I was writing an article about architectural blogs on the Web when I ran across a blog written by Dan Lockton. Lockton is not an enigma. If you visit his Website and blog at fulminate // Architectures of Control, you may learn more about Dan than you know about your mother. And he writes about philosophies that are as deep as the Mississippi River is long. So there’s plenty to explore here.
Lockton is an “industrial designer, engineer and researcher interested in environmentally sensitive consumer product design, transportation, mobility, the relationship between technology and society (especially the phenomenon of architectures of control), and digital rights.”
To boil this information down to one thought, Lockton wants design to work toward individual independence by reducing society’s dependence on resources, on other people, and on “experts” who modify technology without consumer understanding.
One example that he uses to show control in urban environments includes the following:
For example, paving an area with pebbles to make it uncomfortable for barefoot protesters to congregate - U Texas, Austin and a system which curtails a targeted individual’s mobility by remotely disabling a public transport pay-card have very different specific strategies, but the overall intention in both cases is to restrict access based on some characteristic of the user, whether it’s bare feet or some data field in an ID system. In one case the intended ’strength’ of the method is fairly weak (it’s more about discouragement); in the other the intended strength is high: this individual’s freedom must be curtailed, and attempted circumvention must be detected [links and emphasis are Lockton’s].
These architectures of control, according to Lockton, include any planned system with which a user interacts and which are intended to enforce, reinforce, or restrict certain modes of user behavior. These restrictions are somewhat evident to most of us in the digital world, where places such as online bookstores can force-feed readers with materials that are similar to those that the reader researched or purchased days or weeks prior. This type of control limits choices and forces the consumer to search for something that might be difficult to find.
But control systems extend beyond the Internet to the cars we drive to the urban environments we live in to the products we consume.
The frightening thought behind this control is that consumers often don’t realize why or how or when some control systems have been put in place. The opportunities, on the other hand, include bringing public input into the design of these systems so that they work for societal benefit. One beneficial example might include the urban environment that is designed for pedestrians. Such an environment would be conducive to physical health as well as for environmental health. One way to control this environment is to build systems - such as more sidewalks or ways to reroute traffic - that make a space more pedestrian-friendly.
Lockhart obviously has more than a passing interest in transportation, as some of his projects include lightweight transportation in wheelchairs, a sea scooter prototype, a noodle bar for the Virgin Train System (shown at right), and major research into the Reliant Motor Company that resulted in the book, Rebel Without Applause.
While Lockton’s blog and his writings might spur a paranoid person into believing that this architecture of control is a mass conspiracy, the thoughtful person might see beyond this narrow vision to understand Lockton’s open-hearted concerns. He states simply, “My aim is to leave the world in a better state than I found it.” His attitude, illustrated through his words, prototypes, services, and theories may provide one catalyst for that change. You, as a reader, might provide another.
Posted by Linda at 8:00 AM PDT
