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Using the infamous failure of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing project, @KaseyKlimes illustrates how we can solve complex problems by:
Recognizing complexity
Building ensembles of wisdom
Designing for emergence https://twitter.com/drorpoleg/status/1350897132547534848
Recognizing complexity
Building ensembles of wisdom
Designing for emergence https://twitter.com/drorpoleg/status/1350897132547534848
Built in 1954 and demolished in 1972, what began as a bold vision of the rational city was ultimately immortalized as a symbol of failure
The designers of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing project failed to grasp the complexity of the problem they set out to solve
The designers of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing project failed to grasp the complexity of the problem they set out to solve
By applying scientific reductionism to a complex societal problem, designers of Pruitt-Igoe failed in 4 crucial ways
1. People were extracted from communities and scattered across the housing project breaking social support structures
1. People were extracted from communities and scattered across the housing project breaking social support structures
2. Poverty was concentrated and cut off from economic opportunity
3. The designers failed to see the project situated within a larger system where 30% of people left St. Louis in 2 decades
4. Racism played a role in the policies and laws that upheld racial segregation
3. The designers failed to see the project situated within a larger system where 30% of people left St. Louis in 2 decades
4. Racism played a role in the policies and laws that upheld racial segregation
Pruitt-Igoe could've been recognized as a complex system w/ 3 characteristics
Collective behavior
Signalling & info processing
Adaptation
Together you get emergance, spontaneous global order as a result of many local interactions btwn individuals acting according to basic rules
Collective behavior
Signalling & info processing
Adaptation
Together you get emergance, spontaneous global order as a result of many local interactions btwn individuals acting according to basic rules
Designers of Pruitt-Igoe failed to build an ensemble of wisdom that embraced knowledge embedded in the neighbourhood
The modern architecture eliminated stoops without understanding their role in social interactions providing a gradient of privacy and a safe, comfortable perch
The modern architecture eliminated stoops without understanding their role in social interactions providing a gradient of privacy and a safe, comfortable perch
Instead of a top down process of control, Pruitt-Igoe could've been designed for bottom up influence
Designing for emergence means opening up the possibility space and empowering people to create their own solutions uniquely adapted to their particular needs and context
Designing for emergence means opening up the possibility space and empowering people to create their own solutions uniquely adapted to their particular needs and context
