I: The University of Design and Development.

II: Manhattan: Capital of the Twentieth

Century. III: The Designs of Freedom
Author(s): Emilio Ambasz
Source: Perspecta , 1971, Vol. 13/14 (1971), pp. 359-365
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of Perspecta.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1566993

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The University of Design Manhattan: Capital of The Designs of Freedom
and Development the Twentieth Century
Emilio Ambasz

359

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 would have to comprehend an empirical as well
The development of a system of thought
as an existential conception of the Hows and Whys
B capable of designing the man-made mi-
N lieu has not prospered, so far, partly due of man's actions and reactions.
to the difficulties inherent in breaking away from In the empirical domain, this mode of
accustomed patterns of thought and envisaging thought would have to grasp in an operative man-
alternative future states, and partly because what ner the patterns of interactions existing between
has been in our culture the dominant mode of man and the natural environment, and in a more
beholding reality, the scientific method, though important sense, the constantly changing patterns
indispensable as a support for design activity,of is interrelations occurring between man and the
inadequate as an overall approach to design. man-made environment."
Interpreted in a narrowly mechanistic The conception of a willed state involves
form the scientific method is clearly inadequate defining goals and norms, relating large amounts

I
for designing a desired future because it breaks of data, developing alternative solutions and
the organic unity of experience by treating only selecting as most satisfactory that solution which,
the measurable and the quantifiable. But even if reflecting acceptable values or values which can
one takes a broader view of the scientific method in time become accepted, embodies some virtue
and acknowledges that it has been variously suc-not presently existent. Consequently, the explicit
cessful in dealing with organic phenomena, still analysis of values is to be considered as one of
it will not do as an approach to design. For the the main features of this system of thought.
scientific method is meant to deal with the given, In order to introduce systematic and
with what is, whereas the designer must deal with rigorous theoretical methods, this mode of thought
the aspired to, with what ought to be. will also have to introduce into its logic as a real
The University of Design and Development Laws of nature are assumed to be given factor the notion of an existential operator (man,
As the natural milieu replaced the divine and immutable, and the scientist's task is to reveal as the intuitive synthesizer and maker of sym-
A milieu in becoming Renaissance man's what they are. The designer, unlike the scientist, bols).' That is to say, although man is certainly
N primordial area of concern, so has a must at some level, himself define the nature and not the only living organism capable of altering
newly emerging man-made milieu become the his environment in order to maintain his essential
set the requirements of the task that he will attempt
all pervading framework of contemporary man's physiological properties, he is, however, the only
to satisfy. He must not treat what he finds is taking
thought and imagery. place as the scientist treats the processes of entity capable of generating images and under-
It has become increasingly evident that nature, for that would imply assuming that the going ontological changes."
the profile being adopted by this new milieu is given fully determines what can be aspired to. In the existential domain, this mode of
escaping control- that the future will provide The guiding ethical principle behind the thought would, thus, have to conceive of man as he
only a continuation of the present if facts of tech- scientific method is objectivity, fidelity to things who creates experiential and conceptual structures
nological feasibility, rather than new values of as they are rather as one would like them to be. in order to satisfy needs and conciliate aspirations,
human existence, remain the accepted shaping The truth of any scientific statement must be anwhich go from the physical to the cosmological,
forces. independent fact and not a function of the ob- within the boundaries of the natural and the
The present climate of opinion has, thus, server. This is an admirable ethic and salutory for socio-cultural world.
become pervaded by a feeling of "environmental anyone, including the designer, who seeks a grasp Obviously, the search for the develop-
crisis." of the actual. But the designer must deal not only ment of such a system of thought would require
"Happy ending" views to the contrary, with the actual but with the envisaged, take into a full-fledged body of inter-disciplinary imagina-
there is no evidence that the events of this milieu account not only objective facts but subjective tion and analysis. Two questions, then, present
answer to the same laws as Newton's apple, and wishes; the scientist's commitment to the given themselves to mind: First, which scale of problems
that technology carries in itself the response to all is for him unduly restrictive at best, and can at of the man-made milieu would render the maxi-
the difficulties it raises. The structures, functions, worst turn him into a mere instrument of ongoing mum possibilities for research and insight? Sec-
and processes of the man-made milieu, understood processes and established interests. An ethic for ond, do our present educational and research
as the patterns of interaction of complex adaptive the design method would, therefore, recognize the institutions have sufficient scope for the establish-
systems, are not analogous to the workings of truth of any design statement is a socio-cultural ment of an inter-disciplinary exchange and do
physical systems.' There is no reason, therefore, function dependent on the values of the partici- they have the power necessary for putting their
for hoping that the aimless actions of technology pants. Such an ethic would, thus, allow one's view design proposals into practice?
will eventually accommodate themselves to a of things as they are to be affected by what one The first question can be answered if,
providential pattern of order. would like them to be. when considering that by the year 2000 a very
It is a fact that all our economic, social, We must remark, however, that once a high percentage of the world will be living in
