - at least one of which he would have called home. These places could be part of his visual habitus and therefore constitute what he considers to be beautiful.

Images of the places that Scruton would have lived in his formative years.

For more background on this section, please see pages 92-95 in the appendix.

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Chimneys.

Mixed-Use Looking For Scruton in the Report - Forming a Code For Beauty.

When Vilhem Flusser classified the technical image, he defined it as an image that is produced by a device rather than directly by a human. The Living with Beauty report contains many of these technical images in the form of photographs. Because of the disconnect with the producer in a technical image, Kellner argues that we must scrutinise not only the technical image itself, but also the producer of the image - in this case Scruton as he will have curated the report.

I am therefore looking for the bias of Scruton, and his idea of what constitutes a beautiful built environment, through analysing the imagery in the report and picking out commonalities across the images in order to try and codify these features into a design code for beauty.

Pitched Roofs.

Terraced Streets.

Portrait Windows.

Tree-lined Streets.

These features can then feed into the codified planning system in order to create a codified idea of beauty in the built environment that can be specifically identified by a machine. Evidently this then means that Scruton’s bias will be coded into the planning system.

Brick.

For more background on this section, please see pages 96-121 in the appendix.

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So if every algorithm will contain bias in some way - what is the future of the urban environment that is built upon biased ideas written into a non-human controlled algorithm?

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Case Study: Poundbury, Dorset.

Masterplan of a Prince - Charles and Krier Surveying Poundbury.

Prince Charles Presenting His Vision of Poundbury and the Ideal Residents.

Ideology and Design.

Overall Poundbury seems like an attractive prospect on paper, with sustainability and the pedestrian at its heart. It seem like the perfect model town. But when a place is designed from the whims of one person - in this case Prince Charles, it starts to become a physical embodiment of their views and opinions. Its almost as if by creating the utopian vision of what the Prince of Wales sees as good urban design, he has also covertly designed what kind of people will live there, what they will do and how they will interact. It feels like there is more than simply just design contained within Poundbury, there is also an ideology. And judging from the comments from some of the residents, the census data and reports from journalists who have visited, if you do not agree with the ideology of Poundbury, it becomes an exclusionary environment.

Thankfully Poundbury remains an experimental town in Dorchester contained to the area assigned for construction by the Duchy of Cornwall, the ideology of the place is not currently being constructed nationally. However, many of the views align with the ideas coming from the current planning legislation published in 2020 and the ideas put forward by the late Sir Roger Scruton which is very much proposing a national design guide and style - could the planning legislation be a vehicle for a new kind of ideology being imposed through the built environment of modern day Britain?

Images from Poundbury Finished and In Construction Showing the Modern Construction Methods Hiding Behind the Traditionalist Façades.

https://poundbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Poundbury-Factsheet-2019.pdf

For more background on this section, please see pages 122-131 in the appendix.

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Testing the proposed changes to planning in an urban setting to see how Scruton’s bias will affect the outcome.

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Testing the Theory - Defining a Site.

In order to better understand the proposed changes to the planning legislation and the way that we design our environment in the future, I will be testing the changes within the urban environment. The site I have chosen is the town centre of Gateshead which is already an area earmarked for development by the local authority.

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Data Collection - Laying the Groundwork for Scruton.

In order to create a local design code, data must be collected about the local area to feed into the algorithm. I have already identified that the official planning documents that outline this data collection in more detail all draw from Scruton’s Living With Beauty Report.

Therefore, in order to generate a design code for Gateshead town centre, I consulted the Living With Beauty Report and drew from the passages of text to ascertain what Scruton deemed inherent to beauty when deciding what to map. I then layered this data to create a map that identifies the most problematic areas that need to be addressed in order to beautify the centre.

The planning documents that Scruton has influenced with the Living With Beauty Report.

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Key. A Road B Road

Key.

Minor Road

Public Car Park

Local Road

Private Off-Street Car Park

Mapping the Road Hierarchy and Access to the Town.

Mapping the Areas For Car Parking.

Mapping the Listed Buildings.

Building height:

15 Storeys, 45-50m

Building height:

170m long x 165m wide

9 Storeys, 28-31m

Block size:

Block size:

N/A

Average building height:

3-4 Storeys, 10-13m Average block size:

Key. Greenery Fake Imitation Greenery

Mapping the Empty and Derelict Buildings.

Mapping the Greenery and Nature.

68m long x 40m wide Investigating Building Area and Height.

Data Collection - Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

I have mapped these six different traits of what Scruton described as inherent for beautiful places according to the text in the living with beauty report.

This will help in forming the algorithm and deciding which areas to address.

For more background on this section, please see pages 132-143 in the appendix.

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Portrait Windows.

Chimney.

Chimney.

These chimneys are very ornate and visibly combine four flues into one form. They are topped with individual chimney pots.

These chimneys are very simplistic and is a simple orthogonal protrusion from the apex of the roof with one per house. It also does not have chimney pots.

The large portrait sash windows with glazing bars are finished with stone lintels and sills giving them a strong presence in the brick wall.

Sill Band.

Pitched Roof.

Each house has a continuous stone sill band that runs across the entire frontage of the house and joins together the sills as well.

The pitched roof that sits atop the row of terraces is made from welsh slate giving a traditional look to the building.

Scruton’s ideas of what constitutes beauty in the urban derived from the images in the Living with Beauty report.

Terraced Housing.

Entrance.

Four-panel wooden doors with oblong fanlights and stone Doric doorcases.

Portrait Windows.

Eaves Cornice.

Entrance Stair.

The stone eaves cornice runs along the length of the terraces adding a further sense of the grandiose to the brick terrace.

All the terraces have individual access set back from the street with stone steps up to the ground level of the dwelling.

Wall Finish.

The large portrait sash windows with glazing bars at ground level are finished with stone architraves mimicking the proportions of the entrance.

The external walls are finished with a local pinkish brick.

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Data Collection - Investigating Local Typologies.

By taking the traits I had already identified from the imagery of the Living with Beauty Report as what Scruton deemed beautiful, I looked for the local versions of these in the heritage buildings. These features have been identified along with others that are key to the local character. These traits will come together to form the design code basis for new build dwellings in the town centre.

Mixed Use. The terraces are a mixture of residential and commercial uses.

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Coding the Code - Creating the Algorithm.

Once the data has been collected and the surveys of the local styles and existing buildings have been undertaken, the code is supposed to be consulted on by a committee of local residents who are meant to have input into the design code for their local area. However, if the data collected has already been formulated to favour a certain viewpoint, in this case Scruton’s, then surely this influences the opinions of the committee?

All this information is then gathered and input into the digital system in order to create what the white paper describes as “a system of standardised data” for planning across the country so that local plans can easily be compared.

However, for underfunded local authorities who cannot afford the cost of creating their own design code, the idea of the standardised design code is so that they have a basis to build on top of. Could this then lead to multiple design codes being very similar? And how would this affect our urban environment?

Scruton Uses Boris and the White Paper as His Mouthpiece for a National Conservative Aesthetic Imposed Through a Design Code.

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The focus area for testing the algorithm.

Applying the Code - The Algorithm in Use. With all the data about the area collected and coded into the algorithm, it then uses this information about the past and the present to create a plan for the future. In this case I am looking at the hypothetical outcomes that the algorithm would produce if coded with the biases of Scruton and the variables he has outlined. Here the algorithm has identified the two areas for development in the town centre from the data collected.

The local data combined together outlining the focus areas for the algorithm.

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A house in construction using the kit of parts.

Applying the Code - Kit of Parts.

Here I have used the information collected about the local area typologies collected with regards to Scruton’s bias for certain built forms. I have then used this to create a kit of parts to build the house that is deemed beautiful in Gateshead according to Scruton’s ideals. The kit is developed with the idea that it can be cheaply and easily replicated. Drawing from my research into Poundbury where the façades where simply attached to modern steel frames, this kit of parts has been designed to be built around a stack of shipping containers which means that it can be erected quickly to combat the housing shortages that the legislation is meant to tackle.

