The Art of Jaywalking: a Contemporary Approach to Interaction, Creation and Ownership in Public Space

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2014-01-31 The Art of Jaywalking: A Contemporary Approach to Interaction, Creation and Ownership in Public Space

Dmuchowska, Natalia

Dmuchowska, N. (2014). The Art of Jaywalking: A Contemporary Approach to Interaction, Creation and Ownership in Public Space (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28010 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1356 master thesis

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The Art of Jaywalking:

A Contemporary Approach to Interaction, Ownership and Creation in Public Space

Natalia Dmuchowska

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

CALGARY, ALBERTA

JANUARY, 2014

The recent loss of interaction in public space has been a topic of debate amongst scholars, architects, urban planners and municipal authorities. This project was undertaken with the initial task of increasing interaction in and within public space. It was imperative to understand the current status of North American public spaces as well as the psychological importance of individual and collective needs for it. A group of radical, avant-garde artists known as the Situationist International theorized various approaches to encouraging awareness of the spaces we dwell in and deemed the term psychogeography: a method of re-contextualizing and learning about the urban realm through the construction of situations. Public experience and expression were at the forefront of their work and led to the final and most pertinent concern regarding public space – boredom. This Master’s thesis therefore turned into a study of expression and ownership of public spaces and is concluded with one design solution titled The

C.I.T.E.E. Project.

ii Acknowledgements

Although my gratitude cannot be expressed through a few sentences I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Barry Wylant for allowing me to learn and grow throughout my time in EVDS. Thank you for encouraging me to research and write this thesis my way and for guiding me through the mishaps and wrong turns.

Arun Jacob, I hope that one day I will be able to reciprocate all the time you spent talking me through the original idea, working out the conceptual framework, sending me pertinent articles to review, and your constant encouragement.

Finally, a great thanks is dedicated to my fellow EVDS thesis students, my family, my friends who volunteered on a cold October night, Maggie and Jenny for their meticulous edits, and all those who listened and helped me work through the hardships and bad grammar.

Thank you all for your patience, unceasing support, and constant encouragement.

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...... ii

Acknowledgements ...... iii

Table of Contents ...... iv

List of Figures ...... vi

INTRODUCTION: The Art of Jaywalking ...... 1

CHAPTER ONE: The Anatomy of Public Space ...... 4

Public Space ...... 4

The Decay of the Urban Realm ...... 6

The Active Life ...... 20

Fostering a Place for the Collective ...... 24

CHAPTER TWO: A Radical Approach to Urbanism ...... 33

The Situationist International ...... 33

A Brief History of Thought and Action ...... 35

The Situationist City ...... 44

Constructing Situations ...... 51

CHAPTER THREE: Art and Public Space ...... 56

Public Art ...... 56

Public Art as a Facet of Government ...... 59

Psychogeography and Art ...... 62

iv CHAPTER FOUR: Dissecting a Contemporary Art Festival ...... 76

A Case Study ...... 76

Methodology ...... 78

Sample of Featured Exhibits ...... 84

Review of Event and Findings ...... 89

CHAPTER FIVE: Designing Solutions ...... 92

Overview ...... 92

Design Brief ...... 96

The C.I.T.E.E. Project ...... 97

CONCLUSION ...... 109

REFERENCES ...... 112

REFERENCES: Figures ...... 124

APPENDIX A ...... 129

APPENDIX B ...... 162

v List of Figures

Figure 1: Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 4

Figure 2: Aerial View of GTA, Ontario, 2013 ...... 7

Figure 3: Traffic Congestion, Toronto, Canada, 2013 ...... 8

Figure 4: Map of +15 Skywalk in Calgary, Canada, 2013 ...... 11

Figure 5: Map of Toronto's PATH Underground System, Toronto, Canada, 2013 ...... 11

Figure 6: Murals in Belfast Commemorating Violence Between Protestant and Catholic Communities, 2012 ...... 16

Figure 7: Partial Map of the Internet IP Address Connections, 2006 ...... 17

Figure 8: Kevin Lynch's Paths, Edges, Districts, Nodes, Landmarks, 1960 ...... 26

Figure 9: Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada, 2012 ...... 28

Figure 10: Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada, 2005 ...... 28

Figure 11: Kensington Market, Toronto, Canada, 2012 ...... 30

Figure 12: The Forks, Winnipeg, Canada, 2008 ...... 31

Figure 13: Cover Art for Debord's Society of the Spectacle, 1952 ...... 34

Figure 14: Isidore Isou, Self-Portrait, Metagraphics,1952 ...... 38

Figure 15: Paris Streets in Rainy Weather by Gustave Caillebotte, 1877 ...... 39

Figure 16: Street Poster Favouring May 1968 Uprisings, Paris, France, 1968 ...... 43

Figure 17: Illustrations of Psychogeographic Hubs, The Naked City, Guy Debord,1957 ...... 46

Figure 18: Abstract Visualization of New Babylon Nord, Constant Nieuwenhuys, 1971 ...... 50

Figure 19: Ai Weiwei's Bicycle, Toronto, Ontario, 2013 ...... 57

Figure 20: Statue of Saints Norbert of Xanten, Wenceslas and Sigismund on Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic, 2012 ...... 58

Figure 21: Busker performing, Prague, Czech Republic, 2012 ...... 63

vi Figure 22: Intensity, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 64

Figure 23: Piano Stairs, by Volkswagon’s Fun Theory, 2009 ...... 65

Figure 24: FUNtain Hydraulophone, Ontario Science Centre, Ontario, Canada, 2006 .. 66

Figure 25: Zombie Walk, Tijuana, Mexico, 2006 ...... 67

Figure 26: Abandoned Church, Detroit, USA, 2009 ...... 69

Figure 27: Moving Forest, NL Architects, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 20098 ...... 70

Figure 28: Artist Jan Vormann uses LEGO to fill in cracks in crumbling buildings, New York City, USA, 2010 ...... 72

Figure 29: Guerilla Gardening, Phuket, Thailand ...... 73

Figure 30: PARK(ing) Day project, Indianapolis, USA, 2010 ...... 74

Figure 31: Scotia Plaza, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 79

Figure 32: Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 80

Figure 33: Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 80

Figure 34: Queen’s Park, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 81

Figure 35: City Mouse, Julia Hepburn, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 85

Figure 36: Face Music, Ken Rinaldo, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 85

Figure 37: Flightpath, Usman Haque, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 86

Figure 38: 100 Ages, Jason de Haan, Toronto, Canada, 2011 ...... 87

Figure 39: TESTtubes, Subject to Change Design Collective, Toronto, Canada, 2011 . 88

Figure 40: Logo, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 ...... 98

Figure 41: Homepage, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 ...... 99

Figure 42: Facebook Page, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 ...... 100

Figure 43: Twitter Feed, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 ...... 101

Figure 44: User Exprience Map, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 ...... 101

Figure 45: Homepage, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 1) ...... 104

vii Figure 46: Description, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 2) ...... 104

Figure 47: Project Details, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 3) ...... 105

Figure 48: Disclaimer, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 4) ...... 105

Figure 49: The Interventions, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 5) ...... 106

Figure 50: Share/Social Media Page, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 6) ...... 106

Figure 51: About, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Optional Step 7) ...... 107

Figure 52: Add Page, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 8) ...... 107

viii

INTRODUCTION: The Art of Jaywalking The Art of Jaywalking has been a two-year iterative process that has morphed from being a study of public spaces and an urban art festival to a contemporary approach to interaction, ownership and creation in public space. Upon the initial conception of the research component of the Master of Environmental Design degree, the project sought to answer the following question: If psychogeography is an extension of Situationist International thought and experimentation, and Nuit Blanche is a manifestation of it; can the combination of these insights inform a design response to better facilitate public interaction in urban space? The following was a list of objectives set out for the project: • Understand Situationist International thought and theory in relation to an urban context • Understand psychogeographic theory and how it relates to Nuit Blanche as a manifestation of it • Understand the interactive components of Nuit Blanche including the nature of the event, the venue, and experiences/perceptions from participants • Explore precedents of Nuit Blanche as an example of a contemporary urban art festival • Generate a design response to the defined problem

The initial approach to the posed problem was the completion of a Literature Review followed by a Case Study of the Nuit Blanche Event. The proposed project was set out to seek a way to enhance the interaction between users and public spaces by implementing a psychogeographic approach. It was intended to focus on how psychogeography could be used to enrich our view and understanding of the urban environment and the interaction that occurs there. Furthermore, the project was created in such a way to explore how design can help create successful solutions to the singular functionality of public space.

The Art of Jaywalking has been designed to cover all background research and information to understand the scope of the problem at hand: the decay of the urban realm and society’s withdrawal from public space. The first chapter addresses areas concerned with public space, what it is, how it has changed in recent decades, the reasons for the fluctuations, and the impact of technology on human-to-human interaction. Chapter one also tackles the major question – why is it important for humans to participate in public space – through the work of Hannah Arendt. This chapter concludes with a general overview of urban design theory outlining the works of major urbanists such as Jane Jacobs and Kevin Lynch. Chapter two explores the radical theories and practices of a group of avant-garde artists and activists who dwelled in Paris in the 1960s. The work they created can seem trivial however the understanding of the current state of society, that it is engulfed in consumerism, entices extremely relevant insights into future urban environments. The Situationist International fought against the blandification of the urban realm and fought for a revolution of everyday life through art, protest and aimless wandering. Walking as a practice became one of their central mandates and was eventually deemed psychogeography. Psychogeography asks citizens to step outside their routines, to take a different path, to wander in a new manner in an attempt to understand that it is new experience, journey and free creation that define our lives and not the material possessions that we own.

Chapter’s three and four focus on visual and performance art in public spaces. Chapter three explores the history of public art in cities stretching from the Renaissance to contemporary times. An important component of this chapter is the modern affiliation between street art and psychogeography. These types of projects are appearing everyday in urban centres although they are not often authored as psychogeographic experiments. Chapter four is an in-depth analysis of the Nuit Blanche festival that occurs each October in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The case study was commenced in the summer of 2011 and completed in October of that same year. Although this chapter

did not comprise the majority of the thesis, as originally supposed, it was an imperative component to the design project. The final chapter, five, synthesizes the findings from the first four chapters in order to set up a design brief, project and solution. It is in this chapter that the most valid deductions of this thesis are conceived. Upon review of public spaces, the urban realm, Situationist International theories and practices, the history of art in public spaces and an inconclusive case study, the project was finally in a state where design solutions could be implemented. The design portion includes a design brief, user experience infographic, and a fully functional design interface for The C.I.T.E.E. Project. The C.I.T.E.E. Project is an acronym for “city interventions transcending everyday experiences.” It is a website with an easily implemented process that is not location, financially, or demographically specific. At its core The C.I.T.E.E. Project seeks to reassess the places we live and dwell in. It is about creating an experience in the city that doesn’t occur there everyday, something beyond ordinary.

The overall methodology used for this Master’s thesis was a Qualitative Research Methodology, however for the Case Study a Hybrid Research Approach was assumed. The Art of Jaywalking has sought to eliminate boundaries and to create an experience of the city that is defined by journey and expression and not by moving blindly from point A to point B. It is a challenge set out to explore our urban environments through free and open participation, storytelling, and creation. Jaywalking is the notion of crossing paths in ways that were not intended or are imposed and this thesis project is begging the same thing – it is a call for fostering citizen voice, fighting the boredom of everyday life, and a challenge posed to reclaim the spaces we live, create and interact within.

| Boredom is a pattern, not a reality. – Paulo Coelho |

CHAPTER ONE: The Anatomy of Public Space Public Space Public space refers to areas typically located in the urban realm where individuals and groups can gather in a social setting (Amin 2008). These spaces commonly include such physical entities as benches and trees, views, vendors, fountains, alleys and promenades as well as roads, sidewalks, government and public buildings (Project for Public Spaces 2013). Public spaces are parts of cities that promote common and group use. They are generally parcels of land owned and managed by the city or various other levels of government, as well as some private companies, and are all open to public access (Project for Public Spaces 2012). Some examples of public spaces include parks and squares, plazas in front of city hall, skateboard parks, markets, waterfronts, train stations, streets and courtyards; “they are the “front porches” of our public institutions – libraries, field houses, neighbourhood schools – where we interact with each other and government (Project for Public Spaces 2012).” Public space can therefore be understood as a representation of the city that is delineated by buildings and the built form and used primarily as a social platform.

Figure 1: Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada, 2011

Whilst studying public space it is important to measure and understand the connectivity of public spaces to the remainder of the city and its amenities as well as the “layout…economic, social, and ethnic diversity; and functionality (American Planning Association 2013)” of space. The fluidity of movement in public spaces can be seen through the way people migrate from one place to another within a city. When examining public space it is useful to question how the surroundings influence or enhance the space through capitalizing on building design, scale, architecture, the creation of visual experiences, ease of movement, and to assess how the space can accommodate multiple uses and users simultaneously (American Planning Association 2013). According to the American Planning Association “characteristics of great public spaces include: 1) Promot[ing] human contact and social activities; 2) [Being] safe, welcoming, and accommodating for all users; 3) [Having] design and architectural features that are visually interesting; 4) Promot[ing] community involvement; 5) Reflect[ing] the local culture or history; 6) Relat[ing] well to bordering uses; 7) [Being] well maintained; 8) Hav[ing] a unique or special character (2013).” Point six is extremely important as it discusses the ability of one space to connect to other ones in the city. These characteristics of great public spaces are highly focused on the visual components but also stress the relevance of interaction, social activities and the ability to connect history, current affairs, cleanliness, and safety to the remainder of the urban realm. The term public in this combination of words also implies that all exchanges of information or artistic expression, whether verbal or physical, are encompassed in its definition.

North American public spaces are social gathering areas where interactions should occur between users and where the space can promote safety and be accommodating, unique, and well maintained. These should be places where the exchange of ideals and perspectives, democratic viewpoints, and the discussion of all topics concerning the urban realm and society can occur (Arendt 1958, 15). Public spaces in the urban realm should be “accessible to all groups of people with various ages, gender, and ethnic

backgrounds (Velibeyoglu and Gencel 2006, 4),” to ensure a certain level of citizen control, or “eyes on the street” as emphasized by Jane Jacobs in her book, The Death and Life of the Great American City (14). According to Jacobs public space should reflect the needs and wants of groups who live in the city (17). Public spaces in the urban realm are currently used as places to enjoy lunch on sunny afternoons, to wander and explore cities, to engage in conversation and to interact with public demonstrations or art exhibits. Public space should provide “opportunities to participate in communal activity. This fellowship in the open nurtures the growth of public life, which is stunted by the social isolation of ghettos and suburbs (Amin 2008, 1).” The ability to move freely in public spaces where this communal ideology exists is vitally important in order to accomplish “collective well-being and possibility, expressions of achievement and aspiration by urban leaders and visionaries, sites of public encounter and formation of civic culture, and significant spaces of political deliberation and agnostic struggle (2).” A city’s public spaces are also symbols of healthy communities and havens for collective growth. Through accessibility and positive use public spaces can become “places of highly qualified interaction (4).”

The Decay of the Urban Realm The rise of the contemporary city provided options and choice to its citizens, a freedom rarely experienced before in North America (Arendt 1958, 17). The industrial revolution paved the way for efficiency and a new ability to develop, increase production, build towns and skyscrapers, suburbs and strip malls (19). In a typical set up of current North American urban centers, business predominantly functions in the city’s core or business districts, industrial manufacturers work in the outer areas of towns, nightclubs are all located on one strip, restaurants neighbour each other competitively, and homes are built on larger plots of land commonly in suburban communities (Vaughan 2009, 3). There seems to be a shift towards separation of home, work and play, along with increased distances between destinations largely associated with the popularization of

the suburban lifestyle (7). Suburbs are identified as “a decentralized part of a city with which it is inseparably linked by certain economic and social ties (3).” The ability to live in one area of the city and drive to work in a completely different one has altered the way we interact with the city and its public spaces. Ray Oldenburg suggests that society’s time is spent in isolation between the first place (home) and the second place (work) (22). The separation and distance between often silo-ed destinations can thwart the possibility of happenstance and chance encounters, all experiences achieved through participation in the urban realm. Oldenburg argues that more time should be spent in third (public) places to provide an opportunity to form bonds and create communities that are happy and vibrant (65).

Figure 2: Aerial View of GTA, Ontario, 2013

Figure 3: Traffic Congestion, Toronto, Canada, 2013 (Credit: Julia Tang via Caution: Economics Students At Work) The post-World War II period brought great change to cities in North America and around the world. This was a time when the automobile became a dominant means of transportation and when suburban communities began to flourish (Borchet n.d.). The suburbs in contrast to most inner city neighbourhoods commonly housed middle-income families, much lower population densities, and high ownership rates (Borchet n.d.). Retreat from urban life and large leaps in transport technology allowed for suburban supremacy throughout the 1950s-1980s and influenced many changes in contemporary cities. Furthermore these changes were the dominant factors in promoting commuting into city centers for work. It is now a common occurrence to live dozens of kilometers from the location of one’s occupation (24). A larger distance or commute can be perceived as restricting the amount of time one is able to spend in the third place (25), or public spaces. If the proximity to a public space in the urban realm is minimal then it is more plausible that individuals can take advantage of those spaces. According to Statistics Canada the average commute time for Canadians living in a large metropolis is approximately 30 minutes (Turcott 2011, 27) without incorporating additional time

caused by traffic congestion. Large distances between destinations often result in a decreased use and attendance in public space. Instead of understanding the city as a set of destinations perhaps the city should be redefined as a journey that can renew our relationship with it and the spaces that create it. This can be accomplished partially by delineating our experience of the city as a journey. This, however, is only one problem and one attempt at a solution. Serge Latouche, a French professor emeritus of economy at the University of Paris-Sud, is quoted in Mirko Zardini’s work suggesting that cities and public spaces need to undergo vast changes in order to become economically, politically, and socially viable again (17). He states that cities must “re- evaluate, redefine, restructure, relocate, redistribute, reduce, reuse, and recycle (17)” their current formats and be replaced with a refreshed and educated response to the needs of their citizens – whether it’s for shorter commutes or availability of cheaper real estate in city cores. The changes that need to be incorporated are all in response to the existing state of the urban realm.

Physical boundaries are potentially the most difficult to penetrate or alter considering their permanent stature and vitality to infrastructure and general functionality of the city. Physical boundaries include railways, roads, rivers, bridges, mountains, walkways and bodies of water (National Geographic 2013). Urban life can be very fast paced with individuals and groups moving from one space to another with limited time to do so. Means of transportation from one destination to the next within the urban realm is commonly dependent on this permanent part of the city: a road or sidewalk, subway, train, or streetcar. The fluidity of movement between sets of destinations, by means of a physical boundary is often dependent on the successful incorporation of management techniques such as infrastructure upkeep, accessibility of public transit, efficient cleaning operations, and delivery time shifts prior to and post rush hour traffic. The proper management of cities can result in an efficient functionality that is especially important because cities must act not only as “a home for the resident, but it is their shopping center, their green space, their playground (Zardini, A New Urban Takeover

n.d., 212). Entities such as roads, streets, and public transportation are vital to city operation and functionality however the fundamental problem is the singularity of their use. Naturally occurring physical boundaries as well as those set up to support infrastructure in cities tend to support a series of destinations, a means to an end. In its current state our experience of the city is defined by these physical boundaries and how we typically use them solely for the purpose of arriving somewhere else. Perhaps it is important to begin exploring the city as a holistic experience and contemplate the role of journey – moving from one place to another – in our understanding of it.

A positive example of responding to the needs of citizens in some North American cities has been the implementation of underground or above ground pathway systems in city centers or cores. Canada is one of the coldest countries in the world with average winter temperatures ranging from -15 to -40 degrees Celsius in the Prairie Provinces and slightly milder along the coasts (Central Intelligence Agency 2013). Winter cities can be mapped roughly north of the 45th parallel (Zardini 2005, 130) therefore anywhere in the most northern parts of Japan and China, northern USA, Russia, Finland, Scandinavia, Greenland, and most of Canada. Advancements in technology have allowed control of indoor climates in order to maintain optimal human comfort temperatures. On average temperatures drop below the thermal comfort ranges for humans in winter cities approximately six months out of the year. As a response to cold and short winter days urban designers and planners have explored climate specific solutions for these geographic locations. Calgary’s +15 indoor pathway system is situated approximately 15 feet above street level and ensures that anyone working in (or walking through) the central business district can move seamlessly indoors from one part of downtown to the other. This massive indoor walking trail spans from 8th Street SW to 3rd Street SE west to east, and from 2nd Avenue to 10th Avenue north to north to south. Although the +15 system is a welcomed relief during those -40 degrees Celsius days, it has also resulted in a few negative consequences. A +15 User Survey conducted by the City of Calgary and published in 1998 remarks that the +15 system

has been accused of causing the decline in street life in the downtown core of the city (Chalmers 1999, 70). Many storefronts in the downtown core were forced to close due to decreased exposure to foot traffic, specifically in those cold winter months. The +15 system has responded to one environmental problem but has created an economic and urban one instead.

Figure 4: Map of +15 Skywalk in Calgary, Canada, 2013 (Credit: City of Calgary)

Figure 5: Map of Toronto's PATH Underground System, Toronto, Canada, 2013 (Credit: City of Toronto via Craig White via UrbanToronto.ca)

A similar system exists in Toronto’s downtown entitled PATH. In contrast to Calgary’s above ground +15 system PATH predominantly runs under the street level and houses the world’s largest underground shopping center (City of Toronto n.d.). PATH includes 1,200 shops and services and accommodates over 100,000 commuters each day (City of Toronto n.d.). It spans from Lake Ontario to Dundas Street south to north, and from Spadina Avenue to Yonge Street west to east (City of Toronto n.d.). In certain regards, the City of Toronto has provided storefront access for shops and services and the entire system is very economically viable. Similarly to Calgary, urban designers and planners have resolved a climatic problem but this has now resulted in a new setback. Unfortunately most similar systems result in parallel outcomes – the elimination of spontaneity and choice when exploring and experiencing the city. Spontaneity encourages undertaking something unplanned or unexpected. Engaging in an uncertain activity jolts us into a new awareness of the things that exist around us within our cities; it’s a break from everyday normal routine (Townsend 2011). Furthermore spontaneity and happenstance can result in a more relaxed lifestyle as well as can serve as a method of inducing creativity (Townsend 2011). Experiencing cities and public spaces in spontaneous ways guarantees that new things will become apparent and our understanding and appreciation for it can drastically alter. The +15 and PATH systems unfortunately often result in the opposite effect – simply using the pathways to move from point A to point B, limiting the opportunity for chance encounters or discoveries. In this situation the city becomes defined by the limited choices provided by the implemented system with no real chance of open wandering. The options provided typically only allow for one designated route with no real journey or spontaneity involved throughout the process. The experience of the city should not just be a series of destinations but also as a journey which delineates our holistic understanding of the places we occupy.

