New Kinds of Space and a Framework for Evaluating Their Function and Future

Abstract

The world is on the verge of a risky vital technical revolution — cell phones with two-way video calling and GPS automatic collecting and indexing of who is around, what features, facility-wise and geographically, are around them, and what people around them share interests in them (the people) and those features (of nearby people and facilities). There are good and bad forces contending to influence this new emerging space and emerging from it. What can traditional architecture theory tell us about the new spaces this revolution is providing? What can we do in a policy way to influence for the better what the new spaces from this revolution do for us? What can the experience of Chatroulette teach us about similar emerging spaces in the much vaster cellular phone world? This paper attempts initial answers to these questions from theory in media, sociology, anthropology, technology evolution, history of religions, psycho-analysis, politics, democracy, branding, traditional architecture and from participant observation of the evolution of Chatroulette and why and how people participated in it and how their participation evolved.