The kit of parts to be used to construct beautiful developments.

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Coded Streets - The Product of the Algorithm.

Once the algorithm has been coded, it creates a solution that satisfies the variables that have been defined from the outset. In this case, the variables are based on Scruton’s opinions of what is beautiful, and the characteristics that have been identified and then located locally before being made into the kit of parts. Because of the way the algorithm is constructed, it will find a solution to suit what has been defined as beautiful, which is in this case a specific house type replicated to form terraces and blocks that satisfy the local average sizes whilst including tree-lined streets to tie the blocks together.

The algorithm takes the lines of code and creates a three-dimensional spatial interpretation. This would seem to be the next step of what Flusser defined as the translation of the technical image where a two-dimensional digital image is coded by machines to then be decoded again for the human eye. Here, the photograph of local building typologies has been coded into the algorithm, then the code has been decoded into a three-dimensional house type which is then built in the urban landscape. It is the next step in the evolution of the technical image.

1010011

1010011

The new area created using the information gathered for the algorithm.

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Algorithmic Urban Discrimination - Larger Families and Multi-generational Households.

Whilst the algorithm will contain the bias of Scruton, which would have previously remained as his opinions on paper, this bias has now been spatialised and therefore has to be understood as also being discriminatory to others.

In this image we can see that the house type created discriminates against larger families with multiple children or multiple generations, as they do not have enough space within which to live, as the house type which has been defined as beautiful is only one size. To combat this they have had to erect temporary accommodation in their front garden in the form of a tent. They also have multiple vehicles and so cannot park all of them at the rear of the property resulting in the pedestrian-focused streets being populated by cars. Does this mean that the family is not the typical British stereotype imagined by Scruton and therefore not deserving of a home?

The houses created by the algorithm being applied to new developments meaning that larger families are overcrowded.

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Algorithmic Urban Discrimination - Accessibility and Ageism.

The elements that make up the kit of parts are strongly linked to the local house typology and what has been defined and classified as beautiful. This has meant that the house type is accessed by a series of steps in order to mimic the historic terraces.

This evidently causes accessibility issues for the elderly and those with mobility issues, but this is overlooked as the primary focus of the algorithm is to create an aesthetic rather than taking an holistic approach to the new buildings and addressing other factors alongside. Just because this section of society is not the majority, should they not be considered when creating the future housing stock, especially as ageing is an inevitable fact of life meaning that these houses will not be suitable for long-term habitation?

The houses created by the algorithm creating accessibility issues for the elderly and the disabled because of the stepped entrances.

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Algorithmic Urban Discrimination - Sustainable Materials and Construction.

Whilst Scruton’s bias being coded into an algorithm does not specifically address sustainability, the typology that is specified as beautiful is made out of expensive stone and brick, as it is a traditional terrace. This has then been simplified into a kit of parts for the new builds to allow for quicker and cheaper building. However, because the materials are now reduced to a skinned facade attached to a modern internal structure, similar to what is found at Poundbury, the longevity of the new terraces is much reduced.

This begs the question as to whether it is sustainable to build in such a manner? Would it not be more sustainable to build using renewable materials, such as timber, using construction methods that are suited to that material rather than creating an over engineered pastiche of a facade? And in specifying the aesthetics of the built environment is the algorithm discriminating against sustainable building solutions?

The houses created by the algorithm are not as sustainable or long-lasting as the original houses that they area imitating.

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Algorithmic Design Compromises.

By focusing on building future housing using an algorithm that focuses solely on aesthetics, born from the bias of one man, we are neglecting multiple societal issues. It is therefore abundantly clear that the future of planning cannot be automated, as the algorithmic nature of the system completely ignores the messy and complex issues of society that feed into the built environment

Looking at some of the elements of society that the aesthetic algorithm ignores.

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Appendix.

The contents of Appendix relate to the content in the presentation and are an expansion on the themes and topics discussed.

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The Click-and-Collector and Amazon.

Looking at the Market Share of Amazon in E-commerce.

One company dominates the world of e-commerce much more significantly than others, and that is Amazon. In 2019 it was reported that they had just over a 30% market share of the UK e-commerce with the next biggest stakeholder, eBay, holding just less than 10%. This market domination is clearly visible in the urban environment with the adjacent map showing the locations of nine different click-and-collect points all within less than one kilometre of Eldon Square. Most of these collections points are also Amazon-branded lockers, painted in the vivid yellow colour synonymous with the brand, acting as marketing beacons within an already overly stimulating urban environment.

Looking in more detail at the specific locations of these collection points, they form a loose perimeter around Eldon Square and are closely related to the main transport links, marked in burgundy, in order to be as convenient as possible for the click-andcollector. The placement of some of these points at the entrances to the shopping centre is in some ways also subverting the shopping centre and meaning that people no longer traverse the building and the physical shopping realm. Instead they simply briefly engage with the collection points which draws the customers away from the real-world shopping experience.

Referenced from page 03.

Mapping Amazon Lockers and Transport Links in the City Centre.

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The Click-and-Collector and Amazon.

In the way that these collection points essentially form a perimeter around the shopping centre, they also become gateways into an invisible world. The Amazon locker becomes a portal between the human world and that of the virtual, as if by magic producing products that you had only visualised on a screen or perhaps requested from your virtual assistant. It also hides the processes behind the products - the sourcing of materials, the manufacturing, the packaging, the delivery. All that happens without the click-andcollector knowing anything save the final process, delivery, when the customer is notified of the impending arrival as if to increase the sense of anticipation. Convenient as this may be for the clickand-collector, it also serves Amazon and their suppliers as well, in that they can conceal things such as the use of underpaid labour or the overworking of delivery staff out of sight of the consumer, creating an immersive shopping experience without ‘distractions’.

Looking at the Hidden Processes Behind the Click-and-Collector Retrieving Their Parcel From the Amazon Locker.

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Referenced from page 03.

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Technocapitalism.

“Technocapitalism

is an evolution of market capitalism that is rooted in rapid technological innovation.” Luis Suarez Villa The idea of Technocapitalism is that the rapid developments in technology and the changes occurring in the systems of capitalism are directly related. In fact, Kellner goes as far as to say that the technocapitalism we are witnessing today is a “synthesis of capital and technology.” So it does not come as a surprise that when we look at the shopping centre and the spaces that surround it, they are spaces that truly embody this idea. The screens that populate the streets with message after message about new commodities are not something that has occurred by chance, capitalism did not simply stumble upon this new ideal medium, they evolved together. The digital screens we are surrounded by are a direct product of the capitalist society we live in. And it is therefore no surprise that the shopping centre, an almost ideal embodiment of capitalism, is covered in screens that promote the commodities.

Suarez-Villa, L., 2003. The e-economy and the rise of technocapitalism: networks, firms, and transportation. Growth and change, 34(4), pp.390-414.

Kellner, D. (2016) Theorizing Globalization. Sociological theory. 20 (3), 285–305.

Referenced from page 03.

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Technocapitalism As A Synthesis Of Technology & Capital.

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Smartphones and Data Collection.

When Greenfield writes that the smartphone “has become the universal, all-butindispensable mediator of everyday life” he was not exaggerating. In 2020, the number of global smartphone users is projected to reach 3.5 billion - nearing half the population of planet earth. It has replaced so many different objects that we used to carry with us; keys, cash, bus tickets, wallets, maps, boomboxes, credit cards, the list goes on. It has become a convergent technology.

It draws together these many different fields into one singular slab of connectedness.

It allows technical images to reach us anywhere on earth, ensuring we remain connected to the technocapitalism that ties our western world together.

