Co-Evolutionary Architecture

Co-evolutionary architecture Synopsis by Henrik Valeur, 2019 About the book Proposal for a book consisting of a theoretical introduction to the concept of co-evolution, its application in various fields and its possible meaning and relevance in architecture; three chapters about the possible application of the concept in practice, research and education, respectively; and a discussion about the co-evolutionary integration of theory, practice, research and education in architecture. Each chapter is made up of two parts that are reciprocally evolved like the co-evolution between the butterfly and the plant it pollinates and from which its larvae feed. This relationship between the butterfly and the plant, however, is affected by many other factors, including the individual co-evolution of each organism with predators and parasites. Similarly, the two parts of each chapter are co-evolved with the parts of the other chapters. And, because co-evolution occurs through interaction between different groups of organisms, each part of the book differs from the other parts: one part being visionary and another reflective; one part being based on personal experiences and another on theoretical arguments. The book thus imparts a combination of experiential, propositional and theoretical knowledge that is developed in a process in which concrete experiments, critical discussions, evaluation of experiences, theoretical studies and the development of visions evolve one another. The book differs from most other books about architecture in that its focus is on the processes of architecture rather than on the results. It is about how to conceive, create, study and teach architecture rather than about what is conceived, created, studied or taught. In that sense it also differs, in that its focus integrates theory, practice, research and education rather than focusing on only one of these areas. The book seeks to connect two major strands of the current debate about architecture,1 i.e. 1 Architecture is understood here as a collective expression of humanity. 1 how to make architecture more socially inclusive2 and how to make it more environmentally sustainable,3 suggesting that the two questions are interrelated and might be answered through a co-evolutionary approach. The book is about the possible application of a specific aspect of the evolutionary theory, namely that of co-evolution, in architecture. It is not about the architectural imitation of, or the human affiliation to, nature in general, though it does indeed have certain affinities with the theories of biomimicry and biophilia. Theme The concept of co-evolution, i.e. 'the process of reciprocal evolutionary change that occurs between pairs of species or among groups of species as they interact with one another' (Rafferty & Thompson, 2009), was described by Charles Darwin in the Origin of Species (1859) but was not popularized until a hundred years later by Paul Ehrlich and Peter Raven (1964).4 It has since become an important concept in complexity theory and has been applied to several other fields apart from biology. To the best of this author's knowledge, however, no other publications rigorously discuss the possible application of co-evolution in architecture. The one that comes closest, perhaps, is CO-EVOLUTION: Danish/Chinese Collaboration on Sustainable Urban Development in China (Valeur, 2006), which this book is critically reassessing and vastly expanding on. A co-evolutionary approach to architecture is closely associated with the concepts of collaboration and participation and the book is therefore related to books in those fields, including Collaborative Planning (Healey, 1997) and Architecture and Participation (Jones et al, 2005). Co-evolution in architecture is not the same as co-creation, co-design or co-production etc. While the latter approaches are limited to solving a specific problem or developing a specific product through collaboration between, say, the producer and the consumer, a co-evolutionary approach is intended as an open-ended learning process in which many collaborating (or participating) parties may inspire and impel each other to rethink not only a specific problem or product, but the very purpose and methods of their own practice. The co-evolutionary approach is thus based on long-lasting, complex processes of human interaction that may have deep and broad, albeit uncontrollable and unpredictable, transformative impact on both the individual and the collective. In contrast to conventional architectural practice, which seeks to create order, either by maintaining the existing order, by reestablishing an old order or by proposing a new order, the 2 The United Nations define social inclusion “as the process of improving the terms of participation in society, particularly for people who are disadvantaged, through enhancing opportunities, access to resources, voice and respect for rights.” (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2016: 17) 3 Environmental sustainability has been defined “as a condition of balance, resilience, and interconnectedness that allows human society to satisfy its needs while neither exceeding the capacity of its supporting ecosystems to continue to regenerate the services necessary to meet those needs nor by our actions diminishing biological diversity.” (Morelli, 2011) 4 Without uttering the actual word, the French philosopher Henri Bergson speaks about co-evolution as well when he says that: 'Intellectuality and materiality have been constituted, in detail, by reciprocal adaptation.' (1911: 109). So does the Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys when he says that: 'The environment in which we live influences our activity, but reciprocally this environment is a product of our creative activity.' (1959) 2 co-evolutionary approach of architecture seeks to create change. Not a one-time change, like the erection of a new building that changes the neighborhood, but constant change like that provoked by drift, migration, mutation and selection in natural evolution. And it is not about changing something else, like that neighborhood for instance, though it may do that as well, but about self-change. A co-evolutionary architecture is an architecture that changes itself, constantly. Because only by constantly changing the way in which architecture is conceived and created, and only in this process of constant change itself, which, ideally, involves all of us, will we be able to make architecture more democratic and environmentally sensible. Creating change through long-term collaboration and participation is also what action research is about. And since the latter is sometimes referred to as 'a family of approaches' (Reason & Hillary, 2008: 7) we might talk about the co-evolutionary approach as a new member of the action research “family”. The present book is therefore also related to books about action research in architecture, including Architecture and Urbanism 1: Action Research (Boyarsky & Murphy, 2001), and variations on that topic, including action design and action design research. Co-evolutionary action research, then, distinguishes itself from the rest of “the family” by engaging with cross-communal and cross-cultural change rather than with the change of a particular community or culture. The notion of co-evolution has been adopted in teaching at some schools of architecture, though it has been applied in quite different ways. At the School of Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, the program, Political Architecture: Critical Sustainability, defines a co-evolutionary approach as 'a process of interaction between two distinct paths of investigation, one pursuing academic critical thinking through scholarly method, the other developing individual interest driven architectural propositions from thinking through heuristic production' (Petersson & Grønbek, n.d.). Meanwhile, at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, the program, Testing Ground, defines a co- evolutionary approach as a design practice that engages students, volunteers and members of the local community in practical, experimental work aimed at 'establishing dynamic processes of learning between users and designers' (Farmer, 2017: 18). While the definition differs fundamentally – at the one school, it is about a single individual using two different approaches and at the other school it is about two, or more, individuals using the same approach – co-evolution, in both cases, is seen as a means of making architecture more sustainable and, in the latter case, it must be assumed, more inclusive. Facing multiple and evolving crises, in which architecture is, more often than not, a complicit, what is needed are not more glossy architectural renderings of a “perfect” future but a radical re-conception of architecture. Content 1. In theory The first part of this chapter introduces the concept of co-evolution, as it has been developed in modern biology by Charles Darwin and others; how it relates to the thinking of ancient Eastern and Pre-Socratic Western natural philosophers like Zhuangzi (369-286 BCE) and Heraclitus (535-475 BCE) and modern process philosophers like Henri Bergson (1859-1941) and Alfred Whitehead (1861-1947); and how it has recently been applied in complexity 3 science, development studies, ecological economics, political ecology, organizational theory and social geography. The second part of this chapter discusses the possible meaning and relevance of co-evolution in architecture. This discussion is based

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