assignments

PROJECT 1   

Part 1: theory and practice

The purpose of this assignment is to first develop an understanding of spaces of flows/network culture through key readings and to analyze emerging practices that are radicalizing work culture, their organization and network reach. In a group of two, the students will critically present reading.

Space of flows phenomenons: worldwide Google campuses, entrepreneurship hubs, knowledge cities, hackatons, innovation incubators, startup accelerators; crowdfunding, rapid prototyping production centers, co-design, advanced services …

Selected Readings:

·   Picon, Antoine. The city in the digital sprawl.

·   Rem Koolhaas, "'Life in the Metropolis' or "The Culture of Congestion,'" K. Michael Hays, Architecture Theory Since 1968 (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1998), 320-331.

·   Manuel Castells "The Space of Flows, Space of Places: Materials for a Theory of Urbanism" in Graham, Cybercities Reader, 82-93.

·   Richard Florida, "The Creative Class,' in The Rise of the Creative Class (New York: Basic Books, 2002), 1-17, 67-82.

·   Kazys Varnelis, "Network Culture," Kazys Varnelis, ed. Networked Publics, (The MIT Press, 2007)

·   Stephen Graham, Splintering Urbanism Exerpts.

·   Malcolm Gladwell, “The Coolhunt,” New Yorker (March 17, 1997), 78-88, http://www.gladwell.com/1997/1997_03_17_a_cool.htm.

Part 2: mapping

The second part of this assignment investigates material and virtual networks embedded in the Greater Beirut area:

Fresh water,

energy,

waste/waste water,

movement,

food,

telecommunication density,

social networks

Internet,

learning and creativity,

immigration of intellectual human capital,

trade and markets (import/export),

investments,

business patterns,

Through diagrams and mappings, students will research, analyze, and deconstruct the dynamics of such networks and their impact within and beyond the physical structure of the city/country/region.

Based on their analysis, students will identify issues, and suggest strategies for their studied networks.

Deliverables and Due Date:

Part 1: powerpoint presentation due oct 03, 2013

Part 2: diagrams and powerpoint presentation due oct 10, 2013

Workshop: October 17.

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