The Ethics of Potential Urbanism: Critical Encounters between Giorgio Agamben and Architecture

摘要

Building on the writings of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, Camillo Boano proposes new paths for the fields of urbanism and architecture where ethics and aesthetics fold into one and the same. The Ethics of a Potential Urbanism: Critical Encounters between Giorgio Agamben and Architecture offers a timely and provocative contribution to the on-going debate about the role of design and spatial practices in complicated times. The contemporary condition, one characterised by the normalisation of the 'state of exception', the creeping influence of capitalism in everyday life and the will of insurgent and professional communities to resist, prompted Boano to rethink the transformative potential of his own disciplines. This effort results in a dense and effective book that challenges the status quo of what we might call 'activist architecture' to rethink radically how urban and architectural interventions can participate to a commoning project, rather than finding formal solutions within a conflictive politico-cultural framework. Ultimately, Boano's project argues for an 'inoperative architecture' that neutralises architecture's 'ordering forces and makes itself available for "free use'".