Design for Relations

Abstract

The city, composed of heterogeneous relations, is an open complex system, beyond its physicality. Questioning analysis and design, a work-in-progress methodology of a generative mapping negotiating different kinds of design logics is presented. The methodology is composed of (1) data gathering; (2) investigating relations among data; and (3) testing with two cases elicited from Athens Center public space. The focus is on how such a relational-thinking methodology cultivates design logics through design­ing by analyzing; designing by defining frame(s); designing the program; designing as an interventional strategy in/through interdependencies; designing by intervening with territorial forces; and employing intra-parametric strategies. By enforcing emergence and management of complexities in diverse fields of potential application, the methodology negotiates the limits and the ways of design.
 
 
 Keywords:
 Systemic urban design, relational design, relational territorialities, relationally generated complexity; design methodology; open method; diagrammatic mapping