Titles
A-C
City Body / Body geometry as guiding principle. A practitio...A City and a Scene: Observing the Limitations of San Francis...A Constellation of “Central Parks” in the Multicenter Ba...A Deeper Look into Boyle Heights, Los Angeles: An Ethnograph...A novel form of redlining? Investigating the impacts of gree...A Taste of Home – The Cultural Significance and Design of ...Ajodhya – An Exemplary Model for Heritage City DevelopmentArchitectural Master-Planning on Complex Terrains: Leveragin...Are Indian Cities Deteriorating Socio-Culturally due to the ...Artefacts of Disaster Memory: Understanding Disaster Memoria...Arts with(out) a distance: The impacts of new media, artifi...Backtracking Monterrey from 1924 to 2124: Solving Future Cha...Balancing Transformation: Design insights for navigating riv...Beyond Human Realms: Exploring the Comprehensive Ecological ...Breaking with the Past to Deliver a Decarbonized Future: The...Bridging Past Wisdom with Future Needs: A Comprehensive Stud...British Colonial Railways in Cyprus and Their Impacts on Arc...Building Heritages from the Air: Commercial Aviation and the...Capitalizing upon Black Statue Symbology in Washington, DCCarbon Sequestration of Landscape in Tropical Urban Areas: A...Cities Facing the Future: Towards the City we Want. Barcelon...Commerce, Cruise and Community: Kingston Harbour and Urban C...Community Engagement and Groundwater Flood Risk Management. ...Considerations of Frontality and Formality in FacadesCrafting Change: A Comprehensive Examination of the Channapa...Cultural Heritage and Transitional Justice: The Compromises ...(Re)Record
T-Z
Territorial Museums Exhibitions - The Encounter Between Digi...The Appropriation of Verticality - Zagreb’s Historicistic ...The Building as Witness: visual narratives from Post-War Bei...The End of the City and the Last Man: Shane Jesse Christmass...The Everyday PastoralThe Inca Ceque System and its Possible Contributions Nowaday...The Legacy of Modernism in Cyprus: Architect Abdullah OnarThe Magi myth: More Overpowering than Digital Magic? A Colla...The Regeneration of Minor Centres: from Planning Scenarios t...The Role of Details in Urban Conservation: Three Critical Ru...The Role of Frank Street in the Public Life of Izmir in 19th...The unique architectural features of the mosques in Kutticha...The Virtual Reconstruction Of The Village Of Portomarín (Lu...To the Rescue: Addressing Modern Heritage in SharjahTo what extent the digitalisation of artefacts in Ithra muse...Towards Inclusive City streets: Combining Streetscape Segmen...Transforming Heritage Discourse on the Landscape at Gettysbu...Translating Ethnographic Data into Spatial Representations o...Transmedia Communication and Responsible Tourism. New Narrat...Two Centuries and Two Poles of Rural Architectural Manifests...UNESCO and the Holocaust: Complicated World HeritageUnpacking Tension between Historical Preservation and Pedest...Unravelling the Architectural Topology of Portmeirion: Explo...Urban AI: Platforms, Tools and the Sustainable Development o...Urban futures cultural past. Edinburgh a Lost World.Urban Futures- Cultural Pasts: an Urban Analytics Approach t...Urban Graphic Heritage — Case Studies Framing the Creation...Urban layers of violence: military pasts, regenerative futur...Waking the Puma: Urban Planning and Historical Disorder in C...War Memorials as Heritage in Bangladesh: A Living Cultural E...Welcome & IntroductionWhispers of Time: Rediscovering and Preserving Hyderabad's C...
Presenters
Schedule

IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section B

Urban Futures-Cultural Pasts
City Body / Body geometry as guiding principle. A practitioner's introduction to the geometry of 5 Action Spaces proposed by neuroscientist Alain Berthoz (and the case for knowing one’s geometry of action.)
G. Edwards(1)
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Abstract

At a time when AI is replacing many human roles, the human body remains fundamental to what cities are. The body has been a reference and inspiration in the design and construction of buildings and settlements since time immemorial, epitomised, amongst others, by Corbusier and his modular theory. Every city holds the particular body imprint of its inhabitants and their unique cultural and social profile. In my research at UCL, the wider themes of embodiment and abstraction provide a frame for my project as a whole. Usually understood as standing in contrast, in my project these are understood as forming a dialectical pairing. Both are intrinsic aspects of our experience of the world, including cities.
Part of my research is an embodied enquiry into the geometry of 5 Action Spaces proposed by neuroscientist Alain Berthoz, which suggests the brain has different networks for different action spaces. Since 2021 Berthoz, with industrialist, François Pitti, and architect, Davide Ruzzon has run the Brain Culture and Society Program at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Paris. The project seeks to know if the principles of functioning of the brain and more generally of biological organisms can be useful to inspire a renewal of modern approaches and methods of the city. In this paper, I will introduce Berthoz’s geometry and, from the perspective of physical practitioner and researcher, suggest how it might be applied in our approach and methodologies of the city. I will collaborate with movement artist/director Jos Houben, who has contributed to the Berthoz’ Program since its launch.

Biography

Cambridge graduate and daughter of an architect professor, Gisele Edwards has long been fascinated by living spaces and the body. She trained at CSSD, National Centre for Circus Arts and L’école Jacques Lecoq, Paris, where she studied under architect Krikor Belekian. She has performed and presented in a range of architectural spaces. Accolades include: commission by London Symphony Orchestra; Trevor Nunn’s The Tempest; shortlisted, European Jeunes Talents competition; winner, Festival of Firsts (Royal Opera House); Lauréat, Centre International des Récollets, Paris; winner, Jerwood Prize for Circus.