User:Lor.ensō/thesis-outline

What do you **WANT** to write? [What will the text be about? (thesis). What do you want to explore? Be clear about HOW you want to tell your story.

I want to write: to reflect, (de)construct, criticize Rotterdam. I want to use my knowledge / experience in world building, working with 3D software and reflecting on these environments in relation to the utopian postcard realities that I see in the city and with my gained knowledge in dealing with multiple facets of living in Rotterdam.

THRESHOLD, THE TILE AND THE CUBE

To shape my thesis, I want to use the tile as a metaphor. A tile is generally fixed in place in an array to cover. In this thesis I want to uncover the tiles.

Beginning from the personal small tile of context that includes reality.

I order to reflect / criticize the city, I want to start at the first tile and then zooming out towards 'the big picture'

Since most(if not all) modern (atro)cities seem to be in developed in 3D software, I'm starting to think the implementation of virtual reality renders the street into a design instead of the other way around.

In this Thesis, it would a great (visual) exploration to go through positive and negative renders of the visual representation and putting these next to the contexts of a city. 

A 3D workspace looks like a grey void. Since this representation feels hollow, I want to reflect on the 3D cube and artificial renders.

To prevent confusion or overstimulation, I want use a frame, a tile. The tile as a small square, a frame, a window, a screen, a face.

Since a cube has 6 tiles, the format will be 6 chapters or at least will dice around 6 elements.

3D renders are calculated and these are over simplified for the sake of entertainment, marketing.  

And to look at the municipality / government / designers and their tools that either help improve or demolish through city marketing/planning. This informational / imagery journey could be building blocks of critique on order to actually help and build a better city: not only through but also from A(accessibility/disability), I want to write about the tools I have used and linking these tools to how they shape reality.  The tools I'm thinking of are my previous media of 3D software: Ways to make scenes and worlds based on the institutional critique. Filling the grey void with complexity through critiques on the world building platforms I used in my bachelors.

Contextures / Chapters

Socially - Personal, Affordable, Family, Housing

Accessibly - Disability, Information provision, infrastructures

Bureaucratically - Protocols of local municipal / governments

Architecturally - Buildings, ways, pavements, roads, streets

Virtually - Imagery, impression, media, softwares, simulation, games

Culturally - budget cuts, false iconism, counterculture, grassroots, community, festivals/gigs/events

These six are connected in my countercube with contextures: A drawing per chapter to alternative looks to postcard utopianism.

Contextures are context-textures which are based on finding miscalculations. ( countermap.  )

It is crucial to mention that I will not allow myself to fall in a pit of despair but to healthily reflect on the topics, not having an answer but reacting honestly within the complex matters and also to look at the alternatives.

I want to reflect on these tools and how they are used. Especially because I start to see this kind of image in multiple parts of Rotterdam. I'm starting to see the resemblance with certain (dystopic) virtual representations in games like Cyberpunk 2077, next to that, I'm currently diving into the idea of the city as machine / medium and other metaphors to help shape my critiques.

Since most(if not all) modern cities are in development in 3D software, I'm starting to think the implementation of virtual reality renders the street into a design instead of the other way around. In this Thesis, it would a great (visual) exploration to go through positive and negative renders of the visual representation and putting these next to the contexts of a city.  And to look at the municipality / government / designers and their tools that either help improve or demolish through city marketing/planning. This informational / imagery journey could be building blocks of critique on order to actually help and build a better city: not only through X(width), Y(height), Z(depth) and T(time) but also from A(accessibility/disability), L(livability, housing, affordability), C(culturability, festivals/gigs/events).

These are all dimensions that have context in contrast to the (pre)calculated 3D area of X(width), Y(height), Z(depth) and T(time).

The utopian postcards of a new apartment building and the promise of new icons are ideal landscapes made from artist/artificial impressions.

Using drawings as an alternative to the hollow representation that seem to 'shape' Rotterdam.

how to develop a counter-mapping practice in relation to he issue of accessibility in Rotterdam

infrastructure for countermapping / anti-campaigning by showing (human) complications

References

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Griffin, M. and Kittler, F.A. (1996) 'The City is a Medium,' New Literary History, 27(4), pp. 717–729. https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.1996.0051.

Mattern, S. (2017) 'A city is not a computer,' Places [Preprint], (2017). https://doi.org/10.22269/170207.

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Steyerl. H (2013) How Not To Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE3RlrVEyuo.

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Kooyman. M (2024) Rotterdam niet langer armste stad, maar nog steeds leven duizenden inwoners in armoede. Algemeen Dagblad, October 17, 2024https://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/rotterdam-niet-langer-armste-stad-maar-nog-steeds-leven-duizenden-inwoners-in-armoede~a7f79119/

Liukku. A, (2024) 'Waarom Rotterdam opnieuw onderaan staat in lijst met gezonde steden: aantal punten valt op.' Algemeen Dagblad, November 11, 2024, https://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/waarom-rotterdam-opnieuw-onderaan-staat-in-lijst-met-gezonde-steden-aantal-punten-valt-op~adec7bd9/

Unitary urbanism at the end of the 1950s (Issue three of the journal of the Situationist International) December 1959 https://libcom.org/article/unitary-urbanism-end-1950s.

Mass Moving (2007) [documentary]. Directed by Françoise Levie. Belgium. Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds