Jacobs, Newman and the Orgone Accumulator

Slide 1: Secured by Design: The Practitioner’s View The Long View or Jane Jacobs, Oscar Newman and The Orgone Accumulator Rob Annable – December 07

Slide 2: Secured by Design Partnership input: Secured by design application form is a game of two halves: • SECTION 1: THE DEVELOPMENT – LAYOUT & DESIGN • SECTION 2: PHYSICAL SECURITY Primary concern as an architect is with section 1 – without good layout and design the physical security will be ineffective.

Slide 3: Jane Jacobs Oscar Newman The Death and Life of Great Defensible Space (1972) American Cities (1961)

Slide 4: Jane Jacobs Oscar Newman ‘legibility?’ The Death and Life of Great Defensible Space (1972) American Cities (1961)

Slide 5: Jane Jacobs Paul Ritter Oscar Newman The Death and Life of Great Planning for Man and Motor (1964) Defensible Space (1972) American Cities (1961)

Slide 6: “…All Defensible Space programs have a common purpose: They restructure the physical layout of communities to allow residents to control the areas around their homes. This includes the streets and grounds outside their buildings and the lobbies and corridors within them... ” Oscar Newman “…A family’s claim to a territory diminishes Defensible Space (1972) proportionally as the number of families who share that claim increases. The larger 1. different building types the number of people who share a create spaces outside territory, the less each individual feels the dwelling unit that affect residents’ ability to rights to it…” control them 3. grouping of units in - Creating Defensible Space (1996) different types of building configurations creates indoor and outdoor spaces of different character.

Slide 8: “…Police arguments which say that paths cannot be controlled by vehicle, that criminals cannot be properly pursued if they run on to path systems, and that paths plus roads necessitate a doubling up of police duties, must be analysed. It emerges then that paths planned as an Paul Ritter integral part of housing are much more the Planning for Man and Motor (1964) concern of the inhabitants than the normal road in front of houses so that policing 1. Homes must have direct access to a footpath becomes unnecessary. Emergency phone 2. system This footpath system boxes are all that is required…” must lead to all the gathering places of the inhabitants 3. The motor vehicles will be completely separate from the path system

Slide 10: “…First there must be clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private space. Second, there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to Jane Jacobs ensure the safety of both residents and The Death and Life of Great American Cities strangers must be oriented to the street. They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind. 1. Jacobs led the way in advocating for a place-based, community-centered approach And third, the sidewalk must have users on it to urban planning, decades before such approaches were fairly continuously… ” considered sensible 2. Jacobs argued for: • Cities as Ecosystems • Mixed-Use Development • Bottom-Up Community Planning • The Case for Higher Density

Slide 12: People! Space!

Slide 13: Allow residents to Clear demarcation control the areas between what is around their public space and homes. what is private space.

Slide 14: This includes the They cannot streets and turn their backs grounds outside or blank sides their buildings on it and leave it blind.

Slide 15: There must be The domain of the eyes upon the house encompasses street. the street Territory!

Slide 17: ‘Radburn Idea’ “As the Radburn Idea sprang • Homes must have direct from considerations of living access to a footpath conditions in the motor age it is system really not surprising that it • This footpath system lends itself better to the must lead to all the satisfaction of the needs listed. gathering places of the Why the needs listed are the inhabitants real criteria of livability is • The motor vehicles will explained in the work of be completely separate Wilhelm Reich…” from the path system - Paul Ritter Wilhelm Reich (March 24, 1897 – November 3, 1957) was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. “His work on the link between human sexuality and neuroses emphasized "orgastic potency" as the foremost criterion for psycho-physical health. He said he had discovered a form of energy, which he called “orgone“, that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter, and he built “orgone accumulators”, which his patients sat inside to harness the energy for its reputed health benefits.” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich

Slide 18: one r! Org lato The umu c Ac

Slide 19: one Org er! The hoot S

Slide 20: Orgonomic functionalism – a thought technique: Reich's examples of orgonomic functionalism usually involved "antithetical and then label the two curving arrows on functional pairs" of concepts. Reich would top with two opposing ideas, and the big usually draw a symbol that looked dot at the bottom with those two ideas' something like this: "common functioning principle." mechanist mystic CFP Source: http://pw1.netcom.com/~rogermw/Reich/functionalism.html

Slide 21: motor man path

Slide 23: Is this legible?

Slide 24: Orgone Accumulator – Hawkwind 1973 I've got an Orgone Accumulator It makes me feel greater I'll see you sometime later When I'm through with my Accumulator It's no social integrator It's a one man isolator It's a back brain stimulator It's a cerebral vibrator

Slide 25: Summary: How do we build in long term legibility? •Long term success of urban design legibility depends on the creation of diverse, flexible territory between public and private spaces •This territory should be robust enough to resist cultural, economic and environmental change – it should not be a single gesture or idea •The quality (both visual and functional) of the semi- private and semi-public boundaries should imbue the territory with ‘place-based’ meaning •Creating meaning ensures that residents and visitors alike understand the purpose of the territory •Successful territory requires successful landscape

Slide 26: Secured By Design Principles document says: Item 2.5 A clearly defined environment means one in which there is no ambiguity as to which areas are private, which are public, and how the two relate to one another. There may be transitional zones of semi-public or semi- private space [often referred to as buffer zones], or there may be strong physical demarcation between public and private areas by means of a wall, fence or hedge. The critical point is that the environment should be capable of being easily understood by those experiencing it. http://www.securedbydesign.com/pdfs/SBD-principles.pdf

Slide 28: bibliography • Planning for Man and Motor - Paul Ritter 1964 • Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs 1961 • Defensible Space – Oscar Newman 1972 • Creating Defensible Space – Oscar Newman 1996 • Eric Lyons and Span – RIBA Publishing 2007 • Ether God and Devil: Cosmic Superimposition – Wilhelm Reich 1951 • Orgone Accumulator – Hawkwind 1973