The Temporal City - Kathryn Larkin

Efficienc(it)y Kathryn Larkin

The Temporal City

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What is the City?

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CITIES ARE WHERE WE STAGE COLLECTIVE EXCHANGE. THE ACTORS IN THIS EXCHANGE ARE RELATED THROUGH PROXIMITY. WE ARE NOT FAMILY. WE ARE NOT A COMMUNITY. WE ARE STRANGERS THAT COME TOGETHER IN A SYMBIOTIC SYSTEM. WE ENCOUNTER IDEAS THAT WE CANNOT CONCEIVE INDIVIDUALLY AND IN TURN IMPART THE SAME TO OTHERS.

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WE ACHIEVE ECONOMY THROUGH DISCIPLINE SPECIALISATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. PRODUCTIVITY IS KEY. WE TRADE RESOURCES TO EXTRACT VALUE FROM COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES AND WE ENGAGE IN DEBATES ABOUT HOW THIS VALUE IS DISTRIBUTED. WE CREATE SYSTEMS TO SERVE OURSELVES. WE PRIORITISE GROWTH NO MATTER THE CONSEQUENCES. WE ALWAYS SEEK THE MAXIMUM. WE EXPLOIT ANY AND ALL POTENTIAL.

Images

Mingomatic. 2020. Empty Cities Around the World Drone Footage. YouTube video, 11:03. https:// youtu.be/Dw89yOJSHn8.

Master Ryze. 2018. Shopping, People, Commerce, Mall, Many, Crowd, Walking Free Stock video footage YouTube. YouTube video, 0:13. https://youtu.be/WvhYuDvH17I. 2020. A Fully Automated Production Line of Beers. stock video, 0:13. https://www.pexels.com/video/ a-fully-automated-production-line-of-beers-5532773/.

Holland, Braeson. 2021. Cold Snow Winter Ice. stock video, 0:15. https://www.pexels.com/video/ cold-snow-winter-ice-6910667/. (ΔT)2

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What is time?

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WE INFLATE THE IMPORTANCE OF NOW. WE VALUE SPEED AND QUANTITY. AFTER ALL, MORE IS BETTER. WE DESTROY DISTANCE BY COMPRESSING SPACE. WE INCREASE FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY. THE DIGITAL IS OUR GREATEST TOOL. IT IS INFINITE AND WE ARE THE DATA. WE SEE EVERY INTERACTION AND TRANSACTION. WE ANALYSE THE SYSTEM AND OPTIMISE.

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THE NEW CITY WILL BE OCCUPIED. IT WILL BE DYNAMIC AND FLEXIBLE. IT WILL BE RESOURCEFUL. IT WILL EXPLOIT WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE. SPACE IS OPPORTUNITY AND WE DO NOT WASTE OPPORTUNITY. IT WILL BE SMART - SMARTER THAN US. IF IT IS NOT OCCUPIED, IT WILL BE AVAILABLE. 100% UTILISATION IS THE GOAL.

Images

Amazon. 2018. Inside an Amazon fulfillment center. YouTube video, 2:44. https://youtu.be/_ waZrhOZVWY. 2013. DHL Hub in Leipzig. YouTube video, 9:22. https://youtu.be/MdUy__9dGF0.

Powell, Alex. 2019. View of City in Timelapse Mode. stock video, 0:12. https://www.pexels.com/ video/view-of-city-in-timelapse-mode-1906760/.

2017. “Hybrid Remote”. knowledia. https://news.knowledia.com/US/en/articles/hybrid-remote-workoffers-the-worst-of-both-worlds-00343ae6512c70a07bcd5752cb400b0044d72fc2. (ΔT)2

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Mining the City

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Analysis Through Data Data: City of Melbourne on-street parking bay sensors Update frequency: 2 minutes Data was captured over a 48-hour period to understand the oscillations of the city. Analysis revealed local patterns of behaviour; the occupancy and duration of stay in North Melbourne is different to the use observed in Docklands and within the Hoddle Grid.

