Session 5 - In defense of ugliness: The role of technical presence in critical infrastructure system endurance
Location
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Stan Fulton Building
Start Date
1-6-2007 2:51 PM
End Date
1-6-2007 2:58 PM
Description
A poorly studied aspect of Critical Infrastructure (CI) performance involves the ways in which stakeholders understand and relate to the material form of the system. Using the New Orleans and Dutch levee system as an example, we argue for greater appreciation by CI designers of the important role system aesthetics play in signaling the system’s importance, vulnerabilities and social significance. We present one possible method by which this qualitative relationship between system design choice and public perceptions of the system (the interaction between the two factors we call “Design Voice”) can be better understood as part of disciplined analysis versus the traditional primarily anecdotal approach to the topic.
Keywords
Aesthetics; Critical Infrastructure (CI) performance; Infrastructure (Economics); Levee systems; Levees – Design and construction; Louisiana – New Orleans; Netherlands; New Orleans; Louisiana; Public opinion; Public perception; System design
Disciplines
Infrastructure | Urban, Community and Regional Planning | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited
COinS
Session 5 - In defense of ugliness: The role of technical presence in critical infrastructure system endurance
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Stan Fulton Building
A poorly studied aspect of Critical Infrastructure (CI) performance involves the ways in which stakeholders understand and relate to the material form of the system. Using the New Orleans and Dutch levee system as an example, we argue for greater appreciation by CI designers of the important role system aesthetics play in signaling the system’s importance, vulnerabilities and social significance. We present one possible method by which this qualitative relationship between system design choice and public perceptions of the system (the interaction between the two factors we call “Design Voice”) can be better understood as part of disciplined analysis versus the traditional primarily anecdotal approach to the topic.