Urban Studies, Vol. 38, Nos 5– 6, 869 – 883, 2001 Thresholds of Fear: Embracing the Urban Shadow Nan Ellin [Paper received in Ž nal form, January 2001] 1. Introduction My interest in the relationship between fear the West along with some new directions in and city building was sparked while doing urban design that respond to fear proactively research on the French new town of Jouy-le- rather than reactively.1 Moutier 15 years ago. This new town was an experiment in neotraditional urbanism (or the 2. A Brief History of Fear and City ‘new urbanism’), an effort to build a new Building Part I: Modern Fear and town which looks and functions something Modern Urbanism, Renaissance– 1960s like an old town. I wanted to discover whether or not this was a good strategy for Fear has never been absent from the human city building, so I lived there and visited experience and town building has always many of its inhabitants, inquiring about their contended with the need for protection from likes and dislikes regarding the town. Invari- danger. Protection from invaders was in fact ably, the subject of fear arose despite the a principal incentive for building cities, many miniscule crime rate in the area. I initially of whose borders were deŽ ned by vast walls paid little heed and simply waited for the or fences, from the ancient settlements of conversation to turn back to the subject of Mesopotamia to medieval cities to Native my research. I soon realised, however, that American villages. Eventually, however, the the concern about insecurity was central to cannon and, more recently, atomic arms ren- the nostalgia for the past that incited neo- dered city walls feeble protection. traditional tendencies and to my evaluation From being a relatively safe space, the city of its success at Jouy-le-Moutier. has—especially over the past 100 years— Returning from the immaculate French become associated more with danger than new town, I saw New York City with differ- with safety. The density of cities tends to ent eyes. Living in my East Harlem neigh- intensify such dangers as civil unrest, crime bourhood amongst abandoned buildings, and contaminated air and water. And cities crack houses, fortiŽ ed housing projects and are not exempt from those dangers that strike scores of homeless people, I began re ecting everywhere equally, such as natural disasters, not only upon the motivations for defensive illness, domestic violence and poverty. urbanism, but also on possibilities for dimin- We persevere in seeking shelter from these ishing the fear through design and other dangers lurking in our midst through a range means. In this essay, I offer a brief history of of architectural and planning solutions. The fear and its relationship to city building in insecurities incited by the transition from Nan Ellin is in the School of Architecture, Arizona State University, PO Box 1605, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1605 , USA. Fax: 480 965 0968. E-mail: [email protected] . 0042-098 0 Print/1360-063 X On-line/01/05/60869-15 Ó 2001 The Editors of Urban Studies DOI: 10.1080/0042098012004657 2 870 NAN ELLIN feudalism to capitalism also led to new pro- design. Because of new rules about privacy, posals for building. In the same year that the new house forms emerged with separate French Revolution began, the English rooms for adults and children (and separate philosopher Jeremy Bentham conceived the rooms for each child), replete with closing panopticon (Greek for everything and place doors and separate spaces for women’s and of sight, or all-seeing), a circular building for men’s activities, such as the sewing room containing criminals with cells radially dis- and the library. Meanwhile, the decor of posed around the perimeter and a circular these interiors changed as rooms that had guardhouse in the centre for the inspector. previously been austere and simple but mul- Bentham’s proposal allowed the inspector to tipurpose became opulently and theatrically see the criminals but not vice versa through appointed according to the single function incorporating narrow black galleries and they were to serve (Lofgren, 1979). These strategically placed blinds. decors connoted “romance, sentimentality, While this concept of the panoptican and fantasy” (Lofgren, 1979, p. 126) and in- was applied to the building of prisons in cluded generously scattered mirrors so that England, a bevy of English and French utopi- people could observe and appropriately mod- ans were envisioning complete habitats ify their appearance and behaviour (Lofgren, re ecting similar notions of social engineer- 1979, p. 140). This elaborate decoration may ing. Examples include the Saltworks designed have been an effort to compensate for the by Ledoux (Salines-de-Chaux 1774– 1804), growing competition in the outside world, Charles Fourier’s Phalanstery concept (1829) making the home a haven in a heartless and James Silk Buckingham’s Plan of Vic- world. Not incidentally, it was also a means toria (1849). A number of attempts at realis- of keeping housewives busy and thereby di- ing these plans were undertaken in the US verted from participating in public life. such as Robert Owen’s New Harmony in The nature of fear continued to change Illinois, Fourier’s phalanstery at Brook Farm, during the early part of the 20th century. In Massachussets (1841) and dozens more. order to accommodate factory work, the day Whereas the 1700– 50s Enlightenment plans took on new rhythms as did the week, month applied the language of natural reason (classi- and year. The landscape evolved with the cal geometry to express triumph over nature), addition of railroads, factories, warehouses, these 1750s – 1900 plans drew from technical skyscrapers, working-class districts, new reason which applied science and technology suburbs for the upper middle class and the to bringing about social reform. highways of the modern industrial city. At The predominant metaphors for cities at the same time, social and geographical mo- this time—the organism and the machine— bililty accelerated. Fear derived from this guided these urban designs which were con- rapid change as well as from the unreliable ceived in the spirit of performing surgical and often sub-standard working conditions of operations or repairing broken parts (Vidler, factory workers, consequent rioting by these 1991, p. 29). Countering the rationalist ten- workers, the cultural diversity of those who dency of post-Enlightenment city planning, came to work in the factories and the con- these plans also began to incorporate elements stant change in consumer tastes upon which of romanticism and the picturesque. These mass production depended. ideal plans in