It also allows us to produce technical images, allowing us to communicate through photos and video, creating an ever more visually stimulated population.

But it also allows us to have a voice. The rise of smartphones has been accompanied by the rise in activity on social media - there are currently 1.69 billion users on Facebook alone. And many of the cybersituations that we witness today are organised through social media, on a smartphone. The events that lead to a cybersituation might even stem from a technical image being recorded on a smartphone.

Greenfield, A. (2017) Radical Technologies. London: Verso. p.9 Oberlo. (2020) How many people have smartphones in 2020? Available at: https://www.oberlo.co.uk/statistics/how-many-people-have-smartphones Accessed: 20/11/20 Clement, J. (2019) Global number of Facebook users 2015-2020. Available at : https://www.statista.com/statistics/490424/number-of-worldwide-facebookusers/#:~:text=This%20statistic%20shows%20the%20number,from%201.34%20million%20in%202014. Accessed 5/12/20

Referenced from page 03.

The Convergent Technology Of The Smartphone.

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Smartphones and Data Collection.

Whilst the smartphone may appear to be a seamless slate of perfectly illuminated never-ending technical imagery, it is in fact a carefully arranged multitude of sensors feeding data into an invisible network of data-crunching technocapitalist businesses.

The accelerometer tells the phone when you are moving and whether you are on foot or in a vehicle. This is then combined with data from the gyroscope which determines which way up the phone is and which way its facing. The Assisted GPS chip connects to a constellation of satellites orbiting twenty million metres above our heads, tracking our every move. The microphone allows us to communicate verbally with our device and allows it to record our voices, perhaps more often than we know. The cameras allow you to take photos and video, unlock your phone with your face but are also used to track your eye movement whilst looking at content. The near-field communication (NFC) antenna allows your phone to interact with the urban, facilitating things such as card payments.

All these inputs and a plethora of others are then combined together through software within the device and translated into binary code which is then transferred to the network of data that runs through the city.

These networks are then controlled by large corporations who use the data to build up a profile of your actions and the locations, which could be seen as a modern-day version of tracking one’s habitus, in order to provide more targeted technical imagery used to advertise commodities. Even the smartphone itself has become a commodity with people paying hundreds of pounds a year to own the latest data collection device which in turn commodifies them as a person. And yet we seemingly have no choice but to be connected to these networks for without them, the smartphone is no longer that, it’s just a phone.

Nield, D. (2020) All the Sensors in Your Smartphone, and How They Work. Available at: https://gizmodo.com/all-the-sensors-in-your-smartphone-and-how-theywork-1797121002 Accessed 10/12/20 Greenfield, A. (2017) Radical Technologies. London: Verso. p.16

Referenced from page 03.

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Deconstructed Smartphone - The Hidden Processes.

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What is Blockchain and How Does It Work?

Full Automation - How Does Blockchain Work?

Full Automation - What Is Blockchain?

In this use case, it would arbitrate between the algorithm deciding where housing needed to be built and the building company seeking planning permission.

Each user is a node in the system with a unique cryptographic signature 1. An exchange is initiated by a user

It has origins in Bitcoin, the online currency.

2. The data is packaged in a ‘block’

It is a decentralised system which gives each user access to the same data without creating a vulnerable centralised system.

3. The block is sent to all nodes for verification 4. The block is checked against the ledger of each node and is deemed to be correct by all nodes

Creates a ‘trustless’ cryptographic system.

This means it allows exchange and storage of data between two or more parties without the need for a neutral third party to arbitrate.

5. The block is folded into the blockchain which the information in the latest block containing the information of the previous block also 6. The update version of the blockchain is circulated to all nodes to update their ledgers All users have local access to the blockchain through a ledger which stores the information of the blockchain on each node

Referenced from page 07.

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Looking at How Blockchain Could Be Used in the Construction Industry.

Final Installation.

Community Cooperative Energy.

By looking at the specific areas of interest in the construction industry, I have created networks where employing a process that uses blockchain at its core could be beneficial to the industry. Looking at how the enforcement of contract and the form of contractual engagement changes when blockchain is applied. It ties the contract together in a different way because it allows no compromise to the original terms agreed at the coding stage of the blockchain. The humanity is removed from the agreement and is replaced with pure mechanistic logic. These links are then explored through this three-dimensional web of actors.

If an urban development is designed by the Architect to include energy producing technology, such as solar panels, it can allow a local community to assemble an energy cooperative with the addition of a blockchain system. Research group Space10 conceptualised this with a scale model which showed a small urban community of homes where “households generate their own renewable energy using solar panels, while others automatically purchase excess electricity directly from the producer using blockchain technology. The result is a model of a self-sufficient, communitydriven microgrid where people trade renewable, affordable energy from one another according to their individual needs.”

Referenced from page 07.

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Looking at How Blockchain Could Be Used in the Construction Industry.

Smart Contracts.

By using a contract based in blockchain, the contractual process can be simplified and does not need an independent third party. Because the contract is now a digital enforcement mechanism, you can program it with conditional triggers. For example; when an Architect finishes the drawings for the Contractor, the blockchain can automatically proceed the payment of fees to the Architect, independent of the Contractor.

The use of blockchain should essentially streamline the construction process and limit contractual disputes.

Designing with Pre-existing Materials.

If the whole construction industry adapted to a blockchain based material supply chain, where all the waste materials from projects and currently available materials were logged into a singular blockchain, it could change the way we design. Rather than an Architect designing a building and then creating a specification list of materials that have to be made and sourced globally for the project, the Architect could check the log of available materials and try and create a design using existing materials. This would in turn reduce material waste and production and therefore reduce the strain of the construction industry on the environment.

Referenced from page 07.

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Looking at How Blockchain Could Be Used in the Construction Industry.

Ethical & Sustainable Materials.

Transporting Goods.

By using a blockchain system to track materials through the project from production to transport to final installation, one could create a building with embedded material information that would allow users to understand the ethical and environmental provenance of building elements. This idea stems from a similar strategy being undertaken

by French retail company, Carrefour, who allow shoppers to scan QR codes on fruit and veg to see where it was from, how far it has travelled and other environmental statistics. This is being used to generate brand loyalty but also to give customers access to more information and help them make informed purchases. Perhaps if the construction industry employed a similar strategy, use of more environmentally materials would increase.

The main idea behind having a blockchain based system behind the supply chain is to reduce the number of deliveries to site and, in turn, reduce carbon emissions from lorries making deliveries. The hope is that by all the suppliers being networked together with the contractors, orders from different suppliers could be bundled together onto one transport, thus reducing the traffic of vehicles on the road.

Referenced from page 07.

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Group Study of Protagonists in Eldon Square.

Security Guards Perspective of Wanderings

As a group of five we gathered our protagonists together to have a sample of five different perspectives on Eldon Square. The five protagonists were: a phone, a click-and-collector, a pensioner, a shopaholic and a homeless person. From this we created a collaged map of Eldon and the spaces around it focusing on the main areas our protagonists would inhabit. The image above is then supposed to be viewed in the third person, as if our original protagonists are being observed by a security guard which references the idea of Eldon being a controlled environment.

We then looked at creating a storyboard of each of our protagonists’ journey through Eldon Square with the first scene being the arrival and the last the departure from the site. This allowed us to study the differences between our protagonists and how they engaged with the different spaces of Eldon.

We then used these storyboards to map the route of each protagonist as they moved through the site. This allowed us to see where their paths crossed but also the routes they took in and around the site. It also showed the elements of economic social stratification with the homeless person’s path skirting around the rest as they walked through the shopping centre, showing us that certain economic classes feel unwelcome in a retail environment.

Protagonists Storyboard

Referenced from page 11.

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Grounding the Network - DataCentres.

Pulsant Ltd Stellium Data Centres

ITPS

Whilst some elements of the network may be visible in and around the city centre, other elements of the network remain removed from the public realm.

