Trial-and-error urbanism: addressing obduracy, uncertainty and complexity in urban planning and design

Abstract

This article argues that sustainable and communal neighborhoods could be significantly more common in North America if development practices addressed the barriers posed by sociotechnical obduracy and the inevitable limitations of expertise through expanded opportunities for experimentation. In reconceptualizing the problems faced by alternative urbanisms through the lens of science and technology studies, I explore how the intelligent trial-and-error (ITE) framework for governing emerging technologies could be extended to partially address the barriers of obduracy, uncertainty and complexity when pursuing alternative urban designs. An examination of how Baugruppen (cooperative building groups) were integrated into the planning process of Quartier Vauban, Freiburg, is used to illustrate both the potentials and a concrete application of an ITE-like approach. I then discuss some of the barriers to an ITE model of urban planning in North America and recommend further research at the intersection of urban studies and science and technology studies.

Self-build communities: the rationale and experiences of group-build (Baugruppen) housing development in Germany

“…These features hint at the peculiarity of the German market and act as a warning to those who would seek to transfer simple lessons from Germany to other European countries. A second point of general interest has been the conspicuous level of experimentation and innovation in 'sustainable' urbanism, and particularly the emergence of an 'intelligent trial and error' (ITE) approach (Dotson, 2015) linking novel means of housing production to innovative residential design. One particularly striking aspect has been the physical scale of some ITE projects in Germany, including the 2,500home Vauban car-free suburb in Freiburg, Tübingen's 2,700-home French Quarter and the 6,000-home HafenCity mixed-use quarter that is currently under construction in Hamburg.…”

How water and its use shaped the spatial development of Vienna

“…The 'obduracy' such frames create in urban sociotechnical change has been discussed by Anique Hommels (2000, 2005a. Obduracy is an actor-centred approach that features in a number of recent studies on urban development (Hodson 2008;Kirkman 2009;Dotson 2015). As such it emphasises the immaterial factors of permanence such as ''fixed ways of thinking and interacting'' or the ''long-term cultural contexts'' of acting (Hommels 2005a, pp.…”

“…Recent works byScheer (2010), Marshall and Ç aliskan (2011),Dotson (2015) andCaputo et al (2015) explore different sides of this endeavour. Planners had and will always have to deal with complex, 'wicked' problems(Rittel and Webber 1973), each being essentially novel and unique.…”

Technological Determinism and Permissionless Innovation as Technocratic Governing Mentalities: Psychocultural Barriers to the Democratization of Technology

“…For instance, substantially lessening the obligatoriness of the automobile within the American urban landscape in the foreseeable future would require a much more deliberate and coordinated steering of building codes, highway and road design, and transportation planning than exists at present. However, various social, cultural, and political barriers stifle even fairly insignificant deviations from established urban form (see Hommels 2005;Dotson Forthcoming). Proposals to alter status quo urban form butt up against entrenched visions of how buildings ought to mesh with public space, already established professional practices, and opposition by social groups with incongruent interests.…”