The Quantification of Urban Space: an introduction
We live in a world of numbers. Weight and length are measured before birth. Footsteps are tallied. Square footage is priced. Air temperatures are calculated. Ice melt is tabulated. From the most intimate aspects of our lives to the global scales of our planetary environment, our world and lives are quantified. This comprehensive quantification project began with the European Enlightenment when scientific communities in London and Paris raced to triangulate the surface of the Earth and to determine a universal standard measure.
The Quantification of Urban Space aims to understand the social, cultural and epistemological consequences of this comprehensive quantification project on the urban forms and inhabitants of metropoles such as London, Paris and beyond. Scholars and practitioners will be invited to present their research and to discuss the meanings and effects of quantification in our society today. The aim is to develop a dialogue about the ways in which our urban landscape and social experiences have been and continue to be framed by numbers.
The Quantification of Urban Space: the programme
The tremendous international efforts to map the Earth based on a universal mathematical reference marked the beginning of a thorough rationalization of space. The resulting coordinate system of quantitative representation would determine the composition and management of cities and their buildings as well as their governance through labor and economics. Yet, the assimilation of quantification methods extended beyond mapping and thoroughly penetrated all aspects of governance.
Upcoming events:
Tuesday 18 May – Quantifying Urban Spaces with Dr. Min Kyung Lee (Lecture), 6.30pm (Paris) / 5.30pm (London) / 12.30pm (EDT) / 9:30 (PDT)
Tuesday 25 May – Speculation and Mismeasures (Panel Discussion)
Wednesday 26 May – Material Spaces (Workshop)