The beating heart of the network, the datacentres, seem to exist in discrete areas of industrial estates, small warehouses, faceless office buildings, always hidden from view. These spaces hold the physical information of the internet, they are the cloud that we save our files to, the spaces where the billions of websites exist, they are the virtual reality, in reality.

And yet we, as the public, have no access to them. Our data is held out of reach and out of site. How can we truly comprehend the virtual if we do not even have access to the physical that we created?

Pulsant Ltd Eldon Square

Wildcard Networks

Pulsant Ltd

RAckstar Limited Deconstructed Smartphone - The Hidden Processes.

Referenced from page 11.

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Mapping Datacentres Around Newcastle.

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The Situationists and Their Methods.

The Situationists At A Conference In Munich, April 1959.

Formed in 1957 in Switzerland, The Situationists were a revolutionary group led by a Frenchman, Guy Debord. They were the first revolutionary group to analyse capitalism in its current form of being an entirely commodified system and they regularly looked to create what they would call ‘situations’. This would entail creating events where people could meet and interact with each other just as people rather than in scenarios that were mediated by commodities.

They argued that workers in the western world were suffering from a new type of oppression, that of the illusion of empty consumer goods, or spectacles. These commodities were then sold to the workers with the promises of enriching their lives when in fact they were sold to maintain a perpetual capitalist reality.

One of the Situationists’ ways of protesting the commodified capitalist society was the practice of the détournement. It is defined as “taking pre-existing images and mixing them together to highlight the underlying ideology of the original image.” Whilst it could take many forms, it was most effective in the form of film.

In terms of billboards, the Situationists regularly took advantage of the cut-and-stick medium of the billboards of the time to rearrange slogans to mock the advertisers or the current political situations. On the adjacent page is a Malboro Cigarettes billboard that has been ‘hacked’ to address the dangers of smoking.

They also developed the idea of the dérive (drift) which was created as a protest against the urban fabric and the physical design of urban spaces. The theory was that the urban environment had been shaped to meet the needs of capitalism and as such, was separating people from each other and their true desires. By walking aimlessly through the urban they theorised that one could avoid being entranced and trapped by the commodified motives of a capitalist urban fabric.

Haines, L. (2018) 1968 and all that. Available at: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/1968-and-all-that-12-july-2018 Accessed: 20/11/20 Libcom. (2006) Situationists - an introduction. Available at: https://libcom.org/thought/situationists-an-introduction Accessed: 25/11/20 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2019) Situationist International. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/SituationistInternational Accessed: 25/11/20

Referenced from page 11.

Billboard Hacking.

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Situationists & Cyberspace.

The placement of advertising and the creation of the pseudo-public has led to the existence of what Mcluhan describes as a mass audience who are constantly being fed small packages of entertainment though the media. This consumerist media can now reach us at anytime and anywhere in the world thanks to all of us carrying smartphones in our pockets and being connected to the internet which has created a new realm for consumerism – Cyberspace.

“Cyberspace captures the sense of a social setting that exists

purely within a space of representation and communication ... it exists entirely within a computer space, distributed across increasingly complex and fluid networks.” – Don Slater To be in cyberspace and surfing the web could be described as an example of a Debordian derive, endlessly scrolling and clicking through links which appear within web pages. Best and Kellner write of this derive as being comparable to the flaneur of Walter Benjamin who strolls through the Parisian shopping arcades looking at commodities and images of dreams in shop windows.

Meanwhile, cyberspace could also be described as the space of what Debord outlines as The Spectacle. He writes of an alternative fake reality that is based upon a reality which he terms ‘The Spectacle’. The Spectacle reduces society to the value of images, and this could be seen as the world of online shopping where the act of shopping has become an endless reel of images – it has been designed to be scrolled through as a selection of images much in the same way that the flaneur would stroll past arcades – the cyberspace is attempting to mimic the shopping experience of reality. And yet to access this new reality one must be firmly grounded in another, using a device that can decode the language of cyberspace.

The two realities are separate but also inextricably linked.

Slater, D., 2002. Social relationships and identity online and offline. Handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs, pp.533-546.

Steven Best & Douglas Kellner (1999) Debord, Cybersituations, and the Interactive Spectacle. SubStance. 28 (3), 129–156.

Martin, R. (2014) Mediators: aesthetics, politics, and the city.

Debord, G., 1967. The Society of the Spectacle. translated and annotated by Ken Knabb. Berkeley, CA: Bureau of Public Secrets.

Referenced from page 11.

Shopping In Cyberspace - The Virtual Flaneur.

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Politicising Cyberspace - the Cybersituation.

Whilst the realm of cyberspace remains a space for businesses to make money and sell commodities, with online sales at $2.8 trillion in 2018 and projections set to reach $4.8 trillion by the year 2021, it can also be a space for the creation of cybersituations.

“Producing

cybersituations involves individuals engaging in activities that fulfil their own potential, further their interests, and promote oppositional activity aiming at progressive change and alternative cultural and social form.”

Kellner and Best The cybersituation can take the form of a website or chatroom, a blog, a Facebook group, a Twitter hashtag, and can be used to affect change in the virtual or real world. This allows individuals who might be excluded from public forums and give them a voice. There are many examples of this in modern society such as the Black Lives Matter protests which spread from North America around the world through social media, the #MeToo movement that allowed women who were victims of abuse to speak out against powerful men or the climate change marches organised online by Extinction Rebellion.

Whilst a cybersituation may be a protest-like construct in an online forum, it still has to obey to the laws of the medium and as such must be constructed within the boundaries of computer code. This can be further controlled if the cybersituation is hosted on a platform that is controlled by regulators (e.g. Facebook) who can control the content posted. However, when a cybersituation crosses from cyberspace into the physical realm it breaks free of these constraints.

Mohsin, M. (2020) 10 online shopping statistics you need to know in 2021 Available at: https://www.oberlo.co.uk/blog/ online-shopping-statistics Accessed: 5/11/20 Steven Best & Douglas Kellner (1999) Debord, Cybersituations, and the Interactive Spectacle. SubStance. 28 (3), 129–156.

Mcintyre, A. Murray, K. (2020) Every update as Extinction Rebellion activists marched from Gateshead to Newcastle.

Available at: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/extinction-rebellion-protest-live-updates-18484138 Accessed: 22/11/20 Dickinson, K. (2020) 11 powerful pictures from Newcastle’s Black Lives Matter protest at Grey’s Monument Available at:https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gallery/11-powerful-pictures-newcastles-black-18416356 Accessed:23/11/20

Referenced from page 11.

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Black Lives Matter Protest - An Example Of A Cybersituation.

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Cybersituations & Imagery.

This idea of bringing cyberspace into the real powerful form of protest realities but also breaks the

a cybersituation from world creates a more that straddles the two Spectacle of cyberspace.

When looking at the idea of imagery and cybersituations crossing into reality, an interesting concept is brought into play – billboard hacking.

Markussen describes the billboard as having “almost become an altar of consumer society for displaying products or campaigns.” It is positioned in urban spaces with high footfall and it becomes an unavoidable object and in turn its contents cannot be avoided either. So, the idea of using a billboard as the milieu for a protest is exactly the idea of détournement that The Situationists were looking to encourage.

One such group currently practising billboard hacking is Led by Donkeys who are an activist group formed by Ben Stewart, Oliver Knowles, James Sadri and Will Rose.

Together the four men combine the analogue technology of billboards with the digital medium of social media to gain widespread coverage but also as the basis of their imagery. Their billboards consist of pointing out instances of largescale hypocrisy by politicians. They do this by taking a past tweet or quote and then placing the example of the largescale hypocrisy on a billboard, immortalised in physical reality for all to see. They then take images of their billboards and post them to social media to reach a wider audience and record people’s reactions to their installations.

