A City as Resilient Machine

Abstract

Public spaces are modelled by a dominant paradigm in a specific local milieu. Contemporary theories, like collaborative ones, define a framework for a profession to make improvements in everyday practice. However, power relations are sometimes strictly defined and cannot be remodelled in the same tempo as the need for investment realisation. We can say that participatory urban design needs time to redesign power relations to implement consensual solutions. Furthermore, there is a noticeable trend of places being designed more by power-over than power-to (Dovey,1999). This is the case in Serbia nowadays. The profession is seeking to find adequate methods that can substitute participatory ones to achieve sustainable places that are greener, more sociable and more profitable. Having this in mind, the main question of the research arises: Can the methods of space syntax theory replace participatory methods in the regeneration of open public spaces? The hypothesis is that the methods of space syntax need participatory ones to create more sustainable places. The main thesis is that a city is a resilient machine. The aims of the research are to prove that space can be a resilient machine if it is modelled with both space syntax and participatory methods and to show that space syntax methods in place creation can replace or support participatory ones when participation cannot be realised. This research will use the methodology of theory comparison as well as case study.