Stadtplanung und soziale Netzwerke im Web 2.0 (IV)

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The following four articles summarize the talk given last Saturday at the > Barcamp in Mannheim, where Robert Basic and I asked What is the social nature of social networks? . This presentation was intended to spark discussion; while the debate was highly contentious, it also highlighted the value of social networks.

> Urban Planning and Social Networks in Web 2.0 (I)
> Urban Planning and Social Networks in Web 2.0 (II)
> Urban Planning and Social Networks in Web 2.0 (III)
> Urban Planning and Social Networks in Web 2.0 (IV)

As per the blog, the latest post (i.e., (IV)) appears first here. It is therefore best to scroll down the page or click here to start with > Urban Planning and Social Networks on Web 2.0 (I).

In social networks such as > Facebook, there is no hierarchy, unless the number of contacts indicates something about social status. It primarily reflects the amount of time the well-known person has already spent on this platform. No one walks across a public square and greets everyone with a handshake, because they know everyone passing by. Unfortunately, the person we know well becomes an object for which we vote.

Sennett raises the question—and explicitly rejects it—that a society cannot build a community based on intimate acquaintances. ((The Decline and End of Public Life: The Tyranny of Intimacy, in English The Fall of Public Man, Frankfurt am Main, 1983, p. 333) Applied to social media, this means that no network can be created based on knowledge of profiles, since lasting reciprocity is not involved. What is discussed here on a small scale can be applied to urban design and urban planning. A prime example will soon emerge in Stuttgart. The removal of the railroad tracks, the 90-degree rotation of the train station, and the construction of a new neighborhood on the site of the numerous railroad tracks that currently lead to a terminal station are collectively known as Stuttgart 21. Commercial buildings, residential units, and the 21st-century library are set to rise from the former track area.

A few images from the early days, around 2003, of the development behind Stuttgart’s central station:


Can a neighborhood be created from scratch? Urban planners are convinced it can. It is hoped that this new neighborhood will have a ripple effect on the surrounding area, as the size of the site makes it a significant urban planning project—even if it is just one neighborhood. The mix of functions in this new neighborhood will be key to its success. What influences will come from outside? What functions will be brought together there? There is no doubt that the urban planners are aware of their responsibility, for they know that it is not enough simply to build houses; rather, they are building—in the truest sense of the word—the social fabric of the new neighborhood. Its prospects are set in stone and may only have proven viable after the inauguration, to truly lay the foundation for an urban community.

It is not the architecture of the houses, but the functions of the various buildings that determine how society can be built. The 21st-century library, located at the heart of the new neighborhood, will reportedly be surrounded by a moat. It is possible that it will be accessible only through a gate on one side, facing downtown. Just as the arrangement of functions will determine the well-being and comfort of work in this new neighborhood—and, to a lesser extent, in the new library—these sociological perspectives and insights into urban planning must also be applied to the rules and functions of social networks, which constitute the conditions for society’s success.

Urban planning and social networks differ very little from one another. And these conditions are shaped by those who receive money for making the budget available. Paying for one’s own advertising on a regular basis—like a hairdresser’s ad or the monthly gas bill—is still something that takes some getting used to. For some, this amount is even a kind of tax on livelihood.

To the first article in the series > Urban Planning and Social Networks in Web 2.0

Supplement:
Kai Biermann,> Networking Can Hurt, DIE ZEIT, Oct. 21, 2008

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