This idea of starting with a digital quote that is seen as a passing statement and immortalising it in reality creates a visually unavoidable form of protest against the current hypocritical political class. Then by posting the images of billboards on social media, they create a cybersituation. This loop from the virtual, to the physical and then back to the virtual means that there is maximum public interaction through a medium that is normally reserved solely for promoting commodities.

Markussen, T. (2017) The disruptive aesthetics of hijacking urban space. Journal of aesthetics & culture. 4 (1), 18157–9.

Lewis, T. (2019) Led By Donkeys: ‘There is a political power in laughing at these people’ Available at: https://www. theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/19/led-by-donkeys-interview-there-is-as-political-power-in-laughing Accessed: 24/11/20

Referenced from page 11.

Billboards By Led By Donkeys.

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Cybersituations & Eldon.

When looking specifically at Cybersituations around Eldon Square, there are two main events that stand out. The first is the Extinction Rebellion March that took place in June 2020. The protesters marched from Gateshead city centre to Newcastle and the protest was initially organised online through the climate group’s social media and websites.

The second major cybersituation of the city centre in 2020 was the Black Lives Matter protests, also in June. These protests stemmed from the killing of an unarmed man in America with protests erupting globally, fuelled and coordinated through social media.

The Newcastle protest was also organised through Facebook with organisers updating protesters on the change of venue in order to avoid clashes with a group calling themselves the “Defenders of Newcastle.”

Mcintyre, A. Murray, K. (2020) Every update as Extinction Rebellion activists marched from Gateshead to Newcastle.

Available at: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/extinction-rebellion-protest-live-updates-18484138 Accessed: 22/11/20 Dickinson, K. (2020) 11 powerful pictures from Newcastle’s Black Lives Matter protest at Grey’s Monument Available at:https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gallery/11-powerful-pictures-newcastles-black-18416356 Acccessed:23/11/20

Referenced from page 11.

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Locating Cybersituations Around Eldon Square.

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Creating Cybersituations in Eldon.

The Existing Fenwick Shop Window.

Taking cues from the ideas of détournement and billboard hacking and trying to bring more political imagery into the spaces in and around Eldon Square, I looked at spaces that could accommodate imagery. Given that window displays are photographed so often, thus creating cybersituations already, I thought that the ideal space would be the window display of Fenwick’s. I created a scale maquette of the shop façade and then created three window displays.

Looking at the three shop windows I created, I took inspiration from the site. The first two look at causes related to climate change and Extinction Rebellion. In creating these displays it would create a cybersituation and give a physical presence to the online group.

The third image looks at protests in general and the use of phones at protests.

Whilst the smartphone is in most cases the facilitator of many of these cybersituations, it can be used by the government for mass surveillance collecting data on the protesters, their location, their communications, etc. Amnesty International advises that phones at protests need to be kept locked, any photos taken need might need to have people’s faces blurred and that the phone should be kept locked at most times to prevent others accessing your data.

Raoof, R. (2020) Tactics to secure your smartphone before joining a protest. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2020/06/tactics-to-secure-phonebefore-a-protest/ Accessed: 2/12/20

Model Of Cybersituations.

Referenced from page 11.

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Maquette Of Created Cybersituations In Eldon.

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Analysis of Planning White Paper.

The Annotated Version of the Planning White Paper.

In order to analyse the Planning White Paper in greater depth, I annotated the document with a series of illustrations and notes highlighting the issues in the document. I also looked at the imagery of the report in order to ascertain if there were any hidden biases or implications in the images themselves. I focused specifically on the elements that suggested a simplification of the existing system in order to benefit automation as well as suggestions that would result in the bias of a singular body being disseminated across the country through the national planning system.

Referenced from pages 05 & 15.

Excerpts from my Annotated Version of the Planning White Paper.

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Codifying - National Model Design Code.

Design Code for Beauty.

How can beauty be codified? The suggestion that if we create a design code, all developments will be beautiful. How do we define that in the first place?

Codifying Beauty.

Created in order to help local authorities understand how to create a Local design Plans.

“A design code is a set of simple, concise, illustrated design requirements that are visual and numerical wherever possible to provide specific, detailed parameters for the physical development of a site or area.” Essentially codifying what the local authority deems beautiful.

Speeding up Development.

Having a visual design code allows developers to propose developments in line with the code so that developments can progress quickly through the planning process.

10 Characteristics.

Outlined in the National Design Code, the 10 characteristics of a well-designed and beautiful place are broken down and expanded on in this document.

Community Involvement.

The suggestion is that the local community are to be involved

Extract From the National Model Design Code.

Referenced from page 15.

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Looking for Bias - Sir Roger Scruton.

The Living with Beauty report itself was written by the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission which was cochaired by the late philosopher and writer Sir Roger Scruton.

Born in Lincolnshire, England in 1944, Scruton was one of three children. He was bought up in a pebble-dashed semi-detatched house in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Here he attended the Royal Grammar School where he achieved his A-levels in maths, physics and chemistry. This won him a place at Jesus College, Cambridge to study natural sciences however, on the first day he switched to moral sciences, otherwise known as philosophy. He graduated in 1965 with double first. In 1967 he returned to Cambridge to study for his PhD. The specific branch of philosophy that Scruton was trained in was analytic philosophy however, throughout his career he specialised in aesthetics. Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that looks at the nature of beauty and taste as well as the philosophy of art. It analyses subjective and sensory-emotional values. This led him to write many articles on the subject of architecture.

Throughout his lifetime he wrote over 50 books on many different topics, including wine and opera, alongside his main focus in philosophy.

From 1982 to 2001 he was the editor of the Salisbury Review which is a conservatist publication with articles on all aspects of public life, social policy and the arts. He was also a lecturer at many universities over the years, with stints at Oxford and St Andrews University to name but a few.

When it came to his views on architecture, Scruton did not like contemporary architecture or the notion of the starchitect of the modern era. He believed that the buildings that were different within the urban were built not for the use of the people but rather to satisfy the artist and their ego.

When it came to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, Scruton was appointed in November 2018 but was dismissed from his post in April 2019 after his homophobic and racist comments were published along with his views on Grenfell - He also stated that Grenfell Tower fire wouldn’t have happened if the building hadn’t been so ugly.

However, it emerged that some of his views had been taken out of context and he was later reinstated. He saw his mission as co-chair as protecting Britain from modern architects “imposing” their aesthetic.

Sir Roger Scruton.

Referenced from page 18.

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Habitus & Imagery.

“Seeing comes before words.

The child looks and recognises before it can speak” - John Berger This quote from Berger acknowledges the idea that children are perceiving a visual reality and taking meaning from it well before they learn to read or write. Our forming of habitus also begins before we are literate and as such, what we see plays a large part in that.

For this reason, Flusser argues that habitus is also formed by the images we see or receive in or from our environment. Children are learning to understand the world through visual cues and images - be it an image in a photo frame or the images on television.

Whilst very different types of imagery, they can both contribute to the building of habitus.

Berger, J. (2008) Ways of seeing.

Flusser, V. (2011) Into the universe of technical images. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p.5

Referenced from page 18.

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Imagery Building Habitus From A Young Age. 95

The Technical Image.

The idea of the technical image lies with the invention of apparatus that can create images that can be endlessly reproduced. This first began with the invention of the camera in the 1800s which then allowed a photograph to be reproduced an infinite number of times.

Now we have multiple apparatus that can reproduce a technical image – printers, computer screens, smartphones, advertising boards, televisions. We also can all now create technical images with the smartphone in our pockets.

Flusser writes that the difference between say, a painting, and a technical image is that it is created by the device.

That is to say that although the human programmed the device, the machine then takes our actions and codes them into digital language. Then, for humans to see these images they require an apparatus to decode the image for us. In this decoding the apparatus is programming atoms and particles, which form pixels, and then these pixels are arranged to form a two-dimensional image for humans to see from what was before a dimensionless piece of code.

