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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010176233 | NA9031 A74 2002 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010176232 | NA9031 A74 2002 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
Quantum City explores the metaphorical relationships between quantum theory, urban design and the concept of the city, with a very serious aim: to radically change the way the urban realm is both experienced and designed. Using the terminology and themes of quantum theory and the 'new physics', the author draws the reader into an intriguing discussion of the principles, practices and operations of urbanism. This new language offers the missing interface between the different disciplines of the city, and promises to be a potent metaphor for the development of various theories for the 21st century city. Challenging traditional approaches to the theory of cities, this thought-provoking book will be enjoyed by both design professionals and anyone interested in the city, its history and culture.
Author Notes
Ayssar Arida is an urban designer and architect, and currently runs a cross-disciplinary consultancy in London and Beirut. He has taught architecture at the American University of Beirut, has lectured internationally and has published numerous articles on the relationship between worldviews and the development of cities
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. ix |
| Acknowledgements | p. xi |
| Introduction | p. xiii |
| 1 Worldviews and the city | p. 1 |
| The Roman Empire | |
| The Classical Greek polis | |
| Pharaonic Egypt | |
| The Christian city of God | |
| Renaissance and baroque urbatecture | |
| 2 Science and worldviews | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 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 | p. 217 |
| References | p. 235 |
| Further reading | p. 247 |
| Index | p. 251 |
