Global and Local (Glo-Cal) Visions of Human Habitation for 2100 and Their Defining Cultural Paradigms
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GLOBAL AND LOCAL (GLO-CAL) VISIONS OF HUMAN HABITATION FOR 2100 AND THEIR DEFINING CULTURAL PARADIGMS by Phillip Daffara B.A. DesSt. & B.A. Arch. (University of Queeensland) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Sunshine Coast Faculty of Arts & Social Science, University of the Sunshine Coast Maroochydore DC Qld 4558 Australia Submitted in August, 2006 Declaration of Originality The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted, in whole or part, for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Some of this work has been previously reported in articles and chapters. These are listed below as Supplementary Materials. The self completion surveys were designed and conducted by the author, with the financial support of Maroochy Shire Council. The visioning workshops were facilitated by the author with the support of Mr Kelvin Spiller, the former CEO of Maroochy Shire Council. All survey data was entered by the author, excepting the phone survey. The phone survey was conducted by Market Facts (Qld) Pty. Ltd. and the data was collated by that organisation. Signed:__________________________________ Date: August, 2006 © Phillip Daffara August, 2005 Preliminary Pages, I Abstract There is a gap between contemporary urban planning theory and practice. Not only does this schism exist within the urban planning and design field, but also in regard to the social purpose and cultural meaning of the city. This problem persists in an era of increasing global urbanisation where, for the first time in human history, the majority of people will live in cities. The purpose of this research is to recover the key urban question from the milieu of urban literature and discourse, namely, what is the purpose of the city and its cultural meaning in the 21st century? New solutions require new thinking. To answer the above question the current research methodology formulates a futures- orientated, holistic teleology for the city. This teleology integrates multiple levels of reality to bridge the schism between revolutionary urban theory and practice. Consequently, both contemporary urban theory and practice of creating better city futures is examined, challenged, and re-formulated to provide greater clarity of purpose and social action when resolving current and emerging urban challenges. The research combines empirical, interpretative, critical and anticipatory action learning methods and integrates frameworks from three disciplines: (1) City Theory and Urban Planning and Design; (2) Models of Cultural Change including macrohistory; and (3) the field of Futures Studies. This process seeks to reframe the siloed intra-disciplinary urban discourses into an integrated, trans-disciplinary urban model with holistic meta-criteria for city development. In Chapter One, the inquiry begins with mapping the urban problem and its challenges using a futures studies method – the futures triangle of dialectic forces. The application of this method allows mapping of the forces affecting urban futures as drivers of change, resistors to change, and images that attract change. This futures- orientated dialectic establishes the context for the subsequent investigations. Chapter Two proceeds from the established premise that cities are the cultural products of civilisations, and examines particular models of cultural change (including macrohistory) to speculate on the change dynamics between civilisations and their cities. A multi-level cultural change framework is created using Sorokin’s ([1957], 1970) super-rhythm of cultural paradigms, Thompson, Ellis and Wildavsky’s (1990) social groups and ways of life approach, and Lynch’s ([1981], 1988) socio-spatial city archetypes. These cultural Preliminary Pages, II change theories are synthesised into a City Change Model (CCM) in order to consider the self-replicating behaviour patterns (ways of life and their myths) responsible for the fabrication of the city and its environment. The key change agents proposed are: (1) Individualists with their active or cynical sensate cultural paradigms; (2) Egalitarians with their active ideational cultural paradigm; (3) Hierarchists with their idealistic/integrated cultural paradigm; (4) Fatalists with their passive sensate or pseudo-ideational cultural paradigms; and (5) Hermits with their ascetic ideationalism. In Chapter Four, a genealogical analysis of the Western evolution of the city throughout history reveals the recursive pattern and development of city visions/images in cultures’ collective consciousness. The historical power of city visions are examined using the integral city meta-framework, to clarify which images dominate the present urban discourse to privilege urban futures. The genealogy of city visions, in conjunction with the CCM, illuminates trajectories for the probable, plausible and possible futures of the city. Chapter Five develops these alternative city futures into glo-cal scenarios, using a Futures Studies method. What follows is an hypothesis for cultural paradigms responsible for the replication and reproducibility of the identified urban visions (aspirations) for human habitation. The current proposal argues that the five identifiable future scenarios for the city are: (1) the probable future - Collapse Scenario, (2) and (3) the bipolar plausible futures of the Techno City versus Smart City; (4) the preferred future of the Eco City; and (5) the possible future of the Spiritual or Gaian City. Further, the thesis specifically proposes that Fatalists and Individualists enable the Collapse Scenario, Individualists enable the Techno City, and Hierarchists and Egalitarians enable the Smart City. In addition, Hierarchists in partnership with Egalitarians and Individualists enable the Eco City, and Egalitarians and Hermits enable the Gaian City. Chapter Five then critically investigates the possibility of empirically testing the qualitative relations proposed by the City Change Model (CCM) using two surveys. The first survey was conducted within a local community sample on the Sunshine Coast. The second survey was conducted globally to examine the relationships between the urban/city visions articulated by the glo-cal city scenarios and their defining cultural paradigms. Preliminary Pages, III Further to the empirical surveys, Chapter Six’s Causal Layered Analysis of the glo-cal city scenarios reveals the ways in which the city is a tangible cultural product of consciousness, and how the city can be positively used as a catalyst for the development of a planetary human civilisation. The urban system’s driving forces are deconstructed across multiple levels of reality to postulate cities’ multi-layered cultural dynamics. This process results in the emergence of a 21st century City Policy Agenda to clarify the transformation process. Chapter Seven shows how the current research innovates a holistic city theory (meta- framework) which posits that the city is defined as a multi-dimensional habitat (physis, bios, nous and theos) for human and non-human exchange that allows civilisation to realise its potential. It is conceived as a holon within the cosmos. This thesis produced three key conclusions. First, the transformation of the current urban condition is possible by transforming the current socio-cultural condition of sensate/individualism to a planetary culture of Integrated/Egalitarianism. This suggests an immediate developmental goal in order to avoid ecological overshoot and collapse. Note that egalitarianism is not, however, the endpoint of the evolutionary development of human culture. Second, this thesis proposes that the ‘ideal’ city has aspects of multiple city futures scenarios/archetypes. To allow this diversity and tolerance of multiple perspectives such a city has to be what cultural theorists term a ‘clumsy institution’1 or chaordic –– expressing the nature of different levels of reality –– whilst promoting people through these phases of human consciousness. Third, most Western cities are trending towards mass civilisation, urban sprawl and megalopolis, and the above integral city model and policy agenda identifies where the cultural impetus for transformation will need to focus in order to swing the present towards an alternative future. The final mission of the city is to further [hu]man’s conscious participation in the cosmic and the historic process […] so that at every phase of the drama it stages shall have, to the highest degree possible, the illumination of consciousness, the stamp of purpose, the colour of love (Mumford, [1961] 1989:576). 1Thompson, Michael. 2000. “Understanding Environmental Values: A Cultural Theory Approach”, Seminar Paper to Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs. Preliminary Pages, IV Statement of Ethics Approval Preliminary Pages, V Preliminary Pages, VI Acknowledgements Thank you to the countless faceless minds on the planet that with their thoughts and feelings, act to shape our cities through the common bond of hope and vision. You were always in my psyche there to support me in my times of self doubt. Denise, Kaela, and Alexandria, I appreciate the time and space you afforded me as my family to start and finish this esoteric journey that possessed me for five years. It was painful for me to close the study door and close my heart to