Monthly Archive for May, 2010

From Kazys Varnelis, Triple Canopy

Modern Western cities were built under the presumptions—and with the riches—of the industrial age, and their histories are intertwined with that of the machine and its attendant forms, from economics to aesthetics to urban plans. Architectural historian Kazys Varnelis has insisted on the importance of the network not only as a technological tool that connects the world but as a critical framework for understanding the dramatic shifts in culture and society that have taken place in the past few decades, and as a lens through which to examine our increasingly precarious urban situation. Earlier this year, as millions of Americans faced foreclosure and construction projects across the country were abandoned, Varnelis discussed the meaning of collapse and what might follow with the editors of Triple Canopy.

Triple Canopy: You’ve argued that it’s no longer possible to rebuild existing infrastructures or, for that matter, to build better ones. And you’ve proposed “social engineering” and “human hacking” as keys to changing how we think of and how we use infrastructure. On the other hand, a quarter of the counties in Michigan are converting paved roads to gravel to save money. Do you still believe in the prospect of technology enabling us to salvage our increasingly chaotic, dilapidated built environment?

Kazys Varnelis: I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. On the one hand, I still believe that a government initiative to bring infrastructure into the twenty-first century by opening data to everyone—not just leaving it in the hands of the technocratic elite—would make things better for everyone. We can see this in the ability to monitor traffic conditions in real time on Google Maps. If there is a jam in a certain area, our navigation system should route us around it.

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