uenced the redevelopment of The means for coping with this new con- European capital cities during the latter half of stellation of fear also evolved. The measure- the 19th century, the most famous instance ment and allocation of time and space grew being the redesign of Paris from 1853 to 1872 ever more precise to allow for accurate pre- (overseen by Baron Haussmann who was diction of labour output as well as worker working for the Emperor Napoléon III). and consumer behaviour. Within the factory, Transformations in interior design oc- time was used as a mechanism for control curred alongside those in building and city over others. Some companies, for instance,  THRESHOLDS OF FEAR 871 did not allow their workers to wear watches Modern interior design introduced open so that they would not know how long they plans with  owing space and fewer but more were working (Thompson, 1967). spacious rooms. The modernist opening up It was within this climate that Albert Ein- of interior space was made possible by steel stein developed the theory of relativity frames that eliminated the need for structural (1911) and that abstract art  ourished, both walls. And it re ected a desire to be released of which suggested the lack of Ž xed eternal from traditional social mores. Meanwhile, truths, proposing instead multiple perspec- modern interior decoration simpliŽ ed that of tives. The vast and rapid transformations oc- the 19th century in order to save on the costs curring since the late 19th century led people of decorating and the housework it required to remark that the only secure thing about and to re ect the new pared-down aesthetic, modernity is insecurity (Harvey, 1989, that of minimalism, or ‘less is more’. p. 11). But rather than follow function, form The science of time management was in- largely followed Ž nance. In the US, the troduced into the factory by Frederick real estate, building and automotive interests Winslow Taylor in 1911. Henry Ford’s mov- lobbied for the Housing Acts of 1949 and ing assembly line incorporated space into 1954 and the Highway Act of 1954 that this process in 1913. Since the 19th-century allowed for massive suburbanisation along factory was no longer sufŽ cient, the architect vehicular patterns. The suburbs to which Albert Kahn provided Ford with a functional Americans  ocked after the Second World shell of steel, concrete and glass for his War proved less than satisfactory. Women, plant—a formula for industrial plants which particularly, felt isolated and bored. One he and others reproduced all over the world. pharmaceutical company marketed its tran- Outside the factory, city building was pro- quilisers with an advertisement portraying an foundly in uenced by new needs emerging enervated housewife and the caption, “You from these changes and the infatuation with can’t change her environment, but you can the machine. Modern architects and city change her mood”. Workplaces also began planners modelled themselves after engineers moving to the suburbs as corporate head- and stipulated that ‘form should follow func- quarters moved from central cities to sylvan tion’. In an effort to make cities function like ‘ofŽ ce parks’ or ‘corporate campuses’. This well-oiled machines, they called for the sep- trend reached a peak between 1955 and 1980 aration of functions (housing, work, rec- when more than 50 corporations left their reation, circulation) through zoning New York City headquarters for greener pas- regulations and regional plans. tures. Modern housing was to consist of In the central cities of the US, the national Urban Renewal programme was unsuccess- buildings sited in the middle of continuous fully trying to retain investment. Given the open spaces, transparent glass façades, architectural and planning theory of the time, [and] gardens on rooftops (Holston, 1989, this effort levelled older urban fabric (areas p. 52). regarded by planners as ‘slums’), replacing situated among avenues without intersection. them with slabs and towers. With an eye Building was to be based upon measure- towards security, these downtown urban re- ments derived from the human body and newal schemes turned away from the cities once the perfect house and city were discov- around them. Amenities were usually limited ered, urban designers believed that they to gigantic steel sculptures or fountains, often should be applied everywhere, regardless of described as ‘plop art’ (Flusty, 1994). Seat- topography or cultural diversity. The French ing was usually non-existent or improvised architect/planner Tony Garnier (1904), for from ledges and steps. Not surprisingly, this instance, proposed the Industrial City for any kind of building proved largely inhospitable site. to the general public. It did not offer a sense 872 NAN ELLIN of comfort; it magniŽ ed winds; and it 3.1 Retribalisation blocked sunlight. As the mass media have made it seem a Most of what was built after the war in much smaller world—a global village—they both the US and western Europe, then, con- have also instilled a desire to retribalise or to sisted of isolated towers and slabs as well as assert cultural distinctions. This has been unending blocks of mass-produced individ- apparent in the search for ‘roots’, tracing ual houses. This modern urban development family lineages, resurrecting old customs and destroyed much of our urban heritage, dis- even inventing ‘new’ traditions. In building, rupted established communities and dis- it is apparent in attempts to design in local placed people from their homes and traditional styles (regionalism). businesses, increased social segregation, di- Retribalisation is also apparent in the minished the public realm, harmed the en- building of segregated communities, most vironment and created eyesores. The great blatantly in the growth of retirement com- failure of modern architecture has come to be munities beginning with Sun City near symbolised by the dramatic demolition of the Phoenix. Although not ofŽ cially exclusive, Pruitt-Igoe housing projects in St Louis in there are also neighbourhood s comprised al- 1972. Generally disliked, modern urban de- most entirely of young families, racially/ velopment was supplanted by other strate- ethnically segregated communities and in- gies. come-speciŽ c communities. While providing a certain sense of security, such separatism 3. A Brief History of Fear and City also leads to more ignorance of others and Building Part II: Post-modern Fear and less tolerance of difference. It feeds an ‘us Post-modern Urbanism, 1960s– 90s against them’ mentality and a tendency to defend one’s borders, family and self with The late 1960s or early 1970s marked yet gates as well as with guns. There