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THE PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SPACES:
DESIGN DIALECTICS AND PEDAGOGY
by
Ileana Apostol
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PLANNING)
December 2007
Copyright 2007 Ileana Apostol
Object Description
| Title | The production of public spaces: design dialectics and pedagogy |
| Author | Apostol, Ileana |
| Author email | apostol@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Planning |
| School | School of Policy, Planning, and Development |
| Date defended/completed | 2007-10-05 |
| Date submitted | 2007 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2007-12-11 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Banerjee, Tridib |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sellers, Jefferey Irazabal, Clara |
| Abstract | This dissertation contributes to building a dialectical understanding of the process of urban design from the perspective of Henri Lefebvre's theory of spatial production. From this perspective, urban space is the material expression of the practice of a society; space is socially produced by the conflicts and contradictions existent within the social order. A dialectic approach considers the opposite sides in unity, and in design reasoning aims to offer a synthesis that brings in unity the contradictions present within the design process. Hence I propose a dynamic understanding of urban design as an ongoing dialectic of spatial production. In this study the narrative centers on the contemporary production of urban spaces for public life.; The narratives of loss that emerged in urban studies in the last decades express dissatisfaction with respect to the disappearance of public spaces in the American cities and the consequence of privatization of public life. At the same time, the practice of everyday life in the modern city is often a disconnected experience that disregards individual experiences and the particularities of places. Despite initiatives of community life revival by design, like in the New Urbanist communities in the USA, there appears to exist a gap between the intentions and the outcomes of the urban design processes. In this research I ask the following questions: How has the relationship between the public and the private transformed over time? What might be the necessary transformations within the professional practice with respect to the roles played by planners and designers in the current production of public spaces? How would planning and design pedagogy build a different understanding of spatial research, in order to prepare planners and designers to practice with alternatives to the rational comprehensive models?; The social interaction that takes place in the city core is a good measure for the vitality of the city, which is an important characteristic for the city's potential successful position in the global marketplace. In this study I propose an ideal of spaces for public life that are civil, diverse, and convivial. A characteristic of the production of this ideal is a dynamic understanding of the design process with the consequence of blurring the boundaries between the public and the private. I argue that the production of this spatial ideal for public life is capable to configure the city's successful image in a globalized world.; In order to find out how planning and design practice should target this ideal, I performed field research regarding two newly developed projects: the Third Street Promenade, a pedestrian street in Santa Monica, United States, and CentrO, a shopping mall and entertainment center in Neue Mitte Oberhausen, Germany. I chose this comparative case study due to its potential to illustrate an irony in the productions of public spaces within the current process of globalization. While in the United States urban development aims to replicate the quality of the European public spaces, new developments in Europe reproduce the suburban, off-center, destination places like the American shopping malls and entertainment centers. I present in comparison these two projects that illustrate planning and design practices with rational comprehensive models. Among the main findings of the comparative analyses is that in spite of the similarities of these two public spaces, they exemplify different solutions with respect to the project's impact on the city cores of Oberhausen and Santa Monica.; I propose in this study the definition of design dialectics as the dynamic understanding of a life cycle of a place across the moments of the following spatial triad: a sense of a place, the conception of a place, and the life and enduring civic presence of a place. I structured this spatial triad on different ways to interact with places according to Lefebvre's dialectical moments that refer to different spatial representations. As a consequence, the proposed spatial triad generates different ways to represent places that I call an external image, a professional image, and the lived experience of a place.; Furthermore, this study translates spatial theory into planning and design practice in two ways. First, I propose to consider planning and design practitioners as spatial explorers that approach spatial analyses from a phenomenological viewpoint. A phenomenological viewpoint draws wisdom through reflective inquiries into the inner being. From this point of view professionals would assume alternatively different social roles in spatial explorations, and alternatively perform sensorial, conceptual, institutional, and rhythm analyses of places. Furthermore, I suggest they should be capable to incorporate change within the conception process through a dynamic perspective across the dialectical moments of a life cycle of a place, and to mediate among the three modes of representation within the spatial production. This process of spatial production implies a reflective paradigm of practice.; Second, in order to develop the habit of reflective action, I suggest integrating the social sciences theory into planning and design pedagogy, and familiarizing future practitioners with a critical approach to the design reasoning and practice. The design process is not a series of activities that can be dealt with one after another, but rather it is a process of forming judgments about the problems. The choice between different paradigms of practice is key in adapting to the pace of change within the contemporary spatial production. Hence this study proposes a dialectical alternative to previous methods of planning and design practice, an alternative that values the particularities of places and of individuals including the senses and the inner being. |
| Keyword | public spaces; design dialectics; design pedagogy; spatial production |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Oberhausen; Santa Monica |
| Geographic subject (state) | Nordrhein-Westfalen, Land; California |
| Geographic subject (country) | Germany; USA |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m978 |
| Rights | Apostol, Ileana |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Apostol-20071211 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume14/etd-Apostol-20071211.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | THE PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SPACES: DESIGN DIALECTICS AND PEDAGOGY by Ileana Apostol A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PLANNING) December 2007 Copyright 2007 Ileana Apostol |
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