VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

As global urbanization continues to favor high-density models, the concept of “livability” is increasingly mediated by complex spatial geometries and capital-driven design. This paper critiques the 21st-century “urban renaissance” by examining how the built environment modulates human sensory experience through contrasting fractal logics. By synthesizing Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of «smooth and striated» space with contemporary urban morphology, the study investigates the domestic and public interiors of two quintessential global cities: Dubai and Tokyo. The research argues that “livability” is often reduced to a visual commodity in top-down developments, such as the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Here, a “pseudo-fractal” geometry creates a striated landscape that prioritizes real estate branding and surveillance, resulting in a systemic reduction of perceptual friction and a sterilized domestic experience. Conversely, the paper explores the micro-fractalization of Tokyo, where extreme land fragmentation and hyper-dense interiors foster a self-organizing, bottom-up complexity. Drawing on the ontology of «becoming», the study posits that Tokyo’s “smooth” architectural interfaces provide a more resilient and empathetic mode of livability through their recursive, haptic textures. By re-evaluating these environments, the paper challenges the visually-dominant narratives of urban regeneration. It reflects on how architecture, as a tool for both value extraction and subjective generation, impacts the sensory well-being of inhabitants. Ultimately, the study invites a critical re-imagining of “livability” not as a standardized metric of efficiency, but as a site of material complexity and sensory repair within the post-industrial city.