Download Harry Down_Project Proposal

I will begin detailing my agenda with a brief account of humankind’s
development through the ages, focusing on Europe as the protagonist for change. I
think it is important to understand how we have developed as a species and the
factors that have shaped who we are today in order to understand where we will
likely be in the future. Through this overview I will touch on social progression and
technological innovation as two key intertwining factors that have fed off each other
to provide a constant cycle of innovation; through observation, comprehension,
creation and documentation.
The earliest forms of social communication and documentation can be found
on the walls of caves. These murals would depict scenes of hunting, battle and
earths cyclical phenomena. Ultimately these stories were an educational tool,
informing future generations about the world around them. One can only assume
that this process of observation and comprehension was one of the key factors in
the creation of tools, a milestone in our existence.
Skipping forward through the millennia and following the ancient civilisations
of the Mediterranean, the Egyptians provided a breakthrough in communication; the
introduction of a widely recognised and mobile form of documentation through the
writing of hieroglyphics on papyrus and wood. The transformation of hieroglyphs
into letters, words and text gave the ancient Greeks greater articulation of their
thoughts and stories that were not bound by the art and misinterpretation of verbal
discourse. This ability to transfer and build upon knowledge provided the building
blocks for a strong culture of philosophy, mathematics and expressive art forms. The
rise of the Roman Empire was largely an adaptation of the Ancient Greek way of life.
Through the use of Latin as a common language it assimilated the inhabitants of
conquered regions bordering the Mediterranean and consuming North-West
Europe. This unification of culture and language saw immense improvements to
political systems and engineering feats, with many core elements still in practice.
The Roman Empire lasted approximately 1,000 years. Its collapse at the end
of the 5th century saw the beginning of the Middle Ages, a time that was dominated
by power hungry feudal states. Many of the technological gains of the Roman
Empire were lost during the Middle Ages. This can be greatly attributed to the
leadership of tyrants. Control and power were accessed through the entitlement to
land and maintained through self-preservation and social oppression. The Middle
Ages was a time of land-locked states constantly at war, providing little opportunity
for trade, influence of external cultures and self-expression for the common man.
The dark times of the Middle Ages ended in the late 15th century with a wave
of social progression and technological innovation across Europe. In northern Italy
there was the Renaissance; a period marked by the rebirth of cultural pursuits where
the curiosity of mankind to understand the mysteries of the world around him once
again rejuvenated the cycle of innovation. Not too long after the social progress in
Italy there was the creation of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. The mass
production of literature through moving type provided the vehicle for social reform
and progression across Northern Europe, harnessed by Martin Luther as he informed
the masses about corruption within the church, freeing them from their shackles.
The social reform within Europe and a revitalised intrigue of the world, saw the
European states set sail for the far reaching parts of the globe, in search of the
unknown. The age of exploration laid the initial building blocks for a global
community. Through the colonisation of previously indigenous lands, European
states spread their language and culture as they laid claim to their newfound
territories.
After colonising the corners of the globe and planting the seeds of
globalisation, Europe once again returned its attention to the prosperity within its
own borders and the growth of its economies. A focus on the ways of working,
transportation and applications for coal and steam power were the catalyst for the
industrial revolution. This period provided the first glimpses of the world we see
today; the mass manufacturing of products, increased mobility through the steamlocomotive and the utilisation of electricity. The industrial revolution not only gave
mankind machines, but also made us fascinated by them. A fascination, which
throughout the 20th century led to rates of change, progression and innovation that
had never been seen before on a global scale.
The 20th century is widely regarded as the Machine Age; the first half of
which transformed the love of the machine and economic prosperity into military
power and brinkmanship, culminating in the First World War. The seven year affair,
which was fought across three continents and involved countries from five, was the
first occurrence of an interconnected world; ultimately setting a precedence for our
nature of response. Through the creation of the League of Nations, an
intergovernmental organisation, there was the recognition of global issues and the
need to respond to these phenomena as a global community.
Following the First World War there was a wave of depression across the
Northern Hemisphere. Hardship and social strain brought about radical leaders,
actions and ultimately World War II. With the outbreak of the Second World War,
the League of Nations had failed in its intended purpose. This failure saw the
dissolution of the League in 1946 and the creation of the United Nations, which
absorbed its predecessor’s departments. Although the United Nations was and still is
a global forum, it was overshadowed by a bipolar world, as two opposite ideological
views sought to gain supremacy through satellite states and proxy wars. Ultimately
capitalist nations won this battle, but their social progression and technological
innovation, though grand, left no consideration for the wheels of motion they set in
place.
The formation of a global community, which marks the latter half of the 20th
century, was one of little transparency, where governments and multi-national
corporations controlled the systems of society, exploiting the elements that they had
laid in place. However, during this time there were two important forms of social
uprising and technological advancement. The first, a backlash to this control
recognised as the hippie subculture, which was symbolised through the exploration
of alternate states of consciousness and our human connection to the earth. The
second; the rise of the computer and the internet as the epicenter to the Age of
Information, resulting in the integration of technology into our everyday lives.
