The City is a Thinking Machine
... activism in the built environmentMarking the centenary of the publication of Geddes, Cities in Evolution (2015) and the associated Cities Exhibition
The aim of this project is to evaluate the relevance of Geddes’ thought for today by curating an exhibition and associated events and publications that place his work along side the work of contemporary practices.
The city thinks us. We think ourselves by thinking the city. The Scottish polymathic planner and botanist, Sir Patrick Geddes, was able to articulate conceptual frameworks – what he called ‘thinking machines’ – for understanding the evolution of cities and democratic social organisations.
This program of research dialogues culminating in a public exhibition of work drawn from the Geddes archives, evaluates the relevance of Geddes to contemporary thinking on cities and their regions.
It is timed to mark the centenary of Geddes’ most comprehensive work, Cities in Evolution (1915).
It is part of a larger project to re-evaluate key contributions to urban and social thought from the 20th Century – from Geddes to the recent architectural avant-garde - and re-integrate it into contemporary planning and design practices.
The Dialogues will bring together a select group of media art, architecture, and planning practices in Dundee and beyond, whose research is oriented by Geddes’ thought.