are more another calibre and level of uncertainty. The than 200 million guns in private hands in the fear factor has certainly grown in recent US and, over the past decade, the number of decades if measured by locked car and house women with guns has doubled. doors, security systems, the popularity of gated communities, the purchasing of hand- guns and the increasing surveillance of pub- 3.2 Nostalgia lic spaces, not to mention the unending reports of danger emitted by the mass media. Closely related to retribalisation, the nostal- Some of the reasons for our increased sense gic response features a desire to return to the of insecurity include another acceleration in past in reaction to modernism’s clean break the rate of change as well as the decline of from the past. The nostalgic response is ap- public space, the growing gap between the parent in the call to return to ‘traditional’ rich and the poor, and the increased in uence values and institutions as well as the return to of intelligent machines. In addition, violent nature (environmentalism). crime in the US increased by almost 100 per Contemporary nostalgia is apparent in the cent from 1960 to 1990. popularity of 1960s and 1970s television pro- Modern fear was tackled in a scientiŽ c grammes, in feature Ž lms based on these manner. But the excesses of modernism programmes (for example, The Flintstones, generated a reaction to the scientiŽ c pretence The Adams Family) as well as movie re- to objectivity, leading to some different makes, in new renditions (or ‘covers’) of old responses to post-modern fear. The ones I songs, in advertising that attempts to make will focus on here are retribalisation, nostal- products seem old or established, in ‘classic gia and escapism, all of which are closely rock’ radio stations, in the comeback of related and recall features of the pre-modern country and ‘lounge’ music, in retro-clothing period. and furniture, the diner and much more. This  THRESHOLDS OF FEAR 873 fascination for the old has inspired producers shops, restaurants, pushcarts and street per- of goods to ‘wear them out’ in a mass- formers. James Rouse, who was most produced fashion. We can now purchase jeans in uential in this development, called these that are pre-washed, pre-worn out and ripped ‘festival marketplaces’. This developer of the in the appropriate places. We can acquire 1960s new towns of Cross Keys (Baltimore) furniture that is pre-distressed through the and the much larger Columbia (between Balti- application of special Ž nishes. This massive more and Washington, DC) Ž rst oversaw the return may suggest a depletion of creative conversion of Boston’s Faneuil Hall Market energies or a fear of being original. Place (originally built in 1742) and its adjac- The infatuation with the past has made ent Quincy Market (built in 1823). These were renovation of old houses a popular pastime followed by other versions of the same for- and it has had an impact on interior decora- mula such as the conversion of a former tion. Despite the new technologies integral to chocolate factory into Ghirardelli Square in contemporary homes, post-modern house San Francisco designed by Lawrence Halprin forms and decor draw from the past, both an (1964). Shopping districts have also been urban leisured past and a rural past of ‘abun- created anew but made to look old, such as dant simplicity’. The nostalgia is for city and Harborplace in Baltimore and South Street country life, not suburban life. In contrast to Seaport in New York City, both developed by the starkness of modern home design, certain Rouse, and Two Rodeo Drive (Via Rodeo) in post-modern homes are opulent and sump- Beverly Hills designed by Kaplan McLaugh- tuous—featuring, for instance, grand entry- lin Diaz Architects/Planners. ways, double staircases, chandeliers, scattered On the scale of the city, the nostalgic mirrors with gilded frames, overstuffed furni- impulse is revealed by the neo-traditionalist ture and the layering of fabrics, rugs and efforts since the 1970s, like the one I was window coverings, all in colours and patterns evaluating in the French new town. These popular prior to modernism. Other post- efforts seek to combine the familiarity and modern homes are inspired by ‘country liv- human scale of traditional townscapes with ing’, and seek to incorporate wood furnishings the beneŽ ts of contemporary technologies. that are old or at least look old, great rooms The central motivation behind these efforts is with large hearths, small  oral-print fabrics to avoid the excessive separation of functions and other features considered characteristic of of modern urbanism along with the social and the rural house. Others still combine these environmental harm that accompanies them. aesthetics and more to produce a grand- Usually described as the ‘new urbanism’, the mother’s house–  ea market– popular culture– most well-known example in the US is Sea- anything goes aesthetic. side in the state of Florida master-planned by The creation of housing from old city fac- Andres Duany and Elisabeth Plater-Zyberk. tories and warehouses—or loft-living—offers another instance of nostalgia, but this time it 3.3 Escapism is for our industrial past. Loft-living not only represents nostalgia for an old building but The third response to contemporary fear is also an old way of life, that of combining escapism. Both retribalisation and nostalgia home and work in the same space since the could be regarded as subsets of escapism, but artists who were the original loft inhabitants what I place into this category are more melded their living and working spaces. This extreme forms of retreat from the larger com- nostalgia for our industrial past is apparent in munity or  ights into fantasy worlds. Al- a third style of interior decoration, the indus- though perhaps most pronounced in the trial aesthetic. expanded use of personal computers and net- The retail sector has also retroŽ tted vacated working on-line, I focus here on responses in structures of the industrial era for the creation urban design. of a new kind of urban shopping mall with The impulse to retreat is epitomised by the 874 NAN ELLIN growth of gated communities. The lack of of all kinds has led to a pronounced anti- sidewalks and cul-de-sacs of the earliest sub- growth movement. People who do not want urban developments were protective devices, development to occur near them have been but we have now taken this further by actually referred to as NIMBYs (not in my back yard) gating our neighbourhood s and installing or as BANANAs (build absolutely nothing guards or video monitors at the entryways. A anywhere near anything). residential development of high-rise