Liberating the Ground. 'Rhythmanalysis': The Non-Investible City
An air-based residential community manages the non-commodifiable, flexible resource of the ground, leasing it to commercial operators and selling the heat resource it provides.
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In ‘The Production of Space,’ urban philosopher Henri Lefebvre argues that urban space is ‘produced’ by the social relations in human industry, rather than being related to the organic processed of daily life. In his collection of essays, ‘Rhythmanalysis,’ Lefebvre specifies the interrelation of the understanding of space and time of the comprehension of everyday life. This understanding shows how a non-linear conception of time and history composed his famous reconsidering of the question of space.
The thesis questions if society can establish an alternate urban pattern – a ‘temporal city’ constructed on the Lefebvrian term, ‘Rhythmanalysis,’ - the rhythms and movement of urban space – rather than on the unfettered commodity form that now dominates cities across the world. Finally, the propositional response, ‘The Non-Investible City,’ instantiates on a real site, a city environment that opposes investment-led development, shifting power and control to an air-based community which manages the non-commodifiable and flexible ground below.