Critics don’t R.I.P

You might want to read the recent essay written by Rick Poynor on The Death of the Critic. Here Poynor comments on the state of criticism in the Art field in general and the Design world in particular and summarizes the different levels of criticism from the mild version of it, journalism and observing the new, to a more hostile and arcane ‘cultural-studies’ way of criticizing the world around us. A 1955 article on Subtopia written by Ian Nairn and published in the AR (Architectural Review), is seen by Poynor as the essence of what design criticism should be and where it should go. Critics should be less accommodating and have a «profound idealism and shared sense of what matters». A quick look around and it’s easy for Poynor to notice the lack of critics these days. He suggests that, amongst other things, critics are hard to spot because they are probably missing good publishers. I wonder though if what we are missing is publications or just good/serious writers/critics. If we lack good critical writing then who really cares about publications?
Still, when RP says the critic might be dead, I wonder where the body is…

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Diventity: Identity, Density and Diversity

I propose one simple caveat urban design should strive to implement:

“Good urban space optimises Diventity” *.

Diventity is a concept that links diversity, density, and identity, and I define it as such:

Diventity allows identity to recursively emerge from the density of diversity, when that density reaches a critical mass.
Readers interested in the “new sciences” of complexity, chaos theory, self-regulation, emergence, and so on, and in the worldview some call the post-Cartesian worldview (I have called it the Quantum paradigm) - will recognise in this definition notions of great relevance to living organisms, in particular to contemporary cities.

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Design in Crisis

At first sight, all branches of design seem to be prospering. “The obsession with designer brands continues to expand, embracing home products, clothing accessories, and fashions for adults and young people. This became a sort of religion for the consumer society of the nineties, and was deeply embedded in all socio-economic group levels”. This new culture writes about design and fills the sky with bright new stars. Design activities all over the world are increasing exponentially. Design reacts to technology faster than art, and this is very conspicuous as regards the digital developments that have been taking place ever since the mid-seventies.
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