It is common for North American days to be divided into three eight hour periods: eight hours to sleep, eight hours to work, and eight hours for other activities. Accordingly the

day is divided equally and should be spent in the three places as Ray Oldenburg suggests (home, work, public) (18). However not all city dwellers follow the same regime and don’t necessarily work standard 9-5 hours. This can affect the attendance and use of public space on yet another level. One limitation to the use and experience of public space are the enforced hours of access. Public areas in the urban realm impose hours of operation, most commonly as a safety precaution. Temporal restrictions in public spaces can eliminate the ability to use them at will or lead to property trespassing and a heightened need for security. It is estimated that half the world’s population currently lives in urban areas, and by 2050 this number will increase to 75% (Zardini 2005, 1), making it vital to create a dynamic and vibrant urban realm. This can include relaxing licensing laws, encouraging café culture, provisioning for new cultural attractions (204) and creating spaces that are flexible to a variety of schedules. Architect Mirko Zardini suggests that modern cities should have “activity of one form or another around the clock (201). The darkness just like light can allow for a completely different understanding of the urban realm and public spaces. Different activities occur in one corner during day and night hours, similarly in alleys, passageways, train stations and streets. For example, during the day one particular place can host a public art exhibit and by night can provide shelter from cooler weather or even a place to sleep. All these activities and experiences create a certain urban atmosphere which, when agglomerated with other locations, creates a holistic experience of the city. Of course particular attention must be paid to the safety of dwellers and Mirko Zardini notes that, “today, one predominant concern seems to be determining the character of contemporary urban space: security. The open spaces of the city, streets and squares, along with communal spaces, have above all become spaces of fear, and thus inevitably spaces of control (19-20).” The solution to the security concern tends to be the implementation of lighting. Excessive night time lighting can erode “the unique conditions that darkness offered us – the ability to hide, the silence, the oblivion. Yet only through darkness, through the temporary blindness produced by the fading of the light that enables sight, we are able to recapture the experience of the other senses

(45).” In essence artificial lighting is a process of making ‘day-time’ all the time, yet temporal restrictions remain. The urban realm and public spaces should be managed in a way that encourages the ““concept of mixophilia,” to favor and encourage the possibility of living peacefully and happily with difference, and taking advantage of the variety of stimuli (20),” including that which all times of day and open access provide.

Humans sense their surroundings in a multitude of ways beyond just sight: but also through hearing, smell, taste and touch. Consider walking into a grocery store and selecting fruit to purchase. We visually observe if the produce is the appropriate color, smell it to make sure it’s ripe, and feel it to ensure it isn’t past its prime. Within such a simple task we have already taken advantage of 3 out of your 5 senses. Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa writes extensively about the haptic experience in architecture and urban design and how it currently fails to incorporate the vast potential of the human body to experience space holistically. Haptic experience is any form of nonverbal, sensory communication and is often defined by touch (Pallasmaa 1999, 3). Pallasmaa writes that, “space and scale are measured by the human eye (1)” and multisensory experience can often be overlooked. His work promotes intimacy and encourages users to engage and unite with physical spaces (1). Space that stimulates multiple senses allows users to be embraced and incorporated into the evolving emotion of that space. Juhanni further explains his theory by comparing it to an image captured by a camera. The peripheries of the image allow us to place the space into a larger context and therefore the understanding of the periphery is just as important, if not more so, than the focused image itself (1). Juhanni continues that, “this assumption suggests that there are reasons why contemporary spaces often alienate us – compared with historical and natural settings that elicit powerful emotional engagement – has to do with the poverty of peripheral vision (3),” or otherwise spaces don’t attract our attention as much as they should because they don’t stimulate the full range of our senses. In an attempt to engage in the context of a space we should interact with our senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch and sometimes taste. Through these interactions we recognize

the value and context of the space and it begins to hold meaning and association to us as users. Norwegian architectural historian and theorist Christian Norberg-Schulz suggests that space should be a “total qualitative phenomenon, making use of expressions like ‘environmental qualities’ and ‘atmosphere (Zardini 2005, 19).’” Using all facets of multiple sensory reactions allows for this total qualitative understanding of space. As active users of the urban realm and public spaces we must be careful to not be bound by only the visual and haptic context of space.

Story telling has been used as a tool to pass down knowledge and tradition for thousands of years (White 2013). Oral traditions and stories develop as a community may try to recreate a memory in community life and will commonly include a specific location (White 2013). When important community events occur they can be commemorated with a plaque or statue in that specific location. Memories and stories create a sense of belonging to a community. The same is true for cities and the built environment on a larger spectrum. Public space in the urban realm can stimulate similar responses as “people tend to be more protective towards buildings which have stories attached to them (Zardini 2005, 213),” and therefore create an association with those spaces. Physical space provides the context for associations and furthermore the “sensorality of the city [becomes] one through the medium of personal bodily experience (204).” A positive memory, experience or association with a physical space in the urban realm mentally affiliates users with that space and the chance for reuse is increased. Additionally individuals or groups who “interact within the context of defining their own place within [that space] (204)” gain a sense of ownership and responsibility to maintain that space’s integrity and vibrance. Personal associations combined with multi-sensory experiences evoke a sense of belonging similar to that of being a part of a larger whole or group. It is this association that allows participants to create a group identity and collective mentality (Arendt 1958, 35). Furthermore public space should accommodate “alternative uses, while at the same time enabling the resident to exercise choice over

their participation (Zardini 2005, 205),” expression and ultimately the creation of a story to tell and revisit later.

Figure 6: Murals in Belfast Commemorating Violence Between Protestant and Catholic Communities, 2012

Technological advancements and distractions have allowed for a retreat from communal space and collective identity. The need to exchange information still exists but now occurs in more non-traditional ways, where physical visits to public spaces are no longer required. The importance of public space and its recent pitfalls have been the epicenter of discussion for many decades. Although it has witnessed a recent decrease in use, public space still plays a significant role in disseminating political activism, information exchange, exhibition space, and interactive platforms for citizens, a place of protest, and a reality where individuals become groups and communities. The introduction of the automobile and subsequent retreat to suburban communities has greatly changed

society’s perception of the importance of participation in public space. The urban realm has become less of a place to exchange ideas partially due to the accessibility of information that contemporary technology has provided. The Internet and the development of search engines and online databases coupled with the instantaneous upload of current affairs, entertainment and information has afforded citizens around the world an enormous power: the exchange of ideas from any place in the world to any other place in the world in a matter of seconds. United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was quoted as saying that, “the Internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse and night club (Reifman 2011).” The Internet and social media platforms have become the “global gate which has amplified demands for freedom of expression and other universal human rights, facilitated vibrant and open discussions on a wide range of topics and connected citizens with each other and with people around the world (Reifman 2011).”

Figure 7: Partial Map of the Internet IP Address Connections, 2006 (Credit: Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons)

Although a few examples exist connecting social media platforms and increased use of public space, such as the Occupy Movement or the Arab Springs, these tend to be sporadic opportunities and not activities that present themselves on a daily basis. What seems to be occurring is a stifling of ownership and authorship in physical public spaces and a retreat to Internet platforms to gain some sort of control for the dissemination of information and group upheaval. The Occupy Movement was an awakening to the realizations of social and economic inequalities in major cities and countries around the world (Occupy Together 2013). The message was quickly disseminated through social media platforms and protestors were instructed to gather and set-up camp in various public spaces. The Occupy Movement offered an opportunity for communal protest and an open invitation to use public space however its impact seemed inconclusive and ended with a forceful eviction from that same public space (Occupy Together 2013). The stifling of freedom in the use of public space raises the question as to the true meaning of public in spaces that are titled as such.

Historically public spaces have been important because they provided an arena for discussion and dialogue. Ash Amin is an urban economist at the University of Durham who writes that a “strong relationship exists between urban public space, civic culture, and political formation (15).” Public spaces in the urban realm provide this opportunity to engage in community life. Cities can be understood as the node of human interactions where possibilities and opportunities for healthy societies thrive (Velibeyoglu and Gencel 2006, 2) and public spaces within cities are at the core of these interactions. Political theorist John Calhoun agrees noting that “one of the most important social characteristics of cities is the provision of public spaces in which relative strangers can interact and observe each other, debate and learn politically, and grow psychologically from diverse contacts (2).” The implication of the widespread use of the Internet is that it eliminates the necessity of participation in public spaces. Outside political debate, the convenience of online shopping and deliveries to home addresses of many urban services can further be blamed for repressing the frequency of use and attendance in

public spaces (Powell n.d., 6). Current North American cities are therefore experiencing a paradigm shift, one where “home-based entertainment and consumption networks of internet-related service industries, techno-individuals have gradually started to prefer the secure environment of home to traditional outdoor spaces (Velibeyoglu and Gencel 2006, 2).” This shift is in many ways a wonderful advancement since keeping in touch with friends and family around the globe is becoming easier each day. However the time allocated to actually see and experience those friends and family members is concurrently diminishing. The missing experience and true physical interaction and exchange of information is the pragmatic problem associated with the increased dependence on the Internet and the diminished necessity of communication within public space and the urban realm. The changing urban and technological landscape “removes the possibility for informal community connection in public space. Instead of creating neighbourhood places such as bars and cafes that provide a location for intimate connection and casual talk, suburbanites retreat into their living rooms (Powell n.d., 5)” to surf-the-web or watch television. In this current state it is still possible to fulfill the mandates of public space through the use of the Internet however the real implication is that public space should be about an experience of the city that is greater than a sum of just its physical parts – it should be experienced through physical attendance and participation in that space.

Contemporary cities and the increased exchange of information via the Internet have also impacted the way our lives and cities are designed. The changes in our routines and movements from one space to another have been affected by somewhat inherent and incoherent demarcation of space. Public spaces seem to be “marked by multiple temporalities, ranging from the slow walk of some and the frenzied passage of others, to variations in opening and closing times, and the different temporalities of modernity, tradition, memory and transformation (Amin 2008).” The retreat to domestic environments is influenced through the rapid pace of society, routine, distances between first, second, and third places, weather variations, physical boundaries, haptic

restraints, and an overall underwhelmed understanding of the importance of participation in public space and communal life. It is common for modern North American cities to be silo-ed and separated. The incorporation of urban design and planning techniques has thus far failed to force a break from isolation. It seems as though solutions to the segregated nature of the cities we live in often results in beautification projects rather than connectivity and communal authorship and ownership of what are commonly titled public spaces.

The Active Life Throughout her work, philosopher Hannah Arendt emphasizes the importance of participation in public space to the intellectual and political development of humans and inevitably society. The Human Condition, one of Arendt’s most read texts, examines how humans behave in the context of the modern age. Arendt argues that the modern age has become severely segregated. Society has withdrawn into a more private praxis and this results in a lack of freedom (36). Hannah Arendt separates the state of human existence into three categories: labour, work, and action. These three components are what make up the Vita Activa, translated as the active life (19). She discusses the three categories in ascending order of importance starting with an explanation of labour. Labour is defined by the things humans do out of necessity to sustain life. Labour is almost animal like, for example a search for food, shelter and water and a propensity for reproduction. According to Hannah Arendt labour is categorized as the least important because it demonstrates animalistic qualities. Arendt describes labour as being the least humanistic and therefore the least important. She defines slaves as purely labourers, constantly working for their own survival and the survival of their masters. Finally, Arendt states that labour is characterized by non-freedom and is dominant in the “private realm of the household (18).” Labour is thus a constant in the pursuit of survival. Hannah Arendt’s second category of the human condition is work. The objective of work is the formation of a public realm and the physical things that are left behind, such as the buildings or tools that characterize it. Work is distinguished from labour through

the ideas that are formed about a communal life and a collective identity. Work is an important component of the human condition because it sanctifies social and moral qualities that animals do not possess. Furthermore, work is different from labour because it leads to the creation and existence of a political and free world (18). The final human condition is action. Action and freedom are terms used synonymously by Arendt and exemplify the reasons why humans live together in political organizations at all (18). Action is the part of the human condition that creates unexpected thoughts, genuine novelty, and unanticipated results and provides the ability to share ideas and concerns for the betterment of society. It is in the human condition of action that society is made aware that it is “men, not MAN, [who] live on the earth (18),” and here Arendt suggests that others must recognize actions in a public realm to make them actual. The justification of actions by society requires a public space where other members can recognize the action. This is where Arendt’s argument showcases the importance of public space to community living; political awareness and therefore freedom, readily become apparent.

The importance of Hannah Arendt’s work becomes most obvious when the study of communal life is divided into two categories: the individual and the collective. The individual defines each independent person and the collective is defined by a group of individuals. Public space thus, becomes the place where the collective truly exists. Hannah Arendt argues that humans are inherently social and “gather to be amongst each other (24)” in public space and must be “actively engaged in doing something (24).” It is the mandate of the Vita Activa to encourage active participation in the collective and these “activities are conditioned by the fact that men live together…(22).” Hannah Arendt presents the theory that humans need humans and so they tend to flock to each other. She continues to express that of the three human conditions (labour, work, action), only actions are completely dependent upon the presence of other humans (23). It is in action that the necessity of a common or public space becomes undeniably apparent. This is where this co-dependence develops into a collective

identity. Robert Park, an American urban sociologist, often discussed collective behaviour as a part of human nature especially within the context of the city (733). Robert Park was a pioneer in the field of human ecology and his theories on collective identity echo those of Hannah Arendt. Public space serves as a platform for lobbying and a source of creating or finding an identity. The collective thrives on the equality of its participants because “society always demands that its members act as though they were members of one enormous family which only has one opinion and one interest (Arendt 39).” Jean-Jacques Rousseau eloquently stated that conforming to a group identity “ [is] inherent in every society (39).” Public space is the area in which all citizens of society must be equivalent. It has always distinguished itself from the privacy of households “in that it knew only ‘equals,’ whereas the household was the center of the strictest inequality (32).” Through participation in the Vita Activa societies are formed, common issues and concerns can be voiced, and community issues can be resolved. In these instances the collective, or collection of individuals, shows power in numbers and hence creates an identity through common goal or purpose.

Through her theories of The Human Condition Hannah Arendt explores the two realms of existence (13). The primary realm is defined as private life or the home, where the main goal is survival and the second realm of existence is public life or the communal (13). The second realm of existence is where individuals participate in the Vita Activa; a space of human affairs, and a place of action and speech (13). Ideas on the various realms of existence are echoed in Ray Oldenburg’s three places. The first place is home, the second is work, and the third is public space (Oldenburg 1989). The third place is where society comes together, where important issues regarding local environments are discussed. The acknowledgement of a third place, or Arendt’s second realm of existence shows that public space is a place where “activities are related to a common world (28).” Furthermore the second realm of existence, or third place, is a place of freedom where all individuals are equals and here society can begin to form (31).

Although Arendt argues that humans are inherently social beings, the collective is made up of a group of individuals. To be successful, the collective should act as a platform for individual expression and experience, but most importantly provide a sense of ownership and authorship. According to Greek and Roman theorists, “excellence itself…has always been assigned to the public realm where one could excel, could distinguish oneself from all others. Every activity performed in public can attain an excellence never matched in privacy; for excellence, by definition, the presence of others is always required, and this presence needs the formality of the public… (49).” The success of the individual inevitably shapes the success of the collective. Public space is where society is formed but should also act as a platform “reserved for individuality; it [is] the only place where men could show who they really and inexchangeably [are] (41).” By encouraging individual success and progress the collective can gain a more prosperous and progressive identity as well. Robert Park, Ray Oldenburg, and Hannah Arendt studied and developed this field and contemporary understanding of the importance of public space to the human condition. Their work showcases the vitality of public space to action in the Vita Activa through two main groups: the collective and the individual. Hannah Arendt’s work in The Human Condition in the context of public space expresses the Vita Activa as a mandate for successful community life and freedom in the modern age. Furthermore, the Vita Activa and participation in the urban realm can be used as a framework for creating a public space that satisfies the human condition for action, communal life and inevitably freedom. Robert Park defines the city as a representation of the world; the city affects man’s life and therefore man’s life affects the city (Park 1927, 739). He writes that “the city is man’s most consistent and, on the whole, his most successful attempt to remake the world he lives in after his heart’s desire. But if the city is the world which man created, it is the world in which he is henceforth condemned to live. Thus, indirectly and without any clear sense of the nature of his task, in remaking the city man has remade

himself (Times Higher Education 2003).” The absolute connection between the individual, the collective and public space is indisputable.

Fostering a Place for the Collective Theoretical investigation into Hannah Arendt’s work on the human condition and group psyche shows that public space is vital to the success of humans, freedom, politics and the urban realm – both in the promotion of the individual and the collective. Currently, a major distinction is apparent between the study of architecture and practice of town planning and urban design. Historian and town planner Michael Hebbert and architectural theorist Wolfgagne Sonne write that, “modern town planning originates at the turn of the twentieth century, at the moment of shock when new technologies began to demonstrate their power to dissolve conventional conceptions of space and time (Monculus and Guardia 2006, 5).” The change between simply constructing buildings and actually creating spaces that are visually interesting and develop a relationship between the built form and the things around them came to be known as urbanism (5). Urbanism utilizes the “program of artistic urban design to bring building masses and spaces into a relationship (Sonne 2005),” and the term is sometimes used “in a broad sense as the ‘study of cities – their economics, politics, social and cultural dimensions (Monculus and Guardia 2006, xiv).’” Once the term and practice gained popularity it became understood that urban design is a multidisciplinary subject at its core (xiv). The analysis of cities and implementation of urban design techniques is a subject not solely designated for the built environment. It is rather a collection of contemporary elements that create life in the city. Albert Brinckmann, publisher of the first history of urban design series, stated that urban design and urbanism are created by society and influenced by economics, technology and politics and the resulting space is one of equality (Sonne 2005, 119) – as echoed by Hannah Arendt.

Popular American urban planner Kevin Lynch studied cities and consecutively public space, by learning how people were able to navigate through spaces. He deemed the

term imageability and popularized wayfinding in an urban context. Imageability refers to the way people are able to read and recognize city landmarks or elements to form mental maps (Lynch 1960, 11). The five elements Lynch discusses in his book The Image of the City are: 1) paths – streets, sidewalks, and trails that people use to travel, 2) edges – physical boundaries in city layouts such as walls and rivers, 3) districts – large sections of the city such as the downtown core for example, 4) nodes – focal points such as intersections, and 5) landmarks – Lynch recognized these as external reference points (Lynch 1960, 46-49). Kevin Lynch noted that these five elements allowed people to read their cities and navigate within them. His theories were tested in three North American cities as examples: Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles. Kevin Lynch’s early work in urban planning shows that understanding cities comes from being able to read the city through ‘wayfinding’ or navigating through it. The “legibility’ of the cityscape (2),” or image and memory is determined by the physical entities that delineate public space although don’t necessarily “connote something fixed, limited, precise, unified, or regularly ordered…nor does it mean apparent at a glance, obvious, patent, or plain (10).” Lynch focuses mostly on physical layouts of cities including the arrangement of the five elements such as nodes and vertices in order to make space fluid and conducive to movement and frequent use (94). According to Lynch the ability to understand how public space is intended for use promotes the frequency and volume of attendance through “meaning or expressiveness, sensuous delight, rhythm, stimulus, [and] choice (10).” The proper implementation of urban design techniques and tools such as legibility and imageability can promote use of public space through ease of navigation. Furthermore, once participants have a positive association with a physical space it is presumed that they will use it again (45). Kevin Lynch studied the physical elements of public space that are implemented to encourage use and importantly noted that “in actual design form should be used to reinforce meaning, and not to negate it (46),” further emphasizing the importance of the physical layout and features of space. Although he presents a valid analysis, Kevin Lynch does not completely consider that communities and societies must encourage human interaction in order to exist. He

focuses solely on physical layouts and navigation through cities. Something to consider is whether public space is designed in a way that is conducive to stimulus and choice (10) as a place for the individual to thrive and the collective to create an identity and not simply a place to move through.

Figure 8: Kevin Lynch's Paths, Edges, Districts, Nodes, Landmarks, 1960 (Credit: Kevin Lynch via Pemba City Blog) Jane Jacobs gained popularity during the 1950s and 1960s in New York City when she opposed the building of an expressway through her neighbourhood Greenwich Village. Following her initial success she became involved in lobbying against many renewal policies for her great city because she noted that these plans did not respect the needs of most city dwellers. Jane Jacobs often asked the question: are cities built for people or are they built for cars (The Biography Channel Website 2013)? Jane Jacobs’ theories were cultivated when her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities was published in 1961 when she fought for the abolition of zoning laws, restoration of free land markets and mixed-use neighbourhoods. In 1968, along with her family, Jane Jacobs relocated to Toronto in opposition to the USA’s involvement in the war in Vietnam. In Canada her influence continued to grow, her fan-base expanded, her publications increased and her activism resulted in two separate arrests. She protested the construction of the Spadina Expressway, had considerable influence on the regeneration of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood, advocated for Toronto’s separation from Ontario, served as an advisor to two mayoral candidates, and was recognized as an officer of the Order of Canada in 1996 for her seminal writings (The Biography Channel Website 2013). Furthermore Jane Jacobs has been deemed the “mother of Vancouverism” because the city has and continues to implement her ideas on high- density living (Wood 2012). Jane Jacobs describes vibrant public spaces as places

where people can walk and “easily interact with one another and benefit from social (Jacobs 2011, 144),” and engage in common life or the collective. According to the critical analysis formulated by Jane Jacobs, Holly Whyte and Kevin Lynch, the attractiveness of a public space is determined by the proper implementation of urban design techniques (Wood 2012). These methods incorporate the availability of a place to stop and sit. Another American urbanist, Holly Whyte, recommends that plazas or public spaces require rest stops – “to be precise, one linear foot of seating for each foot of plaza area (Wood 2012).” Urban form should be conducive to attracting groups and accommodate the “use of trees to provide shade in plazas, the preference for retail frontage facing the plaza, lighting and access, and provisions to sell food (Whyte 1980, 150).” Accessibility and mobility are two other important elements favourable to great public spaces. Public space should be accessible by public transit, to citizens with disabilities and be made for walking and fluidity of movement. Historically, walking has been the most common form of transportation and “as a fundamental human activity and method of interacting with the environment [walking] has attracted the attentions of poets, essayists, artists, philosophers and social theorists (Solnit 2002, 89).” Walking is not only an efficient mode of transportation but also a creative medium that can enable the formation of an individual experience in space such as parkour or experimental travel experiences. Overall these urban design tools, methods and techniques encourage the design of spaces that are attractive to users. Urban specialists tend to focus on the physical layout of space to create attractive destinations within the urban realm. The influential work of the discussed theorists has laid the foundation for urban design thought and practice. Their findings have been implemented in many North American cities to attract city dwellers to public spaces and to emphasize the importance of a vibrant urban realm, especially in cities experiencing large suburbanization.