Kellner, D., 2002. Critical perspectives on visual imagery in media and cyberculture. Journal of visual literacy, 22(1), p.81-90.

Flusser, V. (2011) Into the universe of technical images. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p.24

Referenced from page 21.

The Technical Image, Reproduction & Apparatus.

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Technical Imagery and Disconnect.

When Flusser writes about the idea of the technical image, he also argues that the creation of a technical image allows the viewer to be disconnected from the creator of the image. This means that when we see images, for example online when browsing the internet, we have no indication as to who created the image as it is simply a reproduction decoded for us by the device we are using.

In this vein, Kellner argues that it is important to scrutinise not only the image we are seeing, but also the producer of it, because all technical images will contain the bias of the producer. This is evident in today’s climate with the rise in ‘fake endorsements’ where images of celebrities have been used to advertise brands that claim to be associated with the star but are in fact not at all. This is evidence of the disconnect in technical image being exploited for financial gain through false promotion of commodities.

Flusser, V. (2011) Into the universe of technical images. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p.50 Kellner, D., 2002. Critical perspectives on visual imagery in media and cyberculture. Journal of visual literacy, 22(1), p.81-90.

Referenced from page 21.

Technical Imagery - Visualising The Disconnect.

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Image and the Medium.

Kim Kardashian Rocks Gold Mini Dress North Korea Parades Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

As well as the image being important, the medium through which the image is diffused is also key. In his work On Television, Bourdieu writes of the news that by playing images on the television, it becomes a dramatization of the current events. The images on the television have simply been created to be a watchable drama that plays out on our screens, removing the reality from where the image was born.

There is also the issue that by homogenising all images to fit one medium, events such as a war in Iraq become related to tit-bits of celebrity gossip, simply by the fact that they follow each other on the news, thus giving them equal significance and essentially removing deeper meaning from both. This idea works the same for stationery imagery as well - if you were to see an advert for novelty socks adjacent to a news article of a virus outbreak in China on the Daily Star website, the two would become associated simply by the fact of being next to each other on a webpage. This homogenisation of the news and compressing everything to fit one medium then leads to what Bourdieu termed “the depoliticization of media” where the political elements blend together with other elements of media, such as the commercial.

Bourdieu, P. (1998) On television and journalism. London: Pluto Press.

Ant and Dec To take A Break From TV After Drunken Car Accident Trump Overrides Senate Vote Using Controversial Presidential Powers

Referenced from page 21.

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The Disconnect Of Images Through Medium.

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Depoliticised Medium - The Public Sphere.

Looking at the website of The Star from Sheffield we see the informative media is completely surrounded by consumer products.

The depoliticization of the online medium is immediately evident when you look at modern news websites online, as seen on the adjacent page. The news, or political subject, is simply drowning in images trying to sell commodities which takes away the political gravitas of the news itself. This correlates with what Habermas wrote in his book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society: “The press and broadcast media serve less as organs of public information and debate than as technologies for managing consensus and promoting consumer culture.”

The Chronicle Live website appears to be slightly less advertising based however the adverts continuously change which draws your eyes away.

The idea of press and broadcast media can now be further expanded to the plethora of screens that populate the city centre area around Eldon Square, but also the screens in our pockets, the televisions in our homes. By including these screens, we see that the zone around Eldon where we assume the spaces are public are in fact what Habermas describes as pseudo-public - spaces that have been depoliticised by the insertion of advertising, transforming them instead to places being used by businesses for monetary gain. The city centre is now infested by this imagery that populates the previously public realm. The space of the public sphere where a discursive public could meet has been overcome by the commodified imagery.

Habermas, J. (1992) The structural transformation of the public sphere: an inquiry into a category of bourgeois society.

Cambridge: Polity. p.xii Ibid. p.175

Consumer Advertising Public Information

The Metro website is again completely surrounded by advertising with the page offering only one news article due to the amount of adverts.

Referenced from page 21.

Analysing Disconnected Imagery In Online Media.

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Depoliticised Public Sphere Imagery of Eldon.

When looking at the technical images around Eldon Square, it is evident that many of them are part of the technocapitalist ideal in that they appear on a plethora of screens located in bus stops, billboards and Wi-Fi hubs. Other technical imagery also appears on buses and in shop windows.

The majority of the images are for commercial purposes, with the screens occasionally showing the odd informative image about the coronavirus or changes after Brexit.

This mixing of commercial with informative imagery means that the impact of the important informative imagery is much reduced as it is simply placed in amongst a sea of advertisements which is precisely what Bourdieu was referring to when he speaks of a disconnect between images after they are homogenised into the same medium.

The third type of technical imagery is that of the political.

This type of imagery is much less obvious and is much smaller in size – usually a sticker affixed to a bin or lamppost. It is dwarfed in size by the behemoth-like images of capitalist pursuits, submerging any hope of a political public sphere deeper in advertisements.

Referenced from page 21.

Looking At Technical Imagery In & Around Eldon Square.

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Depoliticised Public Sphere - Locating Imagery.

After locating all the technical images from in and around Eldon Square on a map I looked at the distribution of each type of image. The dispersal of the commercial imagery is far reaching and stretches across the entire area of the map through screens, posters, window displays and even passing buses.

Meanwhile, the informative imagery, whilst widely dispersed, is reliant on commercial advertising and is mostly an image on the screen accompanying commercial imagery.

The traces of political imagery that can be found in the city centre around Eldon Square are small and hidden and often does not exist around the main shopping centre and is instead pushed to the edges of the area.

By studying the imagery around Eldon, it gives rise to the fact that we are indeed existing in a depoliticised public sphere in the physical sense, as the technical imagery invades the physical space of the city centre as physical objects that form our surroundings.

Referenced from page 21.

Locating The Technical Imagery Of Eldon Square.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Material.

Nowadays most bricks in the UK are made to a standard brick size of 215mm long, 102.5mm wide and 65mm high and laid with a nominal 10mm mortar joint.

Material - Brick.

Of all the images in the report, many of them use some form of brick as the main external cladding material. Whilst there are a range of different colours of brick, there is an overwhelming sense the use of brick is strongly associated with the idea of beauty. Evidently brick can be used in different ways to create patterns and openings as evidenced in the images from the report.

Living with Beauty Report - Images of Material.

Referenced from page 21.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Chimney.

The more traditional chimney arrangement vs the modern take on the chimney.

Building Form - Chimney.

Many of the smaller, more domestic-sized buildings in the report feature some sort of chimney atop their roof. These chimneys differ in design, from the more traditional topped with a cylindrical pot to the more modern that incorporates the openings into the chimney structure, maintaining an angular finish to the protrusion. The chimney itself harks back to the times when each family house would have multiple fireplaces used to heat the home and cook food. Now the more modern equivalents may be used for extraction vents or simply act as an architectural shroud for a more modern metal chimney.

Living with Beauty Report - Images of Chimneys.

Referenced from page 21.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Pitched Roof.

A pitched will generally have a pitch of between 20 and 70 degrees - any steeper and it can be considered a wall.

Building Form - Pitched Roof.

Many of the buildings pictured in the report use traditional pitched roofs with the flat roofs being reserved for the modern and mainly larger many-storied blocks. The idea of a pitched roof comes from the idea of creating a surface that uses gravity to aid drainage when impermeable waterproof membranes had not yet been developed. Now that we have these modern roof coverings we also have the option to create flat roofs but pitched roofs are still widely used.

Referenced from page 21.

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Living with Beauty Report - Images of Pitched Roofs.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Portrait Windows.

The window can take many forms such a juliet balcony or a sash window or even a Victorian style bay window.

Building Form - Portrait Windows.