This brings us to the present day. Looking retrospectively at the 20th century,
we can see the rise of issues and agenda that we must recognise as a global
community and address unanimously at local level. Through a new wave of social
progression spurred on by technological innovation, we have found ourselves in an
exciting cycle of innovation. I believe this cycle to be similar to that of the 15th
century and the Renaissance period. Through observation and comprehension there
is the recognition of an unsustainable world by various subcultures. This recognition
is not solely concerned with the environmental aspect of sustainability, but equally
as important, its economic and social implications as well. To draw parallels to 15th
century Europe from an observation and comprehension perspective, we are
witnessing a rebirth in the re-application of nature’s ways of working, through biomimicry and the earth’s cyclical systems (Da Vinci and Galileo) and also the
questioning of political and economic systems (Luther).
However the most integral change and parallel drawn to this period is the
change to our form of documentation. Similar to that of the printing press,
technology has provided us with an unprecedented rate of documentation and
information transfer. Technology is so deeply entrenched in our lives that it has
become ubiquitous; communication and access to information is in our pockets and
accessible at our fingertips whenever we want it. This accessibility to the world
around us, to events around the other side of the globe, is creating social
movements on a global scale; increasing the rate of social change. The outcome of
these social movements is social progression, and more importantly progression as a
global community.
Looking back through the ages and in particular the outcomes of the 20 th
century it is clear to me that we, as a global community, are living unsustainably. As I
touched on before, sustainability is not a concept simply narrowed to the
environment (as our media will have you believe), it is deeply entrenched and
interconnected by the economic and social systems we have in place. The change to
a sustainable lifestyle will deeply impact on these systems.
Economically, we use a system reliant on constant consumption to provide
perpetual growth. This resulted in the continual expansion of the credit and debt
margin, a key instigator in the global financial crisis. The solution to which was
stimulus packages to encourage more spending and continue economic growth. As
we feed this beast, we consume Earths finite resources, by definition an
unsustainable practice.
Unlike our economy, social factors are harder to reverse. As a specie we have
a thirst for novelty and new things, which feeds our consumer economy. We also
own and possess items that we view as integral to daily life, as the food we eat;
things we couldn’t comprehend living without. This, coupled with the continued rise
of the world population and the exponential migration to sprawling cities (the
biggest per capita emitters), is a potentially unsustainable prospect.
To reluctantly reflect a hippie ethos, these economic and social factors have
impacted not just the environment; but our environment, resulting in climate change
and global warming, a potentially irreversible process. However, I would like to
believe that not all is lost, and more importantly that some of our creations and
behaviors provide the key to the path of a sustainable future.
Firstly, the inevitable progression of mankind as a predominantly urban
species is an opportunity. The utopian construct of the 20th century; opitimised by
sprawling cities, the dream home and the automobile at the center of transport is a
thing of the past and should be erased from our outlook. Instead replacing it with
this vision of a dense urban environment and the dream community. Conveniently
for us we are a tribal species, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too difficult to imagine.
The notion of density within the urban environment is imperative to its
creation as a sustainable entity. The density of our population directly affects the
proximity of our infrastructure; the increase in density, the closer the infrastructure.
When infrastructure becomes convenient, people will begin to use it. The use of
infrastructure also commonly involves the act of sharing; we share public transport
and communal spaces. Ultimately the act of sharing creates and enhances social
communities.
Secondly, there is our fixation with technology. If you sit on a train or walk
around the city of a developed region you will notice that people are consumed by
their smartphones. They’re not looking at anything vital to their immediate
existence; but simply using for the ability to use, staying “connected” for the sake of
connection. This connection not only provides us with access to global, national and
local media; it provides us with access to systems and services, it enables us to
interact and communicate with inanimate objects.
The ability to interact with inanimate objects removes their one-dimensional
nature as products and provides a hidden web of systems and services. The
combination of these new dimensions and the population mass of a dense urban
environment it increases the viability to share products, creating networks of use.
We no longer need to own predominantly idle products such as cars or washing
machines, we can share them; immediately accessing their services and status
through our smartphones.
This act of sharing has many flow on affects. Firstly we drastically reduce our
consumption of products and in turn material, changing the dynamics of supply and
demand. A reduction in purchases of idle products reduces the capital invested in
initial purchases and maintenance allowing us to spend our money on experiences,
improving our mental well-being. We also create social communities based around
the concept of sustainability, as the community becomes more accustomed to a
sustainable way of living they will be more conscious to change other unsustainable
behaviors.
The geographical and living context for my project will be a co-operative
housing establishment. I have chosen to restrict my shared network to this
environment for a number of reasons. Defining the space in which people live can
help define their behaviors; channeling their privileges (products) and opportunities
(accessibility) towards a certain way of living, that can provide the opportunity for
simultaneous sharing. In order to achieve a 90% reduction in our climate emissions
we need to act fast and drastically (where possible). Creating a new model for
sustainable living on a mass scale provides the greatest opportunity for short and
long term reduction in net emissions. The residents are a captive market providing
greater opportunity for behavioral change through gamification. The reduction in
spending, maintenance and utilities will provide healthier bank accounts for
residents; this money can be saved with the hope of owning their own home, or
spent on a holidays and experiences, improving their mental health. When applying
this model of living over various sites, there is the opportunity to include
gamification between establishments, increasing the network of the community.
Finally the people who will buy into this lifestyle are either investing because they
feel strongly about the environment or want to reduce their expenditure; enabling
predetermined common interests between residents.