North America is littered with examples of public spaces, linear parkways, urban boulevards, and esplanades (Bosselmann 2008, 138), and according to Berkeley

professor Peter Bosselman, the great ones are “well defined by buildings and contain pavilions, or smaller structures detailed to dimensions that make the crossing of pedestrians easier and invite people to congregate (139).” Some of the most exceptional Canadian examples to incorporate these design techniques include Vancouver’s Stanley Park and Granville Island, Kensington Market in Toronto, and The Forks in Winnipeg.

Figure 9: Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada, 2012 (Credit: Stanley Park, Vancouver via russavia via Creative Commons)

Figure 10: Granville Island, Vancouver, Canada, 2005 (Credit: Gene.arboit via Creative Commons)

Stanley Park spans over 1,000 acres and encourages a variety of outdoor activities including running, biking, and hiking, as well as provides a space for group gatherings with picnic areas, outdoor pool, playgrounds, an aquarium and zoo (Raphael 2009). Importantly, it is easily accessible for pedestrians as well as private and public transportation and is located close to Vancouver’s downtown core. Stanley Park’s seawall circles the perimeter of the largest urban park in North America (Lahey 2011, 40), stretching over 22km ending at Kitsilano Beach Park after swooping past Granville Island (40). Granville Island is also located in Vancouver but differentiates itself drastically from Stanley Park. It’s core history and building structures are left over from the island’s industrial roots and there is little that is natural about it (Project for Public Spaces 2013). It is largely used as the location of a farmer’s market for local and international products. In 1972 Granville Island underwent a large redevelopment and was converted into “a pedestrian-focused area that would integrate a variety of year- round cultural, recreational, educational, commercial, and industrial uses (Villagomez 2011, 41).” Granville Island satisfies the necessity of food vendors and places to sit however its most distinctive part is the “unique experience of walking around. Throughout its labyrinth fabric, pedestrians, cars, and service vehicles share the streets (41).” Its unique design and careful planning has made Granville Island a must-see tourist destination as well as a space that is regularly visited by locals.

Toronto’s unique Kensington Market is very different from the spaces discussed in Vancouver. Kensington Market is a neighbourhood although it could be categorized as a city within a city. Its location is central, is easily accessible and thrives on the local businesses that have set up roots in this downtown oasis (Keenan 2011, 42). Its mixed- use zones and combination of mom-and-pop shops, one-of-a-kind cafes, and unique retailers has created a community like none other in the heart of Toronto (Winkler 2013). Even though the streets allow car access, a pedestrian lifestyle dominates the concrete paths inviting festivals and retail overflow into its vibrant streets. The narrow streets of Kensington Market are lined with “fish markets and fruit stands that spill onto the

sidewalk beside vintage clothing stores and cafes inhabiting old Victorian houses (Keenan 2011, 42).” The most interesting fact about Toronto’s Kensington Market is its spontaneous success. There was never a motive or plan to make this a successful and vibrant area. It was the lack of official planning that allowed for cultures to mix creating a public space that is completely unlike any other (42).

Figure 11: Kensington Market, Toronto, Canada, 2012 (Credit: Gadjo Sevilla via Flickr) The Forks in Winnipeg has a very long history spanning over 6000 years (The Forks 2013) to a time when Aboriginal bison hunters flourished in the area. When European traders came to Canada, one of the first trading posts was set up in this area (The Forks 2013), and a mere few decades later it was one of the key sites for the early development of the Canadian National Railway (The Forks 2013). Most of the buildings that still remain in The Forks are from this era of development. Today The Forks is a recently redeveloped public gathering space where groups come together for recreation and celebrations. It houses parks, historical buildings and ports, a skateboard park, and is Winnipeg’s number one tourist attraction (The Forks 2013). Unlike Toronto’s Kensington Market, The Forks underwent heavy planning to ensure the historical

importance and integrity of the space was maintained. Furthermore it is also a public space that encourages walkability, legibility, rest and play.

Figure 12: The Forks, Winnipeg, Canada, 2008 (Credit: WpgGuy via Creative Commons)

The Jane Jacobs’, Holly Whyte’s and Kevin Lynch’s of the world will continue their work in urban design to ensure that public spaces are conducive to use by large-scale audiences. The duty of urban designers should be to ensure that the collective understands public space, is able to move through it and to be able to interact with one another. The role of urban design in contemporary societies and spaces is to ensure that the collective has a place to gather. These spaces need to be accessible and provide a place to rest, eat, sit, walk and interact. One final time to quote Kevin Lynch, these spaces must promote “meaning or expressiveness, sensuous delight, rhythm, stimulus [and] choice (Lynch 1960, 10)” and therefore ultimately become great destinations in the city. Based on the numerous examples of positive public spaces throughout Canada it seems that urban design methods and tools are being incorporated in a successful manner. However the discussion must progress past

implementing strict guidelines for good design to a conversation about what is the real goal and purpose of the urban realm. Perhaps city dwellers must reconsider the city and public spaces as more than just simply places to go to sit. Public space should be a representation of the experience of the city, an experience that is greater than just the sum of its physical parts. Public space seems to be understood as a final destination, a place we dedicate time to go and see as opposed to a place we happen to stumble upon. Getting there can be understood as a means to an end. It is important to begin to question whether the process of reaching a place is as much an experience in public space as physically being in a designated, and designed, public space. If our experience of the city is simply a collection of destinations we are, perhaps not intentionally, defining our cities by roads, barriers and boundaries. If the journey from point A to point B is also considered an important facet of the urban realm, our experience of public space can become prone to happenstance and spontaneity. This does not mean that spontaneous interactions do not and can not occur in destinations. It merely emphasizes the importance of wandering in case something happens throughout the journey. Patrick Geddes, a philanthropist, biologist, sociologist, geographer and town planner states that “a city is more than a place in space…it is a drama in time (Timmins 2010),” an expression, a journey, an extreme shift in the way we experience the urban realm.

CHAPTER TWO: A Radical Approach to Urbanism The Situationist International If a city is a drama (Timmins 2010), then the Situationist International are its protagonists. The Situationist International, in a single sentence, presented itself as a group of avant-garde writers, activists, film directors, painters, and who, overall, considered themselves as a higher breed of urban dwellers. Throughout their existence they offered an extremely negative criticism of the city with solutions to the listed problems. Their main goal aligned well with French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s “famous injunction, ‘Il faut changer la vie. – We must change life (McDonough 2009, 1).’” In its core ambition (and given a more contemporary understanding) the Situationist International sought to transform daily experiences in the urban realm through meticulously setting up situations to evoke judgement regarding modern living, life in contemporary cities and capitalism. Members of the Situationist International explained modern capitalist society as a series of spectacles, “a frozen moment of history in which it is impossible to experience real life or actively participate in the construction of the lived world (Plant 1992, 1).” The group believed that a capitalist mentality had permeated all aspects of life – social, knowledge, cultural, production and consumption. Furthermore this new modern world alienated individuals from their personal experiences, creative thoughts and outlets, desires and even emotions (8). Spectacles seemed to have infiltrated each individual’s own life (8) and the “ability to control one’s own life is lost in the midst of all-pervasive capitalist relations, the demand to do so continues to assert itself, and the Situationists were convinced that this demand is encouraged by the increasingly obvious discrepancy between the possibilities awoken by capitalist development and the poverty of their actual use (8).” Thus, the Situationist International became a revolutionary organization with a central mandate to disseminate propaganda and to escape from “life in capitalist society [that] was still made miserable by the extension of alienated social relations from the workplace to every area of lived experience (2).” Along with their fond adoration of modern Marxist thought, members of the Situationist International fought to suppress philosophy, provide an awareness of

art, abolish politics, and reject the “spectacle-commodity economy (McDonnough 2002, 10).”

Figure 13: Cover Art for Debord's Society of the Spectacle, 1952 (Credit: Guy Debord via Jason Slade via SavingIceland) They criticized culture and everyday living thinking it to be mundane and having lost its purpose. A synthesis of their work combines to create a critique of modern city life through a meticulous theoretical framework for the appropriation of advanced

capitalism. Advanced capitalism provided new technologies and increased leisure time however it also produced materialistic fetishism that spread across all aspects of life and simply disgusted members of the Situationist International. During this period of time the quantity of objects or material possessions owned by any individual began to thwart individual experience and expression. For example moving from one place to the next via automobile reduced the possibility of chance encounter and experience and this realization forged the path for a commodity society, or the society of the spectacle. The Society of the Spectacle, one of the most influential works created by Guy Debord, co- founder of the Situationist International, criticizes society’s ability to define their lives by objects that can be bought and sold. However, au contraire, society and culture should be defined by the things experienced in the urban realm throughout various periods of time and amongst like-minded individuals (Debord 1995, 14). The Situationist International group called this the liberation of what had unfortunately become city and everyday life.

A Brief History of Thought and Action The Situationist International arose from a variety of groups that collaborated throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s predominantly in France. Guy Debord, founder of the Internationale Lettriste in 1952 (Ford 2005, 3) began to develop ideas and lay the groundwork for what would eventually become the dominant mandates of the Situationist International (SI). The Internationale Lettriste was a group of theorists and radical artists whose beginnings were inspired by Isidore Isou’s literature and art movement entitled Lettrism (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). Isidore Isou was a Romanian born visual artist, poet and film critic who took inspiration from early Dadaist and Surrealist movements (Cooper 2012). Lettrism was a movement focused on alphanumerics and hypergraphics, or letters and numbers. Indeed Isou self-proclaimed it as the “only contemporary movement of the artistic avant-garde (Museo Nacional Centro De Arte 2013).” The chronological history of Lettrism begins with Isidore Isou, who, at the age of 16 founded the group as its sole member. Isidore’s ideas for this

movement arose from his traumatic World War II experiences and were based on a need to change poetry, art and music from old standard forms that were no longer seen as relevant (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). Isidore Isou believed that all art forms had become ordinary and no longer successful in conveying messages of culture and controversy. The deconstructive phase of current art forms in his early work came to be known as the amplic and chiseling phases (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). The next revolutionary portion of Lettrism really defined what the group eventually became known for. Lettrie was a format for poetry construction for the future. Isou worked to create a formal style of poetry void of semantic content. It was the evolution of poetry into a more visual art form that became the most innovative and influential of the Lettrism movement (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). Metagraphics or hypergraphics synthesized writing with various forms of visual art and spurred other movements in spin-off groups such as the Internationale Lettriste and later the Situationist International. The growing group under Isidore’s mentorship embraced another medium that was becoming increasingly popular at the time: film. Lettrist publications quote it’s members stating that cinema has gotten too rich, almost obese, and that it needed to be stripped down to its more bare components (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). This new project was completed in two major steps; the first was known as carving the image, a process where artists put physical marks or carvings on the film (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). The second was known as discrepant cinema and suggested the separation of visual film from sound to produce two completely different experiences (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). Following such experimentation with film, members of the Lettrist movement moved on to Supertemporal Art, a form that invited and enabled audience participation (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). This was often done in a way as simple as leaving blank pages in books so participants could add their own stories or interpretations. Infinitesimal Art, the final phase of Isou’s influence signified a conceptual tone on the artistic work of the Lettrism movement. The group began creating pieces that made no sense in the physical world and therefore could not actually exist (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). Although the evolution of the Lettrism

movement was a broad and fast-paced one, the group’s final projects delved into prominent activism, encouraging youth uprisings and crashing displays of mainstream culture. Isidore Isou and later members of Lettrism believed that creativity was an integral part of human nature. Creativity was a part of the psyche that required guidance and careful direction or otherwise it “could be diverted into crime and anti- social behaviour (Museo Nacional Centro De Arte 2013).” A large portion of the Lettrist movement involved a protest against the way art and culture currently existed so they sought to “reconstruct every aspect of society in such a way as to enable these externs to channel their creativity in more positive ways (Museo Nacional Centro De Arte 2013).”

1951 marked the beginning of collaboration between Isou Isidore and Guy Debord when they met at the Cannes film festival (Situationist International Online 2013). Guy Debord became extremely fond of Lettrism and teamed up with Isidore. However this partnership did not last for very long. In 1952 Debord separated from Lettrism and formed the Internationale Lettriste after conflicting ideologies were exposed at a Charlie Chaplin convention (Situationist International Online 2013). The Internationale Lettriste movement attracted novelists, painters, filmmakers, bohemians, alcoholics, under age girls, and self-proclaimed failures (Situationist International Online 2013) who rejected spiritualism and focused their efforts on intellectualism, protest and hedonism (Situationist International Online 2013). Although they continued the work commenced by Isou they mostly focused on the Lettrist technique of metagraphics that eventually developed into détournement: a method of borrowing existing artistic materials to repurpose them in new and expressive ways (Debord and Wolman, A User's Guide to Detournement 1956). Détournement eventually became a staple in the works of the Internationale Lettriste. In 1957 the Internationale Lettriste merged with the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus and the London Psychogeographic Association to create the Situationist International. The International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus was a short-lived phenomenon that sought to find where artists fit

into the modern world (Situationist International Online 2013). In an interview with the group’s founder, Asger Jorn states that “the Bauhaus was an answer to the question: What ‘education’ do artists need in order to take their place in the machine age (Situationist International Online 2013)?” The movement was originally founded in 1953 in Switzerland in a united attempt to form an “organization capable of promoting an integral revolutionary cultural attitude (Situationist International Online 2013).”

Figure 14: Isidore Isou, Self-Portrait, Metagraphics,1952 (Credit: Isidore Isou via Romanian Cultural Foundation) In 1955 an experimental laboratory was created to demonstrate how artists must be subjected to their own non-utilitarian ends. The conclusive results of these laboratory experiments showed that new age artists must abandon “all efforts at pedagogical action and move toward experimental activity (Situationist International Online 2013).” In

1956 at the First Congress of Free Artists in Alba, Italy, the International Movement for Imaginist Bauhaus and the Internationale Lettriste bonded over the adoption of unitary urbanism and psychogeography. At this time the London Psychogeographic Association had barely made any major contributions to the Situationist International other than the insertion of the term psychogeography, a modernized interpretation of flâneur (Shaya 2004, 53). The action of flâneur dates back to 19th century France and describes strolling along the streets in the accompaniment of friends (Shaya 2004). It was emblematic in French street paintings and became popular through the poetry of Charles Boudelaire who fetishized the urban dweller and street loiterer (Shaya 2004).

Figure 15: Paris Streets in Rainy Weather by Gustave Caillebotte, 1877 (Credit: Gustave Caillebotte via Creative Commons via Google Art Project)

The most influential impact of the Situationist International group was the initiation of thought on dérive and détournement. Dérive is the act of mindlessly drifting through

space without a purpose, destination or for a designated amount of time. Détourement refers to a specific technique of reusing plagiarized material for a new purpose often seen in art, movies, novels, and posters (Le Site Officiel Du Lettrisme 2013). Once the Lettriste International disbanded in 1957 Debord, took on the task of spearheading the newly fashioned Situationist International. The SI became very selective in their membership and often individuals who were too artistically inclined or late in submitting articles for their journal L’Internationale Situationniste were immediately and without warning disbanded (Ford 2005, 5). It comes as no surprise that the SI never held a large membership. At any time there were no more than 10-20 members and the combined SI member count was 63 (5) throughout its entire existence. Revolution and a fight against the mundane was the integral theme of the SI and the group’s insight and dialogue were progressive. The majority of published work portrays a criticism of everyday life, mainstream art, culture, films and urban structure. However any inkling of a resolution provided by the SI was littered with accusations and finger pointing regarding consumerism and the commodity spectacle economy. In Society of the Spectacle, a highly plagiarized and purposefully dry book (and subsequent film), Debord writes that “we are defined by our status as observers and as such the spectacle “is the opposite of dialogue (102),” “precluding genuine communication, its only guarantee, the manufacture of alienation (102).” Members of the SI despised consumerism and with it corporate power and capitalism, most facets of government, and the blandification of urban environments as well as art and film that did not provide an analytical perspective of what they sought to reject. The group was mostly waging a war against consumerism but had some conflicting ideologies regarding their relationship with art, swaying when probed about feminist issues, and their hatred of hierarchical organization structures while maintaining one within their own group (45).

Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle was published in 1967 and remains one of the most influential texts produced by the Situationist International. It is divided into ten chapters and two hundred and twenty one paragraphs, each of which presents an

argument against commodity culture and the spectacle in which society had become engulfed. The main premise of the publishing is to portray the negative aspects of production, the industrial revolution and post-WW II society as its main ideology (Debord 1995, 29). Debord writes that production is the spectacle, that reality therefore becomes contemplation, consumers are non-living (they don’t experience life), the spectacle is the heart of the unrealism of real society, that present day society is an abstraction and that commodities are the total occupation of social life (29). The entire publication has a similar tone and in a very literal translation The Society of the Spectacle really does define consumerism in a creative, yet jargon-filled manner. Debord argues that social life has severely diminished and all society has experienced “the decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing (16).” Furthermore Debord defines spectacle as being controlled by mass media that fuels consumption and this is where society takes on a superficial manifestation of observers who do not act (19). By simply acting as observers and not participants, the quality of life is diminished to notions that are unauthentic, void of human perceptions, a complete degradation of knowledge or thirst for it and an obstruction of critical thinking (20). In summary Debord’s theories on the spectacle society are really about the absence of stimulus from our environments and rather a cultivation of products and items that dull our senses and experiences. The realization that all people are a part of a mutilated society emphasizes the foundations and fundamental components of Debord’s dedication to the Situationist International.

The May uprising of 1968 signified a true turning point for the Situationist International group; it marked their first significant political revolt. The events leading up to the May 1968 uprising in Paris commenced in December of 1966 when the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France, to this day the largest student union in France, aligned itself with the ideologies of the Situationist International group (libcom.org 2013). The foundation of their discontent was the belief that political bureaucracy held control of university funding which led to class discrimination in French society. The Union Nationale des Étudiants de France managed to use public funds to publish an information booklet

titled On the Poverty of Student Life that was distributed along with Debord’s Society of the Spectacle (libcom.org 2013). Slogans from both publications were eventually used as revolutionary quotes written on the walls of Paris. Charles de Gaulle, the President of France at the time stated, “This explosion was provoked by groups in revolt against modern consumer and technical society, whether it be the communism of the East or the capitalism of the West (Situationist International Online 2013).” On May 6th 1968 twenty thousand students and teachers marched toward the prestigious Sorbonne where they proceeded to occupy the university. When police tried to gain control of the school grounds a riot broke out and dozens of protesters were beaten and arrested. Soon the entire country joined the ranks of the student revolution (libcom.org 2013). Within a few short days over ten million workers called a general strike and members of the Situationist International were at the forefront of further aggravating the masses. The Situationist International formed the Occupation Committee of the Sorbonne and made calls to factory workers to promote unity and formed the workers council (libcom.org 2013). In the few days following the march towards the Sorbonne false reports were released stating that the riots were over and that police had fled university grounds. The misleading news completely angered protestors and sparked the beginnings of the real fight against French bureaucracy. On May 13th over one million civilians marched on Paris with a mandate for the release of all prisoners taken throughout the riots and the re-opening of the Sorbonne that was now deemed the People’s University (libcom.org 2013). On May 29th French President Charles de Gaulle fled Paris in fear of his life only to return the following day to call an election in order to make peace in his country (libcom.org 2013). The threat of a revolution was over and the June 23rd elections marked the greatest victory in French parliamentary history. It was not shocking that President Charles de Gaulle was re-elected with 353 out of 486 seats in parliament against the communist and socialist leaders.

Figure 16: Street Poster Favouring May 1968 Uprisings, Paris, France, 1968 (Credit: National Library of France via Creative Commons)

Following this near revolution, a new group of former Situationist International members emerged who were self-titled as the Nashist Second International after its founder Jorgen Nash (Plant 1992, 84). The Nashists distanced themselves from the increasingly political direction of the Situationist International, and focused more on qualities of Situationist art (54). By 1972 only two members of the Situationist International remained and the group disbanded shortly after. The unusual techniques and thoughts of the Situationist International, and the groups who came before them, were not and are not irrelevant. The student uprisings in Paris in the mid to late 60s, carefully manipulated by slogans and texts of the SI, did not produce null results. Revolution, according to the group, was “not showing life to people, but making them live (Ford 43

2005, 24).” So at its core, the Situationist International fought to create awareness, to question the things that are happening around us, to aimlessly wander until something of importance became apparent, and the ability to avoid slipping into a mediocre existence. Although the group officially disbanded in 1972 the importance of their often swaying tendencies retain a layer of significance to contemporary society; they can even be found within the work of the Sex Pistols (34).

