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Information Flow in Flawed Historic Core: Towards a Sustainable Development | Space Writing

Information Flow in Flawed Historic Core: Towards a Sustainable Development

By Ziad Aazam / Friday, 6th July 2012 / Capitalism, Community, Digital Empowerment, Digital Possibilities, Historic City, Life Architecture, Network, Regeneration, Social Cohesion, Sustainable Development / Leave a comment / The issue of historic cores livability may be tackled from the spatial and networking viewpoint. The process of regeneration is not only physical rehabilitation but also human and social restoration. Essentially, the problem of any sustainable development, including regeneration and revitalization of decaying historic cores or slums, relates to social cohesion and economic prosperity in relation to the strata of the society. The built (artificial) and natural environments, which are simply integrated contexts, catalysts, settings, containers and physical forms for humans and their social system (society), are secondary problems to that of socio-economic issues of any sustainable development. The approach and methodology for any sustainable development has to envision a socioeconomic systems sitting within physical (artificial and natural) systems. All these components of society, economy and artificial/natural environments work together in integrated flow. For example, take the historic core of Jeddah, there is an evident flow but upon close examination you will realize unpleasant flaws. To realize these existing flows/flaws in Al-Balad, one needs to start with human component applies within a particular context, whether environmental (artificial and natural), social milieu or economic; i.e. the flow is Human/Context based. To understand this coupled human-led approach to perceiving flows, consider the following examples: Flow of pedestrians/pavements (human/physicalbuilt) is flawed physical condition. Flow of spirit/architectural aesthetics is flawed visual condition. Flow of health/utilities is flawed hygienic condition. Flow of consumers/commercial clusters is actually not flawed, as this is the only striking livability condition we have in Al-Balad, but upon examination you will find that it is not a balanced mix and disconnected from historical continuity, making it a flawed social condition. The flow we are concerned with here is Information Flow. The view is to approach the sustainable development, which is in this case a regeneration or revitalization of a historic core of any city, from an information flow perspective. The information flow in this case is about people activities that sit within four contexts made possible by digital possibilities. The first context for information flow relates to peoples experience and intentions in relation to historic core, their aspirations by mere presence and interaction with the physical (artificial and natural) environments. Capitalizing on this context means creating incentives, communicated digitally through websites and social networks that develop sustainable presence in the minds and hearts of real people. Real people here refer to those who perceive, conceive and live with their true human faculty, not driven by greed and power based financial capitalism.

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Information Flow in Flawed Historic Core: Towards a Sustainable Development | Space Writing

The second context for information flow is about cultural values and collective harnessing of past, present and future material and non-materials continuity. This is usually approached superficially in terms of restoration activities, heritage components such museums and shops. However, information flow is key in reconstructing continuity in the minds and hearts using digital possibilities, such as interactive GPS-based maps on digital devices, where information flows directly and instantly to the people, as they interact with space-time in the historic core. The third context for information flow is the material objects of the digital possibilities where information flow through well established communication infrastructure and utilities, such as free Wi-Fi hotspot zones made possible by developers to increase commercial values of the area and render it more attractive to smaller investors in coffee shops, etc. that attracts different demographics such the youth. The fourth context for information flow relates to how other systems flows are potentially possible to integrate with information flow. Ecosystems, social and economic systems are the three main systems that, if worked together in harmonious flow, sustainability appears at its best riding on the arrow of time to future generations. The information system can potentially become the base and connector for all other three systems. Take for example, our modest effort of Jeddahs Heart on Facebook initiated 10 moths ago aimed at bringing Jeddahs Heart to our hearts and visit Al-Balad frequently to make our presence known. This social movement effort is based on utilizing digital possibilities through social networks to make an impact on the revitalization development effort. It has works and we are recognized by SCTA and the media in ways were not imagined a decade ago. We have attracted other efforts such as global Land Art Generator Initiative: Renewable Energy can be Beautiful. This Social information flow integrating with Ecosystem devised art/instruments solutions can create links with old natural environmental sustainable solutions and bring out more technologically progressive solutions, where digital possibility can be an integrated part. The overall publicity of such activities, projects, short and long term plans to bring together integrated flows of these three main systems can bring about and accelerate sustainable regeneration and revitalization of historic core. This approach is in fact inclusive of both top-down and bottom-up approaches to push for sustainable development. Tags: AL-Balad (http://spacewriting.wordpress.com/tag/al-balad/), Jeddah's Heart (http://spacewriting.wordpress.com/tag/jeddahs-heart/), Network Society (http://spacewriting.wordpress.com/tag/network-society/) Blog at WordPress.com. | The Imbalance 2 Theme.

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