condo- Like homes, cars also aspire to conceal and miniums called Desert Island, located east of display. The popularity of the 4-wheel-drive Palm Desert, California, is surrounded by a sports utility vehicle, especially in cities, ex- 25-acre moat. There are currently more than presses both the desire to conceal and to 20 000 gated communities in the US housing display strength and power. Although over 8 million inhabitants. Although the trend equipped for off-road driving, very few actu- to build and live in gated communities is still ally ever leave the roads. The popularity of going strong, recent research has revealed that this sort of vehicle is epitomised by the gating communities has little effect on crime current vogue for the Humvee (human mili- either within the gates or outside them. tary vehicle or high-mobility vehicle) which Outside gated communities, security sig- was released (early 1990s) in a civilian edi- nage is ubiquitous. When designing new tion called the Hummer and is available for homes or renovating, safety features are of $45 000 – 75 000. Arnold Swhwarzenegger paramount importance. Sometimes, a client purchased the very Ž rst one (Rugoff, 1995). asks for an appearance that conveys a ‘don’t- While the Hummer may be “the ultimate in mess-with-me’ attitude or which appears in- body armor” (Rugoff, 1995), the safety of all conspicuous to conceal the residents’ wealth. cars today is a major selling-point, including These have been described as stealth houses a wide range of options from alarms to car (Davis’ term). In the house he designed for phones, built-in car seats for children, air actor Dennis Hopper in Venice, Brian Mur- bags, shatterproof glass and more. There are phy set a bunker-like structure with a win- now microwave-activated security systems dowless corrugated metal façade behind a which, sensing that a body is near the car, white picket fence mimicking those in the emit a rough man’s voice saying “Get away neighbourhood . In a house around the corner from this car or an alarm will go off in 5 (the Dixon house), Murphy simply left the seconds”. shell of the existing dilapidated house, built a The retreat re ex is also manifest in the new house inside it, and pre-grafŽ tied the suburban shopping mall which has abandoned façade to Ž t into the surroundings. the central city and which turns its back Other houses take the opposite tack and entirely on its surroundings with its fortress- elaborately appoint their entryway, perhaps in like exterior surrounded by a moat-like park- a show of intimidation. These houses ensure ing lot. Malls have their own on-site protection through a variety of means such as sub-stations replete with holding cells sophisticated security systems, the posting of (Flusty, 1994). A shopping mall built in 1988 signs which warn trespassers not to enter or in south-central Los Angeles, for instance, indicate ‘armed response’, and so-called ‘se- includes fenced parking lots, total video curity gardens’, which group shrubs beneath coverage, contained loading docks and a windows and around yards speciŽ cally for the storefront police station that serves as base for purpose of obstructing intruders. Increas- 200 police ofŽ cers (Flusty, 1994). ingly, clients are requesting that their archi- The rising tide of fear has transformed tects provide ‘safe rooms’, terrorist-proof most public spaces into controlled and security rooms concealed in the houseplan guarded places. To discourage people from and accessed by sliding panels and secret sleeping on park benches, Los Angeles intro- doors, reminiscent of a James Bond movie. duced the ‘bum-proof’ bench that is barrel- The mentality of fear among home-owners shaped (Davis, 1990). To discourage people  THRESHOLDS OF FEAR 875 from sleeping in parks, the city has installed The other kind of escapism, into fantasy sprinkler systems which catch the innocent worlds, is apparent in the growth of theme sleeper unaware only to wake up and Ž nd he parks (such as City Walk at Universal Studios or she is drenched head to toe (Davis, 1990). in Universal City, California) and of megas- Meanwhile, public restrooms and drinking tructures devoted to leisure and recreational fountains have virtually disappeared from activities, particularly sports stadiums, con- these public spaces. vention centres, and mega-stores. Sprinkler systems along with blaring The escapist nature of all these undertak- musak have been applied widely by conve- ings—behind gates or prison bars, away from nience stores and other businesses that do not our downtowns, into the past, other places or want people ‘hanging out’ around them. Roll- fantasy worlds—may emit signals that the down steel shutters are also popular for busi- present is indeed unsavoury. This rising tide nesses after hours. Some of these businesses of fear has led people to stay at home more. never raise them. Security monitors have be- Activities that once occurred outside the come omnipresent thanks to their new afford- home are increasingly satisŽ ed now inside the ability. home with the television or computer—or, if The corporate headquarters and department we go out, in the strictly controlled settings of stores which began abandoning downtowns in the shopping mall, theme park or sports arena. the 1950s form an essential part of the new We no longer go out to mingle with the ‘edge cities’ which emerged in the 1970s. anonymous urban crowd in the hope of some This new kind of city—or what many regard new unexpected experience or encounter, a as an anti-city—combines ofŽ ce parks with characteristic feature of earlier urban life. shopping malls and perhaps some housing. Unexpected experiences and encounters are Edge cities are the apotheosis of escapist precisely what we do not want. We go out for urbanism. They abandon the central city and speciŽ c purposes, with speciŽ c destinations the unique quality of life it promised. In an in mind and with a knowledge of where we effort not to lose the vitality of the city, the will park and whom we will encounter. ofŽ ce parks in these edge cities try to incor- porate aspects of urbanity. The General Foods headquarters, for instance, was designed by 4. New Directions: An Integral Urbanism Kevin Roche (White Plains, NY, 1977– 82) to Integral: essential to completeness, lacking include ‘ofŽ ce neighborhoods ’ and a ‘Main nothing essential, formed as a unit with Street’ with newstands and a restaurant. another part. Not incidentally, since the 1980s, commis- sions for corporate buildings have been de- Integrate: to form, co-ordinate, or blend clining (because of an ofŽ ce glut in most parts into a functioning or uniŽ ed whole; to unite of the country), while