The Situationist City An absence of genuine experience in the spaces we occupy became a significant point of interest to the Situationist International group. The group sought to transform daily experiences and had to re-assess how cities were designed and used. The initial critique of modern life and the objects that defined it forced the SI to truly question the things that surround us in our urban environment. The Situationist City was a term used to refer to both the analysis of the current condition of spaces in cities and in attempts to re-design the city. The Situationist City can be divided into three distinct parts: The Naked City, Formulary for a New Urbanism, and A New Babylon. Members of the Situationist International “believed that the priority of reconstruction was the viability of government rather than the improvement of living conditions (Sadler 1998, 54),” and was not conducive to eliminating a spectacle society but rather used to impoverish daily experiences. The group believed that most forms of government-funded projects, “the present means of long distance mass-communication, [and] sprawling isolation has proved…an effective method of keeping society under control (54).” With this realization members of the Situationist International commenced their attempts at promoting a new type of city, one that was mapped through experience and not through existing roadways – a guarantee to suppress the society of the spectacle. Urban sprawl and suburbanization had created excess space only to provoke the progression of capitalist “circulation of things and of human beings trapped in a world of things (54).” And so one of the major criticisms of modern urban planning was that strict zoning eliminated mixed-use space (24) and created the silo-ed society that is prevalent in North

American cities today.

This was the birthplace of Debord’s notion of Unitary Urbanism in a larger theory known as The Naked City. Unitary Urbanism “acknowledges no boundaries; it aims to form a unitary human milieu in which separations such as work/leisure or public/private will finally be dissolved (25).” Debord’s ideas in The Naked City removed travel to work or if this was not possible, made travel a pleasurable activity instead of a nuisance. One of Debord’s colleagues, Dutch painter and architect Constant Nieuwenhuys, even advocated for “the development of machines for joyriding (25)” as a solution to the posed problem. During the period of post-war planning parking was a major issue and Debord was often heard stating that the “parking lot dictates urban planning (25).” This issue remains an imperative one, especially in large urban centers today. The Naked City eliminated the seemingly inevitable creation of traffic, personal vehicles, and separated zones. Since the city had become an epicenter for motor vehicles and traffic, Situationist International thinkers felt there was a need for a humanization of the heart of the city – a modern space available for walking and resting that was not just used as a method of travel from one place to the next. Given the criticisms of modern North American cities, Debord’s argument for unitary urbanism, and the demand for elimination of boundaries, sparked the popularity of dérive, or wandering and psychogeographic mapping. The Naked City, in its most popular versions is a series of maps showing reworked images of Paris neighbourhoods. The maps are not geographically or spatially accurate but depict how one should move from one space to the next based on emotions and the particular ambiances experienced in that specific moment. The most popular rendition of these psychogeographic maps is titled, Illustration de L’hypothese des Plaques Tournantes en Psychogeographique – Illustrations of the Hypothesis of Psychogeographical Hubs. In the Naked City, Debord questions the motives behind current urban planning methods and city development techniques. It was an attempt at creating spaces that had no inherent meaning or purpose but allowed for a natural evolution of use dependent on the day, time, and user,

“Where ‘play’ can still spontaneously happen (69).” The Situationist International wanted to create spaces that would be “ephemeral, without a future. Passageways (Debord 1957).”

Figure 17: Illustrations of Psychogeographic Hubs, The Naked City, Guy Debord,1957 (Credit: Guy Debord via CityLights via Andrew Burridge) One of the more popular manifestos published by the Situationist International, Formulary for a New Urbanism written by Ivan Chtcheglov, states that the architecture of the SI would “one day revolutionize everyday life and release the ordinary citizen into a world of experiment, anarchy, and play (Sadler 1998, 69).” The Naked City really focused on a critique of the then current condition of space, planning and physical locations and subsequently, Formulary for a New Urbanism sought to apply Situationist ideologies to the creation of better cities. This manifesto signified the true birth and importance of psychogeography: “playful, cheap, and populist, an artistic activity carried out in the everyday space of the street... (69).” Formulary for a New Urbanism was

really criticizing the boredom of space, nothing new and exciting was happening. Chtcheglov, in the opening paragraph of this work, published in the first edition of the Internationale Situationniste #1, wrote that, “We are bored in the city, we really have to strain to still discover mysteries on the sidewalk billboards, the latest sense of humor and poetry… (Chtcheglov 1953).” He commented that the newest style of architecture and its head master Le Corbusier, had a style better suited for hospitals and prisons as opposed to a thriving urban environment (Chtcheglov 1953). There seemed to be an elimination of imagination and any sense of awe in urban dwellings. Ivan Chtcheglov cleverly stated that, “architecture is the simplest means of articulating time and space, of modulating reality and engendering dreams…the architecture of tomorrow will be a means of modifying present conceptions of time and space. It will be both a means of knowledge and a means of action (Chtcheglov 1953).” His goals were to be accomplished by such means as psychogeographic wandering and dérive implemented into the built environment. Similar to Debord’s illustrations of psychogeographic hubs, Chtcheglov wanted to create spaces within physical structures that were “more conducive to dreams than any drug, and houses where one cannot help but love…[and] others will be irresistibly alluring to travelers (Chtcheglov 1953).” Furthermore working off Debord’s ideas Chtchelgov emphasized that this new urbanism would produce districts with spectrums of feelings. A Bizarre Quarter would exist, as well as a Happy Quarter and a Sinister Quarter. The Sinister Quarter would, for example, house such institutions as prisons and each quarter would represent chance encounters that occur in everyday life (Chtcheglov 1953). The creation of such districts, through the implementation of Situationist International tactics and therefore through the inhabitants ‘Continuously Drifting,’ was expected to produce a ‘magical group spirit (Chtcheglov 1953).’ Chtchelgov concluded his publication by explaining that the initial experimental city would survive due to controlled tourism similar to that of Las Vegas. The future of these cities and the activities that occurred within would succeed due to the influx of the avant-gardes that would naturally gravitate there. The overall assumption and consequence of implementing these types of situations would create a place that could

be “the intellectual capital of the world and would be universally recognized as such (Chtcheglov 1953).”

The Situationist International movement sought to evolve societal experiences into a new form without boundaries, traffic, zoning, or any restrictions and replace them with enlightened experiences and ambient passages. In light of this ambitious goal, the group set out to physically redesign the city and produced A New Babylon. Their new city would be “ephemeral…a combination of sublime moments when a combination of environment and people produces a transcendent and revolutionary consciousness (Sadler 1998, 105).” They felt that each constructed situation within the city would produce a décor or ambiance to stimulate behaviours or reactions to the current status of society while providing a model of human interaction in space that ultimately would eliminate the society of the spectacle (105). Although the group fought against the norm and commonality of society, other than psychogeographic and constructed situation attempts, their design efforts can be generalized as a modern beautification project. Debord’s memoires describe the project as “realist urbanism – replace the stairways in Piranesi with lifts – transform the tombs and buildings – align sewers with the planting of trees – [and] recast dustbins in ivory… (108)” Aside from Debord’s beautification attempts most of the SI’s vision really just portrayed aimless, almost zombie-like wandering until something of substance emerged – they wanted the city to be enriched with random citizen experiences, happenstance and spontaneous occurrences. The value of these ideas merged into A New Babylon and would eventually be known as an experiment in architectural situations. Constant, Chtcheglov, and Debord expected this undertaking to be “a collective, social project, and that this work should be understood as nothing more than a projected framework for the construction of situations and the décor for a life of leisure (122).” A New Babylon meant to address problems of play, flexibility, and nomadism (123) where all activities were “relieved of all utility as well as function, [and] are pure products of the creative imagination (Nieuwenhuys 1974).” The spaces created by Constant were to encourage a nomadic way of life and a space that

was conducive to creation and re-creation at free will (Nieuwenhuys 1974). Visual representations of A New Babylon showed a “network of huge links part of which are raised above ground (Nieuwenhuys 1974)” and other levels were intended for traffic as well as terraces for air travel (Nieuwenhuys 1974). Although detailed paintings and sketches often accompanied Constant’s descriptions he stated that “any three- dimensional representation would in itself, only have the value of a snapshot (Nieuwenhuys 1974)” due to the mega-structure’s constantly changing nature, again similarly to that of the psychogeographic hubs. A New Babylon laid out the foundations for a post-revolutionary society that consisted of “a series of linked transformable structures, some of which were themselves the size of a small city (megastructures) (Nieuwenhuys 1974)” and would be populated by homo ludens – men at play. The main goals were self-fulfillment and self-satisfaction in a constantly changing environment. The project eventually became too restricted to models and drawings therefore the Situationist International group decided that it was “not primarily a town planning project. Equally, it [was] not intended as a work of art in the traditional sense nor as an example of architectonic structure…but as a creative game with an imaginary environment (Sadler 1998, 123).” Constant and his Babylon were excused as an experiment in constructing situations that was meant to “inspire rather than prescribe (123).” Although Constant continued to work on A New Babylon he described it as “propaganda that critiques conventional social structures (Nieuwenhuys 1974)” that was intended as polemical provocation (Nieuwenhuys 1974).

Figure 18: Abstract Visualization of New Babylon Nord, Constant Nieuwenhuys, 1971 (Credit: Contant Nieuwenhuys via artnet)

The downfall of architectural situations lay in its restrictive nature. Constant designed buildings where free-flow was limited by walls, corridors and hallways and free movement was regulated, similarly to the elevated and underground systems prevalent in North American cities today. The initial inspiration for architectural situations was to “undertake an organized collective work aimed at a unitary use of all the means of revolutionizing everyday life (Debord 1957),” and to “make practical use of the everyday processes and cultural forms that now exist (Debord 1957).” The exact details and drawings of the physical structures presented in A New Babylon never became a staple in the Situationist International repertoire. However, A New Babylon along with Unitary Urbanism, dérive, psychogeography, and a Formulary for a New Urbanism combine to deduce conclusions about what the city would be relative to the human experience. Members of the Situationist International throughout the group’s existence argued against “a capitalist world which seems immune to transformation (Plant 1992, 7).” In a

more literal application of their theories to urban design, the SI favoured mixed-use land designations instead of strict zoning, spaces conducive to aimless wandering, and an urban realm that promoted experience and human interaction instead of a highly moderated capitalistic existence. Furthermore, “Situationist theory, the unified study of spectacular society, was therefore to be the last discipline too, the last great project, the final push towards the transformation of everyday life from a realm of bland consumption to free creation (4).”

Constructing Situations One of the biggest travesties acknowledged by the SI was the diminishing character of human interaction in public space and the urban realm. Members of the SI feared that modern life was ruled by consumption and commodity to such an extent that it infiltrated into urbanism, media, and working life, and created a clear distinction between work and play as opposed to connecting the two (Antony and Henry 2005, 21). They believed in using the city for individual needs, to intertwine all aspects of daily life. The SI suggested interventions in “aesthical performance in urban spaces taking up the playful- constructive behaviour as a tool to criticize middle-class bourgeoisie society (Escobar 2009, 140).” This, combined with dérive, became the foundation for contemporary applications of psychogeography. The SI sought revolutionary transformation, fought for freedom from capitalist mentalities and society, and fought for an open forum to discuss politics and the comprehensions of modern day living. In recent contemporary examples psychogeography can be seen in public performance art and makes direct statements about the spaces and places where we live and play, a “protest against the blandification of the organic urban landscape by transitional corporations (Debord 1995, 23).” Currently, psychogeography exists to celebrate space, to transform it, to collaborate with and within it, to reclaim space, and to regain an understanding of what makes city living vibrant. It is a method used to create communities that are bettered when the urban realm is maximally utilized and where each citizen has the opportunity to use space for both singular and group needs – the individual and the collective.

Constant’s architectural situations were rejected by remaining members of the Situationist International that led to his resignation in 1960. The Situationist International noted three major flaws in his work. The first, that the scale of his designs was too enormous to be plausible. Secondly, the size of his project would require significant investment to facilitate a financial gain from its development. This sort of technocratic ideology was something members of the Situationist International refused to dabble in. Lastly, due to the constraints set out by Constant, the project wouldn’t provide the fluidity that the Situationist International required – it was not conducive to “authentic living and the realization of art and culture (Barnard 2004, 111).” Following the dismissal of Constant’s grand projects the Situationist International focused its efforts on more plausible projects. This signified the birth of situations. Situations, as written by Debord are “ambiances that influence behaviours and our understanding of break from everyday life (Debord 1957).” He further dissects situations as something where “we have to multiply poetic subjects and objects which are now unfortunately so rare that the slightest ones take on an exaggerated emotional importance – and we have to organize games for these poetic subjects to play with these poetic objects. This is our entire program which is essentially transitory…our only concern is real life; we care nothing about the permanence of art or of anything else (Debord 1957).” The construction of situations is extremely important in the time of capitalism and consumer greed hence the push from the SI group to create at least a moment in which we can experience real life. Adam Barnard, a Situationist International enthusiast, understands that “the possibility of artistic expression, experimentation and a fully lived human life, rich in experience, communication and participation, is blocked by the spectacle (111).” The goal of the creation of situations therefore would become a “collective takeover of the world (Situationist International 1958).”

The construction of situations became the raison d’être for the Situationist International group. Although its founding groups and members experienced conflicting ideologies,

situations became the most important basis for their existence. In an article published by Debord entitled On Constructing Situations, Debord finally makes a coherent argument for the existence of the group: “Our central idea is the construction of situations, that is to say, the concrete construction of momentary ambiances of life and their transformation into a superior passional quality. We must develop a systematic intervention based on the complex factors of two components in perpetual interaction: the material environment of life and the behaviours which it gives rise to and which radically transform it (Situationist International 1958).” The formula for creating a situation included three key players. The first is the instigator, the person who perpetuates the concept and idea. The second is the group that knowingly participates in the situation and the third the passive actors who encounter the situation (Situationist International 1958). In this sense the “situation is designed to be lived by its constructors (Situationist International 1958),” and then becomes “concrete interventions in urbanism (Situationist International 1958).” The creation of situations must abide to the rules of small-scale micro-experiments and most importantly must stifle the spectacle society by encouraging participants to act on them (Barnard 2004, 113). It is rather peculiar that the Situationists never actually participated in any of the interventions, as “the construction of situations could only be a process of revolutionary upheaval on the scale of a society as a whole (Edwards 1996).” The purpose, then, of the Situationist International group was to prepare society for these manifestations, “to identify and clarify the contradictions and blockades of spectacular society and the forces capable of projecting or initiating a Situationist revolution (Edwards 1996).”

The practice of dérive “loosely defined as a technique of ‘rapid passage through various ambiences (Antony and Henry 2005, 21)’” was one of the methods used in the construction of situations. The strict examination of dérive could expose how narrow- minded many city dwellers had become. This was especially true with the rise of new transportation methods, an increased speed of life and a commodity culture. The SI criticized the lack of fluidity, movement, and spontaneity in the city, similarly to urban

designers and theorists in the same decades. Walking, as a practice, spawned from the Dadaist and Surrealist movements of the 20th century and was a process of “experimentation and constructive new behaviours with a conscious and political analysis of urban environments (Escobar 2009, 140).” Art was not usually the main focus of dérive or the SI but became a common side effect when creating situations. In essence, the ability to enable movement and fluidity in public spaces had become a process important to all facets of urban life and exploration (Burridge 2003). The second important tool left behind by the Situationist International is psychogeography: “the study of the exact laws and specific effects of geographical environments, whether consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals… (Debord, Report on the Construction of Situations 1957) (Debord, Report on the Construction of Situations 1957).” A more contemporary explanation defines psychogeography as “a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities…just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape (Hart 2004).” At its core, the purpose of dérive and psychogeography is “to energize passive spectators into action (Barnard 2004, 113),” and to eliminate the boredom of space. The contemporary impacts of the Situationist International movement can be seen at many different levels that will be exemplified in the next chapter. Their passion for new experiences, political upheaval, art, and the redefinition of our existence within urban centers can be seen throughout contemporary culture today. Dérive and psychogeography remain absolutely central to all aspects of Situationist International thought and practice especially in our rapidly changing environments. The work of the Situationist International is imperative to the individual and the collective, the vitality of exploration and the elimination of the mundane in what has become everyday life. Society’s values have become reduced to glorification of the things we own instead of the things we experience. The Situationist International was a group of irksome instigators who sought to create spaces where citizens could rediscover the value of experience in the urban realm. Busy lifestyles, strict schedules and material possessions deteriorate our want to wander, dérive or explore.

Psychogeography is thus a “poetic rather than an analytical response to the environment (Sadler 1998, 160),” and a tool to encourage the construction of situations as an ongoing effort through performance and art.

CHAPTER THREE: Art and Public Space Public Art Public space arguably is an essential part of human existence and absolutely necessary to the success of cities and metropolitan areas. Hannah Arendt argues that humans require a space where others can acknowledge their success or even existence (Arendt 1958, 22), and the Situationist International wanted to create cities for experience. Although art was never the primary intention of the Situationist International group it tended to be a welcome side effect. Incorporating art in public spaces “ensures that [our] progress through the space is slowed down (Green 2012).” Art in public space can function as a method of rebuilding communities and creating dialogue and interaction. Furthermore art in public space can “promote urban recovery, attract investment or cultural tourism, add to the value of land, increase the use of open spaces, and humanize the environment (Deng 2012).” Public art is often purchased through public funds such as taxes and commissioned by a curator as a piece that will fit into the urban landscape; one that suggests the needs and wants of a society or community. Although the last few years have seen increased public participation (Deng 2012) in community development, public art is still governed in a similar way to galleries – usually not informed by what the public wants or needs, typically set up along with a plaque describing what the piece is about. As members of the urban realm we are therefore asked to consider, what is public about public art? In recent years, the appropriation of performance and street art as well as tactical urbanism has resulted in an increased amount of community involvement. This is a monumental step in the direction that the Situationist International group was working towards through the construction of situations. There is a humanization of public design and art is beginning to occupy spaces that were not traditionally designed to house exhibitions. We are starting to see a shift towards art in unconventional spaces, in unconventional manners and often variably temporary. Further examples of this are outlined later in this chapter. The importance in this shift is that communities and the collective are becoming actively engaged in art in public spaces. Furthermore, art in public space is beginning to

express the needs and views of society instead of being influenced by governing bodies and corporations that supply funding.

Figure 19: Ai Weiwei's Bicycle, Toronto, Ontario, 2013

Public art can be narrowly defined as “outdoor art, publicly funded and approved art, civic-minded, audience-centric art (Deng 2012).” Publicly funded art should be created with the audience as a constant contributor to the subject but often “the role of the public in the conception and design is not defined (Deng 2012).” Although public art, according to its definition, should be audience-centered this is not always the case. Historically, public art was used as a method of promoting some sort of prominence – such as political power and religious dominance (Deng 2012). Public statues and monuments were curated by the dominating kingdoms and purchased with public funds commonly

acquired through taxation (Deng 2012). The most noticeable forms of public art were ornamented architecture and religious sculpture that showcased the importance and prestige of the governing body, their faithful affiliations and their overall high stature. Throughout the Renaissance (c. 1400-1600) the church sponsored much of the pieces displayed in public areas that were matched by donations by civic authorities. It was not until the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that politically biased propaganda art became popular most notably throughout the Second World War (Deng 2012). In Socialist Russia monuments of heroes and leaders were also often showcased in posters, paintings and other sculptures. Throughout subsequent decades art also became an important component of protest and rebellion with movements such as the Situationist International.

Figure 20: Statue of Saints Norbert of Xanten, Wenceslas and Sigismund on Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic, 2012

Guerilla art, graffiti and other similar forms of ‘illegal’ activity marked the start of the street art movement or revolution in the 1960s (Art, Guerilla 2007). This style of art is created through individual agency and typically without monetary reward. Artists such as London’s notorious Banksy are authored as street art and not public art (Deng 2012). Although both public and street art can be defined as “art placed in public places and spaces that are open to everyone to use and enjoy (Deng 2012),” fundamental differences exist between the two. The major implication lies in the incorporation of public funding and ownership, the type of interaction allowed, the role of the public in design choices, and the duration of time the art exists (Deng 2012). The conflicting understanding of public art as “generally permanent, architecturally defined sculptural works in urban plazas and city centers (Deng 2012)” creates a misconception of art in public spaces that should be ephemeral, reflective and progressive (Deng 2012).

Public Art as a Facet of Government Public art is often “under appreciated much like landscape architecture is. But there’s lots to applaud: It’s free. There are no tickets. People don’t have to dress up. You can view it alone or in groups. It’s open to everyone (Deng 2012).” Public art should allow the potential to create attachment to one’s community and this is a vital connection to citizens in the urban realm. The Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community Initiative based in Miami, Florida surveyed 43,000 people in 43 cities and concluded that “social offerings, openness and welcome-ness…the aesthetics of a place – its art, parks, and green spaces (Knight Foundation 2013)” rank higher than the “education, safety, and the local economy as a ‘driver of attachment’ when rating important aspects of communities (Green 2012). Another survey completed in Philadelphia demonstrated that “viewing public art was the 2nd most popular activity in the city (Green 2012).” Public art consultant Marc Pally states that public art works “can have unanticipated impacts on viewers (Green 2012)” and that it can be “provocative, joyous or annoying…[public art can be a] rupture in pedestrian life (Green 2012).” It is often designed to prolong the visit to public space and slow down our progress through it. This connection with public

art is vitally important to community development and involvement. Furthermore it should have the opposite effect to one’s experiences in museums. On this note, art is often associated with institutions such as museums and galleries and can alienate those who are not art historians, curators, artists, or working in a creative industry. Visitors can feel “estranged in museums either because of the formality of the architecture, the institutional infatuation with social and economic power, or the absence of information about art…[individuals] need to be able to visit museums without feeling belittled or intimidated (Jacob and Brenson 1996, 32).” Urban centers are becoming popular hubs for small galleries and traveling exhibitions and even Calgary’s downtown is home to a milieu of such cultural spaces. However these private spaces can often have an intimidating atmosphere set up with rules to not touch, be quiet and to not take photographs. The pieces exhibited are usually a reflection of the artist’s own views and positions on whatever topic they are discussing creating distance between the audience and the artist. Cities and communities with large historically immigrant populations especially those from “Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe, who may be rooted in very different artistic traditions (32),” should be “engaged by artists, curators, and other thinkers (32).” It is at this moment, when the community is engaged that they begin to participate in self-expression and ownership. Curator Michael Brenson writes, “The artistic imagination has to be exposed to young people in a way that inspires them to engage their environments and expand their knowledge of themselves (32).” This is the role that art and public space should take on.

