Quantum city / Ayssar Arida.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arida, Ayssar.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

City planning.

Quantum theory.

Physical Description:

xx, 257 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; Boston : Architectural Press, 2002.

Summary:

-- Provides completely up-to-date and cutting-edge theories in this ground-breaking area of linking quantum physics with urban design

-- Allows you to develop your own ideas about urban design through its accessible and straightforward style

-- Discussion of scientific, philosophical and urban theories creates a universal relevance and a new worldview

Quantum City is a provocative, original and extremely timely exploration of the discipline of urban design. It asks the question "can a world-view based on quantum theory produce a better approach to the problems of the city?" The reader is invited to explore the Quantum City and the ways in which it is set to make a significant contribution to the development of architectural theory. It is the first attempt at linking the concepts of quantum theory to the field of urban design. It is an easy, enjoyable, non-technical read with a very serious aim: to change the way designers (and the public in general) look at the urban realm.

Contents:

1 Worldviews and the city 1

The Roman Empire

The Classical Greek polis

Pharaonic Egypt

The Christian city of God

Renaissance and baroque urbatecture

2 Science and worldviews 25

The organic worldview

The Scientific Revolution

The Cartesian schism

Newton's mechanism

Entropy versus evolution

Einstein's revolution

3 Quantum theory: an introduction to basics 43

Searching for the light

Classroom physics 101: the two-hole experiment

The particle-wave duality: the Principle of Complementarity, or the both/and logic

A jumping universe: random leaps beyond space and time

The Uncertainty Principle: does God play dice?

The Copenhagen Interpretation: WYSIWYLF

Non-locality and relational holism: the universe is one

Multidimensional quantum field theory: malleable energy patterns

The vibrant vacuum: something out of nothing

Interlude: mathematical chaos and urban complexity

4 The quantum worldview 71

Dynamic contextualism

Relational holism

Meaning and spirit

Tolerance and pluralism

Technology and ecology

Interlude: Feng shui or the Tao of the city

5 20th century cities 87

Industrialization and modernist urbanism: the mechanical worldview takes physical form

Postmodernism or relativity misinterpreted

Interlude: Cities and worldviews and cinema

6 Urban design and the quantum worldview 99

First generation

Pictures

Redefinitions

The role of urban design

The urban designer versus Urban Design: a new attitude

Information storage

Timekeeping

Model or metaphor

The quantum hyper-metaphor

7 A quantum look to the postgraduate education and practice of urbanism 123

The need for a conceptual revolution

Urban design in postgraduate education and practice

Renaissance genius, Modern hero and quantum acrobats

Probabilism and scenario-buffered design

8 Quantum analysis of the urban realm 139

Open systems

Duality not dualism

Interference in malleable propensity fields

The human user: vessel for non-locality

The society-space-time quantum continuum

The creative role of the user's mind: the observer-observed dialogue

Information fields and knowledge media

Meaning beyond function: image, identity, and memory of place

9 Implications for built form 169

In search of an axiom for the definition of 'good urban space'

Oscillating construction blocks: life in quantum lego-land

Composition rules

Time and the user as an observer-designer

The public-private continuum: territoriality, admissibility and the human gaze

Landscape-based design exemplifies the society-space-time unity

Built form as memory storage media or the city as memorial

Awareness before construction

Surfaces and textures as wave sources and relays

Initial states in new large-scale development

Transition phases: colonizing the vacuum

Ruins as primary wave sources and other development seeds

Landmarks and events: local wave disturbance sources

Event horizons: an edge is not a border

The city and its region: a self-organizing quantum system of neighbourhoods and quarters

Transition 217.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0750650125

OCLC:

48570156