DDes dissertation | DRAFT excerpt:: conclusive concepts (in development!)
“I call emergence the irruption of an event which is nonetheless approximately predictable because it results from the concurrency of elements, the neo-nomad habits, that one can trace back, and the context in which the event occurs. The event, which is the concurrency of factors, defines the temporary appropriation of space. However, the appropriation of space, the adherence to it (to use the word coined by George Amar) vary widely from “just passing through” to feeling “at home” in a hotel room. The meaning of the word “hotel” extends to any space that people invest for a certain amount of time, and share the usage with other strangers—though any trace of the other stranger using the space is conscientiously erased before you invest it (this relates to the idea that spaces for neo-nomads are somehow resilient). So the notion of emergence has to do with time as much as it is tightly linked with the other concept henceforth developed: the concept of frugality or temperance.
Neo-nomads do not only carry and use items that are necessary “to survive” in case the need “to survive” occurs; neo-nomads carry and use items only when these items are needed “to survive”. For this to happen, tools, and items needed “to survive” must be available at all time, everywhere. This is what happens when societies develop infrastructures and systems like “pay per view”, “Cyclocity®”, and “ZipCar”. These are examples defining the becoming as-need and shared basis of our societies. Everything from space to information is like a hotel or a taxi. We are building hotel-cities or taxi-cities, TAXITIES… and by that redefining the habits of people on the move.
Bike rental projects like Cyclocity®, which in 2006 has received an award from the French Institute of Design, and ZipCar both relate to the concepts of temperance and frugality. Not only individuals decides to choose, rent, share on a as-need basis, but also as stated about the Cyclocity® project, “Users can move faster, participate actively to the protection of the environment by reducing gas emanation and maintain their health through physical exercise”. [1] These project have a “green” aspect, however a brand strategy, that is not negligible. Paradoxically, when mobility is linked to advertising and consumerism (JCDecaux is a company specialized in designing street furniture including those for advertisings), it also involves the conscious respect of the terrain neo-nomads roam in. As if societies compel neo-nomads to respect their territories the way traditional nomads (anyway) do.
On another note, the multiplication of special parking places for ZipCar and Cyclocity® and the related infrastructure (you need space for the bike, the post to which you attach the bike and the automat as you need to pay for the service) modifies the image of the urban environment. Parking places, storage places in fact, are scattered in the city. Besides, a central control unit can track the bike of Cyclocity® and a shop is needed for repairs. [2] This puts forth the concepts of meta-architecture of storage space as the space branches out, scatters, and requires extra other spaces.” [3]
[1] Janus de l’Industrie 2006
My translation of « L’usager peut ainsi se déplacer plus rapidement, participer activement à la protection de l’environnement en réduisant les émanations des gaz d’échappement tout en maintenant son bien être par un exercice physique quotidien. »
[2] Laurence Girard, Le vélo urbain en libre-service bouscule les contrats d’afficheurs, LE MONDE 13.02.06
“The bike which costs a thousand Euros a piece, has been custom made in collaboration with Mercier society and equipped with monitored alarms and maintenance so to be tracked by the central control. But the number of technical failures is higher than expected. Each day, a bike out of 500 comes back to the shop. In Lyons, JCDecaux had to organize a team of thirty people for the repairs. ‘What cost most is maintenance’ asserts M. Decaux.”
My translation of: “Le vélo, qui coûte 1000 euros pièce, a été conçu sur mesure avec la société Mercier, et équipé de dispositifs de téléalarme et de télémaintenance pour être suivi à distance par le système de contrôle central. Mais le nombre d’incidents techniques dépasse les prévisions. Un vélo sur 500 revient à l’atelier chaque jour. JCDecaux a dû constituer à Lyon une équipe d’une trentaine de personnes pour la réparation. “Ce qui coûte cher, c’est la maintenance”, affirme M. Decaux.”
[3] Yasmine Abbas, Neo-nomads and the nature of the spaces of flows, workshop UbiComp in the urban frontier, proceedings UbiComp2004