The Public Art Policy for the City of Calgary defines public art as any work “of visual art, in any media, that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public domain, often incorporating elements of site specificity, community engagement and collaboration (1).” Examples of public art include monuments, memorials, heritage pieces, civic statues, sculptures, fountains and in more contemporary contexts street furniture, dance, graffiti, and even some forms of advertising. The relative success of public art can be measured by the audience’s use,

frequency and interest in it. The audience validates public art as a cultural activity central to the urban realm by participating in it (Jacob and Brenson 1996, 32). In recent years many cities including Calgary have implemented public art programs, policies, strategies, goals and initiatives. In 2004 the City of Calgary executed The Public Art Policy to “pursue the integration of public art in the cultural fabric of Calgary, recognizing public art as a vital ingredient in Calgary’s on-going development as a great, creative city (1).” The city has recognized that public art enhances integrity, vitality, livability, and a vibrant community that heightens the “experiential nature of our city, plays a role in attracting creative businesses and workers, and encourages growth of a culturally informed public (1).” The purpose of the policy is to visually enrich the environment, provide accessible art opportunities, and to diversify the cultural and historic character of the city (2). Public art is meant to be displayed in public spaces that are defined by the same policy as “areas frequented by the general public, which are in the public domain…[and include] parks, boulevards, streets, bridges, exteriors of City-owned buildings, [and] interiors of City-owned buildings (8).” The strategic direction for the future of public art in the city defines goals such as Calgary becoming internationally recognized for the quality of its work, Calgarians being proud of their public art collection, beginning an international discussion of public art in Calgary, and setting Calgary as a leader in the field of public art (8).

One major blockade to public art and unfortunately the arts in general is a lack of funding and the high demand for financial assistance in projects. Funding for the arts has become scarce partially due to the increased popularity of galleries in the 1980s (Griffin and Paroissien 2011) and therefore cities, which have implemented public art initiatives, must subsidize the costs. Calgary, for example, provides a sustainable funding mechanism that helps with costs of implementing public art projects and policies, assists with planning, design, fabrication and installation of projects, hires managers, administration and facilities required for the public art program, and maintains the public art archives and collection (The City of Calgary 2004, 4). Providing

financial assistance for public art project guarantees a certain degree of control over exhibits, display duration and a degree of censorship for the City of Calgary. This raises the question, what is so public about public art other than its location, funding and placement in a public space?

Psychogeography and Art Contemporary art movements throughout history, and especially in the 20th century, have spurred conversation and dialogue, sometimes even protest or revolt. From the Dadaists’ anti-art campaigns, to the unexpected juxtapositions of the surrealists, to the combined media of the Fluxus movement, and the idiosyncratic head banging noises of the punk rockers. Contemporary art has often been the voice of those whose thoughts, actions and values did not always align with society (Jacob and Brenson 1996, 30). Although the creation of art was not always the goal for groups such as the Situationist International were at least a side effect, outcome or at minimum a happenstance of their influence. Members of the Situationist International “feared that cities were losing their unique character and human dimensions, and that human life was becoming increasingly commoditized through urbanism, mass media and the modern structure of working life that divided an individual’s personality into polarized opposites of work and play (Antony and Henry 2005, 21).” Psychogeography and the creation of situations become a powerful method used to rebel against the loss of public identity and capitalist abundance. Contemporary psychogeographers “protest against the blandification of the organic urban landscapes…they also seek to record, celebrate and reclaim the forgotten, neglected and overlooked environments of the city (23).” In other words, psychogeography seeks to create playful spaces that aid as a method to understanding the public realm and urban environment (Bassett 2000, 405). The overall goal is to encourage a refreshed understanding of the places we live and this is often accomplished through experiments and experiences in public space. Modern applications of psychogeography are often memorialized through contemporary public art projects and exhibits, some managed by policies such as The Public Art Policy in the

City of Calgary and some independently of hierarchy and corporation. Art projects can be used as a way to spark conversation and engage participants in public spaces whether it is to think or act or simply observe something out of the ordinary or beautiful. These projects can include anything from organized art exhibits to buskers to live musicians, chalk artists, graffiti, curated pieces, monuments, statues, or flash mobs. It is important to understand the potential that these projects have to create a dialogue or interaction or shed light on social, political or community issues. At the same time, projects can enlighten citizens of positive changes or events occurring in their environments. Temporary art can be the “most flexible and relevant to the changing times, able to provide a sense of urgency or to probe the relationships between “lasting values and current events (Green 2012).”

Figure 21: Busker performing, Prague, Czech Republic, 2012

One exhibition shown in Toronto, entitled Intensity, displayed similarly to condo marketing, guaranteed a better and more sophisticated lifestyle. It was a performance piece that encouraged participants to enter a model suite. Instead of showcasing modern and expensive furniture with a beautiful view the model exhibited a sprawling tent city. Participants only had a few seconds to comprehend the scene before the sound of drill bells and lights forced them to be evicted. The exhibit was not actually produced to encourage a better and more sophisticated style of living but rather forced participants to actively engage in Toronto’s constant struggle with homelessness. The goal of Intensity was the exposure of the hardships and reality of temporary communities in Canada and internationally. Furthermore, the exhibit encouraged participants to engage in a conversation about the commodification of space and offered a “critique of the corporatization of shelter as it investigated this most fundamental human right. In it, the decadence of luxury condo living collided with the jarring realities of surviving in an urban tent city (City of Toronto 2011, 69).” This relatively small and temporary exhibit in the heart of Toronto’s financial district was able to spur a conversation about a milieu of topics relevant not only in Canada but on a global scale.

Figure 22: Intensity, Toronto, Canada, 2011

Volkswagen, in an attempt to raise awareness on various societal issues created a series of urban experiments entitled Fun Theory. Although these experiments are not necessarily categorized as art projects they maintain a similar root goal: expose the public to a series of problems and engage them in a conversation about potential solutions. One concerning issue in America is obesity. The constantly growing problem was undertaken as a design project that sought to find ways to encourage the use of stairs instead of escalators in a subway station in Sweden. Fun Theory created a project titled Piano Staircase where the collaborative painted subway stairs to look like piano keys. They also embellished them with sound making devices to mimic exact piano notes. The results were astounding. Within one day 66% more people used the stairs over the escalator than any other day (Volkswagon 2009).

Figure 23: Piano Stairs, by Volkswagon’s Fun Theory, 2009 (Credit: The Fun Theory via Flickr)

A second project spearheaded by Fun Theory was titled The World’s Deepest Bin and sought to decrease the amount of garbage thrown on the ground instead of a waste bin. In this simple project a sound device was installed in garbage bins that gave the illusion of the bin being a bottomless pit. The intrigue and excitement created through one small project promoted the issue at hand. Furthermore the project showed how simple the solution was as well. Within one day the interesting and ‘deep’ bins collected 72 kg of refuse compared to the standard bins, which collected only 41kg (Volkswagon 2009). Not all art projects or installations present an inherent protest or statement and often are installed simply as a method to promote fun or to encourage use of public spaces. The Ontario Science Center’s Teluscape Park introduced the FUNtain on September 20th 2006. It is the world’s largest Hydraulophone and acts as the park’s centerpiece. The FUNtain is an acoustic keyboard instrument that is fun to play and makes sounds based on which fountain hole is plugged. It is an interactive and engaging public art installation that encourages use from a variety of participants in ranging age groups and demographics (Ontario Science Centre 2006).

Figure 24: FUNtain Hydraulophone, Ontario Science Centre, Ontario, Canada, 2006 (Credit: Glogger via Creative Commons) 66

The following is a comprehensive table of other variations of experiments that have already been implemented internationally. Some examples are large events organized by associations or specific groups while others are simply attempts at reimagining the city as a new or different space. The installations, exhibits, activities or public art features often transform some facet of space or apply a new functionality to the things that surround us in our everyday environments. Furthermore, the following examples retain some elements of Situationist International experiments and situations and often follow psychogeographic trends although most are not necessarily authored as such experiments:

1) Zombie Walks: Zombie walks are public gatherings that encourage citizens to attend dressed in zombie costumes. Zombie walks typically take place in downtown and urban areas of cities where participants parade through the streets in character (Wither 2011).

Figure 25: Zombie Walk, Tijuana, Mexico, 2006 (Credit: Alex Torres via Flickr)

2) Flash Mobs: Flash mobs have gained popularity in recent years in large metropolitan areas such as New York City and require a group of people who seemingly spontaneously assemble and begin a dance performance. Once the performance has been completed all participants disperse and continue what they were doing. Flash mobs are most often organized through social media and e-mail (Nora 2011). 3) Geocaching: Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt that uses geographical coordinates to navigate a map. Participants follow coordinates posted in online posts and websites to find treasures hidden in the physical world, known as geocaches or containers (Geocaching 2013). 4) Yarn Bombing: Yarn bombing is one form of guerilla art that is not permanent or damaging as a form of street art. Yarn bombing started as an initiative to reclaim space and to personalize cold and sterile public places. It is usually completed by groups of guerilla knitters (Turner 2011, 16). 5) Conflux: Conflux, formerly known as Psy-Geo-Conflux, is an annual festival that occurs in New York City. It is a celebration of urban life through artistic, technological and social medias. The main intention is to explore the various ways and mediums to discuss and implement psychogeography in a contemporary society (Conflux 2012). Other activities in the past included purposely-aimless walks and scavenger-hunt-type urban odysseys, noise parades, human chess – often based on some kind of algorithm or random element (Conflux 2012). 6) Great Queen Street Psychogeographic Walk: Spacing Magazine and the Toronto Psychogeography Society presented the Great Queen Street Psychogeographic Walk, part of the run up to the Walk 21 conference in Toronto (Micallef 2007). The walk began at 2pm at the Queen, King and Roncesvalles intersection. The group strolled together in a completely unorganized organized walk along the length of Queen Street to the RC Harris Filtration Plant in the Beach, where 68

people disbanded and retired. Some psychogeographic walks wander and drift though the city randomly. The Great Queen Street Walk was linear – participants got to experience a perfectly straight line through the city. Queen Street is familiar to locals but it and Toronto feel entirely different when you walk the whole thing in a straight line (Micallef 2007); a mobile cocktail party (Micallef 2007). 7) Urban Exploration: Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or not unseen components of the man-made environment. Photography and historical interest are heavily featured in the hobby and, although it may sometimes involve trespassing onto private property, this is not always the case (Infiltration 2004). Urban exploration is a way for people and participants to reclaim spaces that at one point served a valuable purpose. One of the main goals is to snap photos, whether it’s for the purpose of art or bragging rights.

Figure 26: Abandoned Church, Detroit, USA, 2009 (Credit: Detroit Urbex)

8) Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit: Grapefruit is a book of instructions and drawings that contain a series of instructions/recollections that replace the physical work of art. It is essentially an artistic manual showcasing instructions that an individual may or may not accomplish or enact (Ono 2000). 9) Chair Bombing: Chair bombing is a form of tactical urbanism that is a response to anti-loitering laws that removed benches in urban areas. Chair bombing consists of placing homemade seating in public spaces and can include couches, chairs, and even lawn furniture (Architect Magazine 2012). 10) Moving Forest: Moving Forest was an initiative formed by a group of Dutch Architects who created an urban forest by planting 100 trees in shopping carts in a public space in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Each tree could be moved anywhere at any time by any person either for their personal use (shade, for example), or to move it out of the way in order to pass by. The importance of this intervention was that in one case or another everyone had to act on the trees (Dezeen Magazine 2008).

Figure 27: Moving Forest, NL Architects, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2008 (Credit: Jason Eppink via Flickr)

11) Sound Walks: Sound walks are excursions where the goal is to listen and hear the environment. Sounds walks can be organized for groups or done individually and are often recorded on devices and then posted on online forums (Westerkamp 2001). 12) Come Out and Play: Come Out and Play is an urban festival that aims to reclaim space for free public street games. It originated in New York and San Francisco and allows for new forms of interaction between citizens. This festival is similar to Conflux in that it uses everyday spaces and temporarily transforms them into fields of play in an attempt to bring back playfulness to public spaces (Architect Magazine 2012). 13) Human Chess: Human chess is played with real people acting as chess pieces. This is more than just simply a large chessboard. Rather it is an intricate process where the city is divided up into a grid and individuals explore the city corresponding to moves being made by two players on an actual chessboard. Players who act as the pieces of the game are provided their next location through text messages and phone calls (Neidhart 2004). 14) Spider Tag: Spider Tag was a project by Spanish street-artist who goes by the same name. SpiderTag took to the Swiss Alps with yarn, scissors, nails, and a hammer and outlined the changing landscape of the mountains. The purpose was to creatively show the natural processes of the landscape (Sebastian 2012). 15) Street Komodas: Street Komodas was a project initiated in August 2012 in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is meant as a way to share in the community. Items are left behind and taken, similar to the Give-a-Penny/Leave-a-Penny concept. Street Komodas is an example of urban furniture that is designed to fit in with the surrounding environment and is meant as a collaborative art project for the community to participate in (Laimikis 2012). 16) Web_0: Web_0 was a street blog that encouraged community members to participate in conversations in the physical world. It was set up as a wood stand

with paper on it that asked users to initiate conversations with the people around them in a face-to-face manner (Laimikis 2009). 17) Sculpt Me Point: Sculpt Me Point was a project started by Droog Conceptual Design Studio as part of the Experimental Design project in Amsterdam in 2008. It was simply solid rock placed in front of the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam with chisels and hammers attached to it. It was a call for citizens to participate in the creation of public art (Guixe 2008). 18) Lego Graffiti: Lego is a childhood memory for many people and is usually colorful and exudes a sense of play. Lego Graffiti is often used as a way to bring attention to things that have changed in our urban landscapes such as buildings that are crumbling or missing bricks. Lego Graffiti can serve as a reminder of how worn down buildings become and serve as a way to add playfulness to decrepit spaces (Liggett 2010).

# Figure 28: Artist Jan Vormann uses LEGO to fill in cracks in crumbling buildings, New York City, USA, 2010 (Credit: Jan Vormann via Brit Liggett via Inhabitat)

19) Parkour: Parkour is a non-competitive urban running sport. It became popular in the 1990s and 2000s as extreme running in existing public spaces. It now serves as a way to reclaim space that has been often restricted for use since it is a non- evasive performance piece (Parkour.com 2012). 20) Experimental Travel: Experimental travel is a different to observe areas for the first time. Whim and spontaneity are the typical tour guides and maps for experimental travel. It is an alternative way of travel where destinations are chosen based on an idea or experiment contrary to typical travel. One example is using a map of your hometown to discover the city you have traveled to (Antony and Henry 2005). 21) Guerrilla Gardening: Guerilla gardening has become popular with a variety of community groups. It involves gardening on land that is often abandoned or not taken care of by anyone. The motivations are also various encompassing individuals bringing attention to environmental issues, to community projects, to land use and even political action (Guerilla Gardening 2004).

Figure 29: Guerilla Gardening, Phuket, Thailand (Credit: Vidar via Street Art Utopia)

22) Graffiti: Graffiti is an artistic expression that is typically scribbled, painted, or sprayed on public buildings, surfaces and spaces. It is most commonly a criminal activity not sanctioned by property owners. It has become a much more common occurrence in the last few decades and is often found in areas of cities that house lower income households. Graffiti is however also becoming a common urban design tool to beautify decaying public areas (Graffiti Free Calgary 2013). 23) Tree Hole Paintings: Tree Hole Paintings is an initiative by art student Wang Yue in Shijiazhuang, China. Wang Yue also with her friend Li Yue paint landscape images in the holes of trees turning streets into small, live, pop-up galleries (My Modern Met 2013). 24) PARK(ing) Day: PARK(ing) Day is now an annual festival that converts parking spots into temporary public parks. The initiative includes artists and designers and most importantly community members, families and even children. It is an attempt to reclaim space that is typically occupied by vehicles and occupy the spaces with citizens (Park(ing) Day 2012).

Figure 30: PARK(ing) Day project, Indianapolis, USA, 2010 (Credit: Dan O’Connor via Flickr)

Contemporary applications of psychogeography attempt to re-contextualize space, to give it new meaning, to create an experience that did not previously exist or is continually changing. Public art is meant to enhance the cultural fabric of the urban realm and public spaces to make cities more vibrant, creative, and to promote on-going development (The City of Calgary 2004). Similarly to public space, there are limitations and boundaries imposed on the type of use and interaction permitted with public art displays. Public art is made accessible for viewing to all members of the collective however ownership remains with the party who manages the space or the art itself. Whatever form public art takes, if it is placed in an area where the collective can engage with it, it should encourage a change from the mundane, to question, to reclaim, to reimagine as members of the Situationist International would inspire. Psychogeographic experiments and often the production of street art are one way of ensuring a refreshed understanding of the places we live and occupy. Individual experience can be memorialized as a piece of art in public space such as using Lego to fill the cracks in buildings to bring awareness to those things that have become a part of our everyday. Art in public spaces can take on many forms from commemorative statues, to graffiti, to Lego and yarn bombing, as well as flash mobs and zombie walks. But the ownership of psychogeographic experiments in space truly belongs to the individual curating his or her own path through the city, his journey, his individual expression and experience of public space in the urban realm.

CHAPTER FOUR: Dissecting a Contemporary Art Festival A Case Study One inspiration and catalyst for this Master’s thesis project was my fascination with a citywide contemporary art festival that transforms the urban realm for one night titled Nuit Blanche – a seemingly perfect psychogeographic example. My interest also lay in alternative ways to understand public space including its effects on the individual and the collective, as defined by Hannah Arendt. Furthermore, I was interested in current urban design theories and techniques dictating everyday life in public space, how technology influenced our cities, and how the rebellious thoughts of a group of avant- gardes could infiltrate contemporary society. Having moved to Calgary specifically for the purpose of commencing this Master’s degree, my home in Toronto remained prevalent in my work. Toronto’s Nuit Blanche was an event I had already attended a few times and each time was more fascinated by it. Each year Nuit Blanche transforms the city of Toronto into an all night contemporary art exhibit. It allows for a permeability of public space and offers a temporal shift in how and when we are permitted to view art. For one night the city is transformed into a public art gallery and exhibit space. Nuit Blanche typically commences on the first Saturday of October when the sun sets and concludes when the sun rises the following day. This all night contemporary art festival is one of Toronto’s most anticipated and attended events (Banh 2009, 2). It covers the majority of the city’s downtown core and is divided into three zones; A, B, & C (City of Toronto 2011, 7). The vast scope and magnitude of the festival has grown steadily over the last 8 years, since it’s inaugural presentation in 2006 and is mandated to make art available to large audiences and also to “initiate dialogue about how public space is used and produced especially in an urban lifestyle setting (Banh 2009, 2).” The all-night contemporary art exhibit originated in Paris, France in 2002. Its initial goal was to bring art to everyone and reinvent the somewhat restricted art scene in the city (Paris 2011). Since then, a number of European and North American cities have adopted the idea. Now throughout these locations, including Toronto, cities invite participants to experience its public spaces in a different and unconventional manner. Each city has

created it’s own goals that relate to the needs of the collective. For example, in Brussels, “Nuit Blanche seeks to promote greater respect for the environment, a sustainable economy, and a healthier and more mobile night on the town (Nuit Blanche 11 2011).” The event became such a resounding success that in 2005 “Paris organizers contacted the City of Toronto’s Special Events office with an invitation to join ranks of approximately six other European cities producing similar all night events (Ontario Association of Architects 2012).”

The central mandate for Toronto’s Nuit Blanche is to make “contemporary art accessible to large audiences, while inspiring dialogue and engaging the public to examine its significance and impact on public space (Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2006).” During this night of not only art but also community engagement, the city transforms ordinary spaces into temporary exhibits. These exhibits act as a catalyst for conversation, a new understanding of space, an allowance to enter typically forbidden spaces, and a chance to experience a temporal, evolving, and artistic urban realm. Toronto’s Nuit Blanche has become a “cultural phenomenon the likes of which the city has never seen (Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2006)” and there is no evidence of its deceleration. Scotiabank, the foremost sponsor of the event has been awarded the Globe and Mail Business for the Arts Award for Best Arts/Entrepreneur Partnership in 2006 for the successful collaboration with the City of Toronto, as well as the prestigious Urban Leadership Award celebrating the “profound and lasting impact on the quality of urban life (Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2006).” The importance and impact of an event such as Nuit Blanche is undeniable to a city and it has become a cultural, art and exploratory landscape of the city. Miki Stricker-Talbot, former Supervisor of special events for the City of Toronto agrees that Nuit Blanche has become central to Toronto’s social calendar and an acclaimed component of Toronto’s city life (Stricker-Talbot 2011). She cheerfully added, “There is a certain magic that happens. Torontonians are sort of known as jaded…during Nuit Blanche people are playful. They engage with each other

and the art, and then talk about it with strangers. I can’t think of another festival or event that has the equivalent effect (Stricker-Talbot 2011)!”

Near the beginning stages of this thesis I believed that Nuit Blanche was a perfect example of a psychogeographic experience and in some ways it really is. According to the most basic definition psychogeography is “a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape (Hart 2004).” By implementing extended hours, unconventional exhibition spaces and relaxed drinking laws, Nuit Blanche, on the surface, is the perfect psychogeographic experience and experiment. It is a constructed situation that abides by the rules of incorporating a leader (Nuit Blanche, Paris), active participants (City of Toronto, Special Events Department) and passive actors (attendees). The following is the case study carried out to understand the different experiences in the same public spaces during programmed (Nuit Blanche) days and not programmed (ordinary) days in the downtown area of the City of Toronto.

Methodology Study Site Selection Nuit Blanche separates the City of Toronto into 3 zones (A, B & C) for the duration of the event. Each zone has a designated exhibit space that houses major displays and acts as the main art space. It was a strong intention to choose four distinctly varied public spaces to create a more broad and holistic understanding of the public realm.