political, and cultural phenomena are situated in prototypical solution is arrived at and the rangesurban conditions, we realize that the processes
this technological content, and that all our choices of its typological possibilities become known, it ensuing from such urban phenomena will not be-
are, therefore, based on ideas, judgments, values, makes sense for the designer to adhere to the come comprehensible nor manageable by solely
beliefs, and myths which are, to a great extent, scientific method; a known possibility can be resorting to the methods applied to industrial
functions of this technological society.' These treated and analyzed as one would a given actu- phenomena; that any attempt at language reno-
remarks would tend to reinforce either the view- ality. The scientific method is a powerful tool for vation and invention can only result from a radical
point of those who are skeptical of the possibilities
such analysis of possibilities already formulated, critique and postulation of urban practices and
for positive action, given what they believe to and
be must therefore be comprehended within any theory. Of all man-made structures, the many
the deterministic nature of technology, or the attempts at outlining what may be called the levels of meaning which are embodied in the social
viewpoint of those who uphold the notion that design system of thought. and physical models of urban existence would
technology belongs to the metaphysics of the It should be noted, moreover, that the be the ones to render the richest source of insight
twentieth century because it has been, so far, design system of thought - defined as the form in the development of a system of thought capable
beyond our control. generating actions by which man conceives and of designing the man-made milieu.
Although they are correct when they warn structures the physical and socio-cultural environ- As we are reaching a situation in which
us that we may be running the risk of reinforcingments as wholes - is not opposed, but on the the only valid approaches will be those compre-
the worst of the man-made milieu when we inevit- contrary, complementarily related to what has hending the totality of the world system, the
ably resort to techniques in order to gain masterybeen defined as technology; i.e., the industrial and urban models to be considered should behold the
over techniques, the supporters of the pessimisticcybernetic institutionalization of science.? While natural and the man-made environment - the
view side, in spite of themselves, with the support-
technology can be understood as the activity by entire planetm -as a complete and totally inter-
ers of the optimistic position when both refuse towhich qualities are organized into quantities in related problem.
evaluate strategies for action. For evidently veryorder to turn them operable, the new role foreseen As for the second question, of whether
different reasons, the two positions neglect tofor the design mode of thought should be under- the research and teaching resources of our present
contemplate the possibility of establishing a frame-
stood as the act by which man, utilizing technology, universities can be tapped to better understand
work for the evolution of a state of consciousness synthesizes quantities into qualities. and help develop the new system of thought
capable of mediating between man, nature and the Given the dialectic interrelations existing concerned with the design of our urban environ-
technological forces, and which would, in this between man-made physical and socio-cultural ment, a pertinent answer can be extracted from
manner, be favorable to the development of a systems, and the fully active, open, and trans- the Ford Foundation's report on "Urban Exten-
hitherto unformulated system of thought capable actional nature of man, it is imperative that the sion."'' From 1959 to 1966, the Ford Foundation
of giving meaning and order to the man-made model of a system of thought capable of struc- made grants for experiments in applying the na-
milieu, i.e., capable of designing it. turing, and restructuring the man-made milieu tion's university resources directly to the problem
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of American cities. In the final report, of Octoberaccording to the needs of a post-technological scale) and to a system of rules (behaviors,
1966, the Ford Foundation stated that the experi- society, such Universitas should encompass the laws, habits, uses, morals, etc.) which interact
ments revealed that our present universities have constellation of the different Western concepts of with one another.
the university. The first of such concepts, is the 5 Anatol Rapport and William T. Horvath.
yet to solve a set of critical questions if they are
ever to deal effectively with the problems of an humanistic university, the non-specialized idea of "Thoughts on Organization Theory," General
Systems, IV 01959), pp. 97-9 1.
urban society. To the question "Are universities university, as conceived in the Greek Academies, 6 Kenneth E. Boulding. The Image. (Ann Arbor:
presently structured to assume urban commit- institutionalized by the Italian and Parisian Uni- University of Michigan Press, 1956).
ments?" they confirmed everyone's suspicion in versities of the Middle Ages, and re-formulated 7 Urban Extension. A Report on Experimental
stating "that responsiveness to the urban environ- by Cardinal Newman' in the last century. The sec- Programs Assisted by the Ford Foundation.
ment calls for an across-the-board commitment. ond of such concepts of university is the scientific, (New York: F.F., October 1966).
An isolated department or division devoted to specialized idea of a university which deals with 8 John Henry Cardinal Newman. The Idea of a
urban affairs appears to have limited impact upon the empirical world, as envisioned by Bacon" and University. (New York: Longmans Green and
Company, 1947).
the problem as a whole." In addition, the report Descartes'`, and institutionalized by von Humboldt. 9 Francis Bacon. "The Advancement of
is explicit in saying that "the difference between The third of such university concepts might be Learning," Essays, Advance of Learning, New
the needs of urban extension and those of aca- constituted by the here-envisioned idea of an in- Atlantis and Other Places. (New York: Odyssey
demic departments are more sharply drawn by stitution, which would deal with the processes Press, Inc., 1937).
