Introducing Urban Networks – Network Urbanism Jeroen van Schaick and Ina Klaasen
Gabriel Dupuy: an oeuvre It is not easy to boil down the work o 30 years in a single book. Gabriel Dupuy’s ascination with the relation between the technical proessions and urbanism started early, exemplifed by his doctorate thesis and frst book Urbanisme Urbanisme et Technique, Chronique d’un Mariage de Raison (Urbanism and Technique: Chronicle o A Marriage o Convenience) rom 1978. During the 1980s he became interested not only in the role o techniques (e.g. calculating size and structure o conduits, modelling tra c, simulating urbanization), but also in the role o technology in urbanism, i.e. the role o physical networks in urban development. Using the notion o networks, the work o Gabriel Dupuy has broadene d over time in the sense that he has treated a network not just as a physical object, but also as a concept. Moreover, he has shown that network thinking is a necessary element o urban planning in the 21st century. The work o Gabriel Dupuy has gained considerable depth over the years because o three things mainly. Firstly, his his work radiates a thorough understanding o historical developments , as illustrated by his integral treatment o the ‘coming into being’ o networks, the development o underlying concepts through cross-sectoral and cross-border knowledge transers and the changes in physical structure o networks. Secondly, his in-depth dealing with case studies, sometimes holistic, sometimes to illustrate specifc concepts and arguments, has enriched his theoretical groundwork. Thirdly, his detailed study o both the automobile system and ICTs links his theoretical work to the policy agendas o today and tomorrow. Until now though, much o Dupuy’s publications were only available in French and Spanish. This book aims to introduce his ‘network thinking’, in its depth and its width, to an English-reading audience.
Introduction
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1990 was an important year or Gabriel Dupuy. It was the year that he ounded the magazine Flux , a journal that “is especially concerned with the ways in which networks are designed, regulated and operated, as well as the relationship between networks and the territories they serve”. As such, “ Flux is one o the ew academic a cademic publications in French which specializes in the feld o town planning.” (http:// latts.cnrs.r, accessed July 2008). Moreover, 1990 was the year that he wrote L’Urbanism L’Urbanismee des Réseaux (Urbanism o Networks; Dupuy, 1991a). In that book, Gabriel Dupuy translated his work on technical networks into a study on network thinking in the feld o urbanism, reacting to what he perceived as a crisis in the feld o urban planning. The crisis that Dupuy signalled at the start o the 1990s has not been overcome. The conict between urban planning based on an areolar conception o space (i.e. based on zones, boundaries and edges, see p.65) and urban planning viewed rom a ne twork-based conception o spa ce is still very much alive. Networks, both as object and as concept, are still not seen as part and parcel o mainstream urbanism. However, since 1990, 1990, some things have change d. It seems that a shi t in spatial planning is taking place towards ‘relational thinking’, i.e. towards network thinking.
A shift in spatial planning planning In 2007 the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant developed a list o 50 subjects-every-Dutchman-shouldknow-about-science-and-technology. One o those 50 subjects – published in 2008 in book edition – was Techniek en Stadsontwikkeling (Technology and urban development). Van Klee (2008) explains that nowadays technology is still oten invisible in urban designs and plans, despite the real, although intricate relation between the development o technical networks and the development o the city. But this is not the only reason to re-examine networks in light o urban design and planning. In addition to this view o networks as physical ‘things’ that re-organize time and space – a viewpoint commented upon by Dupuy (2005: 120-122) – Albrechts and Mandelbaum (2004: v-vii) show two other important strands o network thinking in relation to spatial planning. On the one hand, network
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thinking can be seen as a new paradigm – as ar ranging as shown by the term ‘the network society’ – that conronts spatial planning with a challenge or undamental change in light o a new context. On the other hand, network thinking has direct implications or the way planning processes are organized requiring governance styles that include a range o stakeholders organizing themselves in networks. However, Albrechts and Mandelbaum also show that physically-oriented thinking, paradigmatic thinking and social network-oriented thinking are sometimes as ar removed rom each other rom each other as zonal thinking and network thinking are in spatial planning (see Chapter 1). Moreover, authors on network thinking seem to be split up in, on the one hand, a group that sees a new kind o society developing based on new networked structures and, on the other hand, a group that thinks o networks as undamental structures in any society rather than as something recent. The ormer sees networks as an organization orm with characteristics such as oot-looseness and virtuality that is replacing ‘old’ organization orms. The latter emphasizes the durability o physical structures. There are also those in the middle that see networks as undamental to human society and at the same time see dramatic – partially technology-driven – changes in the intensity, scale, multiplicity and complexity o networked organization orms. This standpoint implies that there are strong links between the three dierent types o network thinking. However, literature that bridges the gaps between physically-oriented thinking, paradigmatic thinking and social-network-oriented thinking is scarce. Where then can we place the work by Gabriel Dupuy? Three issues are important to understand his position. Firstly, Dupuy’s background in planning is grounded in engineering. Secondly, “France has a long-standing tradition o spatial planning or regional and urban development (…) carried out by the central government or by local governments” (Ministère des Aaires Étrangères, 2006: 50). Thirdly, France is known or its tradition o prospe ctive research and scenario development devel opment (Drewe, 2008). From this perspective, Dupuy clearly takes the stand that network thinking is not limited to either seeing cities as physical networks or to seeing urban planning as interplay o numerous stakeholders. For Dupuy the development o networks in relation to territorial development hangs very much together with parallel changes in organizational structure and stakeholder involvement.