For this study I selected the following sites (refer to Appendix Aa): a) Scotia Plaza – both an indoor and outdoor public space, located in the financial district of downtown Toronto. Scotia Plaza is bordered by Yonge Street on the east, King Street West on the south, Bay Street on the west, and Adelaide Street West on the north. The actual Scotia building contains the head offices for

Scotiabank as well as 40 retail spaces and 190,000m2 of office spaces (Scotia Plaza 2013). Permanent amenities include an indoor PATHWAY system (connecting a large portion of the downtown core), restrooms used by personnel and staff of the Scotia Building, and bicycle racks now situated on the North side of the building. Both outdoor entrances (North and South) are decorated with large potted plants as well as benches only near the north entrance.

# Figure 31: Scotia Plaza, Toronto, Canada, 2011 b) Yonge & Dundas Square – the busiest public area in downtown Toronto and operated by a Board of Management. Since its revitalization in 2003 the square has hosted over 200 events including concerts, community and cultural festivals, as well as promotional days that have been attended by over 5 million people (ydsquare.ca 2011). On days when events are not being hosted the square is a quaint oasis filled with seating and serene fountains. To the north it is bordered by Dundas Street East, to the west Victoria Street, to the south Dundas Square Street, and to the east Yonge Street. It is approximately 50m long along Yonge Street, 60m along Dundas Street East, and 20m along Victoria Street (ydsquare.ca 2011). Amenities include a modern water fountain, drinking fountain, 24-hour security staffing, free wireless provided by Wireless Toronto

(non-profit), ticket booth for reduced performance tickets (T.O. TIX), a tourist information kiosk, a stage, washroom facilities, and access to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC, subway).

# Figure 32: Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada, 2011 # c) Nathan Phillips Square – located directly in front of Toronto’s City Hall bordered to the north by the new City Hall, to the east by Bay Street, to the south by Queen Street West, and to the west University Avenue. Nathan Phillips Square is the primary public gathering location in the downtown core of Toronto and hosts 1.5 million tourists annually (City of Toronto 2010). All events in the square are free of charge and include exhibits for the Nuit Blanche event each year, festivals during the summer months, a skating rink and ice sculptures in the winter months. City Hall’s unique design allows for audiences in its upper pathways that border the square as well as on the second level of the actual building. Amenities of the square include bench seating, café seating, a fountain/ice rink, and access to two subway stations. The City Hall building contains a small café that has seating that spills into the square(City of Toronto 2013).

# Figure 33: Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada, 2011

d) Queen’s Park – a natural area located on the University of Toronto’s campus, and one of the oldest urban parks in Toronto established in 1860 (A View On Cities 2013). Queen’s Park acts as the backyard to the Ontario Legislature Building and was named in honor of Queen Victoria (A View On Cities 2013). It is circled by Queen’s Park Crescent East and West and is surrounded by important city attractions including the Royal Ontario Museum, the Legislature Building, and Trinity College. Park amenities include benches, garbage cans, picnic tables, access to the TTC, pathways and statues.

# Figure 34: Queen’s Park, Toronto, Canada, 2011

Observation and Site Analysis The purpose of the observation portion of this case study was to witness the differences in number of attendees, frequency of use, duration of stay, flow and circulation and clusters of individuals during the programmed and not programmed spaces. The Site Analysis was completed to visualize where physical features, such as benches and garbage cans, were located during not programmed days and where temporary fixtures were placed during the programmed day. The purpose of this was to analyze the impact of an organized event in space compared to a regular day.

The first portion of the Observation and Site Analysis were completed during a not programmed day (refer to Appendix Ab.i and Ab.ii)

a) The first step was to compile a set of blank maps for all four public spaces b) During my first visit to each location I completed my blank maps with site amenities such as bathroom facilities, special event areas, connection to public transit (TTC subways), entrance and exit locations, benches, picnic tables, pathways, bicycle racks, temporary infrastructure, fountains, alternate seating, decorative flower pots, garbage cans, statues, vendors, and advertising. c) Over a course of 2 or 3 more visits to each location I cited the flows and circulations of movement of people throughout the spaces. I took note of the demographics of users, duration of stay, type of activity, i.e. reading, sitting, passing through, entrance and exit points, and tourist activities. d) Once these maps were completed they were compiled into one map per site showing the various amenities and activities.

The second portion of the Observation was completed during a programmed day (refer to Appendix Ab.iii, Ab.iv, Ab.v) a) Due to the temporal nature of the Nuit Blanche event I recruited volunteers (10) for this portion of data collection b) Firstly we met at a location in downtown Toronto to discuss the nature of my research, what was expected of the volunteers, and where we would meet to conclude this portion of the data collection. c) Secondly we divided into four teams. Each team was designated two sites for observation. d) Next each team observed their respective location taking notes, pictures, drawing of the temporary infrastructure and the movement of people in that space. This included flow and circulation, duration of stay and type of activities they were participating in.

Once Site Analysis and Observation (both programmed and not-programmed) were complete they were transcribed, categorized and compiled into a single image for each

public space (see Appendix Ab.vi). The purpose of creating a visual representation of the observations was to be able to simply compare circulation and flow as well as clusters where individuals and groups agglomerated and stayed. Superimposing temporary structures also prompted an understanding of why individuals were gathering in specific places.

Survey Results The City of Toronto conducts surveys (refer to Appendix Ac.i-Ac.vii) each year at the Nuit Blanche event to document basic demographic information about the attendees of the event. It was important to have access to this information to gain a more in-depth understanding of the types of individuals who are interested in events such as Nuit Blanche. The following was the type of information gathered from the surveys: a. Number of attendees b. Where attendees are from c. Tourists based on postal codes (i.e. from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Southern Ontario) d. Time spent and number of zones visited e. Past attendance and future intentions f. Use of way-finding tools to navigate the event g. Demographics, i.e. gender and age h. Attendance Satisfaction i. How they heard about the event

Interviews Two interviews were conducted to understand the complexity of organizing such an event. Key-informants were selected using the expert sampling approach. These were semi-structured key-informant interviews conducted in person and recorded. Questions were established prior to the meetings and approved by the Ethics Committee (refer to Appendix Ad.i, Ad.ii, Ad.iii) at the University of Calgary. The unit of analysis consists of

perceptions of the event and the relationship to physical space, participants, and activities. Interviewees were Joe Sellors, Production Supervisor for the Special Events Department at the City of Toronto, and Michal Stricker Talbot, Programming Lead and Liaison Curator for Nuit Blanche, for the Special Events Department at the City of Toronto (refer to Appendix for fully transcribed interview manuscripts). The importance of these interviews came from an understanding of how the City of Toronto views the event and its important to city and urban life.

Sample of Featured Exhibits ScotiaPlaza (as described in Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche program package) “City Mouse was located inside ScotiaPlaza. This exhibit considered what is "natural" while walking through a humble and seemingly out-of-place forest amid Toronto's bustling financial district - the sounds, smells and fluid forms of nature were juxtaposed with the carefully engineered structures that surrounded the space. The animals in these woods have been manipulated to reflect this new environment, their bodies house scenes of daily office life, and their vital organs are replaced with workers. In this forest, elements of nature are assembled to mirror what once stood in this location. It is clear, however, that this wilderness is an illusion. Here, nature is carefully controlled, its components are divided up and commodified, its life cycles replaced with business cycles. Indeed, the buildings that tower overhead had become more familiar than this pre-existing landscape. City Mouse sought to examine our complex relationship with the natural world amid the backdrop, and in the context of Toronto's famous financial district. Viewers were invited to explore a disjointed living world that encourages them to confront their own ideas of what is "natural". The installation seeks to explore the displacement, alienation and transformation of our natural environment within the downtown core and in our imaginations (City of Toronto 2011, 70).”

Figure 35: City Mouse, Julia Hepburn, Toronto, Canada, 2011 Yonge and Dundas Square (as described in Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche program package) The major exhibition at Yonge and Dundas Square was titled Face Music. “This group of robotic sculptures composed their own music with input from participants. Micro-video cameras mounted on the robots move toward people’s bodies and faces while capturing human snapshots. The facial images were digitally processed, pixelated and transformed into a constantly evolving generative soundscape, where facial features were turned into sound melody and rhythm. Every participant’s face became part of the artwork; each “face-song” joined with another to create a total sonic human/robot experience that fused over the course of the evening. The viewer was manifested as participant, actor and conductor in this robotic orchestration. These works explored new morphologies of soft robotics, an emerging field, where natural and artificial materials celebrate our hybrid states of symbiotically joining with machines (37).”

Figure 36: Face Music, Ken Rinaldo, Toronto, Canada, 2011

Nathan Philips Square (as described in Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche program package) At Nathan Phillips Square, “Inspired by the birds of Nathan Phillips Square, Flightpath Toronto was a participatory spectacle inviting the public to rediscover the possibilities and wonder of urban flight. The square hosted an urban flightschool, an interactive visual airscape, and fly-lines that enabled hundreds of people, enwinged, to re-imagine the city and the way we move through it. By exploring the square through the eyes of its primary inhabitants, urban birds, this exhibit created a dialogue circling around whether or not we could reinvent our relationship to the city we build together? By reclaiming airspace as public space, can we consider other forms of transit, rediscover the 'sport' in 'transport', and excite imaginative possibilities for our urban infrastructure? Are we game to experience, through flight, a city that is fluid and three-dimensional? Flightpath Toronto's swarms of flying people experimented with an urban-scale participatory proposition: one that demonstrated the pleasures of emission-less urban mobility and created a shared memory of a possible future (10).”

Figure 37: Flightpath, Usman Haque, Toronto, Canada, 2011 (Credit: Katie Partyka, 2011)

Queen’s Park (as described in Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche program package) The major exhibit at Queen’s Park was titled 100 Ages. “Throughout the course of the evening, the artist followed a marked route and placed a gold ring onto an upper twig of each of the 100 trees in Queen's Park Garden. Like a ring that grows snug on a slowly 86

swelling finger, this band will affect and be affected by the tree's eventual growth. The potential result is unpredictable and may take years to reveal itself. Each twig might eventually break free from its shackle, be strangled to death, or swallow the ring, incorporating it into its own natural growth rings. A person of the future may find evidence of a golden period within the cross-section of a found twig. An invitation announcing this action was also distributed throughout Toronto. Like several of the artist's previous projects 100 Ages allows for a naturally unfolding system to determine the life of the work (18).”

Figure 38: 100 Ages, Jason de Haan, Toronto, Canada, 2011 (Credit: City of Toronto via Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011 Program)

Other Exhibits (as described in Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche program package) Another favourite was titled Intensity. “Typical of seductive condo marketing, Intensity lured participants with hollow promises of an improved lifestyle through enticing tag lines and an offer to view a luxury model suite. Participants who entered this world emerged in the middle of a vast, sprawling tent city. But not for long! They were soon

evicted. Intensity re-imagined a pivotal moment in Toronto's struggle with homelessness; the infamous Tent City that arose on a desolate plot of waterfront land. Like the much-publicized eviction of this community's occupants in 2002, the viewer was forced to move out of their temporary tent homes every few minutes. This echoes the realities of makeshift communities around the world that rise up in the wake of human tragedy. Toronto's financial district, epicentre of Canadian power and wealth, became the stage for this all-night drama. Intensity explored the commodification of space. It offered a critique of the corporatization of shelter as it investigated this most fundamental human right. In it, the decadence of luxury condo living collided with the jarring realities of surviving in an urban tent city (69).

Lastly, in TESTtubes using recycled cardboard tubes, an artist transformed a rear courtyard parking lot into a hidden oasis. “Referencing the form and structure of a tree, an intricate cardboard canopy was combined with lighting effects and various hung materials to create a surreal environment. The materials used were recycled. The intention behind the project was to take this basic medium and through an architectural intervention, totally transform a normally rough and decaying back lot in to an engaging place offering relief from the busy city (79).

Figure 39: TESTtubes, Subject to Change Design Collective, Toronto, Canada, 2011 (Credit: City of Toronto via Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011 Program)

Review of Event and Findings Economically, it is safe to note that Nuit Blanche is a success, yielding an impact of over $35 million in 2012 (Sellors 2011). The event hosts over a million guests each year, some local and some specifically visiting for this event. Based on the observations and site analysis conducted it is evident that the public lingers for larger amounts of time in spaces where exhibits are located, and move around in a more free-flowing fashion. The Nuit Blanche event creates a new and temporal experience in the city. It allows for people to be pushed into alleyways and staircases that they walk by everyday but never venture down (Sellors 2011). At its very core, although it is not always categorized as such, the Nuit Blanche event is a psychogeographic experiment. Pedestrians are forced off their regular paths, and rather than moving simply from point A to point B, they stop, linger, interact and “engage with the city in a new way. Nuit Blanche transforms public space (Stricker-Talbot 2011).” And perhaps this is the most important aspect of the whole event – the intangibles become tangible and vice versa. It is a ‘right time, right place’ type situation.

Eighteen months of organization (Sellors 2011) conclude in a single night event which points to questions of what citizens want and need from their public spaces. In the case of Nuit Blanche it is art but more importantly participation and interaction. However, as a highly managed event is this something citizens openly and inherently want or is it imposed? Performance and participatory exhibits tend to yield the most popularity and interaction, “for example, a few years ago an artist collaborative set up TVs and block letters carefully around an old warehouse. The collaborative was shocked with the audience members who began moving the letters to write poems, haikus, or just spell out words. It’s as if the audience almost expects participatory art. We think it is because art is historically taboo; it is an experience that people are removed from. Art in galleries is behind glass or is not allowed to be touched. Nuit Blanche eliminates all these boundaries (Stricker-Talbot 2011).” If this is the case we witness an example of the audience, the citizen, and the public’s desire to maintain an active role and

interaction within the city and its urban spaces. The collective has a desire to be tested and pushed outside its comfortable limits and experience the new and reclaimed, the awe-inspiring and unknown if only for a short span in time. The spontaneity of this sort of event is what really creates an interesting atmosphere, a show, a phenomenon, something that everyone wants to be a part of, whether by observing or directly participating, or simply the dialogue that emerges from the art and festival intervention. Nuit Blanche perfectly aligns well with the Formulary for a New Urbanism, “an artistic activity carried out in the everyday space of the street rather than in the conventional art spaces of gallery or theatre (Sadler 1998, 69).”

At the initial conception of incorporating Nuit Blanche as a contemporary example of psychogeography, it seemed like a perfect fit. It integrates most aspects of the defining features of psychogeography but a few issues are persistent. The whole contemporary art festival is a massive consumptive entity. Participants are encouraged to purchase shirts and canvas bags, buttons and stickers, maps and apps. Furthermore the City of Toronto has recently relaxed drinking regulations allowing bars to serve alcohol until 4am during special events making Nuit Blanche a good excuse to party (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario 2012). If this event were placed under the scrutiny of a Situationist International jury the verdict would be unanimous: guilty of not fulfilling the fundamental mandates of the group. Some Nuit Blanche exhibits encourage participation in art work however involvement is limited to specific numbers of individuals, due to temporal restrictions, and the type of interaction is highly imposed. Exhibits that entice participation do not really allow for individual agency or spontaneous action. Rather they create a canned experience of solely foisted activity. In this sense any form of participation in Nuit Blanche, the exhibits, and the participants themselves become the protagonists of the spectacle. Scotiabank is the major sponsor of the event along with Chevrolet, Timothy’s Coffee, and the Toronto Eaton’s Centre (City of Toronto 2011, 9). It is hard to imagine members of the Situationist International supporting an event in part sponsored and supported by large corporations and assigned a

hierarchical management system to organize it. Furthermore Nuit Blanche is not a cheap event to organize though it is financially beneficial for the city. Finally, the City of Toronto has an entire department dedicated to organizing Special Events including Nuit Blanche. Professionals, similarly to galleries, curate Nuit Blanche and these are the people who tell the public what they want to see, how to see it, where and when to see it, and how to interact with it. Although the Nuit Blanche event questions our relationship with the urban realm it does not necessarily result in individual agency, individual expression, personal experience, or freedom in public space.

CHAPTER FIVE: Designing Solutions Overview Ideas of public space, domain, or spheres have long been topics of discussion and debate. Experts in the field range from Jane Jacobs and Holly Whyte to more contemporary connoisseurs such as Ray Oldenburg, Mirko Zardini and organizations like the Project for Public Spaces. Public spaces are places where society is formed; where citizens are able to interact and engage in dialogue regarding the current and future status of their cities (Hajer 2001, 12). This idea of an active and vibrant urban realm seeks to expand “mental horizons of experiment, adventure, discovery, [and] surprise (12).” Essentially, public spaces are vital to providing space for citizens to create and engage in new experiences. It is where general views become expanded and where freedom truly exists. In recent decades the understanding of public spaces, their successes and failures, and their vitality to vibrant cities has become an extremely important area of study. Engaging in public space can be “a catalyst for building healthy, sustainable and economically viable cities of the future (Project for Public Spaces 2013).” In this respect, the design of successful public spaces should encourage person-to-person interaction as well as engagement with the places that surround us each day. Ray Oldenburg argues that the ‘third place,’ or public space, allows for a public balance especially in areas that are experiencing “immense privatization of home life (Oldenburg 1989, 6).” Therefore, the ‘third place’ is vital to sustainable, productive, and happy communities, and ultimately the optimal utility of cities. However, many issues are prevalent in attempting to create a better understanding of our urban landscapes. These include places we know are in the urban realm yet we have lost enthusiasm for utilizing them. The lack of interest and understanding initiates the singular functionality of public spaces and therefore allows for gaps in interaction. This is further emphasized by the way society has retreated from city centers into more suburban communities. The implications of this are immense and often result in an experience of the city that focuses on a series of destinations. Moving from one destination to the next, or between places, is often seen as insignificant –

simply going from point A to point B. Our current experience of the city is therefore defined by roads and streets, and is a simple means to an end. The status of the city lacks an ability to entice citizens to engage in space if nothing is being programmed or organized. Participation is lacking and therefore so is interaction and connection between urban dwellers.

Guy Debord, leader of the Situationist International fought drastically against this mundane and menial movement between destinations. The inspiration for his experimental dérive came from Paul-Henry Chombart de Lauwe’s study published in 1952. The study showed the detailed movements of a female student over the course of a year. The patterns delineated a small triangle with each of the three vertices showing her home, her school, and the home of her piano teacher (Debord, Theory of the Dérive 1956). The female student’s flat lifestyle infuriated Debord and his efforts within the Situationist International hindered the creation of psychogeography. Psychogeography as a method was used as a “rich source of ideas for exploring, experiencing and, it is hoped, understanding cities (Bassett 2000, 8).” Psychogeography aids in creating a playful spirit in public spaces and ultimately opening our eyes to different possibilities and pathways to explore the city (PInder 2005, 290). The overall goal is to encourage a refreshed understanding of the places we live. Furthermore, members of the Situationist International described it as a rapid and transient passage through a variety of different emotional zones or ambiances (Nieuwenhuys 1974). The dedication to Situationist International theories shows that no individual should be a permanent fixture within a space or city and their constant wandering should result in a grander experience of our urban environments.

During initial conceptions of this Master’s thesis work I believed that the Nuit Blanche contemporary art festival was a perfect and finesse example of psychogeography. In these ‘situations’ participants are encouraged to understand and engage in public spaces in ways that are not customary to daily activities. Nuit Blanche, translated as

‘white night,’ is an urban art festival that originated in Paris in 2002 (Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2006), a fact that made it all the more fitting. The all night contemporary art festival observes the infused interaction of people and places during a dusk-to-dawn event, which is supported by existing, and specifically implemented, infrastructure (Banh 2009, 8). By incorporating Nuit Blanche as a psychogeographic approach to exploring cities public space is able to transgress its typically singular function. However, this is only true for one night out of our 365 calendar days. The entire city in itself becomes a destination and the movement between various exhibits is selective, directed, blocked off and funnelled. The conclusion of the case study showed that Nuit Blanche, although it can be established as a psychogeographic experiment, has many flaws that prohibit it from fulfilling mandates set out by the Situationist International movement. The original research question for this thesis, as outlined in the proposal and program of study asked: “If psychogeography is an extension of Situationist International thought and experimentation, and Nuit Blanche is a manifestation of it; can the combination of these insights inform a design response to better facilitate public interaction in urban space?” The answer of course is yes.

In contemporary 21st century cities it is important to remember that public space is a representation of the city that is more than just a sum of its physical parts. It is the individual user and participant of the urban realm that shapes the city through iterative and interactive experiences and group and communal identity. Juhanni Pallasmaa states, “I dwell in the city and the city dwells in me (Pallasmaa 1999, 40),” and is echoed by Winston Churchill who said that “we shape our buildings, and afterwards they shape us (Sevtsuk 2012, 10).” The current status of our experience of the city is defined by destinations and boundaries that thwart the process of understanding public space as more than a series of destinations. Our experience of the city should include transitions between destinations as well as the transient passage of moments that agglomerate to create a story and association of the urban realm and public space. The journey and exploration of the city should come from an understanding that public spaces are a

“dynamic blend of the built, the demolished, the evolving, the remembered, the sensorial, responding to and changing according to the observer, or rather witness (Zardini 2005, 203).” The creation of this type of environment or more importantly the experience of it can signify rich sensual encounters in places where significant events occur along with social interactions (Oldenburg 1989, 34). Mirko Zardini addresses a key issue that thwarts our understanding and use of public spaces: the necessity for a new and improved design strategy for creating successful and positive public spaces that will encourage diverse uses for diverse groups of users (Zardini 2005, 212). This design strategy doesn’t necessarily encourage nor negate physical design but calls for a more informed understanding of the places we live and dwell within. What is missing is the citizen voice in understanding the places we occupy. What is deemed as ‘public’ should be a place that encourages interaction, creation, expression and individual experience. Free and open participation, therefore, is a key component of dynamic urban environments and foundational to the Situationist International group. More so the reinforcing the dérive or walking effectively gives control of one’s participation to the individual. The missing component is the revolution of everyday life. Raoul Vaneigem stated that “People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse in their mouth (Situationist International Online 2013).” This reference to a tied down and suppressed existence initiates the design solution created in response to this Master’s thesis. As I worked further through attempting to understand the key issues within the urban realm I began to understand that control was also an important component to creating a solution. The major issue to tackle in the design portion of this thesis then became how to accurately designate ownership of individual experiences and expression in public space to improve interaction, creation, and a space void of constraints. Individual citizens do not just have to consume, but they must also be able to invent. The following design exercise includes a Design Brief, a description of the design project, a user experience infographic, and a fully functioning user interface.