university traditions and administrative structure involved in the physical and socio-economic syn- 10 For Descartes' distinction between the faculty
than conditions actually warrant." As a conse- thesis of man's aspirations in conciliation with theof arts (poetry and history) and philosophy
quence, the present training does not prepare the facts of the natural and the socio-cultural environ- which he divides into the special studies of
student of design for the task of assuming re- ment. This re-formulated concept of Universitas, mathematics, physics, and metaphysics; see his
Discourse on Method.
sponsibilities. He is usually provided neither with or constellation of universities, would thus repre-
the spiritual attitude nor with the intellectual sent the philosophic mode of thought in its human- 11 1 heard the term "university of design" first
expressed at a lecture Tomas Maldonado gave
equipment for acting creatively in a world where istic university, the scientific mode of thought in at the Graham Foundation of Chicago, in
the posing and solving of problems has become its empirical university, and the design mode of 1967. In his lecture, Maldonado referred to a 5
a highly complex task of devising dynamic con- thought in its university of design and develop- year design education and research program
trols rather than arriving at final solutions. ment." There would thus be, for example, social which, in close alliance with the behavioral, the
These are familiar facts, but the con- philosophers in the humanistic university, social social, the exact and the applied sciences
clusion drawn from them is what matters. If we scientists in the scientific university, and social would be dedicated to educating environmental
designers.
agree with the concept that an education prepara-designers in the university of design and develop-
tory to designing our urban environment should ment.
include all the fields of socio-economic and phys- The tasks which would have to be
ical inquiry and action which can give sense and assumed by such Universitas may stagger imag-
structure to the human environment, we would then ination and paralyze hope but they cannot be
have to question very seriously whether the present relinquished, as they would involve: first, the
highly rigid and compartmentalized structure of retrospective task of evaluating the consequences
our universities does allow for an effective inter- which have resulted from having made choices on
disciplinary approach toward questioning and the bases of values no higher than those derived
designing our urban environment. of an acceptance of consumption as the existential
All these considerations have brought us motivator; second, the critical task of analyzing
to the point where we ought to begin considering the socio-economic and the political institutions
whether the time has not arrived for formulating of our technological milieu in order to establish
the idea of an institution explicitly concerned with the effects they have had on our civilization's sys-
the ethical framework of our society, and con- tems of ideas and emotions; third, the prospective
ceived toward developing the system of thought task of envisioning and constantly expanding the
capable of designing our man-made milieu. framework of private and common values that
Such an institution will, of course, notshould guide the physical and socio-economic
immediately solve the problems of our urban design of our society; and fourth, the operational
environment, but it will go a long way towards task of developing the physical and socio-eco-
transforming these problems into controlled proc- nomic methods necessary for implementing these
esses. It is hoped that the conceptual scheme of objectives.
such an institution would benefit from a dissolu- The fulfillment of these tasks will, how-
tion of nineteenth century notions of deterministicever, require that prior to defining new areas of
systems which believed that not only did systems inquiry and action, and before developing new
have to be simple and general, but also that human disciplines, we have the courage of conceiving
organizations, in consequence, could be planned of this Universitas, both as the model of beholding
rigid and finite. This institution, if it is to be the meaning of man's condition and as the way
meaningfully new would require a different notion for imagining and implementing the quality of our
of "system." We would, then, have to talk of a existence in terms of a humanity made milieu.
dynamic concept of complex system; indeter- The main points of this section's argu-
ministic, designed to operate in a constant state ment have been first presented at a lecture given
of reform and adaptation to other systems, as at Princeton University School of Architecture and
well as operationally capable of acknowledging Urban Planning in the Spring of 1968.
private values and emotions as essential factors notes
in the large and difficult process of arriving at 1 "Adaptive systems possess the ability to react
forms of commonly shared goals. to their environment in a way that is favourable,
This institution should include all the in some sense, to the continued operations of
disciplines which can give meaning and order to the system." They are open, i.e.: ".-.-. they
our social and physical environment. Thus, in exchange materials, energies or information
addition to its core faculty in physical, biological with their environment." (A. D. Hall, and R. E.
and socio-economic design, it should be flanked Fagen. "Definition of Systems", General
Systems, /., 1956, pp. 18-28).
by its own faculties in the behavioral and social
2 George Gurvitch, Industrialisation et
sciences, in the exact and applied sciences, and
Technocratie, (Paris: A. Colin, 1949).
in the humanities; which would be articulated 3 For an introduction to the concept of socio-
according to research topics rather than by disci- cultural systems see: Walter Buckley.
plines. Furthermore, it would be necessary that Sociology and Modern Systems Theory
this institution take its proposals into the stage of (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
development in order to gain feedback. Such a 1967).
4 In systematic terms, the man-made environ-
ment is understood as the interaction between
prograem fo urbanthdevelopment woud, terefore,
socio-cultural systems and physical systems.
sectors of the society be actively involved.
That is to say in a man-made environment man
What is here envisioned is that if the tra-
is related to a system of physical elements
ditional concept of Universitas is re-formulated (objects going from the micro to the macro
361

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 for, conceived as the idea rather than as the actual the context of the patterns of relationships it
configuration, Manhattan's infrastructure provides establishes with other superstructures, this pro-
the framework in which all crystallized fragments cess generates new meanings which in turn will
rescued from the city of the memory, and all fig- require further interpretation. By this reiterative
ments- envisioned for the city of the imagination process the envisioned superstructures assume
may dwell in ensemble, if not by reasons of their constructive powers. Insofar as they question the
casual relationships (since no reconstruction is context of the Present, they assign it new mean-
hereby intended), than by grace of their affinities. ings; insofar as they propose alternative states,
The outcome of such undertaking may be agita- they re-structure it.
tional, and render, if not actual proposals of super- The quality of human existence is the
structures, at least an explicit Inventory of Quali- principle which is to guide the communal
ties of urban existence toward a yet to be defined N process of designing and constructing

~
"City of Open Presents". the house of our individual realities. Both meth-
3. In a first, retrospective phase, we ods. rescuing the irreducible fragments from their
may, as one of many possible approaches, assem-decayed contexts, and interpreting the different
ble piecemeal any surviving fragments of memory possible contexts which may give meaning to
on the infrastructure: imagined figments - in a word, designing super-
structures as a method for inventing and learning
bologna's arcades
osip mandelstam's st. petersburg about the form that new qualities of human ex-
istence may adopt - suggest possible approaches
john nash's regent's park
toward interpreting a culture through the super-
gabriel's petit trianon
katsura's promenades to observe the structures it creates, as well as aid toward creating
Manhattan: Capital of the Twentieth sunset Century the images and developing the models of new
"once I have grasped it, then mies' an old,
barcelona as It were
pavillion socio-cultural systems.
rebellious, half apocalytic province wallace stevens'ofwind my on athoughts
wheatfield But, as we may soon realize once we
will have been subdued, colonized, set in order." return to our customary state of disbelief, no
john soane's house
Walter Benjamin in a Letter to Gerhard Scholem model of co-existence with the city of the memory
frank zappa's los angeles
will be found, nor will the configuration of the
baudelaire's fleeting instants
1. Manhattan, unencumbered by perma- city of the imagination become evident until the
debussy's submerged cathedral
A nent memory, and more interested in be- michael heizer's land marks system of thought and action capable of designing
[ coming than in being, can be seen as the the two according to new ideological and emo-
joan littlewood's fun palace
city of that second technological revolution brought tional values shall have been developed. Then, we
ray bradbury's brown clouds
about by the development of processes for pro- may see that the changing configurations of the
ducing and controlling information rather than le notre's gardens of chantilly. . . emerging city and those of the constantly renewed
just energy. It has, after all, incorporated the wor- This tearing of the fragment from its systems of thought which are developed to design
ship of communication with the idolatry of the former context, this rescuing of the irreducible it, are always isomorphic. It may also become evi-
industrial product and, by so doing, provided the word from its sentence, involves not only the dent that such structural transformations will only
ground for supporting any infatuation with the usual process of design by discriminate selectiontake place after new institutions, concerned with
now as the ultimate configuration of reality. How- but suggests, moreover, a process of bringing to- developing such design systems of thought and
ever, seen in a different light, Manhattan may gether where, instead of establishing fixed hier-capable of designing the man-made milieu phys-
reveal an unforeseen potential for conceiving of archies, the fragments rescued from tradition areically and socio-economically, have been estab-
a quite different notion of city. placed on the same level in ever changing con- lished. Perhaps then, after these specific con-
Manhattan is, in essence, a network. If tiguities, in order to yield new meanings, and ditions have been satisfied, but not before the
beheld as an infrastructure for the processing andthereby render other modes of access to their unfolded meanings of remembered and of invente
exchange of matter, energy, and information, recondite qualities. superstructures have begun to expand the realm o
Manhattan may be seen, either as the overwrought 4. In a second, prospective phase, the our valued qualities, will the Universitas become
roof of a subterranean physical grid of subway form of any superstructure to be assembled on the Univercity, and the City of Open Presents
tunnels and train stations, automobile, passages, the infrastructure is to come from the domain of come into being.
postal tubes, sewage chambers, water and gas invention. The Universitas as we have conceived
pipes, power wires, telephone, telegraph, tele- But envisioned qualities do not come in it is not to be a detached observer or passive
vision and computer lines; or, conversely, as the wholes. They are to be apprehended as they rush entity. It must actively participate in the creation
datum plane of an aerial lattice of walking paths, by - partial denotators of an inversed tradition, of the man-made milieu, be concerned both with
automobile routes, flight patterns, wireless im- of possible states which may become; and once the question of what goals are to guide man in this
pulses, institutional liaisons, and ideological webs. grasped, they are to be dialectically confronted creation and with the problem of how resources
In any of these roles, the points of Manhattan's with the many meanings which can be temporarily are best to be allocated toward attaining these
network have been repeatedly charged, on and assigned to our fragmentary experience of the goals. In such pursuits, it should acknowled ge
off, with different meanings. Entire systems and Present. what contemporary experience has shown, namely,
isolated elements have been connected to and If beheld as icons, the architectural and that authority over resources and means of pro-
ceremonial
processed by these networks, only to be later forms which these constantly changing duction, or the opposite position - withdrawal
removed and replaced by new ones. superstructures may adopt represent an instance from any such involvement - is not enough to
2. Were we willing, for the sake of argu- in the perennial state of transaction between the insure the quality of our environment; that a hu-
ment, to suspend disbelief, forget coordinates, and fears and desires underlying the individual's manly made milieu may only come about if we
imagine that all present constructions have been aspirations and the assembled forces of the natural also develop ways for continuously self-designing
completely removed, Manhattan's infrastructure and the socio-cultural milieus. If unfolded, these and self-managing it.
would emerge - in all the complexity of its phys- superstructures would provide an insight into the
ical organization, the capacity of its input-outputgoals arid the values of their designer: man, the
mechanism, and the versatility of its control de- private being and the member of society.
vices - as the most representative urban artifact Expanding the Inventory of Qualities of
of our culture. urban existence by this process of interpreting the
Freed in this manner from its current meaning of the individual values and goals under-
lying the invention of superstructures involves
limitations, we may, to further this transfer oper-
ation, remove Manhattan's infrastructure from its bringing the subjective content of these individual
present context and place it, for example, in the values up to a communal objective level so that
center of San Francisco Bay, on the plains of they may be accepted or rejected by the
Africa, among the chateaux of the Loire Valley, community.
along the Wall of China . . . This process of expanding the commun-
Manhattan's infrastructure, thus liber- ity's ethical framework involves observing or
projecting the possible effects these values, if
ated, belongs to all. But an infrastructure, though
necessary, is not sufficient to make a city. The implemented, may have on the community, and
next step is, then, for all to undertake the postula- assessing communally whether these effects are
tion of its possible superstructure. The methods to be enhanced or reduced. As the meaning of
may belong either to remembrance or to invention, these superstructures can only be interpreted in

