Cities for Cyborgs: Ten Rules

*Keiichi Matsuda, who did the fabulous AR videos "Domestic Robocop" and "Augmented City," is a design-fiction satirist. But he's onto something here.

*It may be time for hackerspace dropouts to go squat some mansions in the Permanent Foreclosure Zone and try this way of life.

http://quietbabylon.com/2010/cities-for-cyborgs-10-rules/

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Cities for Cyborgs: 10 Rules

Deprogramme. Spaces do not define the CY-2010; the CY-2010 defines space. Any waiting room, park, coffee shop or train carriage can become its office, cinema, concert hall or game centre. Interior and exterior matter little to it, as do zoning, demarcation, and programming of space. While some programming is still necessary (there is no working prototype for a toilet or brain surgery app), labels such as ‘dining room’, ‘conference room’, ‘library’ and ‘shop’ are becoming increasingly unwieldy. The next genus will dispense of programme to an even greater degree, so deprogramme your city now.

Don’t be boring. Rule 1 is not an excuse for bland uninspiring architecture. The CY-2010 enjoys the physical city, so use your new-found freedom from function to build something fun and exciting.

Design with fields, not walls. The CY-2010 responds not according to the layout of rooms and corridors, but in to liquid fields of presence. Shelter / warmth / HVAC / light / mobile signal / 3G / WiFi / seating / caffeine / alcohol / smoking / no smoking / quiet zone / childrens area / are the criteria that define its occupation of the city. These elements can be instantaneously adjusted with signs and switches.

More power sockets, public toilets and coin lockers. (((Now that's some sound, solid design thinking, ladies and gentlemen.)))

Home and work are not architectural conditions. The CY-2010 cannot distinguish between these things. Its offices are located in its dwelling, in pubs, bars, parks, and likewise its traditional workplaces are now also used for communicating with friends, watching videos, and reading blogs about cyborgs. The separate spheres of home/private/woman and work/public/man defined during the industrial revolution are merging, so put some home in its offices and some office in its homes.

Public and private are not architectural conditions. The CY-2010 already has a sophisticated set of filters and controls that allow it to set its own level of privacy on the network. In space, it can create a spontaneous personal field of privacy by connecting headphones and burying its head in a newspaper. Previously private activities are also being reclassified as public; you can now witness CY-2010s making private phone calls on the bus, or grooming in the reflections of shop windows. The CY-2010’s sense of privacy is defined by limiting incoming and outgoing signals; not just through architectural intervention, but also through sensory occlusion.

Service the CY-2010. Alcohol / nicotine / caffeine / protein / codeine / components / carbohydrates / carbonation / cocaine / glucose / sucrose / fatty acids / antibiotics / direct current / are input, and urine / faeces / heat / blood / plastic / vomit / cardboard / are output (see [4]).

Create public spaces....

gow