Design Brief GOAL The goal of this design brief is to undertake a design exercise that fosters psychogeographic exploration and experience in the urban realm while encouraging the creation of individual expression in the city through spontaneity, happenstance, storytelling, re-imagination, journey and walking. SUB-GOALS To redefine the experience of the city as a journey and not a set of destinations To create a way to foster individual expression and experimentation in public space CONSTRAINTS Must be simple enough to implement in any geographical location Must not require any new infrastructure Cannot be subject to hierarchy or prescriptive actions MATERIALS Concepts, tools and materials available for use in this design exercise include any theory or concept presented in the written portion of this thesis such as the Vita Activa, Design Theories, Criticisms, Psychogeographic precedents, Case Studies, etc. Other materials include the Cityscape, the Nature of Public Space (as explained in the written portion), and existing technologies. DELIVERABLES User Experience Infographic, Design Interface, Written Description

The C.I.T.E.E. Project

Introduction Following extensive research into what is plaguing North American public spaces, an in- depth understanding of what the Situationist International fought for, a comprehensive analysis of current examples of psychogeographic experiments followed by a case study of Nuit Blanche, the following is proposed as a solution to the previously posed problem. The original research question hinged increasing participation in public space but what I found was that the actual problem lays not in a lack of interaction but a lack of ownership and individual creation in public space. Placing a statue in a ‘public space’ does not equate to citizens being inclined to use it. This also does not mean that citizens feel any sort of greater attachment to public space based on yet another curated piece. The C.I.T.E.E. project is a suggestion at what individuals can do in a collective space to regain and reclaim the spaces that are supposedly theirs. It is important to understand public space as a place where ideas and perspectives are exchanged, where everyone has equal access and that it really is more that just a place in space, it is a drama in time (Timmins 2010). Analysis of current public art initiatives shows that citizens want to be engaged in an experience rather than simply observe it. They need to be involved and also feel free to create, to participate, to interact as both audience members and co-creators. Nuit Blanche shows that citizens want to have free reign over the pieces and works that they are involved in. The example with audience members moving around letters to write words, which was an unintentional consequence by the artist, really supports the argument that we want to be included and we want to initiate. Perhaps the best way to do this is to encourage individual agency for temporary amounts of time. The Situationist International fought for increased experience versus commodity. They wanted to humanize the city and this was done by walking and aimlessly wandering. Spontaneity also played an important role in their work and they fought for a city that could relate to the human experience and the promotion of free creation. The design portion of this thesis is based on the principles of

the Situationist International’s construction of situations guided by the principles of Hannah Arendt’s individual and collective groups in the second realm of existence. It embodies a criticism of North American public spaces and how contemporary society has withdrawn from them. A major problem is the increased use of the Internet that is inevitable in the current state of our society. Instead of blaming the influx of information on the Internet I set out to use it to encourage a new understanding of the spaces we live in without further physical redesign based on urban design theories and practices. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present…

The C.I.T.E.E. Project

Figure 40: Logo, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013

The C.I.T.E.E. project stands for “city interventions transcending everyday experiences.” It is a website with an easily implemented process that is not location, financially, or demographically specific. The C.I.T.E.E. Project asks users to peak into a dark corner. To turn into an alleyway that we’ve never seen before. To take a different route. To engage in spontaneity. To walk. To wander. To play. To re-contextualize. To create a journey. To reclaim space. To tell a story. To be an individual. To express ourselves. To explore. To share. To interact. To converse. To identify. To excite. To participate in our cities. At its core the C.I.T.E.E. project seeks to reassess the places we live and dwell in. It is about creating an experience in the city that doesn’t occur there everyday, something beyond ordinary. The C.I.T.E.E. project begins to question our competence of urban space and how we can cultivate our experiences to develop a more in-depth understanding of the places we live, travel to, explore and dwell in. It is a challenge begging us to intervene in public space and the urban realm.

The System

Figure 41: Homepage, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013

The C.I.T.E.E. project has been established in a way that does not require any financial sponsorship or newly implemented infrastructure – digital or physical. The entire project is hosted on a website and connected to Twitter and Facebook. Websites are the fastest way to gain, share and exchange information. The benefit of using the Internet and a website is the ability to reach the largest crowd in the shortest amount of time. Twitter is a social networking site launched in 2006 (Twitter 2013). It is a simple way to stay connected with other Twitter users without being overwhelmed by long messages. Tweets are composed of 140 characters and can include photos and links that automatically get disseminated to followers. Twitter is a fantastic platform for change and community growth. In fact “everyday, [the platform is] inspired by stories of people using Twitter to help make the world a better place in unexpected ways (Twitter 2013).” The C.I.T.E.E. project is only one example of how to make cities better and Twitter is an ideal way to distribute our message. Facebook is the second media platform being used in conjunction with the C.I.T.E.E. project. Facebook allows people to “share and make the world more open and connected (Facebook 2013).” The benefit of using both Facebook and Twitter is the array of individuals that will have access to the information posted on behalf of the C.I.T.E.E. project.

Figure 42: Facebook Page, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 100

Figure 43: Twitter Feed, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013

The Process

Figure 44: User Experience Map, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013

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The process is simple. Select an intervention, experience the intervention in your city, tell a story and share your intervention. The rules are simple. Have fun, explore and please do not cause any damage to property or people. Do not break the law or partake in any illegal activities. Next, you should encourage others to do the same transcending your everyday knowledge of the city. It is an important project because it can start a conversation and initiate a collection of experiences of the city within the urban realm. The intervention begins to question how we understand the spaces around us, how we individually express ourselves in these spaces, and how we interact and associate with public spaces. C.I.T.E.E. forces one to question how we mark an experience and/or memory of space, and how our emotions and experiences can develop into communal stories and a collective identity. The C.I.T.E.E. project invites you to participate in reassessing our public spaces by undertaking an intervention, experiencing it in a physical location, and then sharing your experiences through social media and the website.

The Intervention The intervention within the C.I.T.E.E. project is the core goal. The website outlines existing examples such as yarn bombing, parkour, flash mobs, Nuit Blanche, and the moving forest. The actual interventions that users are encouraged to complete are original to this site and project. There is a limited amount of interventions listed because the purpose is to have this site be a self-sufficient entity. It is a goal to encourage users to not only follow an intervention but to contribute another idea as well. The current original interventions include: • Chalk arrows: select three colors of chalk and draw three different paths through the city. Send a tweet through our site to show the starting location of the arrows. Users will follow the arrows through a random journey of the city. There is no end goal other then to explore based on random chalk arrows. Upload your experience through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. • Emotional zones: different areas of the city can be associated with certain

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emotions. Upload how you feel in specific areas of the city. Upload an emotion, a song, or a photo. Eventually users will be able to explore cities based on areas where others have felt happy, sad, etc. Furthermore if the exercise asks to upload a song the end result can be a psychogeographic playlist of the city. • Chronic storytelling: participants can print QR codes online and place them in any location in the city. The coordinates of the QR code will be uploaded to map online. Every time someone scans the codes they are prompted to start a story, add to it, share emotions or visuals. The purpose is to create a constantly evolving story by the individuals who visit these spaces. • #______oftheday: one user can create a written list with one featured item each day. The purpose is to find examples of these things throughout the city. No specific physical locations are provided but the city becomes defined by the items and visuals to a shared upload location. This can be based on a Twitter feed or this website. Upload your experience and create a combined expression of the city. One example can be #bikeoftheday. • Sound scavenger hunts: tweet a few written descriptions of sounds (ex. Bird chirping, train horn) and post them to twitter or this website. The purpose is for participants to record these sounds within the city and upload them to our Twitter feed. Sounds can be uploaded from one day or this can be an on-going experiment/experience. Others can later choose journeys based on uploaded sounds. Please note that no geographic or physical locations will be shown. Explore the city through sound. • Re-drawing tourism: remove a stack of maps from tourist destinations and redraw routes based on your own experience of the city and favorite places to see and explore. Share your experience with us. Explore the city like locals or other psychogeographers.

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Figure 45: Homepage, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 1)

Figure 46: Description, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 2)

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Figure 47: Project Details, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 3)

Figure 48: Disclaimer, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 4)

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Figure 49: The Interventions, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 5)

Figure 50: Share/Social Media Page, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 6)

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Figure 51: About, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Optional Step 7)

Figure 52: Add Page, The C.I.T.E.E. Project, 2013 (Step 8)

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Sharing photos, videos and sound through the social media pages created specifically for this project is a vital component of the C.I.T.E.E. project. Individual expression and the freedom to create is a core goal of the Situationist International movement. Hannah Arendt argues that man’s success needs to be seen and acknowledged by others in public space – now the Internet is where this can be accomplished as well. Outside of these reasons the C.I.T.E.E. project aims to foster interaction not only for the individual but also for the collective and therefore some of the interventions are dependent on sharing insights and information. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook are the perfect platforms for instantaneous uploads and information sharing that currently exists. The final step in participating in the C.I.T.E.E. project is adding to the list of potential interventions. This is where the opportunity to encourage ownership and creation really flourishes. In this manner users cannot only generate and participate in their own experiments but they also gain ownership of the C.I.T.E.E. project itself. A moderator only exists to ensure that the rules are being followed and no illegal or offensive activity is being posted online. At first the individual or group who instigated the project fulfill the role of moderator. The purpose of the moderator is to ensure the continuity of the project in various locations, updating new interventions, and encouraging an iterative use of the website. The benefits of accepting the responsibility of moderating the project are two-fold – positively impacting the growth of vibrant urban centres and potential monetary gain if the project eventually obtains sponsorship. Once the project has gained popularity it is hoped that tourism boards in city centres will use The C.I.T.E.E. Project as a method of advertising travel and exploration. Other than this the website belongs to the users who create their experiences in the city and then share with a wider audience. The C.I.T.E.E. project is not intended for singular use, specific geographic locations, financial or corporate support, or extreme moderation. It is about a specific moment in the life of the city. C.I.T.E.E. is simply a platform used to encourage citizens of the urban realm to participate and take ownership of the places they live and dwell in. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better (1844).” The desired results not only increase

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the amount of time spent in the urban realm, but also improve interaction amongst citizens and spaces, and provide individual agency for creation and ownership while fostering citizen voice and participation.

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CONCLUSION The Art of Jaywalking has truly been an exercise in versatility and adaptability and has changed forms more times than I can remember. In it’s original version it was meant as a criticism, a holistic look at the diminished use of public space in the urban realm. At it’s commencement it seemed like the solution was a simple one, one that already exists in the form of unusual and exciting contemporary art festivals. However, upon further insight and review it became quickly apparent that there were far more facets to the problem at hand. Society’s consumer-driven needs replaced essential human interaction in public spaces. As we began to withdraw from the urban realm and slowly slithered into mediocre suburban lifestyles, the form and experience of the city changed as well. What started off as an exercise in understanding a group of radical change- driven individuals became the heart and soul of this thesis in the form it has today. The Situationist International group fought for independence from consumerism and capitalist thought, promoted dérive and détournement and eventually formed psychogeography. Psychogeographic experiments can be practiced in everyday life and can be promoted as a way of understanding the urban environments we dwell in. This theory became a way to designate ownership of individual expression in public space, a component of improving interaction and encouraging people to engage in dialogue about the city. Furthermore, the unconventional methods of the Situationist International group fostered an environment that allowed for citizen voice and creation. The ability to create in public spaces is vital to improving the urban realm because citizens can not just consume but must also be able to add to the vitality of the places they call home.

The C.I.T.E.E. Project is just one way to encourage interaction, ownership and creation in public space. At the moment, it is in a conceptual stage because it has not yet been published on the Internet. The rugged design of the website interface along with the straightforward manner in which it is set-up is meant to present a challenge. It is a call to take advantage of the available technology to disseminate ideas about how to

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engage in our communities. Upon launch of the website I truly believe it will be a successful entity because it is not location specific, nor does it require any financial backing. The only current downfall of The C.I.T.E.E. Project is the necessity of a moderator. Unfortunately it is not a plausible solution to allow open access to all users because the site would become littered with irrelevant or repetitive information. The goal of the design brief was to undertake a design exercise that fosters psychogeographic exploration and experience in the urban realm while encouraging the creation of individual expression in the city through spontaneity, happenstance, storytelling, re-imagination, journey and walking. Based on the set goals I believe The C.I.T.E.E. Project is successful. By embarking on an adventure to complete an intervention in public space the project has already enticed users to create an individual experience and experiment as well as a new conception of the places where we live. Furthermore, sharing images and stories through the online platform re-defines the city in a digital manner. The constraints set in the design brief stated that the solution must be simple and not require any new infrastructure, must be easily implementable in any geographic location and must not be subject to hierarchy or prescriptive actions. Unfortunately the design solution was not successful in abolishing hierarchy – due to maintaining a moderator, and is slightly prescriptive due to the initial interventions posted by the moderator. Overall, The C.I.T.E.E. Project was successful in attaining the goals set in the design brief.

Jaywalking is the motion of crossing a path where it is not intended to be crossed. John Roger said that urban change is about “people regularly stepping outside the matrix, taking to the streets and walking, becoming active participants rather than passive spectators. This revolution of everyday life is a radical shift that starts with placing one foot in front of the other (2013).” This Master’s thesis, The Art of Jaywalking, is a research project that attempts to jolt citizens into a new awareness of the environments that surround us everyday. It is a call for a revolution of everyday life through implementing experiments and theories set out by a group of revolutionaries. It is

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challenge that seeks to encourage an in-depth understanding of the current status of society, its recent changes, how experts are working to re-claim and re-define cities, and how we as citizens can interact with and within the urban realm.

| Beauty is in the streets. – Situationist International Poster |

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REFERENCES: Figures

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Figure 20: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Bridge Statues in Prague.” 2012. Photograph.

Figure 21: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Busker.” 2012. Photograph. Figure 22: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Intensity.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 23: The Fun Theory. “Piano Stairs.” 2009. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://www.flickr.com/photos/43503544@N03/4008580660/

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Figure 24: Glogger. “FUNtain Hydraulophone.” 2006. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hydraulophone_at_Ontario_Science_Centre_imgp4940r p.jpg

Figure 25: Torres, Alex. “Zombie Walk.” 2006. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://www.flickr.com/photos/psicoloco/6294245570/

Figure 26: Detroit Urbex. “Abandoned Church.” 2009. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://detroiturbex.com

Figure 27: Eppink, Jason. “Moving Forest @ Urban Play.” 2008. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoneppink/2872433753/

Figure 28: Vormann, Jan. “LEGO Cracks.” 2010. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://ubspace.blogspot.ca/2010/05/artist-uses-lego-blocks-to-rebuild-new.html

Figure 29: Vider. “Guerilla Gardening.” No date. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=7743

Figure 30: O’Connor, Dan. “PARK(ing) Days.” 2010. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://www.flickr.com/photos/doconnr/4999109760/

Figure 31: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Scotia Plaza.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 32: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Yonge-Dundas Square.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 33: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “NPS Panorama.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 34: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “QP Panorama.” 2011. Photograph.

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Figure 35: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “City Mouse.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 36: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Face Music.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 37: Partyka, Katie. “Flightpath.” 2011. Photograph.

Figure 38: City of Toronto. “100 Ages by Jason de Haan.” 2011. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://www.toronto.ca/special_events/nuitblanche/post2011_zone_a.htm

Figure 39: City of Toronto. “TESTtubes by Subject to Change Design Collective.” 2011. Accessed: 2/11/2013. http://uwaterloo.ca/architecture/projects-photo-gallery/nuit-blanche-toronto- october-2011/testtubes

Figure 40: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Logo.” 2013. Adobe Illustrator File.

Figure 41: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Homepage.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 42: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Facebook Page.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 43: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Twitter Page.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 44: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “User Experience.” 2013. Adobe Illustrator File.

Figure 45: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Homepage.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 46: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Description.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 47: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Project Details.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

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Figure 48: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Disclaimer.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 49: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “The Interventions.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 50: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Share/Social Media Page.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 51: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “About.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

Figure 52: Dmuchowska, Natalia. “Add Page.” 2013. Website Screen Shot.

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APPENDIX A: A Case Study

Appendix Aa: Study Site Selection

A: Scotia Plaza during not programmed days, 2011

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B: Yonge-Dundas Square during not programmed days, 2011

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C: Nathan Phillips Square during not programmed days, 2011

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D: Queen’s Park during not programmed days, 2011

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Appendix Ab: Observation and Analysis

Ab.i: Blank maps used to record notes for both programmed and not programmed observation days

A: Scotia Plaza

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B: Yonge-Dundas Square

C: Nathan Phillips Square

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D: Queen’s Park

E: General Map

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Ab.ii: Notes from not programmed observation days:

A: Scotia Plaza:

June 16th, 2011 – 9:30am

• Weather: 20 degrees Celsius, partly cloudy • Entrance points off Adelaide St. W, and King St. • Movement inside, people just moving through, not lingering in lobby • Construction on Adelaide Street all in front of the Scotia Building • Lots of bike racks on both entrance points • Demographics: 25+, ‘business’ • Located in Business district • RBC next door • Across street are CIBC and Canadian Bank of Commerce • Big flowerpots • Very pretty with lot of vegetation • Lots of through traffic • No seating outside, only on steps (on south side of building) Six benches on north side of building • Lots of people smoking until the construction scaffolding because smoking is not permitted in plaza • To the west is lots of Construction (new Trump building) • All streets around are extremely busy with traffic • Lots of pedestrians crossing street as well (not at lights)

June 21st, 2011 – 2:00pm

• Bike racks moved from South side to North side of building • Lots of people smoking under construction scaffolding • Not as busy since it’s not the morning • Foot traffic mostly walking on sidewalks on perimeter of building • Construction same as previous observation days

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B: Yonge-Dundas Square

June 8th, 2011 – 11:00am

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius • Tourism Week, Ontario Travel • Concerts happening (including Shania Twin [impersonator]) • Lots of people watching concert, lingering, walking around square • Vendors around entire plaza • Movement and circulation of people mostly around the rows of tents • Beer tent set-up

June 16th, 2011 – 12:00pm

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius • Lots of lingering tourists • Music Festival on: Spinner.ca (June 13-19th) • People sitting at tables • Stage set-up • Festival not happening yet, just setting up • Approximately 200 people (including people setting up the festival) • Sponsored by Monster Energy Drink • Vendor tents set-up • Age demographics: 20-25+ • Not many families • Temporary beer tent set-up

June 21st 2011 – 2:00pm

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius • Aboriginal History Celebration Month • Stage set up for performances • Lots of lingering • Lots of vendors and petitioners • Very loud • Demographics: many Aborginal people, 17+, quite a few families • Tents set up in row parallel to Dundas Street

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C: Nathan Phillips Square

June 8th, 2011 – 5:00pm

• Weather: 26 degrees Celsius • Water not in fountain yet • Farmer’s Market in Northwest corner; closing • Many people passing through as the workday is over • Not many people stopping to sit or enjoy the public space • Construction on along the entire west wall and in entrance to ramp for overpass

June 15th, 2011 – 10:30am

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius • People sitting with coffee and newspapers • Lots of tour groups stopping on the south side (Queen Street) and taking photos • Tour Bus stop along Queen Street • Water in fountain this time • Lots of birds • Construction (same as previous visit) • As well, construction along north east side, right at entrance to Town Hall • Vendors all along Queen Street (bus meals)

June 21st, 2011 – 2:45pm

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius • Most park benches occupied • Construction in same zones as previous observation day • No tourists today • Many more people coming and staying at the square instead of simply passing through • Demographics: 25+, mostly ‘business’ people

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D: Queen’s Park

June 16th, 2011 – 11:15am

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius • People resting, drawing, taking photos, running • Lots of people just passing through • Younger crowd (the park is situated within the confines of the University of Toronto) • Few children with parents • One school group (high school) • Tour group • All around the road is busy with through traffic • Lots of seating (park benches) and picnic tables • Garbage cans and recycling • Public art/Statues • Various trees and displays showing the types of trees • Approximately 15 people stopped in park; remainder are passing through

June 21st, 2011 – 12:30pm

• Weather: 25 degrees Celsius • Tourists reading historical importance of park and displays about trees in the area • Lots of lamps for night and lots of garbage cans • Fewer families with children today • Many individuals having lunch • Sitting and reading • Many tourists taking pictures and looking at statue in center of park • Bikers passing through • Lots of people biking and soaking in the sun • Many students from the University of Toronto • Traffic circles the park but still relatively quiet

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Ab.iii: E-mail sent to Volunteers including instructions:

Dear Friends,

As most of you know I am currently a student at the University of Calgary working towards achieving my Master of Environmental Design degree. My thesis work is focused on facilitating public interaction in urban space. As a vital component of my preliminary research I spent a large portion of my summer observing 4 public spaces in downtown Toronto; 1) Queen’s Park, 2) Yonge-Dundas Square, 3) Nathan Phillip’s Square, and 4) Scotia Plaza. The purpose of these observations was to gain an in depth understanding of the intricate workings of flows and circulations within and around space but also use and functionality of that space, both in permanent and temporary infrastructure. The next portion of my research is to observe these same spaces over multiple time lapses during the Nuit Blanche event. I am mostly concerned with the structures that are put into place to support the transient art exhibits but also the infrastructure that helps to mobilize the massive quantities of spectators who attend the one-night-a-year phenomenon. Based on the combination of observation materials I will attempt to create what I have deemed the ‘Nuit-Blanch-Hangover,’ i.e. trying to figure out how to facilitate the type of public space interaction that occurs during Nuit Blanche and make it a more permanent response to public space on a holistic scale.