Overall, on-street parking has a relatively low utilisation, and many bays are empty for a period of the day. Perhaps a more dynamic system that adapts these spaces to alternative programs during non-peak periods will provide greater utility to the city.

Data

City of Melbourne On-Street Parking Bay Sensors API. https://data.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Transport/On-street-Parking-Bay-Sensors/vh2v-4nfs (ΔT)2

Parking Spaces by Type Within the City of Melbourne The following studies are related to the on-street parking bays. A number of the bays shown in the above graphic report data inconsistently and have therefore been omitted from the following visualisations.

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Occupancy of On-Street Parking Spaces Friday M arch 12 Larger dots indicate recent change of state from occupied to unoccupied or vice-versa.

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Occupancy of On-Street Parking Spaces Saturday M arch 13 Larger dots indicate recent change of state from occupied to unoccupied or vice-versa.

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Occupancy of On-Street Parking Spaces Friday M arch 12 Percentage occupancy over 24-hour period.

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Occupancy of On-Street Parking Spaces Saturday M arch 13 Percentage occupancy over 24-hour period.

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Average Duration of Stay On-Street Parking Spaces Friday M arch 12

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Average Duration of Stay On-Street Parking Spaces Saturday M arch 13

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Minimum Duration of Stay On-Street Parking Spaces Friday M arch 12 M aximum Duration of Stay On-Street Parking Spaces Friday M arch 12

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Minimum Duration of Stay On-Street Parking Spaces Saturday M arch 13 M aximum Duration of Stay On-Street Parking Spaces Saturday M arch 13

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Conflation

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Shrinking The City Analysis of the program composition of the city revealed many opportunities to economise on its size. Parking is an indicator that the city is performing sub-optimally. Devoting footprint to a program that has no effective contribution to the character of the city suggests that fundamentally, the distance between programs is too great. The provision of parking also exacerbates this issue in a self-perpetuating cycle by inflating the footprint of the city.

Removing parking entirely shrinks the city by 12%.

Unoccupied spaces are also an issue in the city. Vacant spaces due to market forces including apartments contribute to 5% of the city footprint.

Finally, use of programs such as education, retail, entertainment and office is not uniform across the day. By adapting spaces to the demand for these programs, the city could potentially fluctuate between 50% and 64% of its current footprint.

Current Space Use Within Hoddle Grid

Data

City of Melbourne Floor space per space use for blocks (Updated 14 September 2020). https://data.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Business/Floor-space-per-space-use-for-blocks-2019/mayw-9gb5 (ΔT)2

Omission of Parking Omission of Unoccupied Spaces Including Vacant Apartments

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Speculated Space Use During the Night Speculated Space Use During the Day

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Change over Time

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Temporal Behaviours Further study of the QV block was completed to quantify the utilisation of programs over the week. In addition to space use information from the City of Melbourne CLUE data, Google Places API was accessed to understand when spaces are open and accessible for use. Finally, the BestTime.app API established the effective use of these spaces through data aggregated from mobile phone GPS signals.

QV Block Location

Images

Nearmap. (Updated 22 January 2021). Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia. Retrieved from http://maps. au.nearmap.com/

Data

City of Melbourne Floor space per space use for blocks (Updated 14 September 2020). https://data.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Business/Floor-space-per-space-use-for-blocks-2019/mayw-9gb5 Google Places API. https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/ overview BestTime.app Foot Traffic API. https://besttime.app/ (ΔT)2

QV Block Form QV Block Programmed Space

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QV Block Open Spaces QV Block Active Spaces

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QV Programmed Space, Open Space and Active Space

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QV Programmed Space, Open Space and Active Space cont.

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Variations Regenerating the CBD

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Flattening the Curve The survey of the QV block indicated that there is significant underutilisation of space within the city. By encouraging use to be spread across the day, rather than concentrating during peak periods, the selected block and the broader city could condense to a fraction of its size, improving access to previously distant programs. Alternatively, the city could welcome additional residents, workers and visitors within its existing footprint triggering a heightened density of services.

