(createconsumedelete)
With today’s culture so heavily based on image consumption, a crippling reliance on design representation has followed the light-speed advancement of technologies with a booming onslaught of 'designers' to meet the demand. Does a problem exist, however, when we become so obsessed with keeping up, so afraid to fall behind the 'leaders of innovation'? Is there a sense of authenticity that is lost in the propositions of an improved future? Arguably, the imagery that continues to advertise and promote our evolving designed landscape - both urban and rural - subverts authenticity in favour of 'uniqueness' and 'newness'. Instead we often seem to be left with "points of interest" that do little to evolve our understanding of the entire city as a holistic construct.
An industry that relies so heavily upon design representation to give form to our ideas should be questioning the predominant methods by which they are conveyed. As it relates to placemaking, it is the quality of the representational artifacts that helps to determine the degree of reflection on our designs, and by others. Are we limited by our abilities to inspire change through our curremt technological capacities of communication? Is visual communication the only avenue? What ability do our other senses have to influence design thinking? Places, like music and smells are equally significant contributors to the interconnecting nodes of our experiences.
As the years of my career as a Landscape Architect continue to pass, it is with constant vigilance that I must remain cognoscente of the temptations of 'architectural pornography'. I have been staring at, even helped produce glamour-shot renderings and pulsating perspectives for a number of years and have begun to wonder, are we being true to ourselves in our pursuit of placemaking, and our understanding of the greater collective experiences that contribute to this? I would argue that it is near impossible to have a truly authentic experience, unless we view the experience as being authentic unto ourselves, at any given point in time. However, it is the temporal element of authenticity that makes it an elusive one. We continue to pursue it but rarely, arguably never, attain it. Site and structure have historical roots that persist. Certainly the physicality of the place may be authentic. However, the historical experience it claims to respect, and the future it promises to offer is often one of false promise - lacking the sights, smells and sounds, and experiences of older, and newer times.
It was with great relief - accompanied by a reinvigorated sense of purpose - that I came across the psychogeographic representations of Frank Dresme. Similar to mind maps in use since the 3rd century - used as a visual aid for learning, organization and problem-solving - these maps emphasize an approach to design representation that is currently ignored and/or underutilized. While commanding observation in their own right - as works of art - they appear to represent urban space as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
(Psychogeographic Maps for Thesis Project - Amsterdam, Frank Dresme)
(City of Rotterdam Commission, Frank Dresme)
I believe it is fair to suggest that our landscape is culturally transformed. Therefore we may also deduce from this the predominant difference between nature and landscape being human nature, or humans 'being'. Space becomes place when endowed with meaning and value, personal histories and interaction, and recollections of daily habits and contacts. We are all co-creators of our environments and contributors to their cumulative meanings - a collective psychogeography.
What authenticity in representation means for the design-planning profession is of significant importance to our understanding of place and place-making. It is necessary that we ensure a rigid standard of ethical design, an ethic which takes joy in the creation of realities that are our own. All too often design professionals are called upon, or take it upon themselves, to create environments that are thought to engage us, provide us with a connection to the land with images of 'authentic', historically relevant but 'forward-looking' themes. This only slows our pursuit of an identity, for “authenticity can only emerge in a current culture through a conscious effort to define how we ultimately intend to define our values and relate to nature and humanity” (Doug Paterson).
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