commissions for pris- with something else; to end the segregation ons, police stations and homeless shelters of and bring into equal membership in have been on the rise. ‘Prisonisation’—or the society or an organisation; desegregate; to increased building of prisons to deal with become integrated. crime—is another example of retreating. This Integrity: adherence to artistic or moral trend has been taken even further as many values; incorruptibility; soundness; the states have been moving their prisons to other quality or state of being complete and states and privatising them. There are cur- undivided; completeness. rently 124 private jails in the US and the state of Texas has 38 of these. Florida ranks se- A frustration with reactive escapist tendencies cond. Illinois bans private jails. These states has been inspiring some proactive approaches pay private companies to care for the inmates, toward urban design that I subsume under the an ‘industry’ growing at an annual rate of 35 rubric of ‘integral urbanism’ (see Ellin, forth- per cent. coming). These approaches share an empha- 876 NAN ELLIN sis on reintegration (functional, social, disci- vironmental systems, Ž gure and ground, plinary and professional), on porous mem- indoor and outdoor [people as part of branes or permeable boundaries (rather than nature]; the modernist attempt to dismantle them or —people of different ethnicities, incomes, post-modernist fortiŽ cation) and on design ages, abilities (‘universal design’), locals with movement in mind, both movement and tourists [people]; through space (circulation) and through time —design professionals (architecture, plan- (dynamism,  exibility). ning, landscape architecture, engineering, The earnest but ultimately misguided mod- interior/industrial/graphic designers) as ernist dictum that form follows function was well as designers with clients/users and largely supplanted by the deeply cynical late theory with practice [interdisciplinarity 20th-century tendency for form to follow and collaboration among design sub- Ž ction, Ž nesse, Ž nance and, foremost, fear cultures]; (see Ellin, 1997b, 1999b). In an integral ur- —process and product (time and space, verb banism, form is once again following func- and noun, emphasis on  ows, networks, tion, but function is redeŽ ned. Rather than connectors, circulation) [time]; and primarily mechanistic and instrumental, —system and serendipity, the planned and function is understood more holistically to spontaneous, principle and passion [ap- include emotional, symbolic and spiritual proach, attitude]. ‘functions’. From ‘less is more’ (modernism) to ‘more is more’ (post-modernism), the by- 4.1 Five Qualities of an Integral Urbanism word has become ‘more from less’.2 At the same time, the attitude among de- An integral urbanism features Ž ve qualities: signers towards rapid change has been shift- hybridity, connectivity, porosity, authenticity ing. From attempting to deny or control and vulnerability. Together, these qualities change, an attitude characterising most of the describe a shift from emphasising objects 20th century, we are now witnessing an ac- and the separation of functions to consider- ceptance or even an embracing of change. ing the larger context and multifunctional This reorientation carries deep implications places. They indicate a departure from the for the way in which urban design projects presumed opposition between people and na- are conceived and implemented. The result is ture, buildings and landscape, and architec- a departure in architecture and planning the- ture and landscape architecture to more ory and practice ranging from small-scale symbiotic relationships. These qualities of an interventions to regional plans. ‘integral urbanism’ also bespeak an attitude Essentially, an integral urbanism seeks to which prizes borders and which regards pro- integrate: cess as paramount (rather than a Ž nished product). This attitude veers away from mas- —functions (from functional zoning to ter planning which, in its focus on mastery mixed use): living, working, circulating, (control) and efŽ ciency, tends to generate playing, creating [programme, typology]; fragmented cities without soul or character. —conventional notions of urban, suburban Instead, an ‘integral urbanism’ proposes and rural as well as the private and public more punctual interventions that contribute realms to produce a new model for the to activating places by making connections contemporary city [morphology]; and/or caring for neglected and abandoned —centre and periphery (locally and globally: ‘border’ or ‘in-between’ spaces. In the best- local character and global forces) [scale]; case scenarios, these interventions have a —horizontally and vertically [plan and sec- tentacular (Wiscombe, 1998) or domino ef- tion]; fect by catalysing other interventions in an —the built and the unbuilt; architecture and ongoing never-ending process. This approach landscape architecture, structural and en- might be regarded as a form of ‘urban acu-  THRESHOLDS OF FEAR 877 puncture’ that liberates chi, or the life-force.3 interactions and diverse transformations It can be applied to existing built environ- occur. In ecological terms, the edge is ments as well as to new development. always the most lively and rich place be- Because ‘integral urbanism’ does not aim cause it is where the occupants and forces to produce master plans, and master every- of one system meet and interact with those thing including nature, it is not obsessed with from another. Here, there is contest and control. Instead, it aims to allow things to competition to be sure, but also hybridity, happen, things that may be unforeseen, multiplicity and productive exchange through the creation of thresholds or places (Corner, 1999a, p. 54). of intensity. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guat- Corner’s method of ‘Ž eld operations’, his tari (1980) might describe this process alternative to the master plan, provides as liberating the natural  ows of desire (which perpetually seek connections and syn- ways in which borders (and differences) theses) from the repressive and hierarchical may be respected and sustained, while po- modern city. Produced by people for people, tentially productive forces on either side these interventions are arrived at intuitively may be brought together into newly cre- as well as rationally. They are inspired by the ated relationships. Thus, we shift from a physical context (site) as well as the social world of stable geometric boundaries and context (applying the ethnographic method). distinctions to one of multidimensional In contrast to conventional planning, these transference and network effects (Corner, interventions are not developed or repre- 1999a, p. 54). sented primarily in plan and section, but The boundary, Linda Pollak maintains, through experience and imagery suggesting should be understood “as a space of com- the latent experiential quality that the inter- munication rather than a line of sharp div- vention would activate. This imagery may be ision” (Pollak, 1999, p. 54). As conduits of representational or abstract. information, connectors or boundaries might In contrast to the modern attempt to elim- be understood as information networks or as inate boundaries and the post-modern ten- porous membranes. This understanding of dency to ignore or alternatively fortify them, the boundary conceives identity as relational we are now witnessing efforts to generate whether it is individual identity or that of a porous membranes which bring together di- neighbourhood or district or ecological zone. versity (of people, programmes, etc.) without It suggests a shift away from the ‘ego obliterating difference—in fact, enhancing it. boundaries’ postulated by early 20th-century This attitude recalls Heidegger’s contention psychology. As Angelil and Klingmann that maintain, this A boundary is not that at which something hybrid morphology … unfolds from a sys- stops but, as the Greeks recognised, the tem of relations between different, some- boundary is that from which something times contradictory forces, no longer as an begins its essential unfolding. That is why absolute but in reference to other struc- the concept is that of horismos, that is, the tures [in a process that is] … unceasingly horizon, the boundary (Heidegger, 1954, renegotiated (Angelil and Klingmann, p. 356). 1999, p. 24). Boundaries are regarded as thresholds that From discrete self-sufŽ cient neighbourhood s not only link destinations to one another or towns, we have moved to a condition of but also connect what is on either side of polycentrality. Observing this natural evol- them. As James Corner explains, boundaries/ ution, Roberts et al. advocate urban design borders and city management that support the are dynamic membranes through which networks of movement and communi- 878 NAN ELLIN cation … paying particular attention to the sities and modes of inhabitiation (Pollak, nodal connections (Roberts et al., 1999, 1999, p. 51). p. 51). Alex Wall suggests that the designer’s role They advocate reorienting become that of providing ‘ exible, multi- functional surfaces’, creating connective tis- urban design away from its traditional fo- sue between city fragments and programmes cus on sites and centres towards an in- to support the diversity of uses and users clusion of networks, transport interchanges over time (Wall, 1999). and suburban sub-centres … [with a par- Although profoundly interconnected, we ticular emphasis on] connectivity, between may discern four types of network: natural centres and sub-centres and between pub- networks (wildlife corridors, weather pat- lic and private (Roberts et al., 1999, p. 52). terns, waterways, mountain ranges, etc.); net- works for people-moving (roads, paths and The most signiŽ cant paths and nodes consti- trails, railroads, airways, elevators, escalators tute an “armature” or “core of movement, and stairs); communication and virtual net- activity and meaning” that consists of “key works; and social and cognitive networks. routes and places” (p. 63) in the public and An integral urbanism aims to enhance these semi-public realm of the “most signiŽ cant  ows and allow them to  ourish, taking cues stretches of the key channels of movement” from ecological thresholds. Investigations (p. 52). The urban form around this core is into existing networks thus become a focal the “urban tissue”. Without “recourse to an point and source of inspiration in contrast to overly detailed masterplan” (p. 64), the au- modern planning which disregarded these or thors suggest that we enhance this armature regarded them as irritants to be disguised. by assuring that each element reinforces and Urbanistically, these become connectors as supports the others.4 They also recommend well as separators; they become porous densiŽ cation by integrating transport net- membranes. works with each other and with pedestrian networks forming “natural nodes for the de- velopment of a new style of urban sub- 4.2 The Larger Paradigm Shift centres” (Roberts et al., 1999, p. 62). Similarly, Linda Pollak (1999) insists This movement towards re-envisioning the upon bridging the layers of ‘infrastructural practice as well as product of urban design relationships’—layers that include natural suggests a paradigm shift (or return) away features, transport infrastructures and virtual from binary logic and towards the principle networks (as demonstrated in her proposal of complementarity. Complementarity pre- for Petrosino Park in New York City). She sumes that light requires darkness and shad- also points out that projects can operate “at a ows. That there would be no sound without theoretically unlimited number of scales” silence. Complementarity departs from mod- (p. 51) if the designer can construct such ernist binary logic because it does not regard interdependencies. Pollak maintains that the pair as oppositional nor does it seek a synthesis or resolution. Rather, it understands Conceiving of landscape as layers rather each as not only allowing the other, but than an unbroken surface supports the con- embracing or embodying the other. struction of an urban landscape as an over- The shift from the machine and utopia as lay of scales, that is understood in section models to ecological models (webs, net- as well as plan and in time as well as works, thresholds, ecotones, tentacles and space. Cutting through multiple layers of rhizomes) is indicative of this paradigm shift. urban information supports a project In contrast to the earlier models that bespoke whose formal result is not a stylistic signa- aspirations for control and perfection, these ture, but an intersection of concerns, inten- models suggest connectedness and dy-  THRESHOLDS OF FEAR 879 namism as well as the principle of comple- The shift away from binary logic is appar- mentarity. On the ecological threshold, for ent in the displacement of linear, hierarchi- instance, there is competition, con ict and cal, static models (the tree metaphor) by contest (Corner, 199b) but also synergy and holistic, multicentric, non-hierarchical, dy- harmony. There is fear but also adventure namic models (the web/network metaphor). and excitement. It is not about good or bad, This shift is occurring widely in Ž elds that safety or danger, pleasure or pain, winners or aim towards or study the processes of