QV Block Pattern of Use

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Unmodified Pattern of Use Pattern of Use With 30% Switching Pressure Switching pressure is the degree to which the temporal oscillations are corrected.

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Pattern of Use With 70% Switching Pressure Pattern of Use With 100% Switching Pressure - Equilibrium Baseline Requirement Switching pressure is the degree to which the temporal oscillations are corrected.

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Unmodified Pattern of Use Friday 12pm

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Pattern of Use Friday 12pm With 100% Switching Pressure Multiplier indicates the previous over subscription at this time i.e. 48% above baseline requirement.

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Diurnal or the 24-Hou

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ur Peak

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Supply and Demand Within built environments the supply of space is relatively stable.

While new construction creates additional capacity, the built form cannot adapt to daily or hourly temporalities. In contrast, as indicated in the preceding studies, demand fluctuates over a much shorter period. To understand these demand patterns and their interactions with the fixed supply, the QV block was considered as a shared resource. At times where many individuals require space, the block fulfills these requests by creating a large number of small segments. When demand is low, fewer larger segments are generated. The relative size of the allocation is indicated by the scale of the pixels.

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Shared Resource Concept Applied to QV Block Larger pixels indicate low demand and high space allocation, smaller pixels indicate high demand and smaller space allocation.

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Urban Rules

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M arket Forces The urban rules serve as forces within the market for space. The rules looked to heighten efficiencies within the use of space.

Alternative currencies are suggested to ensure that space is utilised to its capacity and that money does not limit access to the resource. Most space is converted to a generic function with individuals adapting the footprint as required by their activities.

New construction only occurs when demand exceeds the current supply to prevent the creation of unoccupied space. Finally, the travel time between programs must conform to the needs of inhabitants as private vehicles are no longer accommodated in the city.

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Status Quo - Money as Currency Demand fluctuations are signalled by movement in the monetary value of space.

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Time as Currency Time fluctuates in response to changes in demand. When demand is high, the duration that the space can be occupied is reduced.

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Space as Currency Space fluctuates in response to changes in demand. When demand is high, the area allocation of space is reduced.

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Spacetime as Currency Depending on inhabitant needs, in periods of high demand one can accept a reduced space or reduced duration.

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Spectrum of Permanent and Flexible Programs Speculative Proportions of Activities Occurring in Non-Generic Space

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Provision of Increased Space is Based on Increased Equilibrium Requirement Distance Between Programs To Overcome Removal of Private Vehicles

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Dotted Lines

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System Agility To facilitate the efficient use of space, the system must be capable of accommodating different programs within the same space over the course of a day. It is proposed that a network of autonomous elements initiate this transformation at the request of inhabitants. These reconfigurable modules and items of furniture are contained within the building and are deployed to each floor as required.

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Reconfiguration of Generic Space by Autonomous Elements and Furniture

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Proposition

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Cities are founded on the premise that densification maximises opportunities through frequent commercial and social exchanges.

However, many constructs of the current city are hindering the realisation of these benefits.

Efficienc[it]y is a project that seeks to optimise space use to recover the potential of the city.

If we are to realise an efficient city where the use of space is optimised, demand is ideally spread equally across the week. A market model assists in shifting demand to off-peak times. At times where demand is high, space allocation contracts to accommodate required programs in the available footprint. At times where demand is low, space allocation is more generous. This signals city users to alter their usage patterns where possible to maximise their individual benefit. Ultimately, the goal of such a model is to enable additional activity to be accommodated within the existing system providing for an increased frequency of interactions.

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The Efficienc[it]y is contingent upon space flexibility. We must overcome the prevalence of idle space by accommodating multiple programs in the same space at different times.

Some programs are specific, but most have a high degree of elasticity. Flexible activities occur within generic space.

