Architectronics [antikvár]

Foreword In Architectronics, Michael Winn attacks issues that lie at the heart of social progress and issues which affect every man, woman, and child in the uriDan community. And he poses an important question: What do we need to know to effecdvely manage development so that we produce communities that are free from such conditions as crime and juvenile delinquency, conditions which we seem to have resigned ourselves to living with, as if they were unresolvable? Winn embarks on a formidable task as he seeks in contemporary society the source of dramatically worsening stadstics on drug abuse, alcoholism, juvenile crime, and terrorism. In this inquiry, he traces an interesting trail which relates our use of technologies to the growing sense of isolation experienced by residents in all urban areas. To begin with, Winn views building development as a technology for providing various kinds of community resources. We do not usually think about building development in this way—as an arena in which to examine the social problems of our culture. Usually, the problem of crime is discussed as a police issue; poverty is thought of as a circumstance related to employment and education; and so on. Conversations about building development are conducted by investment planners and real estate entrepreneurs. The involvment of government in development is administrative rather than creative, having to do with the regulation of building codes and the planning of roads, highways, and other services. Guiding the development of a city is an overwhelming task. For those of us who sit on legislative bodies in fast growing communities, the task becomes manageable when we have a conceptual view of the evolving technologies which are now an integral part of development. Very few of us have been schooled in the sciences of computers, engineering, telecommunications, or electronics, yet our responsibility to the public trust seems to make it obligatory for us to become knowledgeable in