inno- losers. All of these occur on the ecological vation and development. In business and threshold if it is thriving. management, Tom Peters and Dean LeBaron Ecological designers Sim van der Ryn and describe their approach toward prospering in Sterling Bunnell (1979/97) advocate ‘integral our contemporary “permanent state of  ux” design’ or ‘integral systems’ which emulate in their bestselling The Circle of Innovation natural systems. A form of ‘biomimicry’, the (1999). Describing our evolving sense of integral systems approach emphasises the self, sociologist Robert Jay Lifton contends: permeability of boundaries and the need for We are becoming  uid and many-sided. systems to be diverse, self-adjusting and al- Without quite realising it, we have been ways evolving. In the words of van der Ryn evolving a sense of self appropriate to the and Stuart Cowan, restlessness and  ux of our time. This It is time to stop designing in the image of mode of being differs radically from that the machine and start designing in a way of the past, and enables us to engage in that honors the complexity of life it- continuous exploration and personal ex- self … we must mirror nature’s deep inter- periment (Lifton, 1995). connections in our own epistemology of Evolutionists are now describing human design (van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996, evolution as a ‘web of life’ rather than a p. 29).5 ‘tree of life’ (Wade, 2000, p. D1). For urban Likewise, anthropologists and cultural theo- development, the collateral shift is from rists are increasingly regarding culture as a the central-city model to the polycentric or part of nature rather than in opposition to it.6 integrated model. Christopher Alexander’s And scientists, in their search for a ‘theory of article “A city is not a tree” (1965), which everything’ are describing our cosmos ac- demonstrated the  aw of understanding cording to natural principles. Physicist Lee the city in terms of mathematical models, Smolin, for instance, has proposed that our marked the beginnings of the parallel universe is part of an endless chain of self- conceptual shift, now signiŽ cantly wide- reproducing universes that make their own spread (see, for example, Roberts et al., laws, evolving as natural species evolve, ac- 1999). cording to processes of natural selection In theory, there has been a shift from (Overbye, 1997). structuralist thinking in binary oppositions to From cells to cities, culture and cosmol- post-structuralism. Post-structuralism has ogy, theories are converging on the same plied a non-dialectical approach that ac- universal principles of development and co- knowledges differences without trying to development, characterised by dynamic webs unify or synthesise them. While seeking to of interdependencies (Jacobs, 2000). While correct limitations of modern thinking, how- these understandings of connectedness have ever, post-structuralism has fallen into many precedents in science, philosophy and re- of the same traps. By regarding any kind of ligion, there is something qualitatively differ- communion and things that we share (like ent this time around in the emphasis on language, ritual and customs) as ‘prison change as a constant and on the re- houses’ or ‘repressive codes’ from which we conŽ guration of space and time due to digi- must release ourselves, post-structuralism talisation. casts all relationships in terms of a power 880 NAN ELLIN struggle and encourages a sense of superiority tice of architecture are ubiquitous. One of or indifference towards others and the en- these statements maintains: vironment. It valorises separateness, auton- The integrated design process is one in omy and control, the individual who is which all technical aspects of a design nomadic, undomesticated, and unattached to a situation are brought to bear during all family, a community, or the Earth. It lazily stages of the design process from conceptu- assumes alisation of form and systems to realisation that ‘Mom’ (Mother Nature) will always of the physical, constructed architecture. clean up any ecological mess we make and, By deŽ nition then, the design process is besides, she would never really kill off her one in which there is no conceptual separ- children no matter how badly we treat her ation between notions and propositions of (Spretnak, 1997, p. 144). the form of architecture and the perform- In contrast, the ecological approach encour- ance aspects of its systems—structure, en- ages us to see the gestalt obscured by the closure, mechanical services, and other modern project’s attempt to control situations traditionally ‘technical’ aspects of a build- scientiŽ cally, which ends up valorising cer- ing (ACSA Newsletter, 1999). tain fragments while ignoring others such as Richard Hobbs, Vice President of Pro- nature and native peoples (Spretnak, 1997, fessional Practice for the AIA, asserts that p. 19). In doing so, this perspective seeks to “There is an unlimited need for the integrated open a design approach” involving “the integration passage beyond the failed assumptions of of skill sets to achieve an overall goal of modernity … that preserves the positive integrated design, construction, and operation advances of the liberal tradition and tech- of a facility”. Examples of this ‘new inte- nological capabilities but is rooted in eco- grated profession of architecture’ are docu- logical sanity and meaningful human mented in AIArchitect as well as on participation (Spretnak, 1997, p. 4). AIAOnline. The ecological critique seeks to inject a sense of values which counter the traditional Euro- 4.3 An Integral Urbanism Summarised centric patriarchal values of rational objec- tivity, separateness, autonomy and control An integral urbanism runs counter to our with those of transactive subjectivity, prevailing urbanism characterised by free- togetherness and the nurturance and protec- standing single-use buildings connected by tion of ourselves, others and the environment. freeways along with rampant sub(urban) In architectural theory, computer-based sprawl and their attendant environmental, so- technologies are allowing us to conceptualise cial and aesthetic costs. In contrast to the and design cities as dynamic rather than static master-planned functionally zoned city which entities. Computers can also represent ‘anex- separates, isolates, alienates and retreats, an act’ (imperfect, self-similar as opposed to integral urbanism emphasises connection, self-same) shapes found in nature, ‘ uid/to- communication and celebration. While inte- pological geometries’ or ‘fractals’ (for exam- grating the functions that the modern city ple, Greg Lynn, Jeffrey Kipnis, Zaha Hadid, separated, this approach also seeks to inte- the Ocean Group, Dagmar Richter) in ad- grate conventional notions of urban, suburban dition to the ideal shapes of classical and rural to produce a new model for the (Euclidean) geometry. contemporary city. In doing so, it considers All of this has implications for the means of integrating design with nature, the boundaries among the environmental design centre with the periphery, the process with the professions, boundaries that are becoming product, local character with global forces, (and need to become even more like) porous and people of different ethnicities, incomes, membranes. Calls for ‘integrating’ the prac- ages and physical abilities.  