362

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 goals we may wish to imagine; the other position ciently complex network, a human grouping
counters that the individual can best satisfy his have various levels of goals; there will be lar
aspirations by himself or in small groups at the more comprehensive goals in terms of which the
most, that his superstructures do not require much more immediate, intermediary goals are to be
in the way of support from an infrastructure. The interpreted. To these larger goals correspond
first position subjugates the goals of the individual larger configurations of interacting structures: the
to the productions of an overpowering technology; meaning of any given structure must be decoded
the second, to the constrictions of an undeveloped from these larger configurations, a proposed re-
one. vision of immediate goals pondered for its possi-
The Universitas must be, therefore, so ble consequences in terms of overall purposes.
designed as to help resolving these conflicting It is convenient, when considering these

m
positions by acting as a mediator between the code-making and decoding processes, to distin-
processes of the infrastructure and the goals of guish two kinds of structures within a network
the superstructure, and by attempting a synthesis and four functions exercised on these structures.
of individual goals into proposed states that may For purposes of discussion, we will consider the
be adopted by other individuals. As a guide in case of a group network, although the same con,
our description of the roles that we envision for cepts would apply to individual and to social
the Universitas in society, we propose to introduce networks.
first a working model, outlined below. The system of goals shared by the mem-
Members of a group, as we have seen, bers of the group may be said to constitute a
C are brought together by certain goals conceptual superstructure which is supported by
N which they have agreed to pursue jointly, a physical infrastructure into which the available
The Designs of Freedom ana Dy certain pooled resources - resources of common resources have been organized. In prac-
Man creates artifacts in order to con- matter, energy, and information - which they will tice, of course, there never is a perfect correspond-
A ciliate his individual aspirations with allocate and structure as they think best with the ence between a given superstructure and the
the
N constraints imposed by his natural and aim of reaching those goals. But, as it happens underlying infrastructure.'
cultural worlds. In creating his artifacts he seeks With the artifacts that an individual builds, the These concepts of infrastructure and
to attain some goals: goals of which he may or actual structures that a group creates may not superstructure although necessary for describing
may not have a clear grasp and which the actual satisfy the goals for which they were created, and formally the organization of a group network are,
artifacts may or may not satisfy. Artifacts have may imply other goals which the members of the nevertheless, not sufficient for distinguishing
to be interpreted after they come into existence group did not have in mind. A structure, after it functionally the different feedback processes
so that their true meaning can be learned; and comes into existence, must be interpreted, its true which take place with the group network. We
once their meaning is learned and compared with meaning learned in the context of its interaction ought, therefore, to introduce the notion of four
the original goals which motivated their design, with other existing structures and of the larger distinct though interrelated functions which oper-
man may want to modify them or to design other configurations these structures establish. ate on the group network and govern the inter-
artifacts, or he may choose to revise his original Let us look at this operation in terms of actions among the various infrastructures and
goals or even his basic values. Man's transactions a network model. An individual conceives of some superstructures created by the group.
remain a strictly individual process if his goals goals that he may want to propose for adoption The monitoring function performs the
can be satisfied by means of his own resources, or by others. He reformulates this proposal according task of decoding and of bringing to the conscious-
if satisfaction can be attained by a mere internal to agreed convention and makes a postulational ness of the group the results of its decoding. It
reorganization of his system of goals. But the input which, if accepted, establishes a network of analyzes existing structures for their implied goals
satisfaction of an individual's goals may require group relationships. The group may then proceed and possible consequences; it recognizes and
pooling resources with another individual and in to build a structure which it believes will satisfy interprets the larger configurations that these
some degree combining their systems of goals. this proposal. A reorganization takes place of some structures establish; it projects as possible future
In this case, a goal proposed by one individual of the points and patterns in the group network. states the aspirations and proposals contributed
must be formulated objectively, according to This reorganization is fed back to the network as by individual members and attempts to decode
agreed convention to enable the other individual an internal message which is then decoded in the these envisioned structures.
to accept the proposal as an input. light of certain goals. As a result of this decoding It is throuqh the postulative function that
Agreement by at least one other indi- further reorganization may take place; new struc- new structures are envisioned, alternative goals
vidual to the joint pursuit of at least one such tures may be built or new goals agreed upon. and the corresponding new patterns proposed,
postulated goal establishes a group. A group itself Already a simple equilibrial feedback de- new codes invented. Whereas the monitoring
may be regarded as an artifact designed by an vice performs some kind of decoding on the mes- function decodes, the postulating function makes
individual to satisfy his need to transact with other sages it gets from its environment, for they are codes.
individuals. A group will in turn transact with other followed by determinate changes in the behavior In operational terms, the postulative
groups, and they may all agree to constitute to- of the device in accordance with the goal it is function accomplies its roles by designing alter-
gether the larger artifact that is a society. The designed to pursue: this goal can be said to seta native new or modified structures of resources
transactions and conflicts that take place in a up a code by which messages are assigned mean- which embody the new or modified goals it postu-
complex society often determine that the pattern ings. A sufficiently complex dynamic feedback lates for the members of the network to accept or
of this agreement -usually called the social network is able to decode messages in a number reject. The postulating function is exercised by
contract - undergo constant transformations. of different ways - according to different, per- the individual members, who as private individuals
The measure of a social system, like that haps contradictory goals its structure may imply. have their own dreams and aspirations which at