In many of the images from the report, the windows on the buildings are in a portrait orientation. This gives the buildings a sense of verticality as opposed to having a window in a horizontal orientation.

Living with Beauty Report - Images of Portrait Windows.

Referenced from page 21.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Tree-Lined Streets.

Different size and species of tree can affect the feel of a streetscape. For example an evergreen will keep its leaves all year-round whilst other trees will lose all their leaves in autumn resulting in a bare streetscape.

Urban Realm - Urban Trees.

Many of the examples from the report feature urban greenery with most of this being in the form of trees planted in front of buildings to create a natural screen from the street.

Living with Beauty Report - Images of Urban Trees.

Referenced from page 21.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Terraced Streets.

The terrace brings intensity of use to the urban area whilst also minimising the external envelope of each dwelling which increases energy efficiency.

Urban Realm - Terraces.

There are numerous examples of terraced housing throughout the report with modern examples alongside the traditional terraced houses. It is mentioned as one of the specific urban forms that can be used to create beautiful places and provides scale and frontage that can compliment a large street or landscape.

Living with Beauty Report - Images of Terraced Streets.

Referenced from page 21.

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Codifying Scruton’s Bias - Mixed-Use.

The main form of this will usually be a shop below a residential or an office.

Urban Realm - Mixed Use. Mixed use is seen as a solution to creating places for people to live with amenities and civic buildings all based in a walkable distance. It is pictured many times in the report and is also mentioned no less than 26 times in the text.

Living with Beauty Report - Images of Mixed Use Buildings.

Referenced from page 21.

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Case Study: Poundbury, Dorset.

Poundbury, A Royal Utopia.

Begun in 1993, Poundbury is an urban extension to the town of Dorchester in Dorset. It is built on Duchy of Cornwall land and is a project led by HRH The Prince of Wales. It is currently home to around 4200 people with plans for 2700 homes by its completion in 2025. It is built as an integrated rather than a zoned development and is planned to challenge the town planning trends and policies of the 20th century. The principles and ideas for the architecture and urban planning of Poundbury are outlined in Prince Charles’ book ‘A Vision of Britain’ and it is here that he, with the help of architect and urban planner Leon Krier, creates his ideal British town. https://poundbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Poundbury-Factsheet-2019.pdf Easterling, K. (2014) Extrastatecraft : the power of infrastructure space. p.192

Referenced from page 25.

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Masterplan of a Prince - Charles and Krier Surveying Poundbury.

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Case Study: Poundbury, Dorset.

The Overall Aesthetic.

“Poundbury is designed to create a sustainable community which achieves an attractive, modern and pleasing place in which people can live” is the official statement from the Duchy of Cornwall, who are overseeing the entire project. This is somewhat puzzling and difficult to unite with the physical result of Poundbury, with many of the houses built as mock-Georgian style terraces and these are then interspersed with some quaint cottage-like houses along with grandiose palatial buildings. They might be new buildings, but they are definitely not modern. The only modern thing about these buildings is the way they are constructed - behind the façades hides steel frames and breezeblocks, making the whole town into a traditionalist conservative facade. https://poundbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Poundbury-Factsheet-2019.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/oct/27/poundbury-prince-charles-village-dorset-disneyland-growing-community

Images of Poundbury’s Buildings from the Factsheet by the Duchy of Cornwall.

Referenced from page 25.

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Case Study: Poundbury, Dorset.

Urban Planning.

“At Poundbury the entire masterplan was based upon placing the pedestrian, and not the car, at the centre of the design.” This was the intention by Prince Charles when setting out the masterplan for the town and resulted in a series of irregularly designed streets which are regularly interlinked with pedestrian routes in order to create ‘walk-able’ places where people have access to shops and services within a short walk of their homes.

However, some local residents of the area have different opinions of the series of alleyways that connect up the town. Clare Robson, a single mother of three living in Poundbury, says she finds the alleys “really scary and dangerous.

They’re great in the day but at night the kids come and bang on the door and then run off down them. I’m frightened to walk them by myself at night.”

This is another example of the - the alleys that are meant to vandalism and criminal activity. the single mother walking alone traditional British model-family of

conservative ideal being untrue in reality create a pedestrian utopia in fact foster They have also not taken into account in the night, as she is not part of the a husband and wife with two children.

https://poundbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Poundbury-Factsheet-2019.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/aug/17/prince-charles-dream-village-poundbury

Images of Poundbury’s Pedestrian Thoroughfares.

Referenced from page 25.

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Case Study: Poundbury, Dorset.

Social Build-Up. In his ‘Vision of Britain’ the Prince of Wales looks to “integrate private and affordable housing alongside one another to encourage vibrant and diverse communities.”

This has resulted in the Poundbury development building “35% of homes being built are affordable housing for rent, shared ownership or discounted sales.”

However, far from creating a diverse community that represents the multicultural melting pot that is the UK as a whole, Poundbury is in fact 94.1% white British with 57.9% classing themselves as Christian, according to the Office for National Statistics. Alongside this, there was a survey undertaken with local residents with one of the respondents stating that they “find many residents intolerant of diversity in Poundbury.”

It begs the questions whether the aesthetic of the town has been used to attract a certain kind of demographic - white British Christians who enjoy the classic British town, a conservative traditional British bolt-hole by design? https://poundbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Poundbury-Factsheet-2019.pdf https://apps.geowessex.com/insights/areaprofiles/Ward/dorchester-poundbury https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248956174_%27Urbanist%27_lived_experience_Resident_observations_on_life_in_ Poundbury

Images of Poundbury’s Residents and Business Owners from the Factsheet by the Duchy of Cornwall.

Referenced from page 25.

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Case Study: Poundbury, Dorset.

Sustainability.

Poundbury looks to be a ‘sustainable community’ with the concept of sustainability having been at the heart of the masterplan from the outset. The Duchy of Cornwall looks to the local biogas farm that injects bio-methane into the national grid to produce green energy. They also point out the bird boxes designed into the local buildings as well as the two electric car charging points in the town centre.

But in terms of the buildings themselves, are the materials used really sustainable?

Large steel structures and the continued use of breeze-blocks draw upon an energy intensive material production industry and begs the question why sustainable timber could not be used instead - which would be in-keeping with the traditional building styles. Even the materials that have been used are not geared for long-term durability, with local workmen already seeing rusty nails and hinges which should have been galvanised to resist rusting. Even the wood that has been used is soft and unseasoned meaning it will have a shorter lifespan. The majority of the buildings are also only built to building regulations standard which means that they are poor when it comes to energy efficiency.

And then there is the use of material to construct solely visual elements of the buildings. One resident, Ron Rosbrooke, a retired civil engineer, recently experienced damage to his mock-Georgian home due to water collecting inside the false chimney. So not only have additional materials been used to construct a purely aesthetic addition to the roof of the property, but it has also damaged other elements which will have to be repaired, further increasing the material consumption. Overall it warrants the question whether the traditional aesthetic is truly sustainable if it is using additional material simply to recreate a certain style? Is it simply creating a conservative British traditional facade? https://poundbury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Poundbury-Factsheet-2019.pdf https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jun/24/prince-charles-influence-architecture-poundbury http://www.prewettbizley.com/graham-bizley-blog/poundbury https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/aug/17/prince-charles-dream-village-poundbury

Images of Poundbury’s Environmental Solutions Contrasted With The Buildings Which Neglect Environmental Considerations.

Referenced from page 25.

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Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

Data Collection - Mapping the Road Hierarchy and Access to the Town.

“We confused the freedom of cars on 1930s rural roads with the inevitable future of our towns. This required that the street must be adapted to the car, not the car to the street, reflecting the principle that the primary purpose of the street is as a conduit, rather than a place to be. Pedestrians therefore had to be given a safe passage through, while the street itself was surrendered to motor traffic. The result was bleak underpasses, railed crossings, and pedestrian traffic lights, all serving to annihilate the street as a public space and to undermine the sense of a walkable neighbourhood.”

