David Yoon is a photographer, "writer, designer, and urban planning geek" - he says it himself. He creates, in his blog, a what if? universe centering on Los Angeles. He envisions and visualizes how LA would look like if its streets were narrower. Hence the appropriate name: narrow streets: los angeles.
And without further ado, I present thee the concept of UCHRONIA.
In the words of Foucault "Fist there is Utopia". Borrowing from Harvey, talking about Moor's Utopia or Bacon's Atlantis, "[all] these forms of utopia can be characterized as 'Utopias of spacial form' [in opposition to 'Utopias of social process'] since the temporarily of the social process, the dialectics of social change - real history - are excluded, while social stability is assured by a fixed spacial form."
If, one considers time in the same sense as process, one would feel tempted to say that "utopias of social processes" are essentially Uchronias. But, again, Harvey explains that, in the later case, the qualities of space and place are totally ignored".
Then, Uchronia has the same sense as utopia of temporal play, because instead of suspending time in favor of space, it suspends space in favor of time. Makes sense? It does, so as one acknowledges that any social process has effects both in time and place. It should be noted that these all are to be treated as "ideal types". So, what if, in opposition to utopias of social process, we were to group utopias of spacial AND temporal play? Now, what DOES David Harvey think of this?
And without further ado, I present thee the concept of UCHRONIA.
In the words of Foucault "Fist there is Utopia". Borrowing from Harvey, talking about Moor's Utopia or Bacon's Atlantis, "[all] these forms of utopia can be characterized as 'Utopias of spacial form' [in opposition to 'Utopias of social process'] since the temporarily of the social process, the dialectics of social change - real history - are excluded, while social stability is assured by a fixed spacial form."
If, one considers time in the same sense as process, one would feel tempted to say that "utopias of social processes" are essentially Uchronias. But, again, Harvey explains that, in the later case, the qualities of space and place are totally ignored".
Then, Uchronia has the same sense as utopia of temporal play, because instead of suspending time in favor of space, it suspends space in favor of time. Makes sense? It does, so as one acknowledges that any social process has effects both in time and place. It should be noted that these all are to be treated as "ideal types". So, what if, in opposition to utopias of social process, we were to group utopias of spacial AND temporal play? Now, what DOES David Harvey think of this?
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