And while they are not absolutely necessary for political action, without them, due to its inherent fleetingness, unpredictability and boundlessness, we will probably not act for long. Perhaps we will not act at all, simply because political action, from the perspective of the individual, is much less urgent than making a living or catching some rest; and much less rewarding than for example creating a piece of art or even finishing a big puzzle.
It is hard to say whether the architectural or the institutional dimension of design is more important for creating a good political space. Since political action goes on directly between people, it may seem as if the institutional dimension is more fundamental; but since, on the other hand, institutional elements need the support of their tangible manifestations, and since political space must also reflect the world around it, the architectural dimension is probably no less crucial. Now it may be objected that often it is not the architectural or institutional element as such which influences our actions, but rather the meaning that is attached to it. We have to distinguish here between meaning in the sense of unequivocal symbols and meaning in the sense of private associations. The Berliner Ampelmännchen for example is not only a traffic light that signals when pedestrians may cross the street, but also a symbol of former East Berlin which for different people represents different things, and which cannot be reduced to one meaning. In the former sense, the meaning itself is an institutional element of spatial design. In the latter sense, it is obvious that meaning cannot be designed but at the same time is very influential. Parkinson for instance highlights 70
that “it is often the symbolic associations that do the political work, not the symbol itself, and while that makes the effects no less real, it also means that the effects are changed by things other than mere bulldozing or interior design.”2 His memorable example is the “intimidating effect of the long, monumental walk” that visitors had to take before arriving at Hitler’s office in the Reich Chancellery. Parkinson argues that this effect did not arise, at least not entirely, from the physical space as such but was “related to the fact that it was Hitler’s office, and not just anyone’s.”3 Meaning itself cannot become an element of spatial design because it is always attached to something and exists, properly speaking, only in the minds of the people and not in the space itself.
But while designers cannot determine what different elements of space mean to us, they can – as far as they are aware – still make use of the fact that they mean something to us. The Ampelmännchen for instance is today (not only a souvenir for tourists but also) used in parts of West Berlin to symbolise the reunification of Germany. Moreover, the objection is practically almost irrelevant because meaning cannot exist without a worldly point of reference, whether it is a book, a tree or an entire building; and because designers never work with the table but only with this or with that table.
2 Parkinson, J. (2012) Democracy & Public Space - The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 17. 3 ibid., 82.