Architecture of Complexity:
Context, Boundaries and Agency
The Architectural Research Centers’ Consortium
Annual Meeting
Salt Lake City
14-17 June 2017
Steven A. Moore, PhD., RA
The University of Texas at Austin
overview
1. A postmodern ontology of
complexity
2. The problem of context
3. How do we establish system boundaries?
4. Where is Agency within the system?
ontology of complexity
the modern assumption:
the postmodern assumption:
Culture and nature are distinct and
separate
Nature is available as “standing
reserve” (Heidegger)
Science can establish certainty
Culture and nature are a single reality
Not only is everything connected to
everything else, but the whole is greater than
the sum of its parts.
Systems of humans
and non-humans are
self-organizing and
uncertain
ontology of complexity
complexity is a metaphor, but is
always more than metaphor
architectural complexity has little
to do with complicated surfaces
or forms
Cambridge, UK Train Station (Atkins)
Derived from John Conway’s “Game of Life” (but inaccurate)
but very much to do with
“ecological and social context,
system boundaries, and social
agency.”
ontology of complexity in architecture?
ARPANET 1960s
Origins:
like the internet itself, the tools of complexity
science became available to architecture as a
“spill-over affect” from military science
concerning flows, e.g. aerodynamic and
information flows.
Gehry’s used CATIA V3, developed by Dassault
Systems, first used it in 1977 to design the
Mirage fighter jet
Again, complexity can be successful metaphor
in communication, but with unintended
consequences.
We make complicated forms and surfaces
because we can, not because we……..?
Bilbao Museum
ontology of complexity
An observation:
Technologies that emerge change
faster than the reactive laws
designed to regulate them.
A big question:
In such a dynamic world can, or
should we regulate, or codify
technological change?
ontology of complexity
STS tells us that
tools are appropriated by new
social groups because they
embody :
1) unforeseen novelty in the
marketplace and
2) access to (economic) power
ontology of complexity
About regulation:
“The technological revolution … is
disruptive in relation to both the enterprise
of law and the project of moral community."
(26) …
This reasoning is finally based on the
existential problem of choice as the source
of human morality. Making moral choices is
the essence of human dignity. “
Brownsword, Roger. "What Does the World Need Now?
Reflections on Regulating Technology." In Regulating Technology,
edited by Roger Brownsword and Karen Yeung. Oxford, UK: Hart
Publishing, 2008.
The problem of prudent judgment the Greeks
called phroenesis
ontology of complexity
Choosing a technology is not
selecting convenient means
toward achieving greater
efficiency, it is ….
“choosing a way of life.”
Langdon Winner
Forty people in cars and on bikes
(last on ) the ontology of complexity
the Alley Flat Initiative in Austin
A proposal:
true democracy is the selfconscious production of lifeenhancing technologies by
geographic communities
which brings us to the problem of
context
2
the problem of context
context is social, ecological, and
dynamic (time)
Austin
no two places or social groups are
exactly the same
San Antonio
Edwards aquifer recharge zone
Generally, our modeling tools are
static and gross approximations of
1 or 2 dimensions of reality
2
the problem of context
A Claim:
Knowledge is empirical,
experiential and place-based.
Abstract information can be
transported from place-to-place
as a “best-practice,” but it must
be empirically tested in a
particular context before it
becomes useful knowledge
2
the problem of context
another example:
complexity is not about the
importation of “best-practices”,
it’s about constructing resilience,
or constant eco-socio-technical
adaptation to dynamic conditions
over time.
The problem is that we humans
adapt at a much faster rate than
everything else.
2
(the last) the problem of context
Science is not universal,
like science, the art of map-making is more about erasing
context, or sequestering knowledge than producing it
But the siences are situated
in ecological and political
context
(….. whether we know and admit it or
not, which brings up the problem of
system boundaries)
Haraway. 1995. Situated Knowledge.
Latour. 2004. Politics of Nature
oil deposits
ecological biomes
3
so, how do we define (CONTEXT) or system boundaries?
Ecology
E
societal
equity
E
How much context do we have
to consider to get valid answers
to our question?
E
economy
Triangulated model
Campbell, Scott "Green Cities, Growing
Cities, Just Cities: Urban Planning and the
Contradictions of Sustainable
Development." APA Journal no. Summer
(1996): 466-82.
Nested model
1.
2.
3.
4.
universal
topical
local
practical
3
how do we define system boundaries?
Ecology
E
societal
equity
E
How much context do we have
to consider to get valid answers
to our question?
E
economy
1.
2.
3.
4.
universal impossible
topical
local
practical
3
how do we define system boundaries?
Ecology
E
societal
equity
E
How much context do we have to
consider to get valid answers to
our question?
E
economy
1.
2.
3.
4.
universal
topical the dominant method
local
practical
3
how do we define system boundaries?
Ecology
E
societal
equity
E
How much context do we have to
consider to get valid answers to
our question?
E
economy
Moore, Steven A. "Testing a
Mature Hypothesis: Reflection on
“Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just
Cities: Urban Planning and the
Contradiction of Sustainable
Development”." Journal of the
American Planning Association 82,
no. 4 (2016/10/01 2016): 385-88.
1.
2.
3.
4.
universal
topical
local possible and uneven
practical
3
how do we define system boundaries?
Ecology
E
societal
equity
E
How much context do we have to
consider to get valid answers to
our question?
E
economy
1.
2.
3.
4.
universal
topical
local
practical it depends on agency
available in the system, it’s
contextual
4
where is agency within the system?
agency is the
ability of an
individual, or social
group to act in the
world and make a
difference
4
where is agency within the system?
mapping agency
the example of
The Alley Flat Initiative
a complex three-way
partnership created
agency by triangulating
“situated knowledge”
4
where is agency within the system?
Agency can be
DESIGNED:
building agency in a
complex system is both
research and design
work, social and material
Yaneva, Albena. The Making of a
Building: A Pragmatist Approach to
Architecture. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang,
2009.
4
where is agency within the system?
CLAIM: there is a dichotomy of
Prescription /
design
art
Subjective /
ontological
modern ontology and epistemology
Analysis /
research
science
Objective /
epistemological
agency in complex systems emerges thru objective research, design and action
4
where is agency within the system?
If the modern
opposition
between design
and research is a
false dichotomy ,
how should we
reconstruct inquiry
and education for
complexity?
(1) get out of the lab and the studio
(2) integrate metaphor with action
4
where is agency within the system?
Another claim:
Agency is place-based action
enabled by the situated knowledge
co-constructed by diverse partnerships
agency in complex systems emerges thru objective
research, design and action
Finally, there is no real conclusion but 4 claims
1. the ontology of
complexity is to embrace uncertainty
2. the “problem of context”
place
is actually an asset—embrace
3. we should establish system boundaries practically—by taking on as
much as we reasonably can
4. Agency within the system is where transdisciplinary teams build it
thank you