I’ve been sitting on the first post a while because, despite Luke explaining thoroughly in the first meeting that I can do what I want, I still wasn’t sure what the tone should be. What do I want? Should I be having fun? Casual, writing like I’m speaking to a friend? Or should the writing be formal – maybe I should write like a journalist on a case. Then, absurdly, I suddenly got fixated on having a ‘theme’ and talking like I’m some sailor at sea in the 16th century –
Captain’s log, week 3 day 3
6.30pm. Didn’t know how to write blog post.
The appeal of that to me, for some reason, would be to title the first post Destination: Unknown. Because I honestly don’t know where I’m going. At this point, I’m second-guessing if I should be in the program at all! But I know that’s just me immediately catastrophizing, which I have to get to working around. (Actually, shouldn’t Destination: Unknown be better off assigned to a wandering space pilot? This is Edinburgh Futures Institute.) Forget it, enough digression!
The subject line I’ve decided on is post i: initiating topographic survey, all lowercase so I feel less stressed about formality, and numbered in Roman, meaning I’m letting myself know I haven’t fully started. Like in a table of contents in a book; you have pages going i, ii, iii before you start with 1. And I’m surveying, because there’s a number of spots in the ground I’d like to get to start building on, but I don’t know which one to pick!
Results of this imaginary survey:
- Fast-growing metropolitan cities, with deteriorating city cores – different ways of retrofitting these, adding new third places and creative, participatory sites in cities that can help strengthen community identity and pride. Courses I’m interested in regards to this: Regenerating Place, Cities as Creative Sites: Urban Studio
- Sustainable community design for marginalized groups – displaced refugees/immigrants due to war and/or natural disaster. (Additionally, in the context of Riyadh specifically, the expatriate blue collar citizens who live in homes of very low quality). Courses: Trauma and Resilience, Mental Health in the Anthropocene, Inclusive Society
- Phenomenology and narrative – how every facet of the spaces people live in go on to shape the narrative/trajectory of their lives. What are the ways in which people’s lives are affected by their spaces? What particular qualities of spaces am I interested in, from a phenomenological point of view? I don’t even know. And what will I do with these questions? Is there a practical, socially sustainable application that can be carried out for universal benefit, or will I have to narrow down to trying to find a better design application for a specific set of people? Which set of people? Courses: The World as a Story: Narrative, Self and Society.
- Islamic urban studies – what aspects, sustainable or otherwise, are there that can I take from part of my own heritage that may not be studied or recognized outside my sphere, and how could I be able to apply that? This I want to try and incorporate into whatever I do end up doing. Courses: not sure I can take any personally in EFI. Might just have to do my own work for this, go through available course reading lists, contact course instructors at Edinburgh and outside for advice on further readings.
Alright, I have to go now. That’s it for the moment. I’ll come back later, the sooner the better, to try and figure out how to configure any of these into something workable.
You might have been slightly unsure on how to get started but this was really fun, and great to see you (informally) reflect on the process and what exactly you want to get out of the course/blog! Your imaginery survey produced some interesting results so I look forward to seeing these develop throughout the blog (whether as a formal or informal post).
thank you for taking the time to read and comment, Luke! I really appreciate it 🙂
I’d never heard of phenomenology until I read your blog even though I am interested in places and narratives. I’m curious about what makes place to a person, they can invoke a wide range of emotions, past events, positive and negative and of course how we can use research into these subjects to create more sustainable places. Perhaps our next intensive – Envisioning Sustainable Lands and Cities will enlighten us! I look forward to seeing your future posts on this and discussing it further!
Hi Scott! So excited to have kind of introduced someone to phenomenology – isn’t it a really human and sensitive look at architecture and spaces? Speaking of the intensive = I think the Urban Materialities lecture did touch on that, I found it very refreshing and will be trying to look up all the references that were shared during it. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment! 🙂
Wow Maryam, you have so many ideas! It seems to me like you are already developing some sound connections between your topographic interests and the courses you are taking during the programme. I share your interest in topic/result #2 (sustainable community design for marginalized groups). I look forward to seeing what you decide on.
Happy to chat about our common interests anytime,
Maria Paula xx
Hey Maria Paula! 😀 Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment, I really appreciate it! And I’ll definitely be reaching out! 🙂