B of any artifact, is the degree to which And the decoding of messages in such a dynamic first may make sense only to themselves, but
N it fulfils and allows to be fulfilled the self-modifying network does not simply trigger a which they may be able to recast in group terms
purposes of individuals. Informing the following change of behavior but may result in a change of as suitable inputs for the group network. As a rule
proposal that the Universitas contribute actively goals - that is, in a process of code-making or it is through such inputs from private individuals
to the constant examination and reformulation of icon invention.' A network setting itself new goals (from such inventors of patterns as artists, social
the social contract is the desire to insure, as much is inventing new codes by which it interprets mes- thinkers, poets, designers) that a group network
as possible, the freedom of the individual to will sages - messages that may come not only from becomes aware of possible new states it may
the environment but also from within the net itself.2 aspire to, new configurations which would assign
his environment.
One may feel pessimistic about the pros- back network, a group of human beings is oriented alternative meanings to existing structures, and
pects of such freedom in the present political by its patterns of organization, toward the attain- new structures which may be built to replace the
context. But awareness of a state of crisis and ment of some goals of which the individuals in the existing ones.
analysis of its symptoms are the privileges of group, as a whole or in part, may or may not be It is by the individual members too that
reflection. Designers, even if torn by perplexity, conscious. It is by a decoding not only of external the decision making function is to be exercised
must identify problems, propose alternatives, and messages but also of internal patterns - of the in the group. They must decide, on the basis
develop methods to implement them. The pro- very structures designed to carry out what the of the analysis and projections provided by
posed design of the Universitas is meant to help group sees as its goals - that the group can be- the monitoring function, which among the existing
resolving two opposing positions on the present come conscious of what its actions and processes patterns in the group network are to be maintained,
predicament. One position holds that by letting are likely actually to lead toward. Discrepancies which suppressed and which augmented, and
the technological infrastructure proliferate without revealed between the actuality and the aspirations which among the alternatives proposed by the
a harnessing superstructure, we would discover may bring on a change of the existing structures postulating function are to be accepted and which
embodied in the products of this technology all or a revision of the original goals. Like any suffi- rejected.

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 Finally, we have the regulatory function, functions, it is best that the Universitas not be
in the new light cast by the individual goals it
which is exercised through the infrastructure and involved with them except as they are inevitablybrings up to a level of social consciousness, such
is in charge of implementing the choices of the bound up with the monitoring and the postulating an ethical system would provide a design for in-
decision-making function by controlling the supply ones. dividual freedom, where authority is not bestowed
of matter, energy, and information to each of the The right of choice exercised through on any specialized
the agent but is defined by the
points in the group network. decision-making function must remain whole of
withthe social
the network, and remains the
The four functions that we have de- individuals of the community; otherwise sovereignty
what of weeach of its individuals.'
D scribed for a group network also exist get is a dictatorial arrangement -the Universi- It is a paradox that any system capable
DOfor the larger social network. But they state. Such active postulating and efficient mon- of allowing the greatest possible individual free-
may exist in thwarted or inadequate forms. It may itoring as we propose that the Universitas under- dom, the fullest possible personal enjoyment of
happen, for instance, that the monitoring function take is meant to buttress individual decisions. The the pleasures of the senses and of the spirit, will
is effective only within the smaller group networksregulatory function should not be exercised by not be some sort of unstructured Arcadia but
and not for society as a whole, so that each sectorthe Universitas either. This in general should be rather a highly complex physical and socio-cultu
of society makes its own decisions unaware as ofindependent as possible from the monitorizing artifact. Individual man is not man in isolation
how these may affect the other sectors or the and life postulating functions, especially, since there (for him Arcadia would be fine); but man as he
is the danger that, were the Universitas to become willingly transacts with others, joins with them,
of the whole. Or it may happen that, after a certain
stage, the postulating function effectively ceases,involved with regulating techniques, it might end and chooses to accept the constraints of various
goals are set and cannot be renewed, all changes up accepting the constraints and dynamics of patterns of organization. Individual freedom for
are assumed to be predictable and all points in technical feasibility as the main guidelines for its such a man lies not in the absence of constraints
the social network are assigned fixed meanings; postulations and recommendations. but rather in their design: this must reflect his
the system is closed. The laudable ideal that individuals and wishes and work toward achieving his aspiration
Closed systems inevitably run down; if small groups be able to pursue their own notes