This being said, I need your help dear friends. I am only one person and Nuit Blanche only occurs for one night a year. No pressure but the completion of my thesis dissertation in a timely manner depends on you! IF you are free (and I won’t hold it against you if you aren’t) on October 1st 2011 I could really really really use an hour or two of your time. It’s a fairly simple task but requires some dedicated time in each of the public spaces listed above. Essentially I would provide all necessary materials (maps, notepads, pens, mickey of liquid of your choice) for you to document the movement of people and the temporary infrastructure within those spaces. We would meet in one area in downtown on Saturday early evening to discuss and then split up to our respective public plazas. It would be great if we could do this at least with one other person as to not get lonely (or be considered an alcoholic). If there are enough lovely volunteers we should be done by midnight and then we can continue to engage in the public discussion regarding the bright white night, or we can reconvene at a liquor- dispensing zone. Please see below for further information regarding each of the four research locations. The only other thing I ask is that you bring a camera and take as many photos and videos as possible in your respective zones.

Thank you so much for considering and especially thank you to those of you who have already agreed to help

Hope to hear from you all and see you soon! Natalia

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INSTRUCTIONS:

TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES AND VIDEOS

Things to Observe: Temporary infrastructure Stage, washroom facilities, food & beverage vendors Circulation and flow of the masses Where people tend to spend more time What people are looking at How people move in and out of the space Which are the most dominant entrance and exit points General demographics of individuals (overall assumptions about age) Special features Things that stick out in the space that are out of the ordinary Special Road Conditions Construction Road closures Busy roads/not busy roads Cars, bikes, scooters, skateboards, unicorns, velociraptors Misc. Underpasses, overpasses, bridges, fountains Closed access points

Please see the following link for further information regarding the Nuit Blanche event: http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/home.shtml

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Ab.iv: List of Volunteers:

Roberta Amatiello Gregg Henderson Maggie Partyka Arun Jacob Kasia Sitko Katie Partyka Alexandra Paolini Paul Demarco Mark Lugowski Andrew Lugowski Paul Sitko

Ab.v: Notes from programmed (Nuit Blanche) observation day – October 1st, 2011:

A: Scotia Plaza:

9:20pm (Berta, Gregg)

1) The installation, not very visible from the street, didn’t know that there was something there until we walked right up to the front doors 2) On the side of the building facing Adelaide was a large projection screen This gave us the indication that something was there The center area was blocked, had to walk around to get closer Very crowded in this area Notes

• Age was mainly elderly people around 50-60 • Inside the plaza was not busy at all although installations existed here • Lots of car traffic on King Street • Many pedestrians walking up and down Bay • Road closure for cars on Bay Street

10:25pm (Maggie, Natalia)

• Installation inside not very busy and very dark • Adelaide was open for cars • Projection screen on the outside of the Scotia building was attached to two tablets where you could choose from 9 artists to display their work

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• Very interactive exhibit • Also an exhibit called Intensity • Media Pass worked to get in here (my favourite from all of them) • Couldn’t see inside the tent until you were in there • Not very accessible for wheelchairs • Very crowded • Bathrooms on the North side of this square

11:20pm

• Temporary Infrastructure: o Stage: no, although there exists a platform which is the control center for the display o Washroom: 5 port-o-potties (4 blue, 1 grey – wheelchair accessible) o Food and beverage venders: no • Circulation and Flow: o Line-up for Intensity tent, also for large screen tablets o People moving into plaza via King Street and the parallel North street o Demographics: 20-30 • Special Features: o Digital display with control panel o Booths set-up in the square o Medical assistance o Security o Advertisements (ScotiaFluxe [globes]) o Intensity – a fresh perspective on urban living • Special Road Conditions: o King Street open to traffic but mostly people walking across the street o Next parallel street north blocked off to traffic with pic-nic benches and food vendors

B: Yonge-Dundas Square

10:30pm (Berta, Gregg)

1) Stage – a crowd was gathered by the state but nothing was happening yet 2) Information Booth – lots and lots of people It was the main entrance and exit near Yonge Street. Very difficult to move around 3) Vendor booths along South edge of the square – approximately 3-4 4) Very bottle necked entrance that caused people to move very slowly

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5) Vending machines near regular ticket sales

Notes

• The square itself wasn’t too bad as far as being able to move, but the side walks and the streets were a disaster. Very angry drivers and pedestrians • Yonge Street closed south of Dundas • Demographics: teenagers (between 16-20) • Sign indicated that the bathrooms were located in the underground parking • Fenced off at area from mall into the square due to the stage and installation set- up

11:30pm (Maggie, Natalia)

• Lots of people drinking • Lots of street performers including Batman • Large array of policemen and security • Angry drivers on Dundas • Busiest at the corner of Yonge and Dundas • Installation: Face Music • Manager was very good at explaining what the installation was about and didn’t have any trouble getting in with the Media Pass • Installation: Arms follow heat and movement then find the face. This is takes an image and pixelates it and turns it into a sound. • Only 12 people allowed at a time on the stage

10:00pm (Arun, Kasia)

• Multidirectional flow of traffic • Medical Tent • Drum Circles • Buskers • Food options and vending machines • Face Music: a group of soft-skinned robotic sculptures turns people’s faces into music • Busiest location • People lined up for popcorn and free swag

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C: Nathan Phillips Square

10:00pm (Berta, Gregg)

1) Main entrance and exit at corner closest to Bay and Queen Slow moving from Bay Street and very crowded 2) Mini installation, a dance scene close to the main entrance May be the cause of entrance crowding because people stopped to look 3) Chess tables/seats were heavily used to sit and eat Busy, messy with garbage however the cleaning crew came and cleaned instantly 4) Northeast entrance/exit was not busy at all. Few people used it to get back onto Bay Street 5) Participation line for Flight School at Northwest corner. After a few moments of confusion we realized that people were lining up to be zip lined as part of the installation. It wasn’t a very big line up Not sure if many people knew it was there due to it being all the way in the back 6) Northwest entrance/exit, again not really in use 7) Bathrooms were located just outside of the square (8 of them)

Notes

• Scaffolding was a big part of the installation • Zip lines connected to each scaffolding • There were 7 total plus the light display in the middle • Demographics: young, 20-25 • When someone was going to zip line everyone’s attention turned to look up and see them go across to the next scaffolding

10:15pm (Alex, Paul, Andrew)

• Demographics: 80% <30, 10% 30-50, 10% >50 • Normal fashion, no hipsters or ‘artsy’ people • 40% couples, 40% friends, 19% families, 1% solo • Garbages were very full • Upper walkway used as “gallery” for spectators, very passive • Upper walkway used as conduit to run power and data cables • Zip line guy caused people to stop, watch for a little bit, cheer when he goes • Food smell everywhere • Tents by ramps are empty and ignored by the crowd • 50% of spectators = excited conversation, 50% of spectators = silence 146

• Persistent cannabis aroma • Transit, emergency vehicles, bottleneck at Queen and Bay, otherwise unimpeded • Information Station at southwest corner has 6 volunteers and lots of maps • Picture taking in spot in front of active fountain, using illuminated city hall as backdrop • Public drinking, no concern about persecution • Many cyclists walked with their bikes • Construction trailers not related to festival • Washrooms not packed, but no signage – had to ask security for location • People waiting outside washrooms for friends • Take on ground looks like specific pathways but are ignored by people

10:15pm

• Temporary Infrastructure: o Stage, none o Washrooms, yes o Food and Beverage Vendors, yes on Queen Street • Circulation/Flow: o People lining up along Queen Street but majority are coming into Nathan Phillip’s Square o Congregating in the center, looking at scaffolding (4) set up to accommodate the attraction o The installation is a suspended ride from one tower (scaffolding) to the next on a wire attached to a platform in the shape of a bird o Most people are looking at this ride and screens set up at the north side of the square, actually, many of them at the screens. o Average age, 30 o Entry from Queen Street, exit at Northeast and back down Queen to Bay o People are looking up at the scaffolding ad at the lasers in the middle of the square • Special Features: o Scaffolding as previously mentioned and lasers set up in the center of the square expelling light 360 degrees around the square, and some smoke machines o Overpasses used for a view of the entire square • Special Road Conditions: o No road closure on Queen Street o Bay is closed

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11:40pm

• People using their offices as vantage point • Paramedic truck present • Fenced off administration area right at entrance into City Hall • Handing out paper models of the flight simulator • Scattered passive observers along upper tier of walkway, just watching • No real sense of proper direction since area flow is dynamic and changing • Smells like Ganja • Occasional crowding near scaffolding and stairs • Pictures being taken everywhere • Mostly groups of people (3-10) Information station not so popular • Less dense near scaffolding • Smoke machine in Northwest corner • Wouldn’t accept media pass to bi-pass line • Very “Gotham City”-esque • Some exhibits on the outside perimeter of the square • Dynamic crowd

D: Queen’s Park

11:00pm (Berta, Gregg)

Two Exhibits

1) The first installation was mobile. Man on crane putting gold rings on trees. People gather to watch but only a few. He was moving all over the park

2) The second installation was a round 360 degree projection Mane people gathered on the inside, many people were also on the outside Great that you could see the videos from inside and out, especially for those who did not want to line up. Yes, there was a line. Notes

• The main entrance was coming from South to North but people came from all directions because it was all open • Man playing bongo drums • Very student/hipster oriented crowd • Ages 20-30

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• If it wasn’t for being assigned to go there we would not have known there was an installation • It was really far back into the park • There was no signage only a Scotia tent very south on College Street

11:36pm (Alex, Paul, Andrew)

• During the walk between the venues, the non-event art (statues) were completely ignored, off for an “art” event • Washrooms were empty but recently de-stenched • When people see non-event workers they pause to make sure it isn’t art • We were approached and asked if we were in a specific art course • “Ring in trees” guy on zoom-boom and we could not see the rings • Pre-existing bus shelters were not utilized • We got funny looks for taking notes • One Exhibit (The Beast of Trimalchio) was a 360 degree projection o The audience inside the ring of screens and focused highly on the movie o Audience outside of ring focused on movie and in no hurry to get inside • People on bikes rarely got off them and just pulled up to the exhibits • People preferred pushing through crowd instead of waiting for an opening

12:01pm

• Exhibit 1: The Feast of Trimalcho o Video installation o Temporary stage set up for showing video o People are mostly centered around here (200+) o Demographic: 17-30 o People casually move in and out o Average time spent here, approximately 15-20 minutes o Circular stage – no definite entrance/exit • Glowing light signs o “Indian Land Show Some Respect” o “Let’s Judge Ourselves as People” o “Tell It Like It Is” • GARDA Security • Overheard people’s conversation asking, “What is the Point?” • Street blocked on Avenue • Unofficial ‘pot-smoking-bongo-drummers’

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• As I walked south on University I intercepted a barricade on Wellesley St., guarded by a very docile security guard who watched as my life was almost taken from me by a man attempting to run through the barricade on a red light • Very multicultural and overheard many different languages among the crowds

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Ab.vi: Visual Representations of Synthesized

The grey images represent the programmed (Nuit Blanche) days, and the yellow represent not programmed days. The top two images show fluidity and movement throughout the space. The bottom two images show where large groups clustered in the space. The grey images also portray specifically implemented infrastructure for the event and are shown with dark outlines.

A: Scotia Plaza

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B: Yonge-Dundas Square

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C: Nathan Phillips Square

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D: Queen’s Park

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Appendix Ac: Survey Results

Ac.i: Notes on Nuit Blanche Survey Results (City of Toronto, 2010)

● As per past years, the vast majority of 2010 attendees reside in Toronto (77%). On par with 2009, nearly two in ten (16%) were visitors to Toronto. Based on postal/zip code, 7% of attendees can be identified as tourists using the definition of living more than 100 km from Toronto. ● About half (48%) of self-reported visitors planned to stay overnight ● A third (35%) of visitors indicated Nuit Blanche was their primary reason for their visit to Toronto ● In 2010, attendees spent more time at Nuit Blanche than in 2009-2008, with eight in ten (81% vs. 71% in 2009 and 2008) spending more than three hours. ● Attendees were generally satisfied with their experience at Nuit Blanche; three quarters (75%) said they are very or somewhat satisfied with the event. ● Nearly nine in ten (86%) attendees said they will definitely or probably attend Nuit Blanche next year, up five points since 2009. ● Regarding navigation, about half of visitors said they “just wandered” to get around while a third (35%) picked up a map or guide at the event. ● Word of mouth has increased nine points since last year and continues to be the primary way attendees have heard about the event (46% 2010 vs. 37%-35% in 2009-2007 respectively). ● Nearly one million people attended, including close to 140,000 out of town visitors. ● The economic impact of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2010 was calculated to be $34.7 million with an additional $4.4 million spillover impact for the Province of Ontario - a 48 per cent increase over 2009. ● Eight-in-ten attendees live in Toronto or GTA, similar to previous years. Overall, in 2010,16%of attendees were visitors (from outside the GTA).

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Ac:ii: Where Attendees Are From (City of Toronto, 2010)

Ac.iii: Tourists (Based On Postal Code) (City of Toronto, 2010)

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Ac: iv: Time Spent And Number Of Zones Visited (City of Toronto, 2010)

Ac.v: Way-finding At Nuit Blanche (City of Toronto, 2010)

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Ac.vi: Past Attendance And Future Intentions (City of Toronto, 2010)

Ac.vii: Demographics – Gender And Age (City of Toronto, 2010)

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Appendix Ad: Interviews

Ad.i: Interview Questions

1) Has Nuit Blanche become an important component of city life in Toronto? Why 2) What are the fundamental infrastructural (both temporary and permanent) features to making Nuit Blanche an accessible and successful event? 3) When setting up this type of event, how do you know what the public wants? And how do you (the organizers/the host city) respond to these requirements? 4) How do you determine your target audience? How does your planning adjust based on the demographics of the users? 5) How does Nuit Blanche use urban space to facilitate public interaction? 6) If you could choose one aspect of Nuit Blanche and make it a permanent public space feature, what would it be and how would you do it?

Ad.ii: Interview Transcript for Joe Sellors, June 7, 2011, 2:00pm

1) Has Nuit Blanche become an important component of city life in Toronto? Why

Yes, after six years people just know about it, at first they didn’t. The economic impact alone was $35 million in 2010. It’s a place where citizens come together, but more importantly it transforms space. We take art and with it transform space. It becomes something new, whether you live in Toronto or come in specifically to view the Nuit Blanche event. The event/art transforms new space or everyday space. We push people into alleyways and staircases that they walk by everyday but never venture down.

2) What are the fundamental infrastructural (both temporary and permanent) features to making Nuit Blanche an accessible and successful event?

Our incident management plans are “bullet-proof.” City services are probably the most important infrastructural features of the event. We are very good at preventative maintenance ad have never had a real incident. Also important are police, fire, and emergency medical services. As well we must look at cleanliness or solid waste plans (recycling and garbage). The goal (which we have reached) is 70% diversion (i.e. recycling). Municipal licensing is also important and we pay due diligence to building permits and take care of it all on our own. And then there’s dealing with the artists. We must maintain the integrity of the art pieces while making sure our safety codes and regulations are also maintained. For the artist exhibits, we hire curators. There are ten major exhibits in each zone (3zones) and each exhibit has its own curator that exhibits

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10 pieces. These curators are outsourced. Then we have our open-call process. This is geared towards grassroots and local artists and there are five per exhibition area. And of course we have our project at city hall that is contingent on grants and available funding. And lastly we have our independent projects (approximately 100 per year). We advertise to artists who apply and our artistic advisory committee selects which ones will be displayed. The city only selects and advertises independent projects. And sometimes we have sponsored projects where we pair an artist with the sponsor.

3) When setting up this type of event, how do you know what the public wants? And how do you (the organizers/the host city) respond to these requirements?

There is no target audience. After the first year of Nuit Blanche we know what types of people come to Nuit Blanche. We conduct a survey on the night of the event looking at demographics, whether or not the people attending are tourists, how they got to the event, etc. The event is not necessarily geared to what people want because it is an art show. One of the stricter mandates is for the artists to make their exhibits interactive (what with smartphones, ex. E-tower). It is the job of the curators to bring the audience to the table. Venue and location are extremely important though. If we find a cool space, we want to use it, but it really depends on capacity. We can’t have a project space for 100 people if we know there are one million attending. The goal for 2011 is to have exhibits with no line-ups, so making them accessible for simply viewing and if an individual wants to be involved they can also participate. The venues are public, private, and city owned. We contract everyone involved, even if we are just using one wall of their building. Social media is also extremely important ant this year we’re hoping to introduce in-event navigation. People come out for Nuit Blanche for the art of the spectacle, a common purpose and reason to be in the city at night. Our planning overlaps with years, i.e. we are on an 18 month planning cycle. Maybe it’s so successful because its once a year? Ryerson and OCAD are also very involved.

4) If you could choose one aspect of Nuit Blanche and make it a permanent public space feature, what would it be and how would you do it?

The Spectacle. Vendors are more of a necessity. This year vendors and facilities will be in designated areas, almost another destination. I wish we could keep the spontaneity of Nuit Blanche and make it permanent. The spectacle should be available to all 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all the time. Something that makes you think and it doesn’t necessarily have to be interactive but that always helps.

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Ad.iii: Interview Transcript for Michal Stricker-Talbot, June 7, 2011, 4:00pm

1) Has Nuit Blanche become an important component of city life in Toronto? Why

Undoubtedly. There is a certain magic that happens. Torontonians are sort of known as jaded. When we walk through public space our eyes are straight, our elbows are out, and if we’re not looking straight ahead we’re busy with our iPods and smartphones. During Nuit Blanche people are playful. They engage with each other and the art, and then talk about it with strangers. The city becomes so playful around art. I can’t think of another festival or event that has the equivalent effect. It’s obviously important since it’s a 12 hour event that brings in over a million people. It’s an economic driver for the city and is one of the top events in Toronto. It really speaks to how people interact with the event.

2) What are the fundamental infrastructural (both temporary and permanent) features to making Nuit Blanche an accessible and successful event?

We really work towards making Nuit Blanche as accessible as possible in all senses of the word: for those with limited mobility, with our spaces in terms of capacities, and in minimizing wait times to view an exhibit. In terms of programming, the art needs to meet the needs of the audience. The recent problem we were working with is line-ups. We have decided to create two lines, one for those who want to participate in the installations, and a second for those who just want to view it. Artistic decisions are left to the curators and artists. We work towards having a large scope in artistic practices and genres. We want the audience’s experience to be large as well. Even if the work isn’t participatory the audience makes and loves participatory art. For example a few years ago an artist set up TVs and block letters carefully around an old warehouse. The artists were shocked with the audience members began moving the letters to write poems, haikus, or just spell out words. It’s as if the audience almost expects participatory art. We think it’s because art is historically taboo; it’s an experience that people are removed from. Art in galleries is behind glass or is not allowed to be touched. Nuit Blanche eliminates all these boundaries. You can touch, plus it helps that it’s an all-night rather than an all-day event. This in itself is breaking a boundary. One hope is that Nuit Blanche will expose art to new things and art; people might be able to experience it in more traditional venues.

3) When setting up this type of event, how do you know what the public wants? And how do you (the organizers/the host city) respond to these requirements?

We are very serious about audience feedback. We want to meet the needs of the audience. WE do this through social media tracking and work towards addressing concerns and comments. And of course there are the economic indicators. Feedback is always welcomed. Throughout the event, and even within the city and our

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department we really try to remove boundaries. This is done to allow people to get in touch with us and throughout the event to allow people to interact with and experience art in a new way. Facebook and Twitter are used for feedback but also as navigational tools. We had an app for Nuit Blanche navigation before there was even a movement called apps. We really capitalized on it. Our app is the night navigation app – a navigational tool for getting around the city. We also receive feedback from our surveys. These surveys record demographics, experience, where people are from, whether or not they’re tourists and sponsor recall. The surveys are mostly used to as economic indicators but they also provide valuable information about what the audience wants. We monitor media and media stories and respond to questions and concerns as necessary. As for social media, we mostly track Twitter and Facebook. After each Nuit Blanche we have several post-martems for each exhibition, the curators, artists, volunteers, and as a whole team.

4) What is the most important feature of Nuit Blanche?

It encourages people to engage with the city in a new way. It transforms public space. When art responds to a particular space it becomes magical. In 2008 in Liberty Village there was a bridge that connected two buildings. We thought, ‘we have to do something here!’ We found an artist who filled the buildings with oil drums with letters written on them. The letters spelled out Dadaist poetry. The space became reimagined and repurposed. It becomes so ephemeral. Its popularity comes from the fact that it happens once a year and it is all night. Every Nuit Blanche is a once in a lifetime experience; a specific energy and pulse. It has a tangible impact on the city and contributes to the quality of public life. It’s as if all inhibitions fall away at night; people’s true identity comes out? Or maybe they just feel like they can be themselves more? Nuit Blanche just allows for this to happen. “The tangibles become intangible – you have to be here to get it.”

5) If you could choose one aspect of Nuit Blanche and make it a permanent public space feature, what would it be and how would you do it?

What is the legacy of Nuit Blanche? How do we capture the magic and let it linger? I think we have to create more art in public spaces. Art responds to individual venues and locations (for example the Toronto Sculpture Gardens). More of the magic extended, the celebratory feeling. There are only a few moments where people can come together and festivals are good for this. More collective celebration, claiming public space for multiple purposes. “Reclaiming space for no other reason than to engage with others and make them smile – I love that.”

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APPENDIX B: Concept Exploration

Ba.i: Alternate Ideas

• What is the individual agency for expression? • QR codes attached to Blog or website o QR code at random sites and geocached on the website o Scan the code, read the story, add to it o The Collective building stories of sites in the city together o A sort of renegade graffiti o Can order stickers online and print your own. Add them anywhere o Chronic Fictional Stories – doesn’t have to be completely fictional o Ever-changing city scape o Can incorporate Twitter and Instagram • Interaction Design • Man made objects only become complete when someone uses them • Check-in app and geocaching and geotagging • Twitter and Instagram • About the content and experience • Constantly changing • Map of Living things o Different in morning and night o Overlays on maps or images o There is an app already like this for restaurant reviews and Google maps o Perhaps footsteps of friends • “The Internet of Things” o Connecting all kinds of things that are currently not connected digitally • Digital maps on streets give random instructions by scanning a QR-type thing #

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Ba.ii: Idea Sketches

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Ba.ii: Alternate Website Design, The Psychogeographic Dare

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