This concept of the car being the master of the street is highly visible in Gateshead town centre with the entire area encircled by A roads and then the town centre itself being regularly dissected by vehicle access routes. For pedestrians to enter the town centre, they must use either an uninviting underpass or cross four or more lanes of traffic at any point on the perimeter with the aid of a pedestrian crossing, as all other access points are blocked using railings.

Overall Scruton states that this excessive significance given to the car will result in a street that is uninviting and therefore will not create a beautiful place. The problem in Gateshead is also exacerbated by the fact that two sites on the perimeter of the centre were found to have breached the national objective of 40ug/m of NO2 from vehicle pollution which means that the roads also pose a health risk to visitors making the town centre even less attractive.

Key. A Road B Road Minor Road Local Road

Living with Beauty report, pg.13 https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-clean-air-zone-pollution-15893433 Accessed: 02/05/2021

Referenced from page 32.

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Understanding the road hierarchy in and around Gateshead town centre along with access for cyclists and pedestrians.

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Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

Data Collection - Areas for Car Parking.

The town centre of Gateshead appears to be dominated by car parks with a multitude of public and private car parks dispersed across the area. The sole car park that does not occupy land area is the underground car park of the Trinity Centre however the immense size of the block is equally destructive to the urban fabric.

“It (the car) creates a collective action problem: if everyone drives everywhere by car, then huge highways are needed together with the massive provision of parking spaces, both around people’s homes and around their workplaces and shopping centres.

Cities built with the aim of accommodating the car therefore have to look very different from the traditional city. If three parking spaces are required per household, as occurs in some local authorities, then terraces, streets, squares and mansion blocks become nearly impossible.”

Essentially what Scruton is saying is that the car in the modern era is incompatible with the way he is trying to conceive a city - a traditionalist cluster of streets terraces and town squares.

After surveying the town centre, it is evident that for Scruton to impose this aesthetic on Gateshead would require the removal of multiple car parks which occupy large swathes of land.

Key. Public Car Park Private Off-Street Car Park

Living with Beauty report, pg.13

Mapping all the off-street parking in Gateshead town centre.

Referenced from page 32.

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Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

Scruton studying photos of the heritage assets of Gateshead to maintain a conservative style to the design code for the town centre.

Data Collection - Listed Buildings Forming Local Character.

“Planning disputes at the local level make clear how important heritage has become in the thinking of residents. The character of a place, like that of a human being, develops across time, and the older buildings of a place endow its character with a depth and complexity that it is difficult to achieve in developments built from scratch.”

By studying the town centre and its historic buildings, Scruton is stating that we will come to understand the local character and therefore be able to achieve a beautiful development. However, it is not always because something has survived so long that it is a form that should be replicated for our modern buildings - perhaps a development could be complimentary rather than trying to recreate a pastiche modern version of something already existing.

It also means that Scruton’s bias for conservative traditional style buildings is maintained through the glorification of historic buildings.

Living with Beauty report, pg.31

Referenced from page 32.

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Mapping all the Listed buildings in Gateshead town centre.

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Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

Data Collection - Investigating Empty and Derelict Buildings.

“Many towns in our country that were dignified and flourishing places have declined into no-places, with derelict or semi-derelict areas, streets with unsightly gaps in them, and disused or abandoned public buildings: in short, collections of brownfield sites, ripe for restoration or redevelopment.”

Undertaking a study into the buildings in the town centre that are empty, and/or derelict allows the design code to identify sites and specific buildings within Gateshead town centre to be addressed. Scruton writes that by identifying and dealing with these issues within the built environment, we can avoid having places that are ‘left behind’.

Living with Beauty report, pg.40

Mapping all the empty and derelict buildings in Gateshead town centre.

Referenced from page 32.

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Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

Data Collection - Mapping Greenery and Nature.

“The evidence also suggests that greenery has the most beneficial consequences when it is ‘little and often’, when you encounter it frequently throughout your daily life. For maximum impact, public green space needs to be frequent, close and, therefore usually, modest in size.”

When Scruton writes of implementing nature ‘little and often’, it is the exact opposite of Gateshead town centre. Much of the nature that is present is used rather as an auditory and visual divider between the town centre and the dual carriageways that encircle it, as if the centre will become a natural haven if the cars cannot be seen. What little opportunity for public greenery there was in the main Trinity Square has also been squandered with the use of plastic astroturf rather than natural planting. In terms of reflecting Scruton’s ideals in tree-lined streets, Gateshead fails here also, with the majority of the trees present being incorporated into the boundary planting.

Key. Greenery Fake Imitation Greenery

Living with Beauty report, pg.106

Referenced from page 32.

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Mapping the real and imitation green spaces in Gateshead town centre.

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Mapping of Traits of Beauty.

Average building height:

3-4 Storeys, 10-13m Average block size:

68m long x 40m wide

Building height:

15 Storeys, 45-50m

Building height:

170m long x 165m wide

9 Storeys, 28-31m

Block size:

Block size:

N/A

Data Collection - Investigating Building Area and Height.

“Too much of what we build is the wrong development in the wrong place, either drive-to cul-de-sacs (on greenfield sites) or overly dense ‘small flats in big blocks’ (on brownfield sites). We need to develop more homes within mixed-use real places at ‘gentle density’, thereby creating streets, squares and blocks with clear backs and fronts. In many ways this is the most challenging of our tasks, which is to change the model of development from ‘building units’ to ‘making places’.”

After surveying the town centre, the average urban block has been determined to be 68m long by 40m wide, whilst the average building height for the area is 3 to 4 storeys or between 10 - 13m tall. Whilst there are clearly some buildings and blocks that will lay outside this average, they are mostly close to the average. This creates a homogeneous feel to the town centre and a regular scale and layout to the streets.

There are a couple of outliers however, the first being the three residential apartment blocks to the east of the area which are 9 storeys tall and not arranged within the regular street pattern of the centre. The second is the immense development that is Trinity Square. It sits directly in the centre of the town and occupies a block of 170m x 165m whilst towering over its surroundings at 15 storeys high. Because it occupies such a large area it also does not have a definitive front or back, something which Scruton defines as essential for creating beautiful places. It seems to have replaced the natural location of the town square with a large shopping centre topped with multi-storey student accommodation resulting in a town centre that feels like it has been swallowed up.

Living with Beauty report, pg.4

Locating the out of proportion developments in Gateshead town centre.

Referenced from page 32.

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This is the future of planning...

Reflections of the Research.

Through the careful unpicking of the proposed planning legislation over the course of this year, I have gained an in-depth understanding of the proposed future for the planning system of England. By approaching the project initially from the investigation of how data is currently affecting our commercial environments, I gained an initial grounding in the technologies already in use in urban environments, which then allowed me to better understand the proposed changes.

Additionally, the studying of different schools of thought associated with data and imagery, such as Bourdieu and Flusser, meant that I was able to investigate the socio-political context of the proposed algorithms for beauty.

This then provided me with a methodology when looking for evidence of bias when analysing the Living with Beauty report chaired by Scruton.

This analysis then allowed me to produce a design code based on the bias of Scruton, which then developed to form a local design code for the town centre of Gateshead. This code was then applied to a test area in order to visualise the urban environment that would be created if Scruton’s bias was spatialised.

This led to the realisation that if we continue on this path of building future housing, using an algorithm that focuses solely on aesthetics, born from the bias of one man, we are neglecting multiple societal issues.

It is therefore abundantly clear that the future of planning cannot be automated, as the algorithmic nature of the system completely ignores the messy and complex issues of society that feed into the built environment.

In summary, design and planning should be a collective process, involving all members of society. We cannot allow the future of the urban to be defined by the opinions of an individual coded into an algorithm.

... or we’ll end up like this.

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