a system is to renew itself it must be kept open, Ni goals by themselves and enact their 1 The
own internal and external feedback processes
and open above all to postulational inputs which local patterns as they see fit usually takes no by which man, the individual being, expresses
as we have seen usually originate with the indi- account of the fact that often the fragmentary andhis aspirations, and formulates them in terms
which are accessible to other individual
vidual. Since these postulational inputs are for strictly piecemeal enactment of supposedly local
the most part made locally, into the group net- goals and conceptions may show them to be members of society, have already been treated
in a previous paper. (Emilio Ambasz, "'The
works, it is only through an effective monitoring bound up in large measure with those of others,
Formulation of a Design Discourse," Perspecta
function that these individual postulations can and significantly altered by their place in the 12, The Yale Architectural Journal, New Haven
be made to carry into the group, and, in certain larger context of society. Because interactions and 1968.) It proposes a theoretical construct to
cases, into the larger social network. configurations may extend far beyond an immedi- comprehend the feedback processes by which
Other institutions in society may also ate vicinity, it is only through feedback from an individual designs artifacts in order to con-
enact the four functions described in our working points everywhere in the network of society, that ciliate the conflicts between his private and his
social being. The terminology is different from
model; however, for the purpose of this essay, individuals and groups can get to learn if the local
we shall restrict our argument to solely defining patterns they have initiated actually satisfy and that here utilized, but the concepts are similar:
the artifact resultant from (a) design (process)
the roles we foresee the Universitas and the indi- continue to reflect what they want." This feedback is considered, in Charles S. Peirce's termi-
vidual members of society playing. the Universitas, by its monitoring action, is in- nology, as an icon, whose symbolic content is
We propose that the Universitas, con- tended, within its scope, to supply. conceived as an internal system of codes which
ceived as a general concept rather than as a spe- By this feedback process new goals can must be decoded, i.e., brought up to a semantic
cific organization, undertake in formal terms the be introduced locally, in a decentralized manner; level for further information and interpretation
related functions of monitoring and postulating." (without gravely disrupting the larger fabric of on the goals of the individual code-maker and
those of his socio-cultural environment.
Individuals, in addition to exercising the decision- individual and group life), its circumscribed ef-
making function in formal terms, also participate fects can be observed empirically and, from the 2 We can distinguish two types of procedures for
actively, though in a random way, in the perform- pattern of ensuing consequences, it should allow goal renewal or modification. By the first one,
ance of monitoring and postulative functions. One establishing whether this specific goal is to remain internal to the network, new goals are derived
of the immediate intentions of this proposal is a local process, or further postulated for accept- from the meanings which the goal patterns
that the monitoring and postulating done by the ance by other individuals and groups." Moreover, inside the network may generate, consciously
Universitas strengthen that done by the individuals the linking of local patterns which the monitoring other.or unconsciously, when interacting with each
By the second procedure, goalI renovation
- the formal exercise of these functions by the Universitas will attempt, may contribute to the
assumes the form of external inputs originating
Universitas would complement their continued expansion and enrichment of these local con-
in other networks. Both processes allow the
non-formal exercise by the individuals acting on ceptions through knowledge of how they interactnetwork the freedom to break or over-ride
their own. The long range objective underlying and overlap with those of others. established goal patterns, and, thus, introduce
this proposal is to reverse established technocratic Beyond this linking actions, the more the concept of an autonomous, creative func-
hierarchies of decision-making by helping the in- important postulative action by which the Uni- tion capable of postulating new goals.
dividuals of the community to assume the four versitas will attempt to develop methods toward
3 This network of resources should theoretically
functions aforementioned in a decentralized implemening individual and group goals may con-
be able to shift its position whenever the inter-
manner, tribute to making it possible for individuals and
section of the goal patterns determining the
Such long-range objectives clearly es- groups to remain independent while marshalling point have changed positions. Thus, a given
tablish the transitional nature assigned to the some of the greater technological resources of structure can be said to have lost its social
Universitas. As a transitional institution it should society's infrastructure for the enactment of their meaning when following the dynamics of socio-
be regarded, for the time being, as a special type own patterns and the satisfaction of their own cultural processes the goal patterns which once
of group networkS,one analytically attuned to what private purposes. Moreover, by postulating alter- determined the point shifted. However, it may
is occurring in the other group networks, so that native future states, the Universitas will aid in happen that due to the inertia of the social net-
it may be able to keep track of local patterns combating the inducements to accept the outcome work, the infrastructure of resources continues
to supply the same position even after the
initiated by individuals and groups, of the possible of ongoing technological processes as something
offshoots these local patterns may have and of beyond individual control. By this formal postu- patterns of goals has shifted. On the other hand,
the larger configurations they have established or lative action, and by the bringing of isolated
a powerful infrastructure may of itself generate
"false" superstructural patterns, i.e., not
are likely to establish through their interaction; individual postulations to a level of social con- wished by the members of society, but imposed
all of which it would be charged with bringing up sciousness, the Universitas may be expected to by the demands of the infrastructure's pathol-
to a level of social consciousness. And it will be broaden the scope of envisaged futures and thus ogy. I have in mind the case where the present
charged with monitoring, and of bringing to con- help bring about the true aspirations and desires production system imposes its own system of
sciousness, not only existing local patterns but of individuals, what their visions tell them ought demands on the individual and endeavors to
also local aspirations, the postulational inputs to be rather than what is presented to them as establish its own internaltneeds and goaIs as
those determining the patterning of society's
made by individuals into their group networks. possible.
superstructure.
Furthermore, we are proposing that the Universitas The concept of the Universitas which we
itself take on a postulative task, that it itself pro- have here developed may serve as a prototype for 4 The specific tasks which the Universitas is
pose, for the individuals of the community to any artifact designed to support a self-modifying formally prepared to perform in the context of
accept or reject, new goals and rearrangements, ethical system in which social goals are derived the social networkshave been described in the
closing paragraphs of Part I "The University of
putting much of the same formal equipment that from individual values and come to be agreed
Design and Development," as retrospective,
served for decoding to the complementary task of upon through the goals that individuals pose and critical, prospective, and operational. The first
code-making.' the proposals they enact. If capable of constantly two are tasks of consciousness which would
As to the decision-making and regulatory re-examining the scope of existing social goals correspond, to a great extent, to those to be