Finally, an efficient city is considerate of its material resources. New construction requires significant expenditure of money and time and therefore where possible, the existing building stock is retained. Where additional system capacity is required, the height of the new building is correlated to the age of the one it replaces. This leads to the progressive replacement of older less efficient buildings and promotes a long-term sustainability mindset by maximising the built footprint over the long term.

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Generic Space Proportions Application to Hoddle Grid

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Year of Construction Projected Future Construction Requirement

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Space As Currency Applied to 2021 City

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Mixing of Programs Across Spaces Due to Reconfigurability With the conversion of much of the city to generic space, most programs no longer have a fixed location and there is greater mixing of activities across the city.

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Speculative Space Use 2031 Multiplier less than 1 indicates that demand exceeds supply at that time period, as a result space allocation is reduced to accommodate all requests.

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Speculative Space Use 2031 with 100% Switching Pressure Due to space contractions in peak periods, inhabitants alter their usage patterns and move to offpeak times. This flattens the curve and ensures all inhabitants have access to their requested space allocation. The above visualisations represent the limit of the existing fabric with 100% utilisation at all time periods.

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Return Brief

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A System in Control Cities are economic vehicles that seek to amplify opportunity through densification.

Space is the container of production and consumption and only by exhausting its capacity can we fully realise the economic agenda of the urban experiment.

In the city there are three transactional parties: • Owners of space • Users of space • Designers of architectural elements, objects, and products Space is a commodity that is accessed through an open market.

When unoccupied it is released for use by other users. Space becomes a minute-by-minute transaction rather than a monthly or yearly contract. It is only occupied for the length of time required, not a minute longer.

As payment, users swap space for data about their behaviour.

Elements, objects and products adopt a similar temporality, but money is exchanged to use these items.

The data collected by owners is used by designers to target sales and to inform the development of new items adapted to the demands of the market.

To achieve economic growth, the system must encourage space use. Utilising the entire capacity, the system adopts a cooperative model that adjusts the share of each user based on aggregate demand. When demand is high, each user has a smaller allocation of space. When demand is low, users have a comparably larger space allocation.

By integrating signals, surplus and shortage, the city triggers modified behaviours and encourages a shift to off peak times to obtain a larger space allocation, achieving equilibrium across the day.

The city is constructed to heighten the efficiency of consumption and production. Spaces are configured for rapid fulfillment and to maximise the economic benefits of activity.

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Baseline System Model

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Reduction in Waste Provides Opportunity to Reduce Resource Use While M aintaining Identical Production Output Reduction in Waste Provides Opportunity to Increase Production with Identical Resource Input Efficienc[it]y adopts the latter attitude towards efficiency.

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Three Transactional Parties Nature of Transactions

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Application that Accepts User Requests Elements, Objects and Consumables Circulate Within the City

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Program Reassignment and Reconfiguration of Rooms for Access

By providing access to base building services only when required, the system can reduce the space that is permanently allocated to circulation, thus increasing the effective programs that can be accommodated.

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Spatial Exploration

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Efficienc[it]y 2021 Daily population: 1 million 20% residents

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Efficienc[it]y 2031 Daily population: 2.1 million 20% residents

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Efficienc[it]y 2041 Daily population: 2.6 million 50% residents As the user base grows, circulation channels become increasingly congested. A network of conveyors is constructed to move consumables, making travel to obtain or deliver these items obsolete.

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Efficienc[it]y 2051 Daily population: 4.4 million 80% residents As the population continues to grow, new building stock is constructed. New space is established over underdeveloped lots and within the street which has been superseded by the fulfillment network.

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Efficienc[it]y 2021 Daily population: 1 million 20% residents

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Efficienc[it]y 2031 Daily population: 2.1 million 20% residents

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Efficienc[it]y 2041 Daily population: 2.6 million 50% residents

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Efficienc[it]y 2051 Daily population: 4.4 million 80% residents

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2021 The Temporal City

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2051 The Temporal City

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The Temporal City Ian Nazareth | David Schwarzman RMIT Architecture Semester 1 2021 https://www.temporal.city/