Introduction
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The structure of the book Urban Networks – Network Urbanism consists o fve Parts. A number o the core Chapters o Dupuy’s book L’Urbanisme des Réseaux (1991) have been selected or Part 1. In these Chapters the history and
theory o network thinking in the context o urban planning are addressed supplying the theoretical basis or this book. In the frst Chapter the o cus is on the history o network urbanism: a re- examination o urban planning classics highlighting the way their authors dealt with network thinking . Also attention is paid to a number o people outside the world o urban planning who developed some o the early urban technical networks. While explaining what these networks meant or urban development, in this Chapter a frst step is taken in developing a network concept or urban planning based on the concepts ‘topology’, ‘kinetics’ and ‘adaptivity’. In the second Chapter a theory o network urbanism is built that provides grounds and arguments or urban planning in the network age. The concept o network operators is developed and the three levels on which they operate are defned: physical networks, unctional networks and household networks. The third Chapter introduces the concept ‘network territory’. Dupuy argues here that technical networks have “introduced into our societies a new, predominant orm o territoriality that urban planning, as a rule, ailed to acknowledge”, without claiming that this is the only remaining orm o te rritoriality (p. 66). The fnal Chapter o Par t 1 elaborates on the problems connected with the use o network maps. Using examples rom the early days o computational visualization tools, it explains that there is a undamental conict between network maps and their usability or urban planners. The Chapters chosen or Part 2 – adaptations o articles mostly predating 1991 – illustrate the lines o thought leading to the Urbanism o Networks idea. In this part o the book it is shown that network urbanism needs to be seen in the contex t o territorial development. It exte nds the concept o ‘network territory’ rom Chapter 3 on the basis o our case studies: the encapsulation o Andrésy – an outer suburb o Paris – in regional networks , the development o the French road system in light o American trac models, the collapse o networks in the Buenos Aires region re gion and the way this is dealt with, and the cross-border development o the Eurovision radio and television broadcasting network.
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The Chapters in Part 3 and 4 – written between 1995 and 2007, ater the publication o L’Urbanisme des Réseaux – have been selected to give more depth to the implications o network thinking in urban and regional territories by ocusing, respectively, on the automobile and on ICTs. Ater a Chapter that develops the metaphor o the ‘universal adapter’ or the automobile system, Part 3 elaborates on the concept o automobile dependence; how it works, how it varies between national, regional and cultural contexts and how to deal with it. The Chapters in Part 4 address the rise o ICTs. Chapter 13 and 14 explore the conditions o an ICT-‘miracle’, respectively as it developed in Iceland and – in contrast – as it did not in Saint Pierre et Miquelon, a number o small French islands – an overseas department – close to the Canadian coast. Whereas in Part 3 automobile dependence as a societal problem is explained as being inherent to the automobile system itsel, in Part 4 the digital divide as a major societal problem is attributed to the rise o ICTs. The Chapters on ICTs show how the digital divide is related to other types o divides, in particular ocusing on the digital divide as a geographical problem as well as a problem o scale. In the two Chapters o Part 5 the ocus is again on the broader question o urban planning, revisiting the original ideas about an Urbanism o Networks as set out in Part 1. The conditions under which network urbanism has to operate in the 21st century are summarized in Chapter 18. A number o challenges or urban planning are pointed out: changes o scale, continuing technological progress, the development o two-track cities and the reality o deregulation. Chapter 19 subsequently sketches the contours and possible ingredients o network urbanism or the uture by elaborating on a number o key concepts.
Concluding remarks All Chapters, except or Chapter 19, have been previously published, albeit some in an earlier version and/or in French and Spanish. So the book has not been written as a monograph and should be read as a collection o articles. Still, cross-reerences between Chapters may help the reader to see that the Chapters are strongly interrelated. In view o this interrelation it was decided to put the reerences together at the end o the book instead o at the end o each Chapter. Introduction
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Throughout the book the reader will fnd a number o text boxes. These white texts on dark backgrounds showcase ideas – citations – rom authors who have inuenced inuenced Gabriel Dupuy’s way o thinking. The attentive reader will see that they reer to some o the key concepts used throughout Urban Networks – Network Urbanism. In addition, numbered boxes inside the Chapters unction as particular illustrations and are reerenced in the text. As said, the goal o this book is to open up a mainly French oeuvre to an English-reading audience: twelve o the nineteen Chapters are frst-time English translations. So Urban Networks – Network Urbanism should also be o interest to readers who came across publications by Dupuy in English beore and would like to get a better understanding o his views on urban planning. In addition, the French avour o the case studies - and the mix o Anglo-Saxon, Hispanic and French reerences - might help in discovering the richness o the French discourse on geography and spatial planning.
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