THRESHOLDS OF FEAR 881 This approach activates places by creating tory. From the Ž rst caves and rustic dwellings thresholds, or places of intensity, where di- to the tallest skyscrapers, we have sought versity thrives. These transformations would shelter from storms, from the cold, from the both respond to current needs/desires and heat. We eventually grouped these dwellings allow for new ways of being/thinking as together to offer protection from enemies and people and activities converge. An integral it was this grouping that allowed for the urbanism allows greater self-determination  ourishing of civilisation. But, our need for and empowerment because it brings people protection evolved. First with the invention of together (increases citizen participation) the cannon and more recently atomic warfare, with more time/energy to develop visions concentration of people was no longer strate- and implement them. Instead of running gically sound. At the same time, sources of just to stay still, it allows us to move insecurity had started to bubble up within ahead. By conserving resources (natural cities as we grew increasingly afraid of each resources, products, time and energy) and other. improving the quality of life generally, Whereas cities were once the cradles of an integral urbanism not only diminishes civilisation, they came to be known as places waste but also the sources of distrust and of unrest, stagnation and decay. The inven- paranoia. tions of the telephone, television and com- In sum, convergences (ecological, people, puter allowed for communication without activities, commercial) in space and time concentration and the car and plane have generate new hybrids. These hybrids, in turn, made geography (where one lives) less im- allow for new convergences and the process portant. So we have been dispersing. But as continues. This is, in fact, the deŽ nition we abandoned our central cities, we have also of development (Jacobs, 2000). While the known that we were abandoning a certain modern paradigm discouraged convergences quality of life. through its emphasis on separation and con- Now we face the task of protecting trol, this new paradigm encourages them. ourselves, others and the environment in a To achieve these goals, an integral urban- manner that is sustaining. It is not an easy ism focuses on: one. In psychology, the notion of the ‘integrated personality’ was applied by Carl —networks, not boundaries; Jung to suggest the blending of both light and —relationships and connections, not objects; dark or ‘shadow’ components of a personal- —interdependence, not independence or de- ity. If we suppress our shadows, rather than pendence; acknowledge and accept them, they may —natural and social communities as well as emerge deviously in other guises such as individuals; projection and self-sabotage. An integral ur- —transparency or translucency, not opacity; banism suggests that the same may apply to — ux, not stasis; the city and our collective shadow. Rather —permeability, not permanence; than neglect or abandon ‘in-between’ and —movement from place to place, not perma- peripheral spaces (‘no-man’s lands’), then, nence; we turn our attention towards them and treat —connections with nature and relinquishing them generously with care and nurturance. control, not controlling nature; Rather than resist change, we surrender to it —catalysts, armatures, frameworks, punctu- and consider the fourth dimension in our ation marks, not Ž nal products or utopias. planning and design. And rather than ignore or eradicate our urban fears, we respect them as part of what makes life exciting and 5. Conclusion joyful. In order to prevent the darkness from In conclusion, fear has played a great role in overtaking the light, we integrate the urban building from the beginning of human his- shadow. 882 NAN ELLIN Notes ELLIN, N. (1999b) Postmodern Urbanism, rev. edn. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 1. Portions of this article have appeared in Ellin ELLIN, N. (forthcoming) Integral Urbanism. (1997 and 1999a). FLUSTY , S. (1994) Building Paranoia: The Prolif- 2. Applied much earlier by Buckminister Fuller, eration of Interdictory Space and the Erosion this phrase is now Ž nding a much broader of Spatial Justice. Los Angeles, CA: Los Ange- constituency—for example, see Ritchie (1994). les Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. 3. Ignasi de Sola Morales: ‘urban acupuncture’ as FRAMPTON, K. (1999) Seven points for the new catalytic small-scale interventions that are real- millennium: an untimely manifesto, Architec- isable within a relatively short period of time tural Record, p. 55. and capable of achieving maximum impact on HARVEY, D. (1989) The Condition of Post- immediate surroundings (Frampton, 1999). modernity. Oxford: Blackwell. 4. These views are similar to the Dutch authori- HEIDEGGER , M. (1954) Building dwelling thinking, ties’ urban hierarchy proposal and to the in: D. F. KRELL (Ed.) Basic Writings, pp. 347 – Friends of the Earth (1994) document Plan- 363. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins. ning for the Planet. HOLSTON , J. (1989) The Modernist City: An An- 5. For a fuller discussion of this subject, see Ellin thropological Critique of Brasilia. Chicago, IL: (1999). University of Chicago Press. 6. Cultural theorist Catherine Roach, for exam- JACOBS, J. (2000) The Nature of Economies. New ple, argues “against the idea that nature and York: Random House. culture are dualistic and opposing concepts”, LIFTON , R. J. (1995) The Protean Self: Human suggesting that this idea is “environmentally Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation. unsound and [needs] to be biodegraded, or Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. rendered less harmful to the environment” LOFGREN, O. (1979) Rational and sensitive, in: J. (Roach, 1996, p. 53). FRYKMAN and O. LOFGREN Culture Builders, pp. 1– 53. London: Rutgers University Press. OVERBYE, D. 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