364

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 performed by what we have defined as the
monitoring function. The prospective tasks of
envisioning and proposing new goal patterns to
be evaluated by the members of the social
network; and the operational task of developing
theomethods necessary for structuring these
prospective proposals, fall very closely within
the realm of what we have defined as the
postulative function.
5 As all specialized groups, the Universitas will on one hand, a keener insight into the interrelated
unavoidably have its own evaluative bias. The
important fact in this case is not to reject its
actions, but rather to take such bias into
account as an explicit factor when pondering
the results of its monitoring and postulative
functions.
6 In a sense,dwhatkthe Universitas will be doing
when it undertakes a formal postulating func-
tion is an extension of its monitoring function networks.
to postulating inputs that ultimately come from
the minds of its own individual members; the
Universitas merely provides a conducive formalI
framework to the postulations of its individuals.
7 This description applies, obviously, to ideal
feedback conditions. In practice we have to
allow for and deal with degrees of
disfunctional tolerance.
8 Individuals must always have the freedom to
reject postulations they may get, whether from
the Universitas or from other individuals. The
refusal by an individual to go along with a goal
postulated by a group of which he is a member
might serve to check the momentum that group
patterns often develop of themselves, goals
generating structures and structures generating
goals without regard for individual values, (I
have in mind those participating today in
moratorium movements). Such refusal of a
postulational input may well constitute a mean-
ingful counter-input that the individual makes
into the group, and, rather than being dismissed
as an instance of individual alienation, it merits
conscientious examination by the Universitas
and by the members of the community.
9 These notions are further expanded in an article pattern.
to appear under the title: "The Designs of
Anarchy."
Conclusion Emilio Ambasz is the Curator of Design of the
We have attempted here the briefestMuseum of Modern Art and the Associate Director
sketch of the roles we contemplate for the Uni-of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies.
versitas in the design of the man-made environ-A visiting professor at the Hochschule f~r Ges-
ment. The arguments for this discussion weretaltung in Ulm, Germany, he is at present a visiting
based on a proposed understanding of societyfaculty
as member at Princeton.
resultant of the interactions between individual
Born in Argentina, Mr. Ambasz, who is 28 years
networks and their groups. These distinctions
old, has been involved in the design of several
were introduced with the intention of rendering,
private and institutional buildings. He is currently
working on a research project on new institutions
processes by which man and society invent and
concerned with the design and the evaluation of
modify their goals, and, on the other one, an
thefunc-
man-made milieu.
approach to designing the social network's
tions in a way such that they will contribute to
the coherent examination and expansion of soci-
ety's framework of goals without compromising
the independence of the individual and the group
Considerable revision and elaboration
will no doubt be required if our abstract outline
is to be carried out in actuality. Most of the issues
we have raised would certainly benefit from fur-
ther analysis. We have not touched on such ques-
tions as how do we avoid that the regulating
agencies become the protectors of those forces
they were created to regulate?; what are the politi-
cal mechanisms by which the individual exercises
his evaluative and regulatory functions so as to
check on the formal and non-formal exercising
of the monitoring and postulative functions; what
type of community government system is implied
by a network of society where the sovereignty of
the decision-making functions resides in the indi-
vidual members of the network?; what delay will
be tolerable in the feedback processes occurring
between the four functions?
The truth of any statement regarding the
design of our man-made milieu is a socio-cultural
function dependent on the individuals of the
community. We can not trust, therefore, any
answer to be final; a permanent state of questions
rather than a conclusive configuration is the
365
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