GLOBAL VILLAGE MEDIA

摘要

In July 1971, architecture critic Walter McQuade reported on Whiz Bang Quick City (WBQC) in Life magazine under the title 'Momentary Community for a Mobile Era'.1 Offering a fascinating precedent for contemporary 'pop-ups' and temporary pavilions, this 'instant city' sought to produce both physically present and virtual communities at a moment when Marshall McLuhan's notion of a global village retained enormous traction in the popular imagination. Whiz Bang Quick City came together for five days near Woodstock, New York, in April 1971, following the momentum of rock festivals, the alternative lifestyle movement, and relatedcounterjCultural events deploying alternative architectures such as 'Alloy', held in New Mexico in 1969, and the Freestone Conference in California in 1970. McQuade seems like an unlikely candidate, for reviewing such a phenomenon. In 1967 he was appointed a member of the New York City Planning Commission by Mayor John V Lindsay, and was more familiar with mainstream discourses on urbanism-those variously attempting to come to terms with poverty, civil unrest, crime, illegibility, 'white flight', pollution, decline and so-called blight, all of which encapsulated American cities in many people's minds. But despite the professional orientation of his customary concerns, he seemed more intrigued than puzzled by, or dismissive of, this experiment in alternative urbanisms and temporary habitations, speaking fondly